Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
Letters- chap XII
I would like to take this time to complain about the anti-climactic giving of life to the creature. I was not even aware of what exactly had happened until the short paragraph was over. This was in stark contrast to my expectations that have been developed through various media and simply hearing versions throughout my childhood. Victor's telling of the monster coming to life is as follows: "It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being in the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs" (Shelley, 35). How short! No flash of lightening, not even a maniacal, "It's aliveee!" I was quite upset, I expected more out of a famous horror story. But unknown to me, there was still a huge portion of the story I had never even heard of, and it was about to get a lot scarier, something I realized when I had trouble falling asleep later that night.
The author's communication and sowing of fear is much more subtle than the straightforward movies or cartoons, but much more effective and persistently frightening.
| About my expectation- tall head, bolts in neck |
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