CR #2: Frankenstein
Throughout the novel, there is a constant theme of death, and more specifically, an interesting fascination with suicide. In chapter 15, when the creature is telling Frankenstein of the events of his life following his abandonment by his creator, including, in this instance reading some classic novels, he mentions The Sorrows of Werter and claims that “the disquisitions upon death and suicide were calculated to fill [him] with wonder” (Shelley 70). This statement results in more emphasis being put on other moments when he makes reference to suicide. When the creature is describing to Frankenstein the effect his reflections on whether or not he is a monster, he exclaims, “Of what a strange nature is knowledge!…I wished sometimes to shake off all thought and feeling, but I learned that there was but one means to overcome the sensation of pain, and that was death” (65). When he describes the scene where the cottagers finally see him and proceed to beat and reject him, he wonders, “Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed?” (75). He tells of, after killing William and framing Justine, how he wandered around the scene of his crimes “sometimes wishing to see [Frankenstein], sometimes resolved to quit the world and its miseries forever” (79). In each of these moments, the reference to suicide serves to heighten the negative emotion evident in the creature and show how much he despaired his circumstances. Yet though it would seem that suicide is the negative end of a negative existence, it also, given the context seems almost as a way of setting him free of his monstrous existence and relieving him of his misery. He always wonders about or asks for his death after something negative has occurred. When his acquisition of knowledge leads his thoughts down a dark path, he wishes to escape through death. After he is beaten and loses his last hope in finding kindness in humanity, he wishes he had killed himself. After killing William and essentially Justine, and therefore solidifying his position as a monster, he resolves end this misery through his death. His fascination with death and suicide, typically avoided, shows them in a different light, where they are not something to be necessarily afraid of, where people see it as a problem and attempt to live longer, but longed for as a remedy to life.
This post is very strong. I like how you are doing a follow the trail but you ground your excursion in an extended discussion of the reference to The Sorrows of Werter. I kind of wish you had gone a little further in terms of giving us a sense of what The Sorrows of Werter is. You tell us the creature’s take away, but you could have also contextualized the allusion a bit more for us. ‘
I think you do a very good job of gathering the various textual moments in which the monster expresses a consideration of suicide. I think the sheer illustration of the many times is actually compelling in itself. I also like that you are attentive to the ways in which there is a potential catharsis and release promised in these constructions of suicide (and not merely an expression of intense degradation). Right now I feel like you kind of stay general about what that potential release means in relation to the novel. Like you say it’s not just bad but maybe a good thing, but you don’t connect how suicide as a potential release is related to the conditions of being a monster. I mean you say it will release him from his monstrous condition, but what of that? Why is suicide more of an option or contemplation for the monster than Frankenstein who also as the narrative goes on seems to live a wretched existence? What is it about monstrosity that can only find sanctuary in suicide?
I know that’s a hard question but 1) it’s in the text that you’re looking at and 2) you’re a very good reader and a clear writer, so I will expect you to push yourself this semester now that I know what you can do.