Frankenstein and "Being Human"
Frankenstein What does Frankenstein have to do with the study of what it means to be human? Well, in many ways, Mary Shelley appears to be holding a mirror up to each person who reads her novel and allowing them to examine themselves in comparison with not only the monster but also with Victor. She says a lot about companionship and what that means for life as a human being. Shelley uses both Victor, her main character, and the monster to show the need for companionship, the result of loss and the result of loneliness in the context of being human. Not only this but why would the creature Frankenstein created destroy every companion that Victor possessed? In every situation of loss that Victor comes into, he becomes exhausted and sick. When he loses his dream of creating a wonderful new life, he immediately goes to sleep and then falls ill for months. He falls ill also when he finds out about William’s death and then Justine’s execution. And after the murder of Henry, Victor nearly passed out and became sick for several months again. These losses are nothing, however, compared to the murder of his beloved Elizabeth. Throughout all of his loss, the illness that besets him seems to represent his emotions. It reminds me of what teenagers these days go through after a breakup. They want to sleep all day and have no interest in anything for a length of time (this tends to vary from person to person of course). Generally, though, the outward symptoms of Victor’s illness are the same to the inward feelings of heartbreak. I think Shelley is using physical symptoms to represent the emotional loss that Victor is experiencing. When it comes to the monster’s need for companionship, he is in the opposite situation from Victor. While Victor starts out with many companions and loses them throughout the course of the book, the monster begins with no companions, attempts to obtain companions, fails and by the end of the book lacks even the relationship of his creator,