Frankenstein’s lectures

Frankenstein’s creature is twice-made; firstly, Frankenstein is an organic being without any real biological parentage, and literary being through his own reading, which makes him aware of his intellectual and emotional affinities with humans. The trap closes around Frankenstein’s creature, imprisoning him in the values he assimilates through reading, which inform him of the full scope of his monstrous identity. Nonetheless, it is important to underline that Mary Shelley never made the creature’s readings insignificant, insubstantial or incomprehensible. On the contrary, they could be said to be ideologically, mythologically and symbolically edifying. Frankenstein is thus first and foremost the story of a monster who reads, and since it takes him a while to acquire language, learn to read and express himself orally, he only gradually begins to understand human nature. Mirroring his patchwork of a body, put together piecemeal, the monster begins to understand the world, an awareness that leaves him prey to the gravest doubts.