Exploration of the Golem Motif in Frankenstein and Great Expectations

Final Essay

English 283

The Exorcism of the 19th Century: Literature in a Disenchanted Age

December 2006

IN THE PURSUIT OF DREAMS: An Exploration of the Golem Motif and Subjugated Desire in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations

Creation myths are scattered throughout literature. From the golem in Jewish folklore to the monster in Frankenstein, man has attempted to take on the role of Creator. The details of the golem have changed over the centuries, even appearing in a Simpsons television episode singing a medley, but the story has remained basically true to the original—a rabbi summons life out of mud in the form of a man. The creation of a golem emerges from the rabbi’s deep-rooted and urgent desire to save the Jewish people from persecution. Likewise, in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, characters like Victor Frankenstein and Miss Havisham create their “golems.”

The golem story centers on a creature formed by mud and a rabbi’s desire; though the motivations of the rabbi change in various re-tellings of the golem legend, desire is central to the creation of a golem. Similarly, desire plays a central role in the creations of Victor Frankenstein and Miss Havisham. In the case of both these characters, their desires have been subjugated and inhibited, resulting in “monstrous” outcomes. But no matter what the motives, the ending of each story is clear: the creation takes on a life and desires of its own and wrests free of its Creator. In this way the stories serve as cautionary tales that provide insight into the Creators. Like the golem that turns on its Creator once his tasks turn from the honorable, Frankenstein’s monster and Estella both yearn to be free from their Creators who pursue them with obsessive abandon. If they are a manifestation of their Creators’ dreams and hidden desires, then this plays out as a metaphor for pursuing dreams; the creations are an...