Frankenstein :: essays research papers

The Lasting Impressions of Frankenstein Frankenstein has had a lasting impression on audiences since its publication in 1818. This continuing popularity is for many reasons. On the simplest level, Frankenstein is a novel that shows audiences there is a way to defy death, but on a deeper level it reveals many things about human nature and emotion. This is why I feel the novel has persevered through so many years and still enjoys wide popularity. Beginning on the simplest level, Frankenstein is a novel about how to defy death. Human kind has been fascinated with this notion since the beginning of time. One only has to look at the ancient Egyptians and their belief of the afterlife, along with many other cultures and their beliefs of a life after death to see that overcoming death has fascinated people for centuries. This fascination can be looked at on several levels. First of all, death is frightening. It is something that is not understood completely by humans. Humans are scared of what they do not understand. This is portrayed in Frankenstein when the creature is shunned by society simply because he looked different from them and they did not understand him. People are scared of what they do not understand, which is why they were frightened by Victor’s creature. The desire to understand death leads to the desire to control it. Even though death is something that is out of the control of humans, human nature has the urge to be in control of everything. The novel Frankenstein fascinates people because death has been overcome, at least that is how it appears in the beginning. Even Victor himself is fascinated with death. In Volume 1 of the novel, Victor talks of his fascination with the human form and its decay after death. "I saw how the fine form of man was degraded and wasted; I beheld the corruption of death succeed to the blooming cheek of life; I saw how the worm inherited the wonders of the eye and brain" (931). Being able to create life from something that is non-living is just like cheating death. You have control over it, which is what humans want in the first place. It is for all these reasons that Frankenstein has enjoyed continuing popularity throughout the years. Immortality has long been a goal of many humans and stories of it have intrigued people for ages.