Franken-shteeeen {Mission Accomplished}

Guess what I just finished reading?

So Frankenstein wasn't the most generic piece of horror I have come across in all my years of exposure to the genre. It's certainly different from the movie by leaps and bounds. Frankenstein's the scientist, not the 'monster', and there's no lovable hump-backed lab assistant, no castle, and no crank or thunderclap of life. In fact, Victor isn't even a mad scientist in the spirit of the title. Mad maybe, as the story starts to close; by then he's lost everything and he's probably losing what little is left of his mind. Scientist? Not anymore. He deserts the vials and microscopes after beholding his creation he had bestowed with life.

Despite all that, it's still a good read if you're up to dealing with a stubborn fool in perpetual anguish. It gets frustrating as you read along because so much of it is preventable, but Victor just happens to be that special guy who manages to screw up at every turn like a professional. He claims it was his destiny to be stripped of all that brings him happiness and with an outlook like that, what could you expect? It's understandable that a guy who just discovered the Elixer of Life would be more than eager to test his theory. There's nothing wrong with that. He creates this body that's several times larger than your average man, for reasons I failed to understand, and managed to create what looked like a monster. He could have run his first experiment on an animal, which would have rendered him with less responsibility when the experiment was through, but he had to make a fellow man. No forethought there either. So what did he expect would happen? It looked more like he was setting up for epic failure {and in a sense, he had}.

So the creature is created, and Victor suddenly hates it. I understand just a little horror after you decided to play God and succeeded to your surprise, but that should have worn off or at least turned into an instant termination of the project. He did neither. He handled it like the childish fool he really was. He ignored the monster and eventually it left. Frankenstein had created a monster; not the great hulk of a man himself, but the spark of a series of events that would turn a gentle giant into a lonely and vengeful being.

Even after the events that plagued the creation, he was still willing to reason and rationalize. Now I understand--the creature had by this time murdered Frankenstein's little brother. I get that. Regardless, he explains the circumstances and is willing to compromise with having someone to share his life with. That's all he wanted. He says 'female', but honestly, if Frankenstein had a change of heart and decided to care for his creation, there'd be no need for it. The creature was suffering from loneliness, not the urge to mate. Frankenstein only complies because his creation had to resort to threatening. Even so, the scientist decides to terminate the project and sets of the chain of events that ends in his demise and the death of those he holds dear. Way to go, buddy.

I didn't hate the story though. I actually loved the fact that there was an unexpected character to sympathize with. Normally, I side with the villains in stories because I find their characters to be more interesting, but any character, villain or not, can capture my interest with the right ingredients. In this story, I saw Victor as the villain and the creature as a sort of tragic hero. The creature endured trials of the worst kind being alienated and despised solely due to his appearance. He ended up turning to murder and vengeance due to his creature's lack of care. It's strange how someone like Victor, who had a very good father figure in his life, turned out to be such a bad father to his creation. I pin it to his being young and stupid.

The other characters didn't have to suffer for his epic failure and yet they did. Fortunately this account is fictional and I'll stop feeling bad for the lot in less than a few hours.

Anyways, I hope Walton learns from Frankenstein, though it seems like he was just as full of contempt for the creature as every other man, woman, and child in the book. God forbid you were ugly 'back then', eh?

That's pretty much all I've got to say about it for now. I've other stories to read. Like I've said before, I didn't dislike the book. I'd give it a 7 out of 10. I'm sort of looking forward to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies because I read the original story {or rather read half of it and sparknoted the rest} and thought that perhaps adding zombies to the story was the best thing they could do to save it from being one of the worst pieces of literature I was forced to read.

-Peace out.