What I See In Frankenstein

I remember when I was in my senior year in high school, second semester, for the first time, I read a book called “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley. I heard about Frankenstein before and watched the 1931 version movie. But I had no idea the movie was based on a novel with the same name. When I read the book, I realized two things. One, the 1931 film version, had nothing the same as the book. If it did, the version of Kenneth Branagh. It went with the original text. Two, the book was much scarier.

I admitted that I was not a big fan of classic books because I found they were all boring and super long. But Frankenstein was an exception. Each day, we would read two chapters and discuss them in class. I broke the rule and read ahead of time. I could not get the book off my mind. The title was named Frankenstein, but it was not all about the monster, or the name of the monster was not even Frankenstein. It was the name of the Frankensteins, a family that was cursed. I said that because all the tragedies mostly killed them, had struck down hard, and the end was the beginning of the book.

In Frankenstein, the character that left me with many thoughts and mixed feelings is Victor Frankenstein.

Source: Cover of Frankenstein, published by Penguin Classics

Victor can be argued as “playing God” by fabricating the Creature in his laboratory. Playing ‘God/Creator,’ though, implies a character has excessive pride, which may not apply to Victor. Because no one can be God or tries to be God. Victor is a person who is obsessed with science and electricity. He is smart, kind, and loves his family. He was born in Geneva to a family that loves Victor so much. Victor loves his mother, who died but yet supported him a lot in the ways he chose, maybe what she wanted was for Victor can be happy and go the right way. Having those love from family, but no one wants Victor to do science or electricity, which they consider as nonsense things. Victor is a desirable man; he will do whatever he wants, even if the price is prohibitive; he will be whomever he wants to be, even God. To prove he can be God, he digs up dead people from graves, brings them to his laboratory, and spends almost two years creating a human species.

Victor, at first, thought the creature must be beautiful and good-looking. Turns out, it is horrified, ugly, and not a human. Victor is terrified of it, and it is a price that Victor has to pay. He completes his desire, but he is not playing God. Agree that Victor can bring the dead back to life, which is wrong with the circle of life, but look at what he created; it is not a human, it is a monster, a horrified creature.

God creates good people who have love, kind, and dedication. If they can’t, teach them, show love to them, and don’t outcast them from society. Victor can do that, but he is lost and so wrong. He leaves the creature alone, shows no sympathy for it, is horrified by it, and does not love the animalΩ. The beast needs his creator’s things when he finds the note in the old coat. The beast wants someone to open their arms to love him, consider him a human being, and teach him good things about this society, and he wants to be a family member of Frankenstein. But no one will be ready to do that.

With eyes of hatred and despise, the creature is a natural cold blood monster. The specific evidence is the death of William Frankenstein, whom he killed and blamed on Justine, and threatening to kill Victor on his wedding night. Whose fault is that? Victor Frankenstein. Victor created the creature but didn’t care about it; he lost everything and his love for Elizabeth. How can a God create something, and he does not care about that? Remembering Vito Corleone from the Godfather used to say: “A man who never spends time with his family can never be a real man.” Victor doesn’t do that, he isolated himself for almost two years to create monsters and play God. He is not a real man; how can he be a God? So, after all, Victor is not playing God, and he will never be because he lost his ways from the beginning and can’t fix it.

The novel is covered in one color, black of tragedies and horror, and reminds me of a song that I had fallen in love with “I need a doctor” by Dr. Dre and Eminem, it gives the listener a sad misery feeling and companion for a dream of a person who wants to be a person again. At the beginning of the video, Dr. Dre recalled his memories with his band, N.W.A. But returning to reality, he is in a dark place, suffering from the death of his son, when there is a voice “Goodbye, Daddy”. At that moment, the car crashed, and Dr. Dre died. In the hospital, no one was there with him, even his friends, when he needed him the most. Only Eminem. Eminem is there to tell Dr. Dre that he is a Hip-Hop legend who has achieved many great things on his own and helped many others succeed and become famous, and Eminem wants Dr. Dre to return to the hip-hop industry. The song’s message is about the relationship of their mutual trust and respect for each other, assisting and being there for one another through harsh times.

Source: IMDb

“I need a doctor” has a sad, angry, emotional mood. The audience can see that through the lyrics of the song. Frankenstein also has the same mood as that. The lyrics and the rhymes of the song remind the audience of Frankenstein. Dr. Dre and the creature are both left by humans around them. In the music, there is one part that relates to Frankenstein. “Y'all starting to creep in, everyday its so gray and black/Hope, I just need a ray of that/Cause no one sees my vision when I play it for 'em.” Those lyrics want to talk about the darkest days of Dr. Dre, which he had to be suffered. When a legend like him is being outcasted and despised, and most importantly, no one cares about him singing, everything turns dark and gray at that moment. All he needs is a little sympathy and hope, and love. Just like that, Frankenstein also describes the creature as terrifying everyone, considering him an absolute monster, and no one wants to treat him as a human.

The Creature used to be a human, and even in any shape, he is still human because he has feelings and loves inside him. “I owe my life to you/ But for the life of me I don't see why you don't see like I do/ But it just dawned on me you lost a son/ Demons fighting you, it's dark/ Let me turn on the lights and brighten me it'll enlighten you.” In this part, Eminem is the only one who know how Dr. Dre feels and the only one who is always there for Dr. Dre while everyone turns their back. Dr. Dre used to help Eminem when he sings, “I owe my life to you,” and now he is there to help Dr. Dre. “Demons fighting you, it's dark/ Let me turn on the lights and brighten me it'll enlighten you.” There is an invisible demon inside Dr. Dre who tries to kill him every single day. These lyrics can tell that Dr. Dre is weak and hopeless. He can’t fight the demon inside him alone, he needs someone can fight with him to defeat the demon by the light. As Dr. Martin Luther King used to say: “Darkness cannot drive out the darkness; only light can do it.” And Eminem wants to be that person, he will light up the darkness and walk through the night and bring of death with Dr. Dre to repay for what Dr. Dre has done for him.

Those lyrics relate to Victor Frankenstein and his mother. Victor, his mother, is the most beloved woman of his life. She is always there for Victor in his difficult time, supports Victor’s ideas, and brings love to Victor, which means a love of a mother and Elizabeth Lavenza, a genuine love of Victor. Victor owes his life to her, but he cannot repay her soon because she has died. If those lyrics sing out the feeling of Dr. Dre throughout Eminem and the sympathy of Eminem for him, Dr. Dre speaks out what he feels and how he thinks about it in these lyrics. “Went through friends, some of them I put on/ But they just left, they said they were riding to the death/ But where the fuck are they now/ Now that I need them, I don't see none of them.” When Dr. Dre wakes up, he changes into a different person. Dr. Dre expresses his feeling with his voice of hatred and anger, but there is something very emotional and sad inside it. “Went through friends, some of them I put on/ But they just left, they said they were riding to the death.” Dr. Dre has helped many people, brought them to the music industry, and been there for them. But no one is there when he needs them the most because they said they were riding to death. The death they mention is the end of their career, they are not famous anymore, and they have to find a spotlight in showbiz. That is death, they want to say. But the death of Dr. Dre is much worse than theirs. He meets the end of his life when everything is covered by black. Dr. Dre doesn’t blame them for not being there when he needs them, he wants to remind them not to turn their backs on anyone because one day, they will be like him. And who will be there for them? Once again, those lyrics relate to Frankenstein. The creature needs them to treat him like a human and consider him a family member. But no one wants to welcome the monster because, after all, the monster is a monster, not a human.