Evaluation

Evaluating the theme of Alienation

Carina Brannstrom wrote a thorough analysis of the theme of alienation in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. She goes into detail of the life of the author and each of the defining characters in the novel. While I find it difficult to pinpoint an exact theme I have come across several different themes mentioned for each character in her analysis. The first theme is in reference to Victor, Brannstrom writes, “Alienation is something Victor experiences his entire life in terms of his childhood and family, scientific work, and society” (Brannstrom). The second theme relates to the creature that Victor has created, Brannstrom writes, “Rather it is, in fact, others who isolate it because of its hideous appearance.” The third theme is in relation to the character of Robert Walton, Brannstrom writes, “Walton chooses, like Victor, isolation with his expedition but on the other hand Walton also longs for companionship”. After analyzing her essay I realized her ideas were inline with my own.

Brannstrom expresses how Victor dream lead to self alienation while creating the creature and afterwards hiding the creature’s existence. Brannstrom shows various examples how Victor continued to alienate himself as he progressed through his life’s work. Victor’s drive left him with a mind similar to a machine that is programmed with one single task. Brannstrom mentions how Victor did not bother to make any friends and locked himself in his room studying. Victor’s passion made him choose isolation as anything else was trivial in comparison to his goal. Even after he had been successful achieving his dream he forced himself to be alienated once again to destroy his secret which is the malevolent creature that he created.

The second theme is focused on societies disdain towards the creature which causes him to be alienated. Brannstrom mentions, “That the creature wants to be loved but after many attempts to be accepted by society it realizes...