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.

Frankenstein and poetry

Frankenstein is not hugely connected to poetry. True, their are excerpts from certain poems throughout the book, and true, you could compare the whole of Frankenstein to a rather dark sonnet. However, in and of itself, it is not poetry. However, their is one poem, or rather a few stanzas from it that seems to have connections to Frankenstein. The poem in question is "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (which is quoted in the novel on page 44). The Ancient Mariner's ship was driven towards the south pole in a storm, and a bird known as the albatross ascended on the ship and was seen as a good omen. The Ancient Mariner, out of anger or frustration or some other emotion shoots and kills the albatross with his crossbow (I feel that his reasoning for shooting the albatross is not explored well in the actual poem). His killing of the albatross begets all matter of misfortune upon him and his crew. Thusly, you could draw a conjecture between the killing of the albatross in the poem and the awakening of the demon in the novel. This is ironic because the death of the albatross is just that, death, whereas the awakening of the monster is life. But is it really? I believe that the birth of Victor's monster is not truly birth, but rather a twisted incarnation of it. The fact that it is animated out of deceased corpses makes it, in my opinion, anything but life. In particular, their is one segment that connects very faithfully to Frankenstein, transcribed below. The ship LIFE-IN-DEATH has just pulled up beside the captain's vessel, and the following occurs slightly after that-

"The naked hulk alongside came,
And twain were casting dice;
"The game is done! I've won! I've Won!
Quoth she, and whistles thrice.

...With far-heard whisper, o'er the sea,
Off shot the spectre-bark.

One after one, by the star dogged Moon,
Too quick for groan or sigh
Each turned his face with a ghastly pang
And cursed me with his eye. Four times fifty living men,
(And I heard nor sigh nor goran)
With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
They dropped down one by one.
The souls did from their bodies fly,--
They flied to bliss or woe!
And every soul, it passed me by,
Like the whizz of my cross-bow!"

Based on this passage, one may connect the death of the captain's crew at the hands of Death itself with the death of Victor's friends and family at the hands of the monster. It should be notd that although none of Victor's friends or family curse him upon death, he believes in his now twisted mind that they may have, which arguably drives him to seek vengeance. The last significant connection comes near the end of the poem, where you learn the Ancient Mariner has begun to travel from land to land to teach others by his own example, to respect everything that God has created. This is similar to the way Victor relates his tale to the ship captain, in that one may believe he hopes his tale will reach all matter of ears, and prevent others from repeating his mistake. The animation of the monster itself connects to the creation of the monster itself-If Victor had simply let things lie as they were, and decided to respect life, instead of defiling all manner of things in order to create his monster, the whole ghastly tragedy of his tale could have been avoided.

Setting(s) in the novel

Places
The monster's hovel
Inglodstadt
Victor's home
Aboard the boat (North pole)
The Delacey's home
Various towns that Victor passes through or visits

Characters
Victor Frankenstein
The monster
Elizabeth-Victor's cousin and eventual wife. She is killed by the monster shortly after she and Victor are wed.
Clerval-Victor's best friend, killed by the monster
William-Monster's first victim
Charley-Victim of the monster
Justine-blamed for the death of William
Captain Walton-Captain of the ship on which Victor is continuing the chase of his creation
The Delaceys-A family which the monster watches, and hopes to befriend. The family however, upon beholding his appearance, were consumed with terror and shunned him. It can be argued that this particular event was the turning point in the monster's life, the point at which he first contemplates murdur. Indeed, after the family departs, he burns their former dwelling down with noticable vigor.

Possible themes
Humanity's inhuman nature-It is interesting to note that before the creature is shunned, he is the picture of benevolence, a being who, although fairly clueeless about the ways of the world, does not wish to hurt anyone or anything. Thusly, one can infer that the monster's descent into evil is created not by his own madness, but rather by the judgemental nature of man.

Playing God-This is one of the more obvious themes in the book. Victor plays God simply by creating the monster, and the monster in turn plays God when he selects his victims (ergo, he is choosing who will live and who will die, based solely on his hatred of his creator). Although the monster may have justificaiton for the murdurs, he certainly does not have the authority.




Haiku
Demon Stalking now
Spawned in a dark madness
Gentle murdurer

Victor Frankenstein
Brilliant unhallowed mind
Repent for yourself

Did I solicit
thee my maker create me
from darkness raise me? (Paradise Lost, modified to fit haiku form)

Lo, twisted evil birth
Unhallowed unfortunate
Angel of murdur

Dark twisted angel
Victor's monstrous judgment error
Death at genious' hand

How hideous that
face how pure that soul until
A tragic merging

Victor Frankenstein is an aspiring scientist who hopes to make a name for himself. He quickly becomes enamored with the idea of creating life, or rather, the ability to endow life to something inanimate. Victor goes what many would consider mad, working for months at a time to bestow life upon corpses already deceased. When he finally does succeed, he immediately realizes the error of his ways, declaring his creation a monster, and fleeing. The monster, though initially benevolent, finds itself scorned by all matter of man, and turns malicious, and begins to murdur those dear to Frankenstein. Eventually, Victor reaches a decision to persue and destroy the monster, while the monster decides to do away with Victor in a final confrontation. It quickly becomes a deadly game of cat and mouse, and the novel itself opens when Victor is picked up by a ship that happens to be going in the direction of the monster he so wrongly created.