Obviously some God-wannabe doctors today have not read this “ghost story” that Mary Shelley created back in the heat of 1816. With her husband Percy Shelley and a friend Polidori sharing their own stories of vampires, she came up with this strange tale of Dr. Frankenstein who molds and gives life to a horrific-looking “creature.” While the creature, a primitive male human of giant size, was not cloned, but was uniquely ugly with yellow eyes and sallow skin, doctors wanting to clone humans should take heed of the unexpected results of Dr. Frankenstein’s scientific ambitions.
This novel really irritated me, not for being a bloody, gruesome spectacle, not even for giving me the chills, but for the weak, irresponsible character who narrates the story, Dr. Victor Frankenstein. I’m sorry to say this, but he simply deserved every tortuous loss he suffered by the hands of his “creature.” After giving life to him, the doctor suddenly realized the horror of what he had done and fled from the scene. I would not be surprised if doctors become as dismayed by their clones after their eyes are opened to what they created. Here is an excerpt from the novel that illustrates his feelings:
I left the house, the horrid scene of last night’s contention, and walked on the beach of the sea, which I almost regarded as an insuperable barrier between me and my fellow creatures; nay, a wish that such should prove the fact stole across me. I desired that I might pass my life on that barren rock, wearily it is true, but uninterrupted by any sudden shock of misery. If I returned, it was to be sacrificed, or to see those whom I most loved die under the grasp of a daemon whom I had myself created. Pp 166-7
The Story Briefly
The novel begins when Dr. Frankenstein is rescued from the icy waters of a godforsaken country that he has followed his creature to. His hopes of capturing and killing the creature before he disappeared forever are completely lost and he has no more will to live. He will tell his awful story to the captain of the ship, though, before he dies. Perhaps he hoped the man would continue his chase. Maybe he, feeling guilty, wanted sympathy and to share his misery.
We meet his loving family as he grows up with a fascination for science, which takes him away for further schooling. This is when he decides to go off by himself to “conduct his experiments,” or rather to make this woeful being that would ultimately ruin him and everyone he loved. When he meets up with the creature again, the creature has learned to talk and reason from studying a family up close for years. He asks for mercy from his creator, who alone could fashion a companion that is like him so he would not be so lonely and thus be able to live apart from humans who despised him.
The doctor refuses despite understanding his creature’s plight and by doing so angers the creature into seeking (and getting) revenge. When the creature sees him dead on the ship, he is heartbroken, inconsolable with bitter grief.
My Thoughts
Ah, what can I say? I felt sorriest for the poor creature throughout. He didn’t ask for life and nobody, not even his creator, could stand the sight of him! Then when he finally confronts the doctor to ask why he made him, he is rebuked and told to go away. The doctor somehow didn’t think of the consequences of his selfish actions. It was a very depressing, irritating book for the most part, but the suspense held me to the very end, wondering if the doctor would save his wife or kill the creature.
Anyone reading this novel has to ask himself why anyone in their right mind would want to be like God and create a human life. It spawns responsibility for the unknown consequences of perhaps such magnitude that he won’t be able to handle it. I hope doctors who are “experimenting” with the ability to clone humans will pause to read Frankenstein for the full effect.
Shelley is a wizard with words from beginning to end. The version I read was a copy of the original 1818 script with footnotes and comments in the margins, which was intriguing. Her choice of words, the sensitivity she gives the creature and the way the book makes you think and see yourself in all of the doomed characters is something I recommend you experience firsthand.
We all need a reality check once in a while, don’t we?
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