Questions

1. Why isn’t the monster named?

2. Questions of authority.
3. Frankenstein and Monster: doppleganger
4. Narrative technique

The union between Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and Percy Bysshe Shelley was not only
romantic but also literary. Percy edited Mary’s manuscript for Frankenstein and is commonly
supposed to have written the preface under her name. Frankenstein; or, The Modern
Prometheus was published on January 1, 1818, and became an immediate bestseller.
Unfortunately for Mary, this success was a single bright spot amid a series of tragedies.
From 1815 to 1819, three of her four children died in infancy; in 1822, Percy drowned off
the shore of Tuscany, leaving Mary a widow and single mother. Mary turned to her
husband’s poetry and prose, editing and publishing his Posthumous Poems in 1824 and
his Poetical Works and Letters in 1839. She spent the rest of her time on her own writing,
publishing Valperga in 1823, The Last Man in 1826, The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck in
1830, Lodore in 1835, and Falkner in 1837. Serious illness plagued Mary, and she died in
London in February 1851.
The novel tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a grotesque
but sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the
story when she was 18, and the first edition of the novel was published anonymously in
London in 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared on the second edition,
published in France in 1823.
The pursuit of knowledge is at the heart of Frankenstein, as Victor attempts to surge beyond
accepted human limits and access the secret of life. Likewise, Robert Walton attempts to
surpass previous human explorations by endeavoring to reach the North Pole. This ruthless
pursuit of knowledge, of the light (see “Light and Fire”), proves dangerous, as Victor’s act of
creation eventually results in the destruction of everyone dear to him, and Walton finds
himself perilously trapped between sheets of ice. Whereas Victor’s obsessive hatred of the
monster drives him to his death, Walton ultimately pulls back from his treacherous mission,
having learned from Victor’s example how destructive the thirst for knowledge can be.
Frankenstein is infused with elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement. At
the same time, it is an early example of science fiction. Brian Aldiss has argued that it should
be considered the first true science fiction story because, in contrast to previous stories with
fantastical elements resembling those of later science fiction, the central character "makes a
deliberate decision" and "turns to modern experiments in the laboratory" to achieve
fantastic results. It has had a considerable influence in literature and popular culture and
spawned a complete genre of horror stories, films and plays.
Since the novel's publication, the name "Frankenstein" has often been used to refer to the
monster itself, as it is in the stage adaptation by Peggy Webling. This usage is sometimes
considered erroneous, but usage commentators regard it as well-established and
acceptable. Part of Frankenstein's rejection of his creation lies in the fact that he does not
give it a name, which causes a lack of identity. In the novel, the monster is identified by
words such as "creature", "monster", "demon", "wretch," "abortion," and "it". When
Frankenstein converses with the creature in Chapter 10, he addresses it as "vile insect",
"abhorred monster", "fiend", "wretched devil", and "abhorred devil".
Speaking to Victor Frankenstein, the wretch refers to himself as "the Adam of your labours",
and elsewhere as someone who "would have" been "your Adam", but is instead "your fallen
angel" (which ties to Lucifer in Paradise Lost, which the monster reads, and relates to the
"modern" Prometheus of the book's subtitle).

In the Gothic novel, the characters seem to bridge the mortal world and the supernatural
world. Dracula lives as both a normal person and as the undead, moving easily between
both worlds to accomplish his aims. Likewise, the Frankenstein monster seems to have
some sort of communication between himself and his creator, because the monster appears
wherever Victor goes. The monster also moves with amazing superhuman speed with Victor
matching him in the chase towards the North Pole. Thus, Mary Shelley combines several
ingredients to create a memorable novel in the Gothic tradition. This way it appears to be a
‘doppleganger’, a second entity.

The concept of ‘split-personality’ became one of the remarkable areas of exploration for the
late-Victorian and modern writers, espicially inspired by Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic
studies and analyses. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and the long story
The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad are only two instanes belonging to the popular genre. In the
first, we see the same man standing for good and evil at different hours. In the second, we find in
the urge of the dominant self to hide the dormant almost a homosexual intensity. But in
Frankenstein, written much earlier in the Romantic period, we find the sheer horror of man creating
his own destroyer. Perhaps the note of protest against industrialization is felt here but along with it
come many other hints and suggestions. There’s a certain amount of romantic glory conferred on
the monster, who has been denied the faintest point of recognition, for he has no name. The
Modern Prometheus, which Mary Shelley chose as the subtitle, testifies to the ‘romantic’ urge for
questioning the authority. Here Shelley may be questioning the right of the ‘authority’ to decide the
course of life of the creatures it has ‘created’.

