Theme Of Secrecy In Frankenstein

The Theme of Secrecy in Frankenstein

If you had a secret that could cause everyone you knew and loved to view you as a crazy sociopath but upon being revealed could also save the lives of many, would you take the risk and expose yourself? Victor Frankenstein, from Mary Shelley’s work of fiction Frankenstein, was at a constant war within himself trying to decide between keeping the secret of the hideous monster he had created warning people about this danger that was now on the loose. Wishing to fulfill his greatest desire of creating human life, Frankenstein had spent years educating himself from the works of outdated authors, which all built up to him finally building a “human” out of different parts that he had dug up. When Victor actually faced his finished creation he was terrified and fled, only to discover upon his return that the monster was gone. The monster then went on to blaze a path of terror and destruction due to its inability to fit in, yet Frankenstein was the only one who knew of the monster’s

existence for the entirety of the story. Secrecy is integral to the plot of the story because it is one of the main reasons why the main character feels burdened, it proves the point that just because something is kept away from others doesn’t mean that it won’t affect them, and the reasoning behind keeping a secret is mostly because of how society will react towards it.
Victor Frankenstein dreamed of the day when he would finally be able to construct human life, but when he finally did, he realized that his creation would turn out to be his worst nightmare. Throughout the story, Frankenstein is greatly burdened by the secret he has to keep. When speaking of his dear friend Henry Clerval, he mentions “although I loved him with a mixture of affection and reverence that knew no bounds, yet I could never persuade myself to confide to him that event which was so often present to my recollection but which I feared the detail to another would only impress more deeply” (Shelley 73). This reveals that even someone whom Victor loves greatly cannot know of his secret, and he expresses that he is even fearful of talking about his creation. Victor felt even more burdened than usual when he was around his loved ones, as he felt horrible for keeping secrets but also wanted to keep them safe. Besides keeping his secret, Victor felt worse every time the monster committed a crime; after William passed away and Victor learned that the monster had in fact been the cause of death he admitted that “No one can conceive the anguish I suffered during the remainder of the night, which I spent, cold and wet, in the open