Quotes from Volume II

From chapter three, volume two, Frankenstein’s creature talks about how he spent his life without his creator. From the text we can see that the creature was clearly upset when he discovered he was alone in this world. This can be used in the argument paper I have to write in the near future. We can use the argument that Frankenstein created the creature without thinking of its feelings, only because he wanted glory.

When the creature observed the humans in the cottage, he felt envious of them and continuously questioned his existence and was upset that he was created in the first place. This can be seen when he says, “Hateful day when I received life! … Accursed creator! Why did u form a monster so hideous that even you turned away in disgust!(Shelley 133)” The creature is in misery is shown through the strong diction and hard h sounds of  ’ hateful’ and ‘hideous’ . The creature blames Frankenstein for all the pain he goes through when he labels his creator as ‘accursed’ . He also blames Frankenstein for washing his fatherly responsibilities off his hands when he says ‘even you turned away in disgust’. The italicized ‘you‘ emphasizes how Frankenstein should not have turned away as he chose to create the creature in the first place of his own free will.

Another instance where the creature blames Frankenstein is when he runs away from the cottage after trying to speak to the old man. The creature says,”Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? (Shelley 138). The repetition of ‘cursed’ and the exclamation mark present the creature’s building frustration and loneliness, as he too wants to be a part of a family, where he is loved and accepted. The build up of the inner conflict is portrayed through the question ‘Why did I live?’. The creature is wondering whether it id worth leading a life of pain and rejection. Frankenstein should have accounted for the creature’s feelings before setting out to make him.

Frankenstein Inspired Songs

Today I listened to a song called Frankenstein sung by Willoughby. It was a cleverly written song, which talks about a different ending for Frankenstein. In this song’s version, the creature has taken whatever little he has and run away from home, and the mad scientist Frankenstein is very upset. The entire song has a very depressing tune, as the scientist is describing the creature as the ‘man with his heart’. I believe that the songwriters wanted to take a satirical approach when writing this song, and I think they have succeeded. Also from the music video we can see that much of the inspiration for the creatures presentation has been drawn from the 1931 Frankenstein movie. This can be seen particularly when you see the creature green in color with the screws and bolts on his neck. We can also see Victor Frankenstein recalling how he taught the creature ti play baseball, which reminds of the seen of teaching Frankenstein to sit.

Another song I listened to today was called ‘My Body is A Cage’ by Arcade Fire played in the background of Frankenstein’s wedding, a play. In that clip, we can see the creature and Elizabeth meet for the first time at her wedding, where she learns that the creature has killed Henry and the little boy William.  In this scene the creature can be seen going through great pain and an inner conflict.  This inner conflict is seen mainly through the use of the background song ‘My Body is A Cage’ and the actor’s portrayal of the creature. The song being played in the background is very fitting as it fills the audience about the creature’s emotions. In a sense the creature’s ‘body is a cage’ because people cringe by the very site of him and people shun him because he is ugly. The creature’s ‘mind is the key’ as well, because even though he looks ugly on the outside he is still fairly intelligent. The creature wants his pain to end and ‘set his spirit free’ by bringing Victor Frankenstein as much suffering he had to go through because he was born. As Victor Frankenstein dies after being shot by the police, the song becomes louder and the creature runs away into the dark streets.

Another song I found inspired by Frankenstein was Frankenstein Song by The Singing Critic. It’s basically the creature singing about how he knows that he is shunned because of his appearance (‘I know people stop and stare, they say what’s that over there.’) He also wishes that his creator did not make him the way he was. The song is sung in a beautiful and sad tone, and successfully manages to make the audience understand the creature’s frustration.

Analyzing Frankenstein Quotes

One of my assignments in the near future is to write a paper about who was the person really at fault in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, or the creature he created. So below are some quotes analyzed, if I were to take the stance that Victor Frankenstein was indeed the person at fault.

Though Victor Frankenstein shook off the responsibility of his own creation, the monster he created, in chapter one, he expressed his strong opinion that how child turned out was a parent’s responsibility. This can be seen when he says “their child, the innocent and helpless creature … whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot in their hands to direct to happiness or misery … they fulfilled their duties toward me.” (Shelly 35). His views of a child new into the world are expressed as he characterizes it as “innocent” and “helpless”, which shows that his creature being new into the world was the same as well. Furthermore the responsibilities of a father are clearly stated through the denotation of “future”, “direct” and “duties”, yet he does not fulfill his duty as a father, making him a hypocrite.

More evidence of Victor Frankenstein’s selfish desires is brought to light when he says “Wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend discovery, if I could banish disease from human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!” (Shelly 42) Here, Victor is portrayed as a selfish man, whose sole purpose of hunting down the secret of life is “glory”, emphasizing his greed to live on and have power over life and death.  His excitement by the very idea is shown through the punctuation, the exclamation mark. The glorified idea of power is also highlighted through the strong diction of “banished” and “invulnerable”, showing that he is unable to contain his excitement by the very idea.

