Assignment Week One: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (4points)

 

    Frankenstein, the book I chose to read for this week, was interesting to say the least. I grew up with mostly the idea of Frankenstein, but I never heard the entire story of him. The fantastic book is connected with the Gothic style for many reasons. One being the places giving the feeling of loneliness and paranoid in the arctic and feeling claustrophobic and stressed in the homes he lived in. Another being because of the tie between the archaic and modern times. This is not necessarily in the direction of the modern to archaic, however it still has ties with the religious society and the taboo science of life and death.

These ties and the strangeness of the science of life and death is what makes the book Gothic. The time of the 1700s death was never a friend and many people died. Therefore, the crisis of death and the catholic church with science around this time cause stories to grab the viewer from the tension. Making the overlap to it past and present as well, for the person or animal you thought was dead is now not blurring that line. Power is another I noticed while reading, not power in a sense that Frankenstein himself is in control, but that the science he has attached himself to. The science had the power over him to make him do the things he did. Almost luring him in with the weakness of losing loved ones around him.

One of the most prominent factors to the Gothic book that I have found was the intense emotions. Not just of rage, but of desire and loneliness. How mad and disappointed Frankenstein was at himself drove to ignore his loved ones and be filled with paranoia. The monster, however, showed that at first he was just scared and confuse. For he knew he wasn’t supposed to be there and when trying to find his creator he was treated disgustedly and unloved. That point more emotions were inflicted upon him. Sadness, anger, betrayal, and hatred now piled onto his confusion and fear. This makes for an interesting character that we struggle to figure out whether we are on his side or not. If anything we are the middle person, stuck in between two pulsing forces. Frankenstein embodied Gothic literature immensely and is why, in my opinion, one of the classics for a reason.