Acceptance

The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature. I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. - Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.


If you've never read "Frankenstein", you are missing one of the great classics. Forget everything you've ever heard or seen in popular culture about this story. The original is very different.

It was written in 1818 by a very young Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, daughter of famous political writer William Godwin and early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, and just coming off her elopement to poet/philosopher Percy Shelley. What was originally intended to be a short story written at the suggestion of her friend Lord Byron turned eventually into one of the great yarns in history.

It's not a story about monsters or bloodshed or big green men with neck-bolts. As in all great stories that enter the public lexicon, Frankenstein has been twisted and aped, distorted and changed in a thousand different ways by movies, Halloween costumes, and books.

The "real" Frankenstein is a brilliantly conceived and executed moral tale about our need for acceptance and what it means to be human. A brilliant young philosopher (that's what physical scientists were called in those days) from Geneva travels to Ingolstadt to be educated in chemistry and eventually learns "the secret" of bestowing life on nonliving tissue. The abomination that Dr. Frankenstein creates is abhorred by all, and try as he might to fit in (and he tries very hard), he is shunned and hated everywhere he goes. In popular culture the monster is often called "Frankenstein", but that name belongs to the creator, the creation is never granted the dignity of a name.

It's a heartbreaking book, especially the unfolding story of the abomination told in his own words, as he tries to prepare to introduce himself to a poor family. We watch this knowing all the time that what he does is ultimately futile: we humans are judgmental to the core and no amount of polish will make a monster into a man.

It will take you about two pages to adjust to the writing style, and the fact that the average vocabulary in the early 1800's contained about three times the number of words that ours does today. But it's well worth the effort. You will never think about this monster, or any other, the same way again.