(note: any post made on a novel is intended for those who are reading along at the same pace or for a comparison of opinions after reading. If you are sensitive to plot spoilers please do not read)
Ah. I love a British novel. I'm at a much happier reading place than previously. Frankenstein, as of yet, has been a pleasant surprise. I had always pictured it to be much darker but the narrator is filled with light early in the novel. I do foresee a change coming soon though.
The writing is eloquent and polite (and I can't help but read it in a British accent). For me it is hard to picture a society where men speak so politely and humbly about each other and so openly offer respect towards one another. I enjoy the mental visuals created by Mary Shelley's twisting language so much that, at this point, I am fine following the narrator and his philosophies, and have no eagerness to reach "Frankenstein". What I mean by twisting langauge is, I feel like the structure of her writing rounds itself out. The beginning of a sentence can almost be confusing until you reach the end and then there is a complete balance in their descriptions and metaphors. You cannot just skim read. It is not written with the feeling of a conversation, or as a run-on of redundant descriptives (The Leopard).
I am just now reaching a point where I feel the main character may take a turn from his previous polite persona. At the realization that he had the knowledge to create life he quickly transofrms and you start to see the beginnings of obsessive excitement. He describes his feelings as a hurricane boring him onwards. He starts to anticpipate a being that would offer him more gratitude than a child ever even could. The character starts getting physically ill in his obession of creation. It is a reflection of any unhealthy position a person may put themselves in as a result of desperation and greed. The protagonists lets the reader know he looks back on this experience with regret and warning, "Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow." I belief this quote is a reflection back on the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
I appreciate that Mary Shelley does not get into detail on how exactly the character managed to put life into things where it no longer belonged. The main character states he specifically does not want to let anyone know for their own safety. As far as a story goes it gives a realistic element. A lot of seemingly possible stories ruin themselves when they reveal the "science" used behind a subject. Oftentimes its too ridiculous to be plausible. Its better left to the imagination.
