This would not be a horror blog if we didn’t take the time to discuss of the the great horror books of all time,Frankenstein. This story is full of metaphors and themes. One of the easiest to see, is that the story of Frankenstein is the story of an abandoned child. However I feel, that while this is an over arching story about parenthood there is a much larger theme at play. This larger theme is what makes Frankenstein a great horror book and not just a sci-fi story. Remember my overall thesis for this blog is that horror challenges us at the level of meaning, not just bodily fear. So what is the theme? where do we locate this horror psychology? It can be found in nothing less than the internal struggle of one who feels that they have been abandoned by God.
It's Alive!
Engraving by Colburn and Bentley, London 1831
This is made manifest two fold in the story, first in the story of Victor Frankenstein whose life is so blighted after the creation of the creature, and second in the story of the monster and his feelings of abandonment by his creator.
In the first case we see that Victor Frankenstein’s life. It was in fact one in which he should have experienced no want, up until the moment of the creation of the creature. One might see this creation as some kind of internal drive for parenthood, but rather than manifest itself in a healthy and normal way, he creates an abomination before God. After this moment Victor will know no happiness, and peace will be ever elusive in his life. All the sources of joy are stripped from him by force. To make use a metaphor, because Victor used science to rape Nature of its natural creative processes, Nature in turn uses the very product of that rape to violently remove all that he held sacred in his life: His younger brother is murdered, his adopted sister unjustly executed for the murder, his best friend, and his wife are also murdered by the creature; leaving him alone to be as miserable as the creature that he created. To Victor it has become apparent that he has been forsaken by God, who has ceased to do anything or allow anything that could bring that “peace which surpasses all understanding” to enter and remain in his life. In essence Victor is the victim of God’s vengeful withdrawal.
The Creature is another example of being abandoned by God, but in a different way. This is given to us in the form of incomplete or distorted Adam imagery. The creature is created in what appears to be a human image, but at the moment in which life is bestowed, his creator finds him abhorrent and awful, as if he were created “in his image” almost. The next distorted Adam image is just after life is given to the Creature. The scene has Victor awakening to his creation rather than Adam awakening to find God. This is followed by the scene which shows the creator fleeing before his creation because of guilt and shame; the reverse of the traditional Adam imagery.
It is not insignificant that the Creature is never given a name, again a symbol of the mockery of his creation is to Adam’s creation. Later in the Creature’s life he finds three books in which he learns to read, but the author makes note of the fact that it is Milton’s Paradise Lost that most intrigues and influences the Creature. Familiarity with this work helps us understand the later and most poignant scene when the Creature confronts Frankenstein about his abandonment. This scene entails the creatures response to Victor’s loathing of the him, stated in two different phrases “I am thy creature and I will be even mild and docile to my natural lord and king if thou wilt also perform thy part, which thou owest me.” Here we see the creature has learned that he should be entitled to things from his creator. He implores his creator not to fully abandon him and evokes both the Adam imagery and Milton when he says “ I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed.” Interestingly the creature relates to Satan’s position, the more interesting and relatable character in Milton’s work. The Creature feels that he has committed no misdeed, yet he had murdered two people already, yet he insists that justice must be meted out. Does the creature really deserve Mercy or Justice he being guilty of sin? This is a question of original sin, another example of the distorted Adam and Milton imagery.
Horror often plays with what I have often heard called the Big Three Ontological Questions: Who am I? Why am I here? and Where am I going? The horror psychology of Frankenstein and the idea of being abandoned by God, deals with the first two. This isn’t a case of having never known a God and therefore his absence is tolerable because you have never known any different. This is knowing that there was a God and he seemed to have purpose and support for you, and then suddenly doesn’t. The ground you stand on is ripped out from under you and you left with nothing to stand on.
The abandonment by God theme of Frankenstein can truly be horrifying. However the story drives home the fact that abandonment could be that one has forgotten or neglected to take into account one’s own guilt before God, which one might have incurred through sin. But in this case penitence could be made, and relationships could be restored. Or could it be that Shelly was asking a question that is left open at the end of the story in the scene in which Victor Frankenstein dies and the Creature sees the death of his creator. Then the question is no longer about abandonment, but rather one is left to wonder if Shelly was asking us if our Creator is not equally as dead. Such a realization would truly leave one horror struck.
Horror Struck 