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Frankenstein - Episode #4 - Victor and the Monster argue the nature of man to a frightful conclusion!

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Hi, My name is Christy Shriver.

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And I\\u2019m Garry Shriver, and this is the How to love lit Podcast.\\xa0 Today we finish our discussion over mary shelley\\u2019s classic horror tale- Frankenstein.\\xa0 This is the fourth and final episode in this discussion- and we certainly have been all over the place in terms of the range of ideas she\\u2019s incorporated- and looking at \\xa0my notes, we\\u2019re stretching even farther today.\\xa0 In episode one, we primarily discussed Mary Shelley, her life and the influences that help create the context for the novel.\\xa0 In episode 2, we go through the letters that precede chapter one and set up the narrative structure, in fact we discuss the three narratives that help create this unusual frame story structure.\\xa0 We discuss the setting of Geneva and one its favorite sons, Jean Jacques Rosseau- whose ideas weigh heavily in this book.\\xa0 We also talk about the science of the day, galvanism and the current events that were affecting everyone\\u2019s understanding of electricity, then at the end of the episode we discussed the creation of the monster itself and Victor\\u2019s bizarre reaction to what he had made.\\xa0 Last week, we got around to exploring the feminist criticism that has always circulated and evolved greatly since people understood this famous novel was written by a woman.\\xa0 We laid out the most common highlights as far as what critics have brought out over the years as to the gender-politics surrounding the novel- then we arrived at third narrative where the monster finally gets a voice.\\xa0 We discuss, albeit not as deeply as we would have liked, some of the broad ideas Shelley brings out through the monster\\u2019s experiences, the family he stalks and the books he reads. We finally land at Milton\\u2019s \\xa0Paradise Lost, and how the monster interprets his existence through this theological/social lens.\\xa0 We discuss how the monster sees himself as a victim- a person born good- desiring good and capable of great good who has turned evil out of necessity. We see that he views himself as Adam- and Victor as God.\\xa0 But then at the end we see that the monster also identifies with Satan- he sees himself capable of great revenge, but not just revenge- great evil.\\xa0 And I think that\\u2019s where we left off.

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Well, you left out only one thing- all of this was a set up on the monster\\u2019s part.\\xa0 He\\u2019s not just Satan in his capacity for great evil- he\\u2019s also capable of great seduction- this entire monologue served only one purpose- he wanted something.\\xa0 He\\u2019s willing to promise all sorts of things to get it but he wants something.

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Oh yes- he does.\\xa0 He wants Victor to make him a female monster, a companion.\\xa0

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Yes- and it is here in chapter 17- where we are faced with the Rousseau-question again as to the nature of man.\\xa0 Who\\u2019s good?\\xa0 Are we all good? Are we not?\\xa0 Is the monster good?\\xa0 Is Victor good?\\xa0 And Shelley has not made it easy for us?\\xa0 Not even to decide what constitutes a good person?\\xa0 If you can make a person good are they naturally good? Can you make them evil? And if they\\u2019re evil- can you change them to good? Is there fluidity between the two? Of course, she creates for us an array of perfect people- Every single person in Victor\\u2019s world is good; Elizabeth, his mother, his father, Clerval, Justine- all perfect.\\xa0 But that\\u2019s not really who we\\u2019re interested- they\\u2019re too good to be real, not designed to be relatable really.\\xa0 We\\u2019re really talking about the narrators, even Walton is at the heart of the thematic discussion but mainly- Victor and his monster.\\xa0 Victor was raised in this perfect Garden of Eden like place- and in a sense- usurps the power of God and creates life.\\xa0 He makes a creature- but does he make a good creature? Is even Victor for all of his perfect upbringing, is he actually good to begin with?\\xa0

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And it\\u2019s a good question- and probably all of us have asked ourselves about ourselves.\\xa0 Are we good and are we making good things with our lives?\\xa0 It\\u2019s a great place for all of us to find ourselves in the story.

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For sure then we add that idea we find in the title- of this play is Frankenstein- a Modern Prometheus- what did Prometheus do- he defied Zeus- he defied god- after he made man- he defied god when he stole fire at great personal cost, but he did it for man- he seemed to see himself as having a responsibility towards man and thus creates civilization- this is basically what the monster is asking Victor to do by creating a woman- take some responsibility.\\xa0 And his argument is based on a concept of justice- he\\u2019s going to say- you ethically MUST do this to be a good person.\\xa0 You OWE it to me.

