Both my wife and I have autism, and something my wife has always done is keeping a book journal and writing her favorite quotes in it. I decided to take up the practice as well because one of my autistic traits is I like to keep a list of things, and I find it remarkably fun (for example, I have an Excel spreadsheet of every book I’ve read, how many times I’ve read them, their page numbers, and the total number of pages I’ve ever read). Anyway, here’s the list of quotes from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that I’ve enjoyed, some of which may follow my own commentary on them.
There are spoilers ahead.
Volume I: Dr. Frankenstein’s Perspective
- “The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine” (p. 38).
- “It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things, or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my enquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world” (p. 39).
- “Under the guidance of my new preceptors [Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus], I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life; but the latter soon obtained my undivided attention. Wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!” (p. 42)
- “I need not describe the feelings of those whose dearest ties are rent by that most irreparable evil [death]… It is so long before the mind can persuade itself that she, whom we saw every day, and whose very existence appeared a part of our own, can have departed forever—that the brightness of a beloved eye can have been extinguished, and the sound of a voice so familiar and dear to the ear can be hushed, never more to be heard” (p. 45).
- This, I believe, is truly what began Dr. Frankenstein’s dissent into his obsession with life and death, especially the latter. Instead of properly grieving, he threw himself into his work.
- “One of the phenomena which had particularly attracted my attention was the structure of the human frame, and, indeed, any animal endued with life. Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed? …To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death. I became acquainted with the science of anatomy: but this was not sufficient; I must also observe the natural decay and corruption of the human body” (p. 52).
- Though Dr. Frankenstein’s intention was to explore the mysteries of life, he ended up delving into the dark arts of necromancy.
- “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow” (p. 54).
- “I thought, that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption” (p. 55).
- Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is not a horror novel, at least not in the traditional sense of horror. It is not the horror of murder, or the horror of paranormal activity, or the horror of a monster hunting a human. It is the horror of man (Dr. Frankenstein) aspiring to become God and instead of creating life, he creates something ugly and corrupt; and it is the horror of what would become of a man were he to be rejected by his creator (Frankenstein’s “monster”). I see Frankenstein as a story as to what man so colossally failed and continues to fail to become (God), and what would happen if our Creator rejected us and left us to our own devices (Frankenstein’s monster)—absolutely no regard for morality or human life.
- “A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind, and never to allow passion or transitory desire to disturb his tranquillity. I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this rule. If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections, and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind. If this rule were always observed; if no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with the tranquillity of his domestic affections, Greece had not been enslaved; Caesar would have spared his country; America would have been discovered more gradually; and the empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed” (p. 56).
- I.e., Frankenstein is advocating for the philosophy of Stoicism.
Volume II: The “Monster’s” Perspective
I put “monster” in quotations because, as I hope you will also see, Frankenstein’s creation was not a monster. He was just incredibly ugly and lonely, rejected by his creator and society. He wasn’t created a monster; he was forced to become one.
- “Was man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous, and magnificent, yet so vicious and base? He appeared at one time a mere scion of the evil principle, and at another as all that can be conceived as noble and godlike. To be a great and virtuous man appeared the highest honour that can befall a sensitive being; to be base and vicious, as many on record have bene, appeared the lowest degradation, a condition more abject than that of the blind mole or harmless worm. For a long time I could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, or even why there were laws and government; but when I heard details of voice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased, and I turned away with disgust and loathing” (p. 122).
- To the monster, all humans are monsters; it has been writ in history.
- As Christians, we know God institutes government to restrain sin and evil, and all government is an extension of His authority meant to serve Him. When it ceases to serve His will, then it is to be disobeyed. “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgement on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’s sake” (Romans 13:1-5).
- “When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned? I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me: I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased with knowledge” (p. 123).
- It’s almost as if the “monster” was made pure, but soon made truly corrupt by man, who made themselves corrupt by abandoning God for the pursuit of knowledge at the Fall (remember what Dr. Frankenstein said earlier about such a pursuit). It is here that I became convinced that Frankenstein is a retelling of the Fall of Man in Genesis.
- ” ‘Hateful day when I received life!’ I exclaimed in agony. ‘Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred'” (p. 133).
- “Increase of knowledge only discovered to me more clearly what a wretched outcast I was. I cherished hope, it is true; but it vanished when I beheld my person reflected in water, or my shadow in the moonshine, even as that frail image and that inconstant shade” (p. 133).
- Can you imagine being so hideous that even your shadow identifies it?
- “I remembered Adam’s supplication to his Creator. But where was mine? He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him” (p. 134).
- In many ways, the monster is much like Job in his own suffering, but here’s where they differ significantly: Job did not curse his Creator, whereas the monster curses his.
- “There was none among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies? No: from that moment I declared ever-lasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me, and sent me forth to this insupportable misery” (p. 138).
- “For the first time the feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom, and I did not strive to control them… I bent my mind towards injury and death” (p. 140).
- “From you only could I hope for succour, although towards you I felt no sentiment but that of hatred. Unfeeling, heartless creator! You had endowed me with perceptions and passions and then cast me abroad an object for the scorn and horror of mankind” (p. 141).
- Whereas Dr. Frankenstein maintained the Stoic philosophy not to be overcome by passions, the monster cannot help but be overcome by passions. This would become Frankenstein’s downfall.
- “This was then the reward of my benevolence! I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone. The feelings of kindness and gentleness, which I had entertained but a few moments before, gave place to hellish rage and gnashing of teeth. Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (p. 143).
- Frankenstein is not a horror story; it’s a tragedy.
The Lutheran Column 