Frankenstein First 1/2 - Jacob Sabins

 Jacob Sabins

Dr. Ellis

Understanding Literature

October 23 2021

Frankenstein 1st  ½ Blog Post

In the first half of Frankenstein, we go through the early life of Victor Frankenstein and his creation of the monster in the book. At first, we open Victor's story with his childhood and of two very close friends. One of them was Henry Clerval, one of Victor's School mates, and Elizabeth Lavenza, Victor's best friend. The way I saw Victor’s and Elizabeth’s relationship play out throughout the first half was that at the beginning, Elizabeth got Victor to see the beauty in the land as she thought of the world as idyllic and scenic. Victor on the other hand, wanted to know why lie beneath the world; what mysteries did it keep and how could he find them. Elizabeth grounded Victor so that he would not stray too far into the mystery, however when she leaves the picture things get uglier as you read. At first, he studies the work of the alchemists but his studies prove to be for naught as later on he learns about natural philosophy during a lightning storm, which explains how the world works in a completely different way, proving the alchemists wrong. Victor then heads off to college away from his closest friends and this is where he starts to lose his mind in his studies as he is so fascinated with life that he attempts to create life. Victor spends six years building this contraption to bring life to the lifeless with no outside connections, he just works all day and night. Finally Victor is done, and he is able to bring the monster alive, but when he does, he is horrified at what he created and runs from the creature. Victor was so petrified by his creation and his lack of care for himself that he became deathly ill, however luckily, Clerval came to visit Victor and nursed him back to health. This shows us that one, Victor cannot take responsibility for his actions, as he just makes a monster and then leaves it be. Second, that you really need to have a life outside of study and work, as you will become depressed and go insane just like Victor.