The Story of Frankenstein

Answer

The Story of Frankenstein

            Frankenstein is as amazing as it is mysterious. The story opens with a series of letters from Captain Robert Walton to his sister, to whom he describes his exploratory mission to the North Pole. His ship hits an ice berg and becomes stuck, where he and his crew members sees an abnormally tall man being chased by another ordinary man through the ice using a dog sled. The second man is weary and almost falls and they take him into their ship. The man is Victor Frankenstein, and he begins to tell them his story leading to how he got there. Victor narrates the story of his youth, describing his family and his love of science. He later joins university to study chemistry shortly after the death of his mother. There, he learns how to create life, leading him to create a monster. He runs away from it as he sees it is hideous. The monster, dejected, runs to the forest and to many villages. The monster later understands that it is ugly and people do not want to associate with it. He learns how to read and write and tries finding his way back to Frankenstein. As he was heading back, he meets Frankenstein’s brother and he kills him as he frames Justine, who was sentenced to death. The monster asks Frankenstein to create a companion for him, a female monster, an idea for which Frankenstein rejects when he realizes it would create a family of monsters. As revenge, the monster kills almost his whole circle, including his newly weeded wife. Frankenstein devotes his life to finding and destroying the monster, a journey that leads him to the north pole. As he is dying, he asks Walton to kill the monster if he sees it. Frankenstein dies and the monster appears to pay its regard. The monster insist that it will burn itself afterwards because it never meant to be bad. The story ends with Walton turning the ship back home (Shelley, 2012). The novel is really a question of nature vs nurture – who was responsible for what and why.

            One of the major questions in the book is how much the reader should blame Frankenstein for what happened and how much the monster. Frankenstein could be regarded as irresponsible as he created the monster for no good reason. Furthermore, he abandoned his creation when he was terrified by its behold and he was also careless about protecting his friends and family. On the other hand, the monster’s decision to kill a child and Frankenstein’s family was utterly wrong. But what could be the reason as to their actions? Is it in their nature to act as they did or were they just victims of their circumstances?

I believe Frankenstein’s nature was the reason for his character in the novel. In the second chapter (Shelley, 2012), Victor becomes fascinated by the natural world as he craves for more. In his nature, he seeks to create something that has never been thought of before – he plays God. In some way, it is evident that he was a curious scientist naturally and that led him to his creation. On the other hand, the monster became angry and vengeful due to its nurture. Victor abandoned him and left him basically for dead (Shelley, 2012). He was also rejected everywhere he went, even when he saved a woman from drowning. Therefore, it was typical of him to be angry at his creator as he became vengeful.