To be honest, I have never completely watched the black and white Frankenstein. But, the first depiction of the daemon that sticks in my memory is quite similar to the character in the classic movie. When I was about seven or eight years old, I was given the Konami video game Castlevania for Christmas. This is one of my favorite games growing up. I remember one of the hardest levels, out of the six brutal stages in the game, is level four. And, it is only fitting that the boss of that stage is Frankenstein’s Monster. At age seven, I must have died at this stage twenty or thirty times before I finally beat that wretched daemon. The reason why the monster was so difficult to beat was not, however, simply due to the fact that he was so powerful or that I was such an inexperienced gamer (I was in my prime back then). The monster carried back-up in the form of Igor, who would hop along the boss room, striking your playable character swiftly with fireballs. Even though I never really watched the movie, I still know that Igor, or that guy who looks like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, plays a pivotal role in the movie just like in Castlevania. In a way, he assists Victor during the creation of the monster, and his presence takes away from Victor, the isolation that the main character is so heavily afflicted with, in the novel.
I really wanted to talk about the key themes of isolation and obsession in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. They both play such a crucial role in the creation of the Monster, the destruction of Victor’s family and friends, and also in quite possibly my most favorite event Victor’s chase after the Monster, which is closer to the end of the novel. For instance, during his narration on the creation of the Monster Victor points out, “If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections, and to destroy taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, than that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind” (33). Victor is saying that no project is worth avoiding the little things in life, and his reference “which no alloy can possibly mix” alludes to the idea that science is no exception to this rule. Going back to what Suvin said, “[Science Fiction] has always been wedded to a hope of finding in the unknown the ideal environment, tribe, intelligence or other aspect of the Supreme Good (or to a fear of and revulsion from its contrary)” (374). I think that Suvin’s statement particularly the part that says “to a fear of” is relatable to what Victor was saying. Both statements can confront the explorers and scientists alike and warn them to remember the natural world and the “simple” life during your path down knowledge. Otherwise, the path will most likely lead you to doom.
Victor admits to his downward spiral time and time again. He says, “Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree; a disease that I regretted the more because I had hitherto enjoyed most excellent health, and had boasted of the firmness of my nerves” (33). Victor is so cooped up in his lab, and he is denying himself the right amount of sunlight and its nutrients. Before this statement, he admits to missing all the beautiful weather outside. Any student who has dealt with finals weak knows the toll it can take on the body. Well, I’m sure creating a monster must be the finals week multiplies by twenty. For Victor to press on with his project, he must have wanted to finish so bad that his ambition shot straight into an obsession, and this obsession must have made him blind. For, how else could he not have seen the Monster as a hideous “catastrophe” only just after he shocks the stitched-up “yellow skinned” corpse to life?” (34).
I don’t think I can give other examples of how the themes of isolation and obsession play a role within other favorite moments in the book because that could turn into an essay not a blog. But, I will say that the movie clip Professor Sample had shown the class (when the Monster comes to life) depicts a Victor Frankenstein who may likely be obsessed but certainly not isolated. And as a result, the movie character Victor Frankenstein is full of vigor and strength at the moment of his breakthrough. It does not look like his body undergoes the same physical hardships that the novel’s main character withstands. Isolation plays a critical role intertwined with obsession throughout the novel, but it is left out in the movie and of course in the video game Castlevania.
