The Perfect Metaphor For Freedom In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Freedom is something that all humans crave, and people often see science as a means to that end. Ironically this is not always the case, and both Robert Propst and Frankenstein ended up creating something which worked against that very goal. Frankenstein ended up so taxed by the threat against his family that he committed himself to a life without freedom, and allowed himself to be forced into commencing work on a project he despised. This is, in many ways, the perfect metaphor for the cubicle and the cultural ideology surrounding it. Frankenstein is deeply affected by his creation. The monster is a burden on his conscience, and Victor is crippled by the guilt of the monster’s actions; he goes so far as to say at one point “I murdered her.

89), but this sentiment is far from the only way his freedom is curtailed. Upon his return to Geneva he rejoins his family, but he’s distant and somber. Victor cuts himself off from his family and they try to reach out to him, but he simply waves them away instead of opening up. He even fails to appreciate the simple pleasure of nature he’d enjoyed since childhood; it isn’t a conscious action which prevented Victor from appreciating the world, but he stops himself nevertheless. This isn’t the monster’s doing, he couldn’t have forced Frankenstein to stop enjoying life1, but Frankenstein stops himself. He endures a miserable life, caged by his own psyche. He describes himself as having “chains” (Shelley pg. 166), but those bonds only exist because he allows it. It could be argued that he is burdened by the threats against his family, but he had options. He could go to the magistrate immediately and try to get William’s murderer caught; he could hire men to protect his family; he could try to slay the monster himself. It’s also worth noting that so long as he is building the female he has a reasonable assurance that his family is safe from the monster. Frankenstein had plenty of options, but he chooses to go