Most people "know" Frankenstein's creation. They know the massive frame and the glazed eyes. They know the abomination, walking with his arms extended in front of him, his verbal skills limited to long monotonous grunts, and his thirst for blood. The creature these people "know" as Frankenstein's creation is an aberration of the true being. He is an agglomeration of the best monster descriptions available conveniently using the novel Frankenstein as a story. The novel was turned into a meaningless thriller because the novel is a complete contradiction of our culture, as defined by Arnold. What was originally a deep, interpretive piece of literature was turned into a meaningless horror flick. To find the true meaning of the work we must forget the popular escapist version of Frankenstein and return to the original. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein challenges our ideas to the extent of being incomprehensible to a public that does not want to think and an industry that is afraid of forcing them to do so.
Steel engraving (993 x 71mm) for frontispiece to t...
Promotional photo of Boris Karloff from The Bride ...
Mary Shelley, FrankensteinFrankenstein is totally opposed to the generally accepted views of death in modern as well as eighteenth-century culture. Arnold stated that culture is a conglomeration of the best ideas, theories, and hypotheses available. Where these thoughts concern life and death, we accept that humans can and should attempt to prolong life as much as possible. However, it is also believed that death, in and of itself, is beyond mortal control. As such, our race and life in general widely and rightly fears death. Frankenstein disposes of this notion of death. Without this age-old belief, many philosophically and morally challenging questions arise. Should people be tampering with the barrier of life and death to begin with? Would it still be necessary to prolong life if the menace of death could be nullified? Could a mere...