In 1818 Mary Shelley published a book about the relationship between two men, a relationship forged
in blood, unrequited love, rage and unbreakable hatred. Both men in the tale of
‘Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus’
have the capacity for doing great good, yet only evil comes of their relationship.
The pity of the tale is that the
main character, Victor Frankenstein, is a good and loving man marred by two
fatal flaws; his compulsion to take science into a new realm and his inability
to feel empathy for the creature he creates. For its part the monster contains
within its massive and ugly form a vast capacity for love and passion and
learning. Yet like a child it feels things to extreme. When it suffers
rejection, first by its creator and then by the other people it meets on its
journey, it is overwhelmed by a blinding need to revenge itself on Dr
Frankenstein and all that he loves. Far from the clunking brute of the movies,
Mary Shelley’s original monster is a sophisticated being whose acts of savagery
have an eloquent and awful logic to them.
It is well to remember that
the title of the story is ‘Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus’. In the
ancient Greek myth it is Prometheus who stole fire from the eternal Gods to
give to it to the mortal humans. Fire is essential for human development but
the focus of the myth is on the deeds, thoughts and suffering of the stealer of
fire. Likewise the focus of Mary Shelley’s story is on Doctor Frankenstein, the
stealer of the ultimate secret, how to create life. It is his deeds that
create the monster, his deeds that compel the monster to carry out such
awful acts. It is Dr Frankenstein who is central to the most gruesome and
terrible sections of the tale. It is he who plays with the gore and flesh of
the dead in order to create a creature, and it is he who is responsible for one
of the most tense and dark moments in the book.
It is this event that for me
proves (if proof were needed) how important and constantly relevant and
contemporary Mary Shelley’s tale is. The doctor returns to his family home to
find it filled with awful suffering. His youngest brother, a mere child, has
been strangled. Worse, it is the family’s much loved maid who has been arrested
for the crime. Yet Frankenstein has no doubt that it was his creature that
committed the murder. But he does not speak out. As the evidence is gathered
the doctor is racked by guilt but he will not reveal his secret, that he has
created a living being that is bent on murder and revenge. The maid is put on
trial, is found guilty, and sentenced to die. Yet still the doctor remains
mute. On the evening before her execution, the maid asks for Frankenstein and
his adopted sister Elizabeth to visit her in her cell. But though Frankenstein
is possessed of a ‘horrid anguish’ he chooses not to speak out. The
maid is hung.
Though the story is two
hundred years old, it resonates in this era of monstrous crimes and monstrous
enemies – crimes and enemies often created by those who now oppose them. One
result of this seemingly endless new normal of fear, paranoia and hatred is good,
passionate and clever men - and it is inevitably men - take decision every day
that cause great hurt to the innocent. Often those decisions are made to ensure
that important secrets remain hidden: secret agendas, secret negotiations, secret
alliances, secret Intelligence sources, secret (and shameful) responsibility
for the whole awful, gory and yet entirely avoidable mess.
The true horror of Mary Shelley’s
book is the same horror that plays out on today’s twenty-four hour news cycle:
the impossibility of knowing who the real monster is.
** **
**
A creature with many
similarities to Frankenstein’s monster is the Golem of Jewish folklore. In 1911
a version was written down for children by ‘Aunt Naomi’. To hear the storynory.com
audio version check out The Golem ofPrague
I read a lot of horror
stories. One of my favourites is We Are Wormwood
by Autumn Christian. I highly recommend you go get a copy now.
Stay tuned to my blog to read
more of my articles about horror stories.
For
more about my work as a storyteller, blogger, author, tutor and performer see rabfultonstories Follow me on twitter @haveringrab and Instagram @celtictalesgalway
