Reading Frankensteinby Mary Shelley was an interesting experience, especially after growing up in this modern age where everyone and their pet knows what the Frankenstein monster is. Ill admit one of my personal favorite movies is the Hugh Jackman Van Helsing film, that features a mix of Dracula and his wives, werewolves, and Frankenstein. So, I went into this reading feeling like I would easily understand the story plot and only have to translate it to modern speak and fight through the boredom since its obviously not going to be as action oriented as what I was used to.
Needless to say, I was very very wrong. Not in that the basic plot line wasn’t what I was expecting, but it was far more interesting to read than I imagined, and I genuinely felt pity for the monster.
During the story victor is plagued with nightmares and warnings from the Monster, which helped establish the gothic Omen/Vision tropes. To the reader it is fairly clear of the potential things that could happen and were are forced to watch with dreed when the Victor makes his mistakes.
And the horror trope of parental conflict takes center stage in this entire story, with Victor being the neglectful Father, and the monster the constrained child. He created this creature and cast them aside, wishing to abandon that which he had cursed with life. To be honest I’d be pissed too. Though most of the people I know think of Victor as the victim, he truly isn’t after reading the book. It was he who set the creature loose, and he who is responsible, and I was pleased to read that that was how he felt.
