Mary Shelley's Frankenstein contains
the theme of loneliness, which can be found in three main
characters.
Robert Walton, the speaker who opens the story,
has dreams of finding as yet "undiscovered country" in the North Pole. He is obsessed
with his desire to reach his goal, becoming more alienated from his crew, and therefore,
more alone. Towards the end of the novel, when Walton meets Victor Frankenstein, the
reader learns he has allowed his passion to cloud his judgment. He will not listen to
the crew's advice, and continually places them all in more danger. (Victor's story—of
his own obsessions and goals—allows him to connect with another person who can provide
an objective opinion, and Walton realizes the near-tragic mistake he is about to make,
and he calls the expedition off.)
Victor Frankenstein does
not start out alone. There are two things that alienate him from the society of friends
and loved ones. First, he starts his experiments, which are counter to all society and
religion hold sacred. In order to continue, he must work in secret, refusing to go out,
exchange letters with his family or visit his home. Like Walton, Victor will not be
swayed from his purpose. When he ultimately creates the creature, he realizes what a
horrific thing he has done.
The second thing that alienates
Victor from society is his refusal to create a mate for the creature. At this point, the
monster begins to kill everyone that Victor loves, even Elizabeth on their wedding
night. Victor is so devastated that he devotes the remainder of his life to chasing
after the creature for revenge. He is lonely in that his family is gone; he goes off
into the wilds, ultimately of the North Pole, alone, to pursue the monster he has
created. (At the end, Victor has literally destroyed himself with this new obsession,
and he dies.)
The last character to suffer from loneliness
is perhaps the most tragic. Whereas Victor and Walton choose the paths they find
themselves following, which lead them to subsequent heartache (and for Victor, death),
the creature suffers and the fault is not his own.
Victor
reanimates the dead flesh of a being composed of the body parts from various "donors."
He is hideous to look at, and frightens everyone who sees him. The only exception is the
blind man he meets in the cottage in the woods, but when his family
meets the creature, they reject him and flee in terror. This is the creature's life: no
one—not even his creator, his father—will accept him, for the most part because of his
appearance. (And for Victor, the creature is a reminder of his "crime" against man and
God.) The creature never asked to be "born," and when he is, Victor abandons him and
rejects him as well. The creature pleads for a mate so that they might disappear into
the wilderness and at least keep each other company.
I find
the creature's predicament the most difficult to accept in that he is a victim of Victor
and a cruel society. When he cannot have a mate, the creature becomes murderous to show
Victor what loneliness is truly like. He wants Victor to pursue
him; like a child who is shunned, being hated by his father is better than being ignored
by him. (At the end of the story, Victor dies, and the creature mourns his parent's
loss. Having told Walton their story, he departs to lose himself in the frigid climate
of the North Pole, where he will die, alone.)
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