Frankenstein (through the end)
October 5, 2014
Ah, what to say, what to say?
Well, in my opinion, reading through the end was quite possibly the toughest thing to do. The inaction of Victor and the cowardice of the monster to come after Victor directly was quite upsetting. When the monster threatened Victor that he would be with him on his wedding night, I imagined that there would finally be some epic clash between the monster and Victor like any good guy – bad guy story. But was I waaaaaaay off. Instead, the monster sneaks past Victor and kills his beloved Elizabeth and that too off scene. No retaliation from Victor, no hand to hand combat between the two. This was supposed to be the climax, and I have to say, I was thoroughly disappointed when this happened, but I guess if the clash happened, then I guess the story would not have existed then.
I also acknowledge that just as Victor killed the monster’s love interest, the monster reserved the right to kill Victor’s makes sense. “Quid pro quo,” but i just wish there was some sort of confrontation between the two so that Victor had the chance to avenge Elizabeth’s death.
The ending in my opinion, was not as exciting as I would have imagined either. I was under the assumption that when Victor would die, the monster would be happy until he discovered Robert Walton observing his presence. I was also under the impression that there would be a battle of some magnitude between Walton and the monster where they would lock horns and fight to the death. Needless to say, I found it disappointing that the monster, in no way, felt any positivity towards his creator’s death. The bane of his existence was forever gone and now, the monster was free from his lifelong goal to exact revenge from his creator. To think that your enemy was dead would quite likely be at least a sigh of relief for me. A heavy burden has been lifted from his shoulders, but I am curious as to why Mary Shelley decided to give the monster more misery in the end by implying that the monster would go commit suicide instead of roaming free to find his utopia like Candide.
I realize that the monster and Victor are related in more ways than simply creator and creation because I felt that there was more of a father-son relationship and that neither party was able to understand each other’s respective feelings. Though, call me biased, I felt that Victor’s shunning of the monster was extreme for any father to do to his own children. And despite the mutual hatred for each other, in the end, the monster weeps as if he had lost his only family in the world which he is not wanted in. His implied suicidal tone, seems to be of regret realizing that when he killed Victor’s family, he inadvertently caused the same pain to Victor that he himself faced. Also, by acting this way, he repeatedly damages any chance of reconciliation that he could have potentially had with Victor in regards to his birth and his plight.
I just wish that the book had a little more flavor and a little more action than all these off scene killings that the reader is presented with. If that was the case, maybe I wouldn’t have found it so difficult to comment positively on the end of Frankenstein.
October 7th, 2014 at 1:28 pm
Now that you’ve mentioned it, I did find the lack of on-screen killings to be less than striking imagery, but the aftermath, especially the state of the dead bodies, are what were explicitly described and were what sent chills down my spine. Each murdered body had bold marks on their necks to point out that the creature strangled them with brute strength. And in this pattern, I wouldn’t doubt that the same would have occurred had Victor and his creation actually confronted each other.
Aashish, you also mentioned that the relationship between Victor and his creation was a father and son type of relation, but I rather would have rather it a mother-to-child relationship. Victor as a man can’t give birth to a child, but he does so anyways by – I believe – unknown scientific means. Even though he is not naturally or surgically giving birth like that of a woman, he still spent two years of his time to birth whatever concoction he had at first thought, only to abandon it later on. The creature calls himself an “abortion” in the sense that he was abandoned, but this diction would better relate to a mother giving up her own (160).
October 25th, 2014 at 9:20 pm
I was also very surprised to find out that there wasn’t a dramatic scene between the creature and Viktor where they would face each other. I thought there would be some sort of confrontation between the two or a fight would abrupt where they could potentially resolve their conflicts in the end. However, I feel the ending was perfect for the plot as it ended up showing the true colors of each character. It was definitely striking that the creature indirectly chose to get revenge on Viktor and cause him misery by targeting and killing Elizabeth, who he was supposed to marry. Yet, if Viktor acted differently towards the creature and fulfilled his desire of getting him a companion, the situation could have been avoided. I agree with you on the fact that Viktor shunning the creature was a too extreme. Viktor and the creature had a very difficult relationship throughout the story. But by the end, it is evident that the creature isn’t a monster after all, since he felt remorse and decided to act on his feelings of regret by ending his own life.