Book report

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, also known as ‘The Modern Prometheus’ is a gothic science fiction
focusing on Victor’s inability to understand the mere fact that his actions will always have
repercussions. The novel opens in the form of four letters from Captain Robert Walton, an
explorer on an expedition to the North Pole, to his sister in England. In the final letter, Walton
relays that an exhausted man on a sledge had wandered toward the ship on an iceberg. After
convincing him to board the ship, the narrative shifts to the perspective of the man. Victor
Frankenstein, the protagonist and the narrator is a scientist who discovers the secret of life by
creating an albeit grotesque but intelligent monster. From a young age, Victor displays an
interest in science. After the untimely death of his mother, he becomes consumed with
unravelling the mystery of life. Victor throws himself into his studies thereby neglecting his family
and fiancée and eventually becomes obsessed with resuscitating the dead. Although
immediately after creating the monster, he reacts with horror and disgust and runs from the
room. This incident illustrates the conflict between Victor and his moral responsibility: he has
been responsible for making the monster and bringing him to life, but when he doesn’t like the
result, he simply rejects it. Victor fails to take full responsibility for his actions in defying the laws
of nature of which the monster is a reminder. He neither stops to think about what it would be
like for the monster nor is he fazed by the fact that he ignores his family to pursue his work. He
gets blindsided by his obsession to create life. Soon after Victor learns of the death of his
brother William and the false accusations against Justine Moritz, the Frankenstein family's maid.
The murder gives him another choice in which he can choose to act or fail to take responsibility.
He chooses the latter thereby allowing Justine to be executed, rather than disclosing what he
knows about the monster. Later the monster meets up with Victor amidst the mountain peaks
and tells him how much he had to suffer as well as about his loneliness and alienation. Rejected
by his creator and without guidance, the monster attempts to do good but is treated harshly by
humans he encounters and begins to realize how very shunned and abhorred he is. He curses
his life, his creator, and all of mankind. The meeting between the monster and his creator is
another moment where Victor has a choice to potentially turn away from his selfish path. The
plot suggests a potential resolution when Victor reluctantly agrees to create a companion for the
monster in exchange for the two of them going somewhere far away. However, the conflict is
reignited when Victor is too disgusted to carry out this plan and destroys the female monster
before completing it. Yet again, he doesn’t think about the consequences this reckless choice
will lead to. He is surprised when his friend Henry Clerval is killed, and then again when his
fiancé Elizabeth is murdered, despite the monster’s explicit statements as to how he is now
dedicated to making Victor’s life a living hell by depriving him of everyone he loves. The murder
of Elizabeth makes Victor vow to hunt down and kill the monster in revenge for everyone he has
lost. This vow gives the monster what he wants: the total attention of his creator. After Victor
pursues the monster around the world, he arrives in the Arctic and meets Walton, bringing the
story back to the point at which the narration switched from Walton to Victor. Victor’s travels
exhaust him so much that he dies aboard the ship after telling his tale. The novel climaxes with
Walton finding the monster in the room, gazing at Victor’s dead body while crying. Victor never
acknowledges the role he played in instigating chaos and tragedy that resulted in the deaths of
innocent people, as well as the torment of his own creation.
Unlike Victor, the monster expresses remorse, suggesting that in the end, he has become more
“human” than his creator. Walton also finally gets to see and hear the monster from his
perspective. The novel concludes with the monster explaining his plan to kill himself, then
setting off alone to carry out his plan.