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And I can imagine most readers of this book, at this point, totally agree with this line of reasoning.\\xa0 And in fact- most of us look at good vs. bad as either/or virtues that define people\\u2019s essence.\\xa0 If you are a good person, then you are not a bad person- if you\\u2019re bad you\\u2019re not good.\\xa0 So, you find yourself asking for the rest of the book- is Victor or isn\\u2019t he a good person.\\xa0 Is the monster evil or isn\\u2019t he?\\xa0 But then you have this other layer of complexity- independent of you\\u2019re good or evil- do you have rights?\\xa0 Of course, our American legal system, would say that you do.\\xa0 All of us have human rights.\\xa0 So, if we\\u2019re going to look at the monster as human, and that\\u2019s another question, but if we agree just for the moment that the monster has even the most basic of human rights- Surely he is owed something- surely he is owed the most basic of human rights- fellowship into the community of man.\\xa0 Human morality or our idea of reciprocity demands something here. \\xa0Doesn\\u2019t he deserve something for being alive?\\xa0 As Shelley brings out on the title page- he didn\\u2019t ask for life.\\xa0 It was given to him against his will.\\xa0 \\xa0And the language the monster uses here is all about right and wrong.\\xa0 He says, \\u201cI demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse me.\\u201d\\xa0

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True- and perhaps this is why Shelley says it\\u2019s a \\u2018modern Prometheus\\u201d and not just Prometheus- Prometheus definitely saw himself as having an obligation to humans.\\xa0 He steals fire, he creates civilization- he actually sacrifices himself completely for humanity- but it doesn\\u2019t seem that our modern Prometheus really will view himself with that kind of responsibility towards his created being- and really never has.\\xa0 He flat out says, \\u201cI do refuse it\\u2026. I will never consent. \\xa0\\xa0So the qualifying word is modern- are modern people different?\\xa0 And are they right?

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Well \\xa0the creature has an opinion about that.\\xa0 He comes back with the argument, \\u201cyou are wrong..I am malicious BECAUSE I am miserable\\u2026read to the end of the page\\u201d

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And so the monster appears to land at a threat- if you want to see it that way.\\xa0 Or perhaps you can see it as a mere consequence for the total selfishness of the modern Prometheus- this will be the natural consequence of this irresponsible action.\\xa0

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Quite possibly- and what I find fascinating is that irresponsibility really was Victor Frankenstein\\u2019s hallmark from the beginning of this entire project.\\xa0 If you were to pay attention to the details of when he created the monster- the text says that he created him to be so big because he found it too tedious to make things small.\\xa0 It was extra work to worry about the details- which of course obviously it is.\\xa0 It was slowing the process and he wanted to hurry up and make his human so he go have the fun part of giving it life.\\xa0 That\\u2019s really not being responsible for life- or at least thinking about what you\\u2019re doing.\\xa0 And here after Frankenstein hears this entire tale, he considers the reasonableness of this argument and says, \\u2018I felt that there was some justice in it\\u201d but then later on he looks at him, and he says, \\u201cbut when I looked upon him, when I saw the filty mass that moved and talked, my heart sickenened and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred.\\xa0 I tried to stifle these sensations: I thought that as I could not sympathize with him; I had no right to withhold him the small portion of happiness which was yet in my power to bestow\\u201d- he agrees to the request, but he does not sympathize- there is not a shred of compassion- and the reader is left with another question- how is this possible- how can you not have feelings when this creature that you made- who goes around not even killing animals- he\\u2019s a vegetarian for goodness sake- tells you that all he wants is to not be alone- who\\u2019s the monster here?\\xa0 Who\\u2019s good and who\\u2019s evil?

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Oh dear- and you\\u2019ve landed at that confusing place where Shelley will never let you find your feet not even at the end of the novel.\\xa0 What most students want to do is go back and forth- trying to decide \\u2013 first we want to see that the monster is good- he does good things here. He\\u2019s saved a person there.\\xa0 He\\u2019s helped a family.\\xa0 But then we have to vascillate to the opposite position.\\xa0 He\\u2019s evil.\\xa0 He kills people.\\xa0 But maybe he doesn\\u2019t want to kill people- but is that true?\\xa0 Then why do it/. It seems he very much wants to kill people?\\xa0 So you can say, but he wants to kill people because Victor hurt him first? Then you have to ask, is that a thing- can you just say someone else made you evil?\\xa0 Do the rules of the universe grant us that?

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\\xa0Not everyone in the world becomes evil because they are mistreated, btw.\\xa0 I\\u2019d say not even the majority.\\xa0 There are lots of people that have experienced extreme suffering and did not turn into a monster.\\xa0 Not even in this story is that true.\\xa0 Mary Shelley cleverly makes Justine, the monster\\u2019s second victim, a victim herself of abuse by her own mother- and she doesn\\u2019t choose evil. \\xa0

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\\xa0But let\\u2019s say you excuse the monster, and totally say it\\u2019s not his fault for killing Victor and setting up Justine then you drop all that on victor- it\\u2019s Victor\\u2019s fault.\\xa0 And if you land there- is Victor evil?

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Good question- and by the end of chapter 17, Victor is again in utter despair.\\xa0 He weeps and he has suicidal thoughts.\\xa0 He apparently walks all the way down the glacier back to Geneva and into his dad\\u2019s house looking like a crazy person.\\xa0 But still he never tells a soul what is happening.

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Which brings us to the final big thematic ideas that I really want to introduce as we talk about this book- and I already introduced them in episode 1- but we are really going to see them expressed in so many different ways in the rest of the book; the ideas of remorse, secrecy and isolation- and the relationship between the three.\\xa0 What do you think is going on here?\\xa0 Why is he so sad? Is this remorse?\\xa0 Why won\\u2019t he tell his family?\\xa0 What is the result of him isolating himself further and further away from those he loves?

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We\\u2019ll have to figure out what you say in response to this question

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Shelley- makes a huge point- in fact- it may be the only point- of the next chapter to highlight this isolation inside of Victor- instead of marrying Elizabeth and going towards a place of human intimacy- he runs away to England. His father, in an attempt to perhaps keep his son from going crazy, recruits Clerval to go with him- and when we see these two guys side by side- we are very much aware that being by yourself and being isolated are not the same thing.\\xa0 Clerval- our almost perfect human counterpart- is always happy.\\xa0 He gets out by himself \\xa0a lot actually- often in nature- alone- but he is never once described as\\xa0 sad or lonely at all.\\xa0 He drinks in the beautiful English scenery.\\xa0 \\xa0He makes friends.\\xa0 He adores everything and everyone.\\xa0 For Victor, he says, \\u201cCompany was irksome to me.\\u2019\\xa0 He hates people.\\xa0 They visit all these beautiful places and Clerval just soaks it all up.\\xa0 Meanwhile Victor starts to worry about making the monster.\\xa0 It had been a long time since their mountain chat, so he decides to ditch Clerval.

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I do want to point out that Shelley clearly knows her geography.\\xa0 She has these two go everywhere gives very detailed descriptions of the places they visit and how they get from place to place.\\xa0 They travel all over until Victor finally isolates himself on what he calls \\u201cone of the remotest of the Orkney\\u2019s.\\u201d\\xa0 And quite honestly, since i\\u2019ve never been to Scotland, I wanted to look up where this was and see what exactly was drawing Shelley to this particular spot.\\xa0 And I have to admit, this is a\\xa0 pretty impressive setting choice.\\xa0 First of all, the Orkney\\u2019s is not just one thing- it\\u2019s an archipelago but it also contains a group of 70 islands, and of those only 20 are inhabited. \\xa0The largest called \\u2018the mainland\\u2019 is a little over 200 sq. miles.\\xa0 It is off the north coast of Scotland- and today if you look at the pictures it\\u2019s absolutely stunning full of cliffs and rock features-and honestly is a honeymoon destination with apparently lots of incredibly fresh good food.

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Well, I\\u2019m not sure it was a tourist destination in the 1700s- ha!!\\xa0 But there are things about this spot that make it as you say, an impressive choice- first of all- it\\u2019s in the north, it\\u2019s cold, it\\u2019s windy, there are lots of waves, fog, rain- all the things that make for a scary horror tale.- especially if you need a spot to make a monster.\\xa0 But, really more important than that- if there is anything more important than being in a scary place to create another monster- what Shelley has done here is totally isolate Victor from anyone and everyone- not just emotionally but literally physically.\\xa0 He has run away to an extremely remote place- and this place is somewhat challenging physically. This setting symbolizes Victor\\u2019s total aloneness- except ironically he\\u2019s not alone- he\\u2019s alone with the monster.\\xa0\\xa0 And here we see the metaphor- monster as secret kind of really takes on a very very vivid image that a lot of us can relate to.\\xa0 It\\u2019s always with us, but horrible and hideous.

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I do think we can relate to this- and we can understand how he feels- and again, I know I keep saying this- but this is what impresses me so much with Mary Shelley\\u2019s age- how does she do this at 18?\\xa0 Psychologists tell us that we understand the world through stories.\\xa0 It\\u2019s how we orientate ourselves and are able to kind of sort out our decisions.\\xa0 We think it\\u2019s by deductive reasoning or lining up pros and cons, but it\\u2019s not- we see the world as stories.\\xa0 \\xa0Let\\u2019s just look at this book- as a way of kind of fleshing this idea out- one way to see what I\\u2019m talking about it looking at this book as a framework to understanding addiction- which I know many people have done and written extensively about.\\xa0 \\xa0\\xa0\\xa0In fact, and we really don\\u2019t have time to go far down this path but it\\u2019s a very interesting- especially in a context where addiction is a contemporary cultural hot topic.\\xa0 So, at this time in history in England, as well as America, drug use, especially in the crowd that Shelley ran with was a huge thing- Lord Byron used them, her husband was a drug user- everyone in the arts crowd was- even Charles Dickens.-\\xa0 Drugs were not illegal nor hardly taboo- they were common and until 1868 you could get them anywhere\\xa0 No one really knew about drug addiction- it was not a thing.

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HA! Ironically, it\\u2019s in the book- in the next chapter we\\u2019re even going to see Victor in just a little bit take laudaman- the drug of choice of that day to kind of help his anxiety after Clerval\\u2019s death

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Well, if you want to look at the book through this lens , and it\\u2019s a very modern way of looking at the book, what \\xa0we see beautifully illustrated is the isolating effects a person\\u2019s addiction can have and the sheer power of the secret one is forced to create.\\xa0 In Victor\\u2019s case, and just pretend that the monster represents an addiction, he keeps his addiction secret at all costs- even though it causes him to lose family members- he holds on to his secret- let\\u2019s people die, let\\u2019s people take blame, but all the time feeling more and more responsible, more and more trapped, more and more alone, bargaining with the addiction- but ultimately finding himself in a place- where he is absolutely alone\\u2026except with the addiction.\\xa0 I think this is one of those places, where readers people can really relate with Shelley.\\xa0 Addiction is just one example, but it\'s a good one.\\xa0 There are things, secrets, that we keep, we hate ourselves for keeping them, but we have reasons we can\\u2019t let go of, and we watch ourselves being destroyed by some monster.

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Funny you should bring that up because one thing I have played around with talking about but could never figure out where to put it into the conversation is Mary Shelley\\u2019s constant quoting from the poem called the Rime of the Ancient Mariner- which was written by another romantic poet named Samuel Coleridge who really struggled with addiction and who wrote this poem, in part, some have argued about the isolating feelings caused by his addiction. \\xa0I don\\u2019t want to go down that rabbit trail, but this poem It\\u2019s quoted in the narrative from the monster, but in several other places all the way to the end of the book- and if you are a poor unfortunate soul that is tasked with writing a paper on this book, looking at this poem and the connection between it and the book, would be a great one. \\xa0Anyway, we need to get back on track.

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By chapter 20, it\\u2019s been three years since Victor made the first monster and now he\\u2019s about to make the second- except he doesn\\u2019t. And I\\u2019m going to resist the temptation to get back into gender politics- but it\\u2019s a natural place to do so because he\\u2019s reasoning for not making the woman is because of the power of reproduction. He doesn\\u2019t want to make a \\u2018race of devils\\u201d.

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Well, gender-politics aside- that\\u2019s fair enough.\\xa0 Don\\u2019t you think?

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For sure, and it\\u2019s about time he started thinking about possible ramifications of his actions. \\xa0It seems, when he thinks of the idea of making a woman- he starts to have all these thoughts, that he didn\\u2019t have the first time around.\\xa0 The monster has promised to be good, but what if the woman monster doesn\\u2019t want to be good? Who\\u2019s going to control her? He goes down this slippery slope to finally say- I could be responsible for the end of the human race.\\xa0

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And with that thought in his mind, he looks up and there he is- the monster- grinning- but what he also sees beyond the smile frightens him more, he sees malice and treachery.\\xa0 So he makes a decision, an emotional one, but a definitive one- he tears up the girl right before the monster\\u2019s eyes.

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And that is not well-received.

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No- not at all- beyond all the howling- then coming back and engaging in an intellectual tangle- the monster ends with some of the famous phrases people remember from this book, Do you want to read them.

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You can blast my other passions; but revenge remains- revenge, henceforth dearer than light or food! I may die; but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery.\\xa0 Beware, for I am fearless, and therefore powerful!\\xa0 I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom.\\xa0 Man, you shall repent of the injuries you inflict.\\u201d\\xa0 And then finally he ends with these foreboding lines, \\u2018It is well I go.\\xa0 But remember, I shall be with you on your wedding night.\\u201d

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Of course, every smart reader who reads these lines will suspect various scenarios as to what the monster could mean- but not Victor- he\\u2019s only open to a single interpretation of this phrase.\\xa0 He says this, \\u2018In that hour I should die and at once satisfy and extinguish his malice.\\xa0 The prospect did not move me to fear; yet when I thought of my beloved Elizabeth, of her tears and endless sorry when she should find her lover so barbarously snatched from her- tears, the first I had shed for months, steamed from my eyes and I resolved not to fall before my enemy without a bitter struggle.\\u201d\\xa0 So, he cries over his own death- except it\\u2019s hard to know if he really thinks he\\u2019s going to die.\\xa0 I really don\\u2019t see him ever act afraid of the monster. He\\u2019s actually even physically attacks him a couple of times.\\xa0

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Well, clearly he should be afraid- but obviously not for himself.\\xa0 But getting back to isolation for a minute and revenge- I think this is another place in the book where we see a lot of Mary Shelley\\u2019s own possible emotions coming through.\\xa0 I can imagine most of us have been in a place where we felt so so angry at a person, so so alone in the world that we wanted to act out in this way, the line \\u201cyou shall repent of the injuries you inflict\\u201d cuts at the heart of we all feel when we\\u2019ve been deeply betrayed and all we want to do is lash back, except most of us don\\u2019t actually act out these impulses.

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And an anonymous 8 foot monster I guess is a good fantasy- standing at a much inferior 5 feet one half inch- I can attest to that, I suppose.\\xa0 Anyway, Victor, at this place tosses the girl monster body parts into the ocean and somehow manages to fall asleep in a boat and roll across the waterway to Ireland- another setting in this book.

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And I find Ireland, again to be a very interesting choice.\\xa0 Of course, we know Shelley spent time in Scotland, so that makes sense, but Ireland brings in another historical angle that\\u2019s worth a sidebar.

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Why do you say that?\\xa0 I think it\\u2019s great that the Irish are the only ones that don\\u2019t fall head over heals in love with Victor- in fact, they slap his rear in jail- and ironically in one way of looking at it- he\\u2019s as guilty as they say he is.

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True, but what\\u2019s interesting to me about this choice of setting is the obvious political antagonism that existed during this time period between the British and the Irish.\\xa0 At this time,\\xa0 Ireland was a British colony- and you know where there is colonization there is resentment towards the colonizers and racism towards the people of the colony- and this is no exception.\\xa0 During Shelley\\u2019s lifetime- there was extreme prejudice against the Irish from the British.\\xa0 In fact, and this is just horrible the term \\u201cIrish Frankenstein\\u201d is actually a term.\\xa0 If you google it, you\\u2019ll send a large quantity of political cartoons portraying Irish people as loafs, stupid, uncultured, backwards, lower level sometimes even psychopathic people- by modern standards we find it truly appalling and today you would NEVER see anything like that in commercial media.\\xa0

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So, in a sense, I guess you can say, that with Shelley sending Victor to Ireland, she\\u2019s symbolically sending into the vast Netherlands of exile- physically as well as emotionally- to live with the undesirables- outside of fashionable or even good society.\\xa0

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I think an English person at that time period, might see it that way.\\xa0 They would certainly say he\\u2019s fallen from the great heights of a polished fancy medical school to being in jail by people they find beneath them.\\xa0

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And of course, by now, he\\u2019s far from home, his best friend is dead, his brother and his brother\\u2019s nanny is dead.\\xa0 His career is basically dead, or so it seems.\\xa0 This is the first time, we really see Victor exposed to any consequences of an outside nature- I guess showing that sooner or later- secret or not- you cannot run from the consequences of a lie!!\\xa0 And he is living a lie.\\xa0 And of course, this is the place in the book, upon leaving Ireland that we see Victor resorting to drugs to try to get to sleep- an unnatural reality- even farther away yet.\\xa0 Except even after taking a double portion of laudaman, he cannot run away- instead of a drug induced sleep- he experiences a drug induced nightmare where he feels the monster strangling HIM.

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If you\\u2019re wondering where we are in the book, it\\u2019s in chapter 22, where we see Victor\\u2019s father and Victor traveling back to Geneva through Paris- and again we get to hear a different voice- we get to hear the voice of Elizabeth as she basically confronts Victor for his lack of romantic interest in her- basically saying, it\\u2019s okay.\\xa0 If you have another love interest, it\\u2019s fine, just let me know.\\xa0 And it\\u2019s a letter of true love because she really wants his best- although she feels zero reciprocity from him.\\xa0 As with all of his relationships, especially at this point, he takes but does he cannot give back far beyond when it was obvious she shouldn\\u2019t and because of that decision on he part, she will suffer extreme consequences.\\xa0

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Of course, there are obvious social reasons, Shelley makes sure to make obvious for Elizabeth\\u2019s choice here.\\xa0 And, I think even a 18th century reader would see the irony inherent in this letter.\\xa0 There is no way not to be entirely sympathetic for Elizabeth at this point.\\xa0 Even Victor\\u2019s father finds him deranged.\\xa0

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\\xa0 And here if we look at the two main characters- we have to ask ourselves- the monster is obviously bad because he hurts peple, but Viftor hurts people to even if it is covert and less obvious?\\xa0 Are they more similar than would initially appear?

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Well, that\\u2019s a great question- and what happens next in the book absolutely heightenes that.\\xa0 After they return to Geneva, Victor and Elizabeth marry, although he does express the fact that she last lost some of her beauty (the scmuck)- they marry, he promises he\\u2019ll tell her his \\u201csecret\\u201d the day after their wedding, and then they take off across the lake- and we\\u2019re back into Gothic world.\\xa0 It\\u2019s dark and of course- here comes the rain.\\xa0 They get to their spot, Victor leaves Elizabeth alone to walk around up and down the house- supposedly looking out for the monster, but I find myself believing him less and less by this point in the book- but regardless he hears a \\u201cshrill and dreadful scream\\u201d and of course she\\u2019s dead, and the grasp of the monters\\u2019 grasp is on her neck.\\xa0 What\\u2019s even more interesting is that the monster sticks around.\\xa0 He watches Victor, grins at Victor and points to the dead body.

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And of course, now, after all these people die, Victor finally feels the surge of hate and revenge that the monster has been describing for a long time now.\\xa0 We see Victor speak of revenge and we see Victor finally take some initiative.\\xa0 He goes to the magistrate and wants to hunt the monster down.\\xa0 This is something we haven\\u2019t seen at all, regarding any of the other deaths.

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That\\u2019s true, and I find that really hard to understand?\\xa0 Why now?\\xa0 He doesn\\u2019t seem to love Elixabeth any more than anyone else that died.\\xa0 What\\u2019s the difference?

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I can speculate, but it seems like the Victor finally breaks.\\xa0 If you want to say like father like son- the monster is like Victor, except didn\\u2019t have any of the social structure, culturally or emotionally to contain himself- so he broke pretty much immediately \\u2013 although not immediately= but Victor is broken and we see him sound a lot like the monster.\\xa0 He speaks of despair and then rage- and these have been the controlling emotions of the monster from the beginning. Listen to these quotes and these are not from the monster, they\\u2019re from Victor, \\u201cLet the cursed and hellish monster drink deep of agony; let him feel the despair that now torments me.\\u2019\\xa0

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And of course we end the novel with these two alone in the world.\\xa0 Victor\\u2019s father dies of heartbreak.\\xa0 Victor\\u2019s going to leave again- leave his \\xa0only surviving brother- he can\\u2019t let the obsession go- he ventures out pursuing the monster for months- and this gets quite unbelievable- but that\\u2019s okay- they get their dog sleds and we end up where we began- in the north pole.\\xa0 And we\\u2019re back to Walton\\u2019s letters to his sister.\\xa0 \\xa0\\xa0It\\u2019s kind of strange dynamic- the reader is somewhat pushed out of the narrative.\\xa0 We\\u2019re pushed farther away from the action.\\xa0 We\\u2019re moving back and been given the freedom to look at these two characters with a little more distance, more objectivity- and I think you\\u2019re right- we do sort of see them as kind of, if not the same person, two characters that are very very similar- even if one is actually a serial killer- and like Walton, we ask ourselves.\\xa0 Ugh- how close am I into making a monster?\\xa0 How close and I into making myself a monster?

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I really think, if I had to guess, that is what makes Frankenstein so popular from generation to generation- in spite of the science being outdated.\\xa0 In spite of the language being so hard to read.\\xa0 Mary Shelley has shown us, that like it or not, perhaps there is no clear cut difference between a good person and a bad person.\\xa0 She\\u2019s played around with our minds this whole book as we\\u2019ve tried to decide who is a good person and who is a bad person- and the answer she gives us is yes= and you\\u2019re it.\\xa0 You are capable of good; you are also capable of evil, and perhaps you are even capable of making someone else evil.

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I think so, and likewise, she honestly expresses how it feels to be that person who is rejected.\\xa0 And many of us know how that feels.\\xa0 How does it feel to be cruelly neglected, pushed away, stolen from in deep and personal ways.\\xa0 The pain of the monster is one of the strongest sentiments in the book- and we understand it.\\xa0 What I find interesting in the way she ends the book, is that in some ways- the monster doesn\\u2019t hate Victor.\\xa0 He resents him, but he doesn\\u2019t hate him.\\xa0 He follows him, he allows Victor to follow him, he maintains the connection until the very end and it is only after Victor dies that he reaches again to connect to another human being- and his connection this time to Walton is not to murder anyone.

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No, It is to express this last emotion of a book that is full of emotion and the final emotion is remorse. \\xa0Let\\u2019s read these final pages- page 195.\\xa0

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\\xa0The monster expresses deep remorse over what he has done and promises to kill himself.\\xa0 Then he jumps out of the window and away he goes.\\xa0 Do you think he really kills himself?

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Ha!\\xa0 That\\u2019s a good question and Mary Shelley won\\u2019t answer for us.\\xa0 I guess it wouldn\\u2019t be horror if the monster couldn\\u2019t at any time come through our window on a cold and stormy night- but honestly, I\\u2019m left with the feeling that he is going to kill himself.

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Me too- because it\\u2019s sad.\\xa0 This is a book entirely devoid of redemption- every one loses- well, maybe not everyone- Walton is the last man standing.\\xa0

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Yes- and I think he is redeemed- he, like us the readers, takes a good look at this life, applies the lesson of Frankenstein, and says- I\\u2019m going home.

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And on that note, I think we can finally leave Victor and Mary.\\xa0 Mary is sending us home- whatever that means to us- home to our families, home to forgiveness, home to a more balanced life between work and family, home away from personal ambition- I guess it\\u2019s open ended- with only one point of agreement- I don\\u2019t want to be that guy or \\u2026those guys- the monsters Frankenstein!!!!\\xa0

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