Henry David Thoreau once said that “all good things are wild and free.” In most circumstances, this testament can be proven true. If it weren’t so, women would not have made such a prevalent impact on our history, minority races would not have taken a stand in hopes of validating their rights, and the most radical people of all, those our society deem the most “wild,” artists, would not have created such interesting and innovative ways of seeing our world.
From the beginning of time art has been created and admired by those fortune enough to watch it, read it, hear it, or even make it. A muse inspires the artist, who then goes on to inspire the world. An artist is a radical thinker. Wild and free, released of any inhibitions that may stand in his or her way. Art is a science inexplicably methodical, yet far from formulaic. The artist creates his masterpiece by combining inherent knowledge, research, and randomness. The most provocative art is created when one goes into a project clear and exact, only to discover a more magnificent work being unearthed.
Thoreau was not wrong in saying good things are wild and free, however saying “all” things are such would seriously omit taking into consideration Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The debate begins with a simple question; Who, in the case of this novel, is the “monster?” Is it the creature who has been labeled as such, or is it his creator, the artist who went in clear and exact only to unearth something he labels a wretched sight. Victor Frankenstein was once wild and free. He became infatuated with science by reading the works of Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus. It is after he has quit Geneva and is attending university in Ingolstadt that Victor creates his “masterpiece,” only to be disappointed by its outcome. The result of his creation is one man maddened and a new creature, even more wild, set free.
The novel Frankenstein incorporates many different aspects of the human condition. The novel as a whole emphasizes the needs and desires of humans, while also venturing into the different levels of human ability. Frankenstein explains the magic of artistry in the human mind, while also noting its power of destruction. The novel as a whole details the beginning of the end for its main character, Victor Frankenstein. To do this, Shelley incorporates significant details and relationships within Victors life, that throughout the novel, diminish or disappear.
Although Shelley might have intended to have her readers focus on the downfall of Victor, her writing encourages her audience to sympathize with the monster as well. The character of the monster is described in a way that the audience can relate to. Sadness, abandonment, and the need for acceptance are feelings we has humans experience all the time. However, the human character, Victor, can be described as ruthless, wicked, and hostile, all traits we regard as taboo. So who is the real monster? Are we blind to the beauty of a creature who lay at his creators deathbed weeping, just because he might appear different from us? Or, are we so bewildered by an artist so wild and free, apt enough to create life on his own, that we we forget about his misdemeanors? In my opinion it is Victor who has done wrong. Therefore, at the end of the novel when the “monster” kneels beside his creator, Victors goal is complete. He, the real monster, is dead, no longer will he live on and continue his acts of destruction.
Images from We Heart It
The LEGO Blocks of Literature 