During a telling of Frankenstein, Shelley referred to the creature as "Adam". Shelley was
referring to the first man in the Garden of Eden, as in her epigraph:
Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould Me man? Did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me?- John Milton, Paradise Lost (X. 743–5)
Allthough the creature would be described in later works as a composite of whole body
parts grafted together from cadavers and reanimated by the use of electricity, this
description is not entirely consistent with Shelley's work; both the use of electricity and the
cobbled-together image of Frankenstein's monster were more the result of James Whale's
popular 1931 film adaptation of the story, and other early motion-picture works based upon
the creature. In Shelley's original work, Dr. Frankenstein discovers a previously unknown but
elemental principle of life, and that insight allows him to develop a method to imbue vitality
into inanimate matter, though the exact nature of the process is left largely ambiguous.
After a great deal of hesitation in exercising this power, the doctor spends two years
painstakingly constructing the creature's body (one anatomical feature at a time, from raw
materials supplied by "the dissecting room and the slaughter-house"), which he then brings
to life using his unspecified process.
The creature has often been mistakenly called "Frankenstein". In 1908 one author said "It is
strange to note how well-nigh universally the term "Frankenstein" is misused, even by
intelligent people, as describing some hideous monster”. Edith Wharton's The Reef (1916)
describes an unruly child as an "infant Frankenstein." David Lindsay's "The Bridal
Ornament", published in The Rover, 12 June 1844, mentioned "the maker of poor
Frankenstein." After the release of Whale's cinematic Frankenstein, the public at large
began speaking of the creature itself as "Frankenstein". This also occurs in Frankenstein
films, including Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and several subsequent films, as well as in film
titles such as Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Furthermore, future renditions and
adaptations of the story include an evil laboratory assistant Igor/Ygor, who does not actually
exist within the original narrative.
Narrative technique:

Mary Shelley seems to have examined and tested all existing conventions, but she found
none which could suit her: she invented her own – a hybrid of ‘Chinese box’, ‘point of view’,
‘indirections’ and Framed or Embedded NarrativeThe first narrative was taken by Walton
Who writes to his sister Mrs. Saville. Since the plot of the novel in this section is carried on
by letters, at this stage the epistolary narrative has been employed from there the
embedded structure of the narrative is taken up by Victor from chapter 1 to 10. Victor’s
narrative then gives a frame to the narratives of Monster from chapters 11 to 16. From
there again the turn of narrative is carried further by Victor up to 24 and Walton takes over
the narratives to the concluding part of the novel and the frame is closed up. The structure
is tight because of embedded narrative. It is written in 1st person narrative, but there are
three 1st person narratives. The intention of each narrative is to create some effect on the
narration. The narrative of monster attempts to convince his creator, Victor, to take his
responsibility as parent and to make a mate for him. Victor’s narrative ventures to persuade
Walton to end his journey and to destroy the monster. Through the narratives, the parallels
between the characters are sketched that linked the stories together. The ambition of
Walton turns him a potential Victor Frankenstein and his isolation from the people brings
him close like the monster. In this sense, Walton is parallel to Victor and Monster. The novel
is a recorded replica of the diary maintained by Walton, and at least stretch our imagination
so as to take what her camera covers to be real, the happening s are all real, for Mary
Shelley is not interested in narrating a story or stories, her primary intent is in Showing, and
she shows us a slide after slide of diverse people, their nature , their corrupt institutions like
the church and the courts of law; she also shows how most bourgeois societies live in ivory
towers; and evaluate a man by his descent and by his external appearance. They are not
bothered about the inner or inherent good and virtue one may have. Each slide engenders
the next and so the link at all stages acts as a progressively advancing fast video cassette till
the Principal scribe chooses to sum up. But do we find any closure? Where does the
monster go? Springs out on the raft and disappears borne by waves into distance and dark.
Walton promises to sail home, but does he? He is like Victor, an over-reacher; would he give
up his quest after having observed the tragic end of Victor? We have no answer? There is no
hint; we are on the frozen seas far remote from human habitation. The end is open. Mary
Shelley shows, not tells; My readers! see what comes one after another. And we see, hardly
knowing that the entire novel is a transcribed version. She spares none, misses nothing, and
layers after layers are coming up showing us the diverse chunks of the contemporary life. By
effacing herself completely, she gets an edge and advantage over realistic narratives: she
can expose the age-old corrupt values and equally corrupt social institutions by distancing
herself from the characters and their acts. Mary Shelley paved the way, she pioneered a
new genre-science fiction – and raised questions which have grappled the contemporary
scientists, and which are being vigorously and zealously explored by the western scientists-
the concept of re-animating a dead man, even cloning a being, manufacturing human
organs and tissues. The novel is a real tour de force -especially when its structure and the
inner texture are woven, fused, interfused and transfused.

Frankenstein is overflowing with texts: letters, notes, journals, inscriptions, and books fill
the novel, sometimes nestled inside each other, other times simply alluded to or quoted.
Walton’s letters envelop the entire tale; Victor’s story fits inside Walton’s letters; the
monster’s story fits inside Victor’s; and the love story of Felix and Safie and references
to Paradise Lost fit inside the monster’s story. This profusion of texts is an important aspect
of the narrative structure, as the various writings serve as concrete manifestations of
characters’ attitudes and emotions.
Language plays an enormous role in the monster’s development. By hearing and watching
the peasants, the monster learns to speak and read, which enables him to understand the
manner of his creation, as described in Victor’s journal. He later leaves notes for Victor
along the chase into the northern ice, inscribing words in trees and on rocks, turning nature
itself into a writing surface.