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Literary Analysis of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

A literary analysis of the book.

What is trying to be said by the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley?

When reading this book, one would ask themself, what is the true meaning behind Frankenstein? Some do not know the answer to this. To help with the understanding, or to get readers minds running, I have taken the opportunty to start this discussion. The sentence I have based my analysis off of is as follows: “One of the phenomena which had peculiarly attracted my attention was the structure of the human frame, and, indeed, any animal endued with life. Whence I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed?” This phrase seemed to catch my attention more than any other in the entire reading, and after thinking about it, it seems to relate to the entire story. So let’s get started! First off, when he (the speaker) relates to the structure of the human frame and animals endued with life as a phenomenon, in my mind that started the questions. Was he trying to hint at something when putting them in the same sentence? Is there even a reason why he did so, or was it just a simple statement? So now I think about this, and as I have learned about the ‘creature,’ it makes a little more sense. With the things that the creature has done, it seems as though it can be quite the animal. On the same token, when it talks about the creature working and relaxing at the De Lacey’s cottage, it can seem more humane as opposed to vicious. “There are many indications, however, that that happiness is a result of the balance he struck in his “mode of life” between labor and leisure.” If someone is able to pull this out of the story, which would in turn tell me that the creature does in fact show the human side of the equation. On the opposite end of the spectrum, this being the animal side, we look at the creature’s negative side of life. A good statement for this is one I found online, and it goes, “He offers Frankenstein peace in exchange for a companion of like origin, but when Frankenstein does not comply, he vows to destroy him and begins killing off Frankenstein’s friends and family—those figures he most envies because he does not have them.” When I read this segment of one’s interpretation, I get the impression that the creature definitely has a crazy side to it. So, in the book, when it says “an animal endued with life,” this could very well be what he was hinting at, the crazy side of the creature. Throughout reading this, this only occurred a couple times compared to the seemingly plentiful occasions where the creature seemed calm and collected. There were many occasions when the creature showed that it had human characteristics. For example, right when the creature gets created, all is well; it acts calmly, normal, not mean by any means. The only thing wrong with the creature is that it looks horrible. So horrible, that even Frankenstein can’t stand to look at him. But other than that, the creature is caring, careful, and other things that all gather around being nice, nothing to hint at being crazy. There was a time where the creature was hated on by different humans, so it caused him to become bitter towards other humans. After the little spell, it ends up calming down and running away. All of this leads up into what, in my opinion, would be the theme. I had a hard time deciding just what the theme was, just because of the different factors. It could be many things, but what I really feel stands out more than others are a theme of life and death, namely, the “principle of life.” I have asked myself numerous times throughout the reading, “What is the principle of life?” What I came up with was interesting. Before a conclusion is found, a couple things need to be asked. Is the principle of life to be nice to people all the time? Or is the principle of life to hold grudges and hurt people? Looking back at the story, it can go both ways. Granted, I feel that I speak for everyone when I say that there would certainly be a given answer to this question, but personal opinion isn’t exactly what we are looking for here. First we look at the being nice aspect. When the creature is first created, and it’s learning new things, it is very gentle and kind when it goes about its business. This would show that the principle of life is to be happy and content with things how they are. Another point, is towards the end, one writer wrote; “If the creature could be said to have any happy moments in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, they would clearly take place during his residency in the hovel attached to the De Lacey’s cottage.” Once again, things are being highlighted as ok and having nothing to worry about. Next we get to the negative side of things. In Frankenstein, this creature created by Victor Frankenstein gets pretty bad in some spots. Because of how it gets treated by humans, it gets very defensive and seemingly short with them, and takes this out on Victor by killing people close to him. When I think of the statement, “principle of life,” I don’t think there was any intention, when creating this creation, if creating something that would harm people, or even things for that matter. It just doesn’t seem like something someone in Victor Frankenstein’s position would set out to do. So this brings me back to the “principle of life,” and how it was set out to be for the better. After reading the story, Victor Frankenstein set out to create something that was supposed to be there to help with things, make things easier, etc., but what he ended up with was something much more. This all ties back to what I believe the theme is, life and death. With the main part being life, it seems that the principle in life is supposed to be happy and carefree. The death part of the theme is emphasized a few different places throughout; when the creature kills the people, and when Victor Frankenstein, the creator, passes on. Another good point, that I did not happen to fully pick up on right away, that adds to the death is a statement I found, and it goes, “After finding Frankenstein dead aboard Walton’s ship, the monster goes further north with plans to destroy himself and end the suffering that Frankenstein began when he created him.” So you see it’s all just a vicious circle, life and death. You live your life, hopefully happy and carefree, and then death hits, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

Works Cited Page 1.	Anderson, Robert. "Érudit | Romanticism on the Net N27 2002: Anderson | 'Alternate Labour and Relaxation': An Introduction." 2002. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. . 2.	Book Rags. "Frankenstein Book Notes Summary | Mary Shelley | BookRags.com." BookRags.com | Study Guides, Lesson Plans, Book Summaries and More. 2002-2009. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. .

S.k.bergeron