Frankenstein Musical Journey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1mV_5-bRPo

This is Edgar Winter Group's Frankenstein. There are no lyrics, and I've always loved the song, but I think I have a better appreciation for the song now that I've read the book.

Frankenstein and God

Although I am sure I am not the first person to come to this conclusion, I find too many themes in Frankenstein that parallel the concept of Christianity to not at least talk about it on this blog. First, the underlying conflict throughout this book is simple: man knows nothing and is constantly trying to know everything, but will never successfully do so. For Walton and Frankenstein, there is a void that humanity cannot fill. They both look to pursue knowledge and adventure in their own ways. For Walton, that involves leading a dangerous journey through the unexplored depths of the north, and for Frankenstein it involves battling science for what is and is not possible. Frankenstein wants to know it all; wants to have the powers of God. For in this reading, I understand that Frankenstein believes a God exists. And what, for him, is God's greatest power? That of creation. It was God's vision, imagination, and creativity which gave form to the world we live in. As humans, we have very little creative power. Although we can be creative in an artistic way, and can procreate our species, our imagination cannot simply make something in the mind appear in reality. Victor sets out to prove this wrong. He has an idea in his mind, and makes that thing tangible in reality, thus playing the role of God.
Frankenstein is the creator and master of his wretch. From the inner thoughts of the monster, we see that he is troubled to live in the world of humans. Is this not completely parallel with God's creation of mankind? We have moments of compassion and love, like the wretch feels for the hovel inhabitants, but we also feel neglected and at times angry, often leading to acts of violence. How prominent is war throughout our history? We still use technology today to find better ways of murdering one another. Frankenstein gives into his angry emotions and takes the lives of Justine, William, Clerval, and Elizabeth, but in the end repents to Walton and says he feels complete shame for what he has done.
In one final parallel to the bible, Frankenstein's (in this paragraph, Frankenstein refers to the wretch) life, at points, alludes towards the life of Jesus. First, Jesus was born of a miracle, and without a biological father. Frankenstein is truly "born" without a mother or father, to the miracle created by Victor, who is reluctant to tell his secret. Jesus was human, but also something else... something beyond humanity. Frankenstein shares the same characteristics: he is human in that he speaks the same language as us, and his mind operates and thinks cognitively like a human, but he is inhuman in his incredible and unnatural form, and his physical capabilities. Both Frankenstein and Jesus are neglected in society, and at times put to shame. Frankenstein has moments of passionate rage, similar to when Jesus is enraged and throws tables outside the temple. Frankenstein's rage is obviously much more uncontrollable, for Jesus never did anything to hurt anyone. In the end, both Frankenstein and Jesus' lives on earth end because the human society simply cannot accept their presence. In a sense, Victor created Frankenstein to live in a world where he was ultimately unwelcome, just as God created Jesus to live in a world that ultimately was not ready to accept Him either, making the two of them outcasts in the same world.
"(Adam) had come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his Creator... Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition, for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me (163)." Man is flawed, and is not perfect, and that is why we were not given the ability to create life from our imagination.

the true savage

When the monster finally tells his maker his story, I see the truest version of the savage man trying to live in society. Victor had already admitted that "If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free (121)." This is a thread that runs throughout Rousseau. But this theme is even stronger in the wretch. When he is abandoned by Victor, he is left alone as an ugly, savage being. He learns the keys to survival in nature while he is in the woods, where he tries to emulate the beautiful sounds of a bird chirping: "Sometimes I wished to express my sensations in my own mode, but the uncouth and inarticulate sounds which broke from me frightened me into silence again (129)." Throughout his monologue, I see the theory of Rousseau at play. He learns to take shelter, and calls the hovel his own property, eventually learns to use language, and finally uses his imagination to think about how he can approach the cottagers without scaring them. He also only learns of his true ugliness when he starts to watch the cottagers. "I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers - their grace, beauty, and delicate complexions; but how was I terrified when I viewed myself in a transparent pool! (142) In this sense, he is truly looking at himself through the eyes of the other. He has internalized the norms of the human culture around him, and has deemed himself ugly.

Thoughts on Emma Part 1

Through much of Volume one, I find one repeating theme: people who are obsessed with what society expects of them. In Werther and Adolphe, I saw people who were trying to fit in with society. Emma is an exception. Many of the characters in this novel are identified solely by how society defines them.
Emma takes Harriet under her wings. Harriet is significantly lower on the social totem pole than is Emma. When Harriet is offered marriage by Mr. Martin, of middle class, society expects that she will accept the offer. Mr. Knightley as well supports this decision. But Emma has her choose against society. Emma wants her to have her marry into a higher class. Emma's sole purpose in life seems to be to prove society wrong. She wanted deeply to prove to Hartfield that Mr. Weston can and will marry again, even though everyone thought he never would. Emma wants to show her town that Harriet can marry into a higher class, even if society shuns it.
Mr. Knightley does not approve of Mr. Elton as a sufficeint suitor for Harriet because his manners are weak. He is constantly looking at people in light of how they are viewed in society. He says that the Churchills were never shown in a good light, but that Mr. Weston is "depending, I suspect, much more upon what is called society for his comforts (93)."

Thoughts on Adolphe

Adolphe struggles with the same problem that Werther struggled with. Both men, whether knowingly or ignorantly, conjure up insatiable visions and creations of a woman in their minds. Their imaginations completely take over their realities, and they begin to live only in their imaginations. The first support of this I see in Adolphe is when Ellenore takes her first long vacation to see friends, and Adolphe is unsure of when she will return. When he finally receives word that she is returning, his imaginations gets to work: “I visualized her smiling as I came up to her at the way in which a short absence had calmed a young hothead’s effervescence… the vision of her was floating before my eyes, holding sway over my heart. (52)”
The creation of Ellenore as a forbidden love began in Adolphe’s imagination. He even says that he was looking for some sort of game; some sort of woman who was worthy of his efforts. Because Ellenore was already married and had children, his quest would be that much more worthy. This unhealthy and obsessive love that Adolphe feels is more towards an image of Ellenore in Adolphe’s mind than it is towards Ellenore in reality. Thus, Adolphe creates Ellenore as he pleases.
Later, when he has become dissatisfied with the love affair with Ellenore, Adolphe says that, “We are such unstable creatures that feelings we pretend to have we really do have in the end. (83)” His imagination is so strong and vivid that he creates a world in his mind that would please his father. “The wife suddenly conjured up by my imagination fitted into all these visions and made all such wishes permissible;… and all these things seemed so real, so intensely alive that they made me tremble almost unbearably. (96)”
Because Adolphe is with Ellenore, he cannot satisfy his father. His father wants Adolphe to use his talents and have a wife and family. Adolphe must also have a vivid imagination where he can place himself in a world with a wife where he can please his father, like shown in the quote above.
The most important observation from this book is the distinction between reality and the imagination. As I have tried to show before, Adolphe created this divine-like vision of Ellenore in his mind. The fact that their love was forbidden only strengthened his desire for her in his fantasy. But when his fantasy is finally fulfilled, after a short while he comes to realize that Ellenore does not exist in reality as she did in his imagination. Ellenore at one point tries to rekindle Adolphe’s imagination by flirting with many other men in their town. She knows the power of Adolphe’s imagination, but at that point in their relationship, Adolphe has already learned to differentiate (maybe subconsciously) between the two.