ENGH 351: Sci-Fi

“Julia, this blog post inspires the question, who is the monster and who is the victim? Yet, I feel that you conclude that Frankenstein is the true monster. Frankenstein and the creature have both harmed each other unto the point of death, but the creature is the only one who feels remorse. Frankenstein may have been telling the story, but he is far more the villain than the hero.” While there is no doubt that he truly is a monster, I feel as if both Frankenstein and the demon are equally to blame for the chaos that ensued. Both characters experienced events that victimized them and caused monstrous actions, which you reveal above.

However, I think it’s fair to argue that Frankenstein’s erratic behaviors of obsessing over death, grave robbing, and sewing together body parts stem from his overwhelming grief over losing his mother. It appears that Frankenstein’s actions reveal his personal search for the meaning of life. When it arrives, death enters the mind, body, and soul to create an irreversible change to the living and the dead who encounter it. This permanent change made to Frankenstein appears to spark his passion to become a creator, to re-create the change that was made to him and his mother. This strongly makes me question, had Frankenstein never met death, would it have ever possessed him to create life?

In Frankenstein, the threat of, “I shall be with you on your wedding night” is made to Victor by his demon.  In other words, the demon plans to kill Elizabeth Lavenza on the night of her long-awaited marriage to Victor.  This idea of murder on the night of matrimony is still a relevant twist in plots of today’s media.  I briefly want to compare the murderous demon of Frankenstein to Rose, the jealous sister in So I Married An Axe Murderer.

Within the film, the sister of the bride, Rose is much like the demon of Frankenstein.  She is deemed unattractive to society, causing her to be neglected, and to go mad with jealousy from her sister’s successful love life.  Eventually she, like the demon, seeks revenge on those close to her.  Rose shares a blood bond with her sister similar to the paternal nature of Frankenstein and his demon.  These familial bonds cannot ever be broken by the laws of nature.  Therefore, the jealous characters seek out to hurt those who cannot easily escape them.

Much like the threat of the demon, the warning on the dvd case playfully reads, “The honeymoon was killer.” Similar in their executions, these two outcasts commit their crimes on the night of the wedding, which is the honeymoon.  Successfully, these two prey on the lovers of those family members in which they seek to emotionally destroy.

Can you think of any other stories that involve murder on the night of matrimony?

In Volume I of Frankenstein, I noticed a reappearing character flaw in Victor.  His utter lack of responsibility continually crops up in all that he does.  His trait of irresponsibility first stood out to me when he begins his education in Ingolstadt.  Victor’s obsessive and successful focus on his studies allows for him to push his family and friends aside.  While such envelopment may understandably occur, I realized his irresponsible behaviors were dangerous once he gives life to the demon.  Instantly finding himself in utter disgust, Victor ran away from the demon instead of perhaps, restoring it to lifelessness or restraining it in some fashion.  His choice to leave is yet another example of his lack of taking responsibility.  Due to his actions, as inaction, the demon is able to escape and face him another day.

This is when a light bulb went off for me.  I realized that all of Victor’s irresponsible choices allow for his continual problems, much like a tragic hero.  Having a protagonist with a detrimental character flaw is a significant trait in a tragic hero, who must carry the seeds of his own downfall.  In the genre of tragedy, there is a trial and investigation that must occur where at the end, the investigator finds himself guilty.  As Victor experimented with nature and science in playing God, it appears that he may become a scapegoat due to the unexpected paradoxes that will occur during the trial he must face, his demon.