Frankenstein Essay, Research Paper

Birth is a natural process of creating a new life.

Birth symbolizes life, giving future hope to people. In

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the main character, Victor

Frankenstein, creates a being with his own hands; he has

created something magnificent and terrible at the same

time. Upon the moment of birth of this creature,

Frankenstein runs away in horror. In relation, the author

herself as she wrote this story, puts her life events

into the book. Mary Shelley s mother died soon after her

birth; and Mary, herself, had four stillborn children. To

Mary, you can t have life without death, and vice versa.

In the birth scene of Frankenstein, this creature means

failure of creation and death.

When Victor is putting his ideas together to create

this creature; he describes this creature as beautiful

and proportioned. His limbs were in proportion, and I

had selected his features as beautiful. (Volume 1, page

935) Like an expecting mother, Victor thought that the

process of creating this creature was going to turn out

marvelous. But upon looking at the creature moving,

Victor thought I had desired it with an ardour that far

exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the

beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and

disgust filled my heart. (Volume 1, page 935) It was

like as if Victor failed to create something beautiful as

life.

The creature does not represent life; it represents

death, destruction and hopelessness in Victor s eyes.

Through an unnatural process, Victor uses science to give

life to this being that he put together through limbs of

what it used to be living beings. This is an important

part because the creature not only brought death upon

Victor, but also to William, Clerval, Justine, and

Elizabeth. It is impossible to get life from dead things.

From a creation that supposed to be marvelous turns

disastrous. What would one get from trying to create life

from using the source of death is the result of more

death.

Victor knew that by creating the Creature, he has

brought death upon himself. Cursed! (although I curse

myself) be the hands that formed you! (Volume 2, p961)

Victor curses himself because he only has himself to

blame for this creation. In the book, the creature

follows Victor wherever he goes; as if, it s a daily

reminder that he is getting closer to death day by day.

On a similar term, death is an unavoidable event in life.

The creature also sets as a reminder of death that he brought on to everyone that he loves.

When the creature request Victor to create another

being alike, Victor fears that it will eventually being

destruction to the human race. And a race of devils

would be propagated upon the earth, who might make the

very existence of the species of man a condition

precarious and full of terror. (Volume 3, Page 1001) As

this quote indicates the fact that Victor is afraid if he

creates another female companion for this creature, he

will bring destruction and death not only to himself but

also to the human race itself. Since more death result in

creation from death, this means that it will bring death

to others on this world. If one creature represented

death to a few, it will bring destruction to the world if

another creature is created.

Death is an event that intertwined with death in

Mary Shelley s life. Mary Wollstonecraft had many

stillborn births; and, Mary Shelley was the only child to

survive. Unfortunately, Mary Wollstonecraft died soon

after giving birth to Mary Shelley. Similarly, Mary

Shelley herself had one child survive to adulthood. In

Frankenstein, Victor runs away after he sees the creature

comes to life. What follows is a dream about Elizabeth

and Caroline, Victor s mother. I thought I saw

Elizabeth, I the bloom of health, walking in the streets

of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her;

but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they

became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared

to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my

dead mother in my arms (volume 1, page 935) The

significance of this dream interprets what will become of

Elizabeth. As if it foretells Elizabeth s destiny.

Although Elizabeth is Victor s companion, in a way, she

replaces in place of Victor s mother. In a very same way,

Elizabeth will also risk her own life to take care of

Victor. Elizabeth, my love, you must supply my place to

your younger cousins. (Volume 1, page 927) Caroline has

placed her duty upon Elizabeth as the lady of the

household. Death is an event that happens often in

Victor s life. But because this creature represents

death, it was like seeing his mother. This is the reason

why Victor runs away in horror after the birth; it is

because he sees Elizabeth s death in the creature.

From what is supposed to be a wonderful creation of

life, it turned disastrous. The creature haunts Victor

through out the story, remind Victor that death is near

by. Victor creates this being from the dead, and resulted

in death upon him and others. The creation of this

monster presented the fact that life and death are always

related in some ways. The biography of Mary Shelley is

relevant to Frankenstein because it interpret birth into

different meanings. To both Victor and Shelley, death

resulted from creation.