Horror expert Wolf's sublime edition of this literary masterpiece features in-depth and extensive notes on all the novel's most interesting aspects, plus biographical information revealing how Mary Shelley's turbulent personal life influenced her work. Beautifully illustrated with original line drawings.
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3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Frankenstein's Monster is the Victim,
By
This review is from: The Essential Frankenstein: The Definitive, Annotated Edition of Mary Shelley's Classic Novel (Essentials) (Paperback)
I read the review by "an avid book reviewer" and thought it was a horrendously warped perception to the book. The way the book is written examines the creation of the monster and the creation of evil. The real question is who is evil? Frankenstein or his monster. I think one will find the information in the book very helpful guiding himself or herself through the text, but I find it impossible to believe that anyone could compare the monster to Timothy McVeigh. I just don't get that connection when analyzing the text as Shelly wrote it. The text is very sympathetic to the monster, but the monster is most assuredly consumed with a deep hatred. I do agree with "avid book reviewer" that the actions of the monster come from oppression, an oppression that is undeniable in the text. However, I still maintain that the question remains: Who is the monster? Who creates evil? I think the only way one could truly decide the issue of this debate is to purchase the book and find out for himself or herself. Let the text speak for itself.This is one of my favorite novels of all time, and one worth looking into not only on the surface, but below the surface at the underlying message it may contain.
2 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The monster as the criminal type.,
By "an_avid_book_reviewer" (Denver) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Essential Frankenstein: The Definitive, Annotated Edition of Mary Shelley's Classic Novel (Essentials) (Paperback)
For a sociological interpretation, we can compare the monster with a perpetual criminal, especially a fugitive. Frankenstein vows, "I resolved that I would sell my life dearly, and not shrink from the conflict, until my own life, or that of my adversary, was extinquished." Frankenstein will spend the rest of his life hunting down the criminal, in vain. We see the fugitive post a landmark here and there and dare Frankenstein to catch him if he can, taunting him till his death.Timothy McVeigh serves as a contemporary symbol of the monster. Like the monster, McVeigh's mission in life became one of destruction, the Oklahoma City federal building bombing. The blast killed 168 people, none of which McVeigh even personally knew. Likewise, the monster slayed unknown innocents out of a learned hatred and resentment of society in general. The monster never made any direct attacks upon Victor, but rather destroyed all he loved and let him destroy himself in his pursuit of him. Once Victor perished, the monster promptly announced his suicide, proudly removing HIMSELF from a cruel world. With his upcoming execution, McVeigh was oddly relieved, "I'll be glad to leave..this world just doesn't hold anything for me." He has stated he was sorry that those people died but he felt they had to. Like the monster, McVeigh shows some sorrow for what he did, but feels obligated and justified in what he did. Victor's monster proved uncapturable and unpunishable, and although man has captured McVeigh, his single execution will not compensate for the 168 deaths he inflicted. So in a sense man hasn't captured him. One could compare this to the monster's reign of fulfilling his statement, "You are my creator but I am your master." His execution broadcasted on closed-circuit television as if the victims' families will find peace in witnessing his death. This fits well with the observation of Frankenstein's fiance, Elizabeth, "Men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each others blood." She said this when Justine was being executed for the monster's crime. McVeigh has stated that he feels his bombing mission was noble. Critics have called the monster a "Noble Savage" who feels compelled to do evil for an unobtainable good. As he walked away from the bomb site, McVeigh wore a shirt with a quote on the front from John Wilkes Booth as he executed Lincoln, "thus ever to tyrants" on the back his shirt has a quote from Thomas Jefferson, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." McVeigh has stated that he believes the U.S. Federal Government "is the biggest bully in the world." McVeigh has used his press attention to express his belief that he was a striving underdog in a world in which he cannot gain acceptance or be understood, which sounds so much like the monster's pleas. We do have compassion for the monster despite his barbarous murders against the innocent, if we look back at his early history. We understand the monster's innocent beginnings and that man turned him evil despite his struggle for goodness. Society gives little compassion to criminals, in part because people don't understand the beginnings of these menaces. Frankenstein, telling Sir Walton's crew about the monster, warned them not to listen to the monster's pleas; he is evil but his words are convincing, he says. Likewise with criminals, society doesn't want to listen to them or consider that they have a case that deserves compassion. Shelley presents the themes of oppression and rebellion in Frankenstein. The novel shows that oppression leads to rebellion, as the monster suffers continual oppression until he violently rebels and destroys his oppressor. The novel shows that like the Oklahoma City bombing, oppressor and rebel must meet sometime and they cannot do so as human beings. To characters such as Justine and Elizabeth, the tragic events of this story seem random and without sense or purpose. But as the reader you can listen to the viewpoints of the monster and Frankenstein and they will show you there are reasons behind all that happened. They will, however, each give you two opposing viewpoints. In this scenario, Justine and Elizabeth serve as symbols of innocent victims of crime, who often don't even know what hit them before they are dead. The monster symbolizes the perpetrator and Frankenstein could symbolize the authorities that try to apprehend the criminals.
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