Frankenstein: Hero Machine

This is my interpretation of the monster-as hero- as is from Frankenstein. He is huge and scary and intimidating, but his face is kind and welcoming. He is very strong and capable of breaking, robbing and murdering however, he only wants affection and it is only seen in his facial expressions. The only way he can be understood is if we as readers and viewers can get past his scary persona and concentrate on his person beneath.

Giving mental images, as in this one, provides a new way to interpret the work.

At the end of the novel, it seems that Walton has learned Victor's lesson as he decides to turn his ship around. Because he does not choose the "ultimate hero" route, he saves himself, those he loves and the rest of his crew by doing so. Frankenstein on the other hand, does not really learn his lesson, as he tells Walton to heed his word but at the same time condemns the crew for wanting to return and begs him to continue in his search and destruction of the monster. It is heroic but is it justified or admirable? I don't think that sacrificing family is heroic. I think that the true hero is not the great man but the stable man, the person who knows what he or she stands for and what is truly important. In the end, Walton is the everyday hero while Victor is he big-time hero who in the end, loses the very most. However maybe Victor's speech at the end is true heroism and maybe there are motivations for heroism that is less than ideal.

There is also a different kind of heroism that is expected of women. Perhaps for women heroism takes a silent form for women, as with Elizabeth, who is the most or one of the most stable characters in the novel.

Are Frankenstein and Victor the same person? While they live together and die together and have all the same experiences and sufferings, they in my opinions are complements. As the monster is the character who is in need of affection and can't have it, while Victor is a character who has all the love and affection in the world but does not exactly want it.