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A review by tsushimashu
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
5.0
+ buddy read with komy and akutagawa
i think mary shelleys writing style is very beautiful and i really want to read more of it. she developed each character very well and conveyed the complexity of human psychology in a eloquent way, especially with the creature.
i find it hard to fully take a side on who was morally right and who was wrong regarding the creature and victor, despite my attempts i always come up empty handed and unable to take a side. i see both perspectives, but overall lean towards sympathizing with victor. though i can understand the creature, it’s hard for me to say that he was in the right, because objectively he wasn’t. he murdered multiple innocent people for his revenge, and then came back in the end to confess that he didn’t want to do any of that and he didn’t enjoy it (despite his face being described as a grin when victor sees him after the killings) and that he hates himself for it.
victor had loved science from a young age, and as he grew older he wanted to add something significant to the progression of the world. he thought that by creating life out of something inanimate could help him make this impact. so, he began to create the creature. after feverishly and wildly committing himself to this almost as if mad, he succeeds in his creation. however, he becomes aware of the horrifying nature of the creature and the overall repulsiveness of its appearance, thus causing him to run away. this is where i feel like he makes his first mistake; after purposely giving life to something, he has a moral obligation to care for it and raise it (as akutagawa says in her review). however, he tries to run away from his responsibility after realizing his mistake. this marks the beginning of the creatures misery, and simultaneously victors misery. after creating the creature, he tries to move on with his life, but ultimately fails as the reality of it is shoved upon him when his loved ones begin to die. victor eventually goes insane from the guilt he feels, taking on the sin of the crime that the creature committed as if it were his own. i could relate to him in the sense that i often times start things and then am overwhelmed with the consequences of it all, and try to deny and run away from it but am ultimately unable to, and i fall into the web of my own creation. so, you could say i would like to defend all of victors actions!!
the creature had been born and immediately abandoned, he was left completely to his own devices and was entirely alone. he had no one to guide him or assist him and was generally like an abandoned child in the sense that he knew nothing of the world and was vulnerable to its cruelties from the beginning, never once having protection or support from that which made him (victor). he is shunned and outcasted from everyone he crosses paths with and is increasingly miserable as he realizes that no matter what he does, he will never be accepted and will never get what he wants, which is love and sympathy. he has no one to blame for his miseries except for his creator, so he tries anything he can to make victor miserable; to the creature, it felt like if he couldnt be happy, then victor shouldnt deserve happiness either. victor had created him and abandoned him and then moved on with his life, while the creature was stuck with the consequences of his actions of having made the creature so hideous. despite all of the creatures misfortunes, his way of coping and regulating his anger and despair was extremely unhealthy and ineffective. he chose to murder innocent people and ruin lives just because he couldnt have what they had (a normal life).
i felt physically sick reading about victors condition and the effects and consequences of the creatures actions. i could really see myself in him and empathized deeply, which i almost always do with at least one character from every book i read, so though i can recognize his mistakes in creating the creature and abandoning it, i still can’t say he’s at fault for all of the misery he endured afterwards. the side characters, specifically elizabeth and clerval, also had much character depth and i found them all enjoyable characters in the story.
overall i must say that i found this book and its characters incredibly well written.
i think mary shelleys writing style is very beautiful and i really want to read more of it. she developed each character very well and conveyed the complexity of human psychology in a eloquent way, especially with the creature.
i find it hard to fully take a side on who was morally right and who was wrong regarding the creature and victor, despite my attempts i always come up empty handed and unable to take a side. i see both perspectives, but overall lean towards sympathizing with victor. though i can understand the creature, it’s hard for me to say that he was in the right, because objectively he wasn’t. he murdered multiple innocent people for his revenge, and then came back in the end to confess that he didn’t want to do any of that and he didn’t enjoy it (despite his face being described as a grin when victor sees him after the killings) and that he hates himself for it.
victor had loved science from a young age, and as he grew older he wanted to add something significant to the progression of the world. he thought that by creating life out of something inanimate could help him make this impact. so, he began to create the creature. after feverishly and wildly committing himself to this almost as if mad, he succeeds in his creation. however, he becomes aware of the horrifying nature of the creature and the overall repulsiveness of its appearance, thus causing him to run away. this is where i feel like he makes his first mistake; after purposely giving life to something, he has a moral obligation to care for it and raise it (as akutagawa says in her review). however, he tries to run away from his responsibility after realizing his mistake. this marks the beginning of the creatures misery, and simultaneously victors misery. after creating the creature, he tries to move on with his life, but ultimately fails as the reality of it is shoved upon him when his loved ones begin to die. victor eventually goes insane from the guilt he feels, taking on the sin of the crime that the creature committed as if it were his own. i could relate to him in the sense that i often times start things and then am overwhelmed with the consequences of it all, and try to deny and run away from it but am ultimately unable to, and i fall into the web of my own creation. so, you could say i would like to defend all of victors actions!!
the creature had been born and immediately abandoned, he was left completely to his own devices and was entirely alone. he had no one to guide him or assist him and was generally like an abandoned child in the sense that he knew nothing of the world and was vulnerable to its cruelties from the beginning, never once having protection or support from that which made him (victor). he is shunned and outcasted from everyone he crosses paths with and is increasingly miserable as he realizes that no matter what he does, he will never be accepted and will never get what he wants, which is love and sympathy. he has no one to blame for his miseries except for his creator, so he tries anything he can to make victor miserable; to the creature, it felt like if he couldnt be happy, then victor shouldnt deserve happiness either. victor had created him and abandoned him and then moved on with his life, while the creature was stuck with the consequences of his actions of having made the creature so hideous. despite all of the creatures misfortunes, his way of coping and regulating his anger and despair was extremely unhealthy and ineffective. he chose to murder innocent people and ruin lives just because he couldnt have what they had (a normal life).
i felt physically sick reading about victors condition and the effects and consequences of the creatures actions. i could really see myself in him and empathized deeply, which i almost always do with at least one character from every book i read, so though i can recognize his mistakes in creating the creature and abandoning it, i still can’t say he’s at fault for all of the misery he endured afterwards. the side characters, specifically elizabeth and clerval, also had much character depth and i found them all enjoyable characters in the story.
overall i must say that i found this book and its characters incredibly well written.