A Frankenstein Advertisment

After looking at many advertisements which in cooperated ideas with Frankenstein  today, one advertisement in particular stood out. The Osteo-Bi Flex advertisement showed Frankenstein’s monster as a patient with frequent joint pains and aches, which caused him to be extremely stiff. It also brings in an element of humor, as it starts with a clip from the 1931 Frankenstein movie, showing the monster walking and staggering at the same time .Then the audience is brought back to present time, where the monster talks about how stiff he used to be. But after taking Osteo-Bi Flex, he is no longer in constant pain, and has become a better and relaxed person. He is shown taking yoga classes, growing flowers in a garden and playing music to children (activities which regular people do), while talking about the benefits of the medicine. This advertisement is targeted towards elderly people with joint pain and people with body aches. The advertisement shows how Frankenstein’s monster used to be grouchy because of the pain in his joints, but can now lead a normal life like humans do. So it tells the elderly audience and people with joint pain and ache, that they can also lead a normal and happy life if they take the medicine and get rid off the pain. The advertisement ends with the monster telling them to “Put some life back in your joints”, also tying into the Frankenstein humor.  The idea of using Frankenstein’s monster here is also very clever, as Frankenstein is a universally well known public figure, so tied in with the humor, the advertisement will continue to stay imprinted in the audience’s mind, even after it is long over. In addition, the Frankenstein’s monster advertisement strategy has been a successful tested and tried advertisement type, given the number of advertisements made with this character.

Frankenstein Reviews

Both AV Club and Horror Reviews are one of the few of the many reviews written about the legendary 1931 film of Frankenstein. Both Keith Phillips of the A.V. Club review and Brett G. of the Horror reviews have both remarked that this is one of the landmarks in horror movie history. Some of the main reasons for its success, they both commented was, the powerful impact of the movie’s atmosphere, and Boris Karloff’s fantastic portrayal of the misunderstood monster.  As Brett G. so appropriately puts it “there are villains, and their icons, and Frankenstein’s monster was definitely the later”.  Frankenstein’s monster is definitely a lot more than a green huge scary looking creature. Both Keith Phillips and Brett G. remark on the enormous impact this movie had on shaping them into horror buffs. In addition, there are several scenes in the movie, which help us realize that the monster is just like a child, except he is misunderstood because of his appearance. Brett G. verifies this when he talks about when the monster is playing with the little girl Maria. The monster throwing the flowers into the lake and being excited by the fact that they were floating, characterizes him as an innocent, and simple child. This idea is further highlighted when the monster assumes that because the flowers floated, the girl in the water would too. He did not intend any harm, he just did not know. Brett G. correctly identifies the true villains in the movie: Dr. Frankenstein and the village people. It’s quite obvious from the villagers’ monstrous cries and Dr. Frankenstein’s attempt to play God, who the real monsters are.  Thus, as Phillips stated, enabling anyone “who has ever felt as misfit” in the audience to connect to the monster. 

An interesting point that I did not notice until it was brought up by both reviewers was the impact of the atmosphere in the movie.  As Brett G. pointed out, there was no eerie music except in the opening and closing credits. The silence in this movie, in fact adds to its “unsettling quality”, which can also be interpreted as the injustice in the “fairytale gone horribly wrong”. In the entire movie, not one person stands up for the monster, not even his own father.  The monster being unable to speak to convey his own thoughts also contributes the dark, gloomy and frustrating feel in the movie.

Overall, I agree with both the reviewers. Frankenstein is one of the most fantastic and timeless horror classics, but it is also one of the most painful and sad, which makes it an even better film.

The Cemetery Skeleton in Frankenstein

The Cemetery Skeleton, an article in the Frankenstenia blog talks about the significance of the skeleton in the graveyard scenes in the Frankenstein movies. It starts by discussing Walton’s introduction to the 1931 Frankenstein, through the graveyard scene.  The camera initially comes into focus on a group of mourners and then “slides past them to a hooded skeleton figure”. The article then goes into analyzing the significance of the skeleton in the movie, and how its position in the scene was not by mere chance.  By using a prop symbolic of death, Walton manages to successful arise a pang of fear within the audience, through the foreshadowing of all the unfortunate events to come. As the author puts it, “the image of a dancing skeleton mocked life’s brevity.”  Yet another representation of Walton’s “darkly humorous” moment is when Dr. Frankenstein and his assistant Fritz are digging up the grave of a person who had just been buried. The dark hooded figure standing all the while and overlooking this scene also establishes Dr. Frankenstein, as someone who is disrespecting death. The author also mentions seeing the skeleton in the movie’s sequel, the Bride of Frankenstein, when Frankenstein encounters another grave robber. The author then comments whether this skeleton was also in other remakes of Frankenstein and what became of it.

I agree with the author’s analysis of the skeleton. Walton is trying to stir up the audience’s fear through the use of the skeleton, and yet at the same time add his own touch of dark humor. Though throughout the grave digging scene, he seems like a mere prop, he in fact foreshadows that nothing good will ever come out of trying to win against death. Just as the skeleton haunts the audience, it shows that Dr. Frankenstein too will come to be haunted by his own actions in the future.