Response 2 – Frankenstein

Most people have probably heard of the name “Frankenstein” before sometime in their life, but most people (like me prior to taking this class) most likely have not read the book. Before reading the story I assumed Frankenstein’s Monster would be a psychopathic creature with no emotions, but after reading the book I realized that the monster was actually very human-like with intelligence and feelings but is cursed with this hideous appearance that prevents him from making any progress in his life. Victor Frankenstein wanted to appease his own curiosity and ego by giving life to inanimate (random body parts dug up in a grave) objects and wanting to make his product address him as it’s creator. The monster demonstrates high level of intelligence as it picked up human language and even learned to read. The monster is also capable of having emotions as it starts feeling lonely because everyone is afraid of him, so he forces Victor to create him a female companion and threatens him to kill his loved ones if he does not comply. Victor attempts to construct him a companion but ends up destroying her instead so the monster kills his wife. I personally enjoyed this story much more than “Castle of Otranto”. Even though there are monsters and pseudoscience involved in the book, the fear that is produced by this story is much more relatable. The underlying message to this story may be that man should not attempt to create human life as it may turn out to be a monster. Or maybe you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.