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Analysis of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

This paper sets to analyze Mary Shelley's novel on Frankenstein through contrasting the

monsters and characters in the story with those of Mr. Hyde, a character in Robert Stevenson’s

book. Despite the novels being different, there exist significant similarities in the characters of

the two books particularly where they unleash great adversaries to their communities. In Mary

Shelley's novel, Victor, a medical doctor starts the creation of a more superior being that will

revolutionize the inferior man as he refers (Özdemir, 128). Thou, the doctor, is knowledgeable

on matters of life, his imperfections hit hard on him to the extent of creating a monster that

terrorizes the community. Frankenstein is regarded as a monster in the attempt of finding love

and acceptance in the society. The monsters’ search for integration in the society is continuously

met with rejection where people free from him out of fear of his physical challenges. Similarly,

in the "strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Mr. Edward Hyde who is physically challenged

unleashes monstrousness and violence in his society, acts that make people detest him. In this

novel, Dr. Henry Jekyll is responsible for the creation of this monster from his failed experiment

of proofing the good and evil that exists in one’s soul. Mr. Edward Hyde in the start of the novel

is seen murdering a young girl by running her over, later in the plot; he is seen caning a man and

killing him. The two novels present knowledge as evil through the creations that these two

doctors bring to society. Thou the creations have been regarded as monstrous, the doctors both

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Dr. Frankenstein in the Mary Shelley’s novel and Dr. Henry Jekyll in the fiction of “a strange

case of Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” are the real monsters for creating these creatures. The

paper will focus on the theme of monstrousness and the role Frankenstein has played in the

development of this theme through the comparison of his roles to those of Mr. Edward Hyde.

Similarities between the Monstrous Theme in Mary Shelley’s Novel and Dr. Henry Jekyll

Fiction

Frankenstein and Hyde are very ambitious persons who are blinded by their imaginations

to become inhuman. The fancy of becoming or creating a superhuman creature is orchestrated by

the great desire to become superior to their colleague human beings. Frankenstein is driven by

the urge and consequently studies alchemy, which is the chemistry of formation of new

substances from pre-existing ones (Holmes, 492). On the other hand, Hyde takes a serum that

changes him into monster Hykes. Their imagination that science was a field that could make

individuals act in a more superior way than the conventional human was the driving force for the

later troubles they found themselves in. The drive to create monstrous beings alienate

Frankenstein and Hykes from the rest of the world and live in the imaginary until the monsters

kill them. The intention of the creation of the monsters is innocently based on coming up with a

better version of human being that would depict the hidden abilities of human beings. Monsters

according to Frankenstein and Hydes would best display the talents. Frankenstein embarked on

the creation of the monster after his studies in the university and death of his mother as an

adventure while Hydes endeavored in depicting the two sides of the human soul that include evil

and good.

Another similarity between the two scenarios depicted by the books is that the

perpetrators of the innovations were not aware of the consequences. Frankenstein regrets

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creating the monster and lives with the regret until death meets him. Hydes, on the other hand,

realize later that the serum that he thought was helpful was hazardous and decides to take his life.

The lack of awareness of the future negative impacts is perhaps an outcome of turning a blind

eye to the reality of life and spending too much time in the world of fantasies. The decision to

keep their monstrous ideas a top-secret also contributes to the heinous acts that accompany the

thoughts. For instance, Frankenstein advanced his secretive missions by digging the graves at

night little did he know that he was digging his future ordeals (Holmes, 493). Additionally, the

monster haunts Frankenstein, Hyde, on his part fancies the change in form and proceeds to

practice the same by formulating a serum that would secretly change his form. The chemical

becomes harmful making him turn into Hykes unexpectedly and violently.

The monstrous character for both actors in the books is addictive and keeps nagging them

to advance their ambitions. As coined earlier, Frankenstein and Hyde are driven blindly by their

desires. The monstrous desires keep developing and become addictive to both men to the extent

that hatred grows in their hearts. Frankenstein sneaked to the cemeteries during the nights and

dug out to fetch human body parts in the pretext of creating a superhuman. Hyde also plans and

succeeds in developing a portion that changes him. The desire to create the monsters tends to

increase each new day and urges Frankenstein and Hyde to dig deeper into their ambitions

relentlessly (Nygård, 12). The monstrous theme was depicted as one, which existed in the society

and which is highly destructive to those who possess it. The two main characters in the books

end up in psychological turmoil and consequential death upon embracing of the style of serving

their fantasies. The presentation of the monstrous character in the two main characters is a

depiction of the reality of human nature that is common in the contemporary world. Human

beings are full of hidden but harmful desires that most people never live to tell of their ordeals.

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Those who are bold enough to advance the secret desires either find themselves alienated and

lonely or face excommunication or eternal hostility from the world, which hardly ever

understands them.

Another similarity in the novels advancing monstrous theme is the idea that the societies

in which the books are set to seem to be blinded and paying little attention to the abnormalities.

Frankenstein and Edward Hyde seem to be in their world. The people cannot decipher incidences

like the death of William and the trail of killings done by Hyde (Davies, 238). They misinterpret

the monstrous acts that culminate in misjudgment of the end of William, Frankstein’s little

brother accusing the wrong person. The atrocities committed by Hyde fall on blind authorities

who fail to trace the route course for the killings. The alienation of the monsters gives an

opportunity to them to haunt people in revenge for deserting them without being noticed and for

control measures to ensue. The monstrous character as depicted in the books is a product of

artistry of people who want to serve personal ambitions. The monsters are of lesser evil than

their creators are. The monsters are displayed as ones who innocently follow the intentions and

commands of their propagators. The deaths witnessed in the societies are perpetuated by the

actions of people with selfish ambitions and not the monsters as plotted in the story. Therefore, it

is the creators of the monsters who are wicked and not the creatures, and thus the solution to the

challenges facing the society lies squarely on the control of selfish human fantasies.

Differences between the Monstrous Theme in Mary Shelley’s Novel and Dr. Henry Jekyll

Fiction

Some differences exist in the two books as mentioned above. Firstly, Mary Shelly's novel

focuses on the creation of a monster which resembles human beings physically and which

partakes the roles of their creators. On the other hand, the "strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.

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Hyde,” presents the type of ambition which more harmful with the individual experimenting the

fantasies using their bodies (Nygård, 7). The two scenarios show the various ways through which

people entertain monstrous thoughts and how they implement their intentions. Another

difference is found in the means through which the persons achieve their goals of creating the

monsters. Frankenstein achieves his monstrous dreams through creating a being from parts of

dead persons while Hyde develops a concoction that he drinks to change into the beast. The

means through which each story brings out the creation of the monster follows a different path

although the results are the same. Nonetheless, it is clear from the novels that creating a beast

involves the development of a creature that is not human and demands the invocation of

supernatural powers. The monsters are not human, and thus inhuman means make their

achievement possible. The efforts leading to their creation are weird and involve engaging in

clandestine activities like digging the graves to obtain the body parts. The outcome of the

inventions is evil and ugly as depicted by the monster that Frankenstein created. The creature

could not mingle freely with human beings in broad daylight due to its weird looks. Similarly,

Hyde changed to a monster, which only stayed hidden as it awful for the creature to appear in

public, as death would be inevitable.

Conclusion

The human soul has two sides, the good and the evil. The two sides are in constant revolt

against each other and the character exhibited by an individual depends on the side that

supersedes the other. The extremes of both sides are hard to accommodate by the society with

the community perceiving such individuals as being rogue or of unsound mind. However, at

times people display the two sides in relatively moderated levels. The reduced levels are the most

common in many communities, and people react to situations based on the side of the soul that is

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provoked. It is a call to everyone to analyze their personalities and limit the evil soul from

overpowering the good side of the soul.

Works Cited

Özdemir, Erinç. "Frankenstein: Benik, Vücut, Yaratılış ve Canavarlaşma." DTCF Dergisi 43.1

(2017). 128-132

Holmes, Richard. "Science fiction: The science that fed Frankenstein." Nature 535.7613 (2016):

490-492.

Nygård, Ingrid. Who is the monster and who is the man: A century of adaptations of Dr. Jekyll

and Mr. Hyde. BS thesis. HiOA, 2016. 1-39

Davies, Helen. "I raise the devil in you, not any potion. My touch": The Strange Case of

Heterosexuality in Neo-Victorian Versions of Jekyll and Hyde." Neo-Victorian Villains:

Adaptations and Transformations in Popular Culture (2017): 1-239

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