Three Main Themes In FrankensteinMary Shelley illustrates many important themes in her famous novel Frankenstein. She presents these themes through the characters and their actions. Three of the most important themes in the novel are birth and creation should be left to God, alienation leads to distress, and the love of a family is always there.One of the novels' most outstanding themes is birth and creation should be left to God. The main character, Victor Frankenstein, succeeds in creating a 'human' life form. In doing this, Frankenstein has taken over the role of God. Shelley conveys to the reader that Frankenstein has used his 'workshop of filthy creation' (33) as a 'womb'. At one poi ...view middle of the document...
He shows his desire for solitude when he tells Clerval, "..do not interfere with my motions, I intreat you: leave me to peace and solitude for a short time." (118) Also, in all the time he is studying and creating the monster, he never once visits his family. Victor's rejection of the family unit, along with his fears of sexuality and natural birth may be reasons why he keeps himself isolated for most of his life. Most of Victor's sufferings in the novel are brought about solely by his own alienation. In the end, the creation of the monster and it's secrecy actually led to his downfall.The theme of alienation causes distress is also shown through the creature that Victor creates. The sufferings of the creature in the novel are also the result of being alienated, but unlike Victor, he does not bring this upon himself. Instead, others isolate the monster. As Victor puts it, 'His yellow skin ... his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips' (35) frightened many people.Victor, his own creator, is the first to abandon him, leaving him to learn and fend for himself. Then, when the monster enters a village, the people are terrified of him. He had hardly placed his 'foot within the door before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted.' (74) The people of the village, horrified by his looks, drove the monster out by throwing stones and other objects at him. They judged him on his appearance only, showing that many people in society value good looks. The next event in which the monster is rejected occurs when he tries to communicate with the blind father of the DeLacey family. The father, not knowing what he looked like, did not fear him, but when the children walked in, they saw his hideousness; 'Agatha fainted, and Safie, unable to attend to her friend, rushed out of the cottage. Felix darted forward ... in a transport of fury, he dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick.' (96-97) Af...
