Book Review: Frankenstein

By Mary Shelley 

4 Stars 

Victor Frankenstein is our young prodigy, a determined scientist in learning. Fascinated by the idea of organisms, he creates life from dead bodies — but it is a grotesque monster that he’s created. Horrified, Victor tries to expel it from his life, but the monster returns, vengeance clear in his black heart.  

Throughout the story, we learn that this monster is just a creature with a heart like ours. This creature yearns for comfort and companionship, same as us – but Victor, desperate to escape his supposed “mistake”, cannot see this.  

His morbid disgust of the monster leads the two to become lifelong enemies, the monster vowing to torture him till death.  

Neither of the main characters of this story were heroes, but neither were complete victims, either. Mary Shelley shows us how Victor’s disgust of the creature’s outer appearance leads him to a misunderstanding borne of careless mistrust. Meanwhile, the monster is just like you or me, someone looking for companionship. The battle between beauty and the grotesque rages on even today, and a good example of this takes place during Frankenstein.  

If Victor had put aside his prejudice against the monster’s appearance, he would have noticed its heart; and if the monster had put aside his bitterness against his creator’s opinion of him, he would have been able to embrace himself as who he is, despite being ugly.  

I would recommend this book to people who are interested in ideas of psychology and the mind’s unique thought process. 

Reviewed by Ayesha 

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