Feed My Frankenstein...

 “And Sandra's gonna use my brain to make a bigger dummy out of the other dummy." Lou Costello, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.

Frankenstein Or the Modern Prometheus

A Review by Jim Romano

Hey 1000 Bookies! Happy Halloween my friends!!!!  Our next stop on The 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die is Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley.  The story is set in Geneva, Switzerland where Ms. Shelly was visiting with her lover and his friends to escape the scandals their affairs produced in England.  The origins of how this story came to be written are more fascinating than the novel itself.  According to Mary Shelley, a contest developed between herself; her married lover and future husband, Percy Shelley; and his friend and the lover of her stepsister (and many others), the famous Lord Byron.  The contest was who could write the best ghost story amongst the three.  Eventually the two men two dropped out of the competition, but Mary kept writing. Because she kept going, Mary Shelley created one of the most recognizable characters in literary and cinema history, the Frankenstein Monster.  Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus was published in 1818, anonymously. 

The novel is very different from the many, many movies using the character, quite shockingly different.  The story is not about the monster but about the creator, Victor Frankenstein.  He is the “Modern Prometheus” harnessing lightning as the name suggests from the character in Greek Mythology.  I discovered a great quote from a 2018 New Yorker article written by Jill Lepore, “’Frankenstein’ has accreted so many wildly different and irreconcilable readings and restaging’s in the two centuries since its publication.” There are so many interpretations on the Monster and the story.  The Monster does not even have a name, although years later Mary Shelley referred to it as Adam.

I have to say, I really did not enjoy the story.  Candidly, I thought the Monster whined a lot about his loneliness and his feelings. You don’t usually see many monsters complain about their feelings.  The book is actually quite short, approximately 200 pages.  I am glad I read it though with Frankenstein being a literary icon.  I wanted to love the writing and the story, but I did not.  More interesting to me is the fairly scandalous (and tragic) life of Mary Shelley. 

Mary was the daughter of feminist Mary Wollstonecraft who died one month after Mary was born.  Her father, William Godwin, remarried to a woman that Mary would battle for many years.  Mary’s stepmother came to the marriage with two children that she treated better than Mary and her older sister, in a kind of Cinderella-esq way.  William was a philosopher, journalist and held radical political and economic ideas.  He was perpetually in debt. William would attempt to attract wealthy friends to help subsidize the financial matters in his life.  One of William’s devotees was a wealthy aristocrat and future poet extraordinaire: Percy Shelley.  Shelley would become a celebrated and famous romantic poet.  He took an interest in Godwin’s teenage daughter.  Percy was already married when he fell for Mary and they basically ran away to Paris together along with her step sister Claire.  Percy left his pregnant wife at home; she would later commit suicide when pregnant with their third child. 

Percy Shelley was a fairly large rogue.  During the trip to France, Mary discovers herself pregnant with Percy’s child.  Mary was then disowned by her father, although he still wanted Shelley's money to pay off his debts.  When they returned, Percy’s wife gave birth to his son.  He also began a romantic relationship with Claire, causing Mary to give birth to a premature daughter who eventually died after 11 days.  She would go on to give birth 3 more times, with only a son surviving.  She eventually married Shelley although the marriage was tumultuous and ended when Percy was killed at the age of 30 in a drowning accident.  Mary died at the age of 53 of a brain tumor.  It was during one of their sojourns in Europe that Mary wrote the story of Frankenstein. 

The story is written from the perspective of Mr. Robert Walton who is corresponding with his high society sister in Britain.  Mr. Walton is an adventurer who was traveling to the North Pole.  The North Pole had not yet been “discovered”, so it was one of the last great adventures on the planet.  One day on the boat Mr. Walton sees an enormous man sledding by on the ice.  The next day the captain finds another sled floating on ice near the ship.  The man is brought on and we find out it's Victor Frankenstein, and he is very ill.  As he is being nursed back to health, Victor relays his story to Robert, and they become friendly.  He lets Robert know that he is chasing the earlier man and proceeds to tell him the story.  Victor Frankenstein cannot be very old in the story.  Victor is the main character of the story, or at least he shares double billing with the Monster he creates. 

Victor is a student who goes to university in Germany.  When Victor was a teenager his mother died and the death must profoundly affect Victor, because he wants to conquer it.  He reads books by alchemists and devises a scheme to create life although he does not take into account and consequences of his actions.  I was hoping for more details in this department but there were none.  The character of Victor Frankenstein is usually minor in film or more portrayed as a mad scientist.  In the book, he strikes me as a (young) man who wants to learn and push the boundaries of science or natural philosophy.  It's more the hubris of the young than an evil crackpot.  Victor decides he wants to create life by basically re-animating dead bodies sewn together and shot through with electricity.  So, he goes about his project.  Almost immediately after its completion Frankenstein regrets his decision and looks on his monster as a fiend.  Victor leaves his domicile and goes for a walk where he finds that his best friend has arrived in Germany, where Victor is going to school.  Victor brings his friend Henry back to the house where Victor discovers the Monster has left.  He then collapses and Henry nurses him back to health.

Once well, Victor and Henry begin enjoying themselves, until Victor receives a letter from his home that his young brother, William has been murdered.  Victor heads back to Geneva right away.  As he is approaching home at night in the mountains, he views the monster and realizes that the monster killed his brother.  Upon arriving home, he learns that Justine, his brother’s governess and a fixture in their home is charged with the murder.  Victor knows she is innocent but cannot bring himself to reveal his role.  Eventually Justine is hung for murder. 

Victor then ventures to confront the monster and destroy him for killing his brother.  He finally catches up to him and the Monster laments his existence to Victor.  Victor feels sorry for his creation.  The monster is shunned in society.  Every time he goes to make friends and feel accepted, he is scorned.  He admits to killing William and framing Justine.  He says he will continue to haunt Victor until he has a companion all his own.  Eventually Victor agrees to make him a companion.  Victor and Henry soon leave Geneva for England.  Victor eventually goes to the Orkney islands to build this creation for the monster.  However, Victor has a change of heart and an attack of conscience and destroys the bride he was building.  The monster discovers this and places a curse on Victor.  Soon after Victor rows a boat from Scotland to Ireland and is promptly arrested for murder.  He discovers that the victim is his best friend Henry.  He is held in prison pending trial.  More trials await Victor with loss of loved ones.  The story’s ending finds Victor dying on the boat with Robert Walton while chasing the monster.  Walton leaves the room and a while later hears a cry and enters the room with the body to discover the monster crying after its creator.  Hubris and youth led to the unleashing of powers that Victor just didn’t understand. 

What is so fascinating to me is that the book and the line of movies are almost nothing alike.  First, like Count Dracula, who is about 80 years younger in literature, the Frankenstein Monster has been used to help characters get over as they say in wrestling.  Everyone who is anyone has battled the Frankenstein monster—Fred Flintstone; Alvin and the Chipmunks, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and  Bud Abbott and Lou Costello all battled the creature.  Boris Karloff was the first actor on the big screen and in several sequels including The Bride of Frankenstein.  When I was in high school, Kevin Branagh brought a version to the big screen with Robert DeNiro as the Monster.  The stories have been drastically changed to fit the big screen.   More adaptations will surely come out in future years.  It was a good Halloween book to read and while I did not love the book, Everyone should read  Frankenstein at least once in their lives.

 Keep Reading My Friends.