Suffering In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

by n KALSI

Discuss the theme of suffering in Mary Shelly 's 'Frankenstein ' and P.B.Shelly 's 'Alastor: Or the spirit of solitude '.

The theme of suffering is best conveyed through the "solitary" aesthetic figure of the wanderer or vagrant. Romantic writers produced works revealing extremes of isolation and socialisation, creating 'either a wild beast or a god ' and proving that although solitude can render knowledge, it can also be the cause of deep suffering. Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein,

is an account of the monstrous potentiality of human creative power when severed from moral and social concerns. Suffering is displayed through the characters of Victor Frankenstein and his nameless creation, the monster or "the fallen angel" . Moreover,
This theme is essential in Frankenstein as it often provides reasons for the suffering the characters experience, as Frankenstein too gains his knowledge through a forbidden act. Despite James Reiger 's 1974 criticism of the realism of the novel, it cannot be denied that Shelley knew far more about Galvanism, science and sorcery, than her critics gave her credit for. Frankenstein 's asexual creation of a 'new species ' is actually an evolutionary regression. His 'solitary reproduction ' is far from God-like; it is instead the beginning of terror and torment on human lives. The reader first learns about Frankenstein 's ill health and general condition through Robert Walter. This is an effective narrative method revealing Shelley 's exceptional style which enhances sympathy towards Frankenstein and, more importantly, serves to create suspense. He is described as being 'dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering...generally melancholy and despairing ' and more significantly, 'gnashes his teeth as if impatient of the weight of woes that oppress him '. This description also highlights that Shelley 's work has been influenced
Walter describes him as 'broken in spirit ' but a 'divine wanderer ' nevertheless. Frankenstein says 'I have suffered great and unparallel misfortunes. ' Victor is not only referring to the murders, but also to the trial of Justice who is wrongly accused of murdering the young boy, William. Victor is aware that it was in fact the Monster who committed the murder, and when Justine 's verdict is announced, Victor can only think of his own guilt: 'The tortures of the accused could not equal mine...the fangs of remorse tore at my bosom '. Victor blames himself for the deaths that occur because only he is aware of his creation and that it was he who let lose the malice of the 'fiend '. His mental state leads to his illness, and typically in a Romantic novel, Shelley proves language cannot describe the nature of experience and is therefore limited, as Victor states: '...the sense of guilt which hurried me to hell of intense tortures, such as no language can describe. ' Victor describes his own solitary state has being 'deep, dark, death - like solitude ' and this implants bitter rage within him: 'My abhorrence for this fiend cannot be conceived ' and so he vows to avenge the