The other side of things

The core theme of Frankenstein is, undeniably, Don't play God. One needs to mind their boundaries and respect them or else face horrible destruction, possibly by their own hand. Other themes can be drawn from the book, but they all bear a similar tone. One possibility that comes readily to mind is 'look before you leap'. If Victor had considered what he was doing before actually undertaking the project of creating the monster, he would have been spared years of torment and possibly gone on to live a normal, happy life.

The Development of Victor

The character of Victor Frankenstein undergoes one of the more unique embellishments of a literary character I have ever seen. Instead of growing and becoming a more defined personality, Victor instead regresses and degenerates into an ambiguous madman. At the start of the novel, we see him in the prime of his life; heading off to college, brimming with genius and the creative spark that could almost guarantee him a position of glory. As the novel progresses, he begins to lose it, slowly at first, simply allowing himself to be caught up in his work is harmless enough, though it does tax his health considerably. Then, as the monsters rampage begins and all around him is slowly eaten away by despair and rage, he slips into ever deepening dementia.
He strikes me as a person very similar to Hannibal Lecter, who loses himself in order to exact revenge for a horrible crime. Victor becomes consumed with the idea of destroying the monster, while Lecter becomes a cannibal to get revenge on the men who tortured his little sister to death.

The Art of Frankenstein

At first glance, Frankenstein has almost nothing to do with art, as it primarily pertains to science rather than emotion. However, it is possible to consider Victor's creation of the monster as an artist forging some great sculpture. Many of the great sculptors of old chose the models for their pieces as representations of a physically ideal human, which is how Victor designs the creature. He chooses his features to be "beautiful in every respect", at least what he considers beautiful in his deranged state. Once it comes alive and eventually starts killing people, another kind of sculpture comes to mind; the Golem. Initially created to be the mighty defender of a villiage, the Golem eventually turns on it's creators and destroys them, just as the monster turns of Victor.

Connections between Frankenstein and other novels

Given that Frankenstein is a novel written prior to the close of the 19th century and discusses humanity overreaching it's own bounds and destroying itself, and that most of the other novels read in this class deal with discovering one's humanity, there is almost no way to connect them. One could argue that many deal with death and repression, but that is an absurdly simple connection that could connect to anything.

Connections to Music

Within the actual novel itself Frankenstein has very little to do with music at all. It's never mentioned beyond being used as a metaphor for descriptions of noises.
However, there are some pieces of music that match the novel's dark, gothic theme. One such exampel is Dragula, by Rob Zomibe. The piece of music discusses how the singer is a force of destruction and misery upon the world. He is "strangling the breeze", just as the monster killed William. The singer is also "watching angels cry" as the monster inflicts pain and suffering upon normally virtuous people. Rob Zombie is "the pool/spreading from the fool", similar to the monster spreading death and destruction from Frankensteins mistake.

Connecting Religion, Philosophy and Science to Frankenstein

Although most characters in Frankenstein are arguably flat (I mean honestly, what do you learn about Elizabeth other then that she is Victor's cousin and wife to be, and that she at one time suffered from Scarlet fever), religion, philosophy, and science are personified in one of the mian characters of the novel, this being Victor Frankenstein. In Victor we find a perverse type of science, a "student of unhallowed arts" in the words of the author. It could be argued, and is in fact is probably true, that Victor is an absolutely brilliant scientist-how could he not be, with the ability to actually create life from things already deceased. Although Victor himself does not seem to be overly religious, it becomes obvous that he does believe in the concept of the afterlife. This is evidenced best later in the book, after a numerous amount of his friends and family had been murdured by his monster. He begins to recieve dreams from said murdured companions, imploring him to move on and confront the demon. It can be argued that these visions are in fact messages from the afterlife. In Frankenstein, the best example of philosphy comes, in fact, from the monster himself. In the demon, we find what was at one time a caring soul, who, upon his creation at least, did not have the intention of harming anyone. The monster was not particularly advanced mentally...but it is very interesting to note how quickly the monster develops, reading commonly accepted great works with "Paradise Lost." The most important point however is the idea of "humanity's inhuman nature." Ergo, as the monster is shunned by civilization, so to does he shun his morality, and begin to embrace a more melevolent persona. However, at the very end of the novel, as the monster beholds the body of his creator, he repents, revealing (arguably) that despite all that he has done, and all the pain that he has been suffered by the fickle nature of man, his base instinct is still that of the caring monster he was upon conception.

Mary Shelley Bio

Mary was born on August 30th, 1797 in London, England. Her full name was Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Her mother, a famous feminist, died ten days after her birth, but her father, William Godwin, who was both an anarchist and aetheist philosopher, lived on to raise her. While in her childhood, Mary was homeschooled by her father, who gave her a strong education, and also met one Percy Bysshe Shelley, whom she fell in love with. Percy returned her feelings, and they went on a trip to France in 1814. Her father disowned her afterwords. The couple would often spend time reading classic novels and poetry. In May of the year 1816, the couple went to stay at Lake Geneva, as well as to visit a fellow writer, known as Lord Byron. It was here that Mary was first inspired to write a novel, and the group began to have a contest to see who could write the best "ghost/horror" story. Mary went to bed uninspired, but during the course of the night, had a chiling dream in which she beheld "the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together." This dream served as the inspiration for her famous work, "Frankenstein." In September of 1816, the couple returned to England, and shortly after that, Mary's half sister committed suicide. on December 10th, 1816, Percy's first wife also committed suicide, drowning herself in Hyde Park. After the death of his wife, Percy proposed to Mary, who accepted, and they were able to reconcile with Mary's father, who blessed the marriage. Although the couple had three children, two of them died, leaving them with only one son, known as Percy Florence Shelley. In 1817, Mary finished Frankenstein, which became a gigantic success, and is still commonly read today. The family moved to Italy, where Mary nearly died of a miscarriage. Her husband, Percy, went sailing on the Italian coast. This proved to be fatal, as he was caught at sea in a storm, and died on July 8th, 1822. Mary still produced work, and published many even after Percy's death, but none of them were as successful as Frankenstein. She died February 1st, 1851 due to brain cancer. She is buried in St. Peter's Churchyard in Bournemouth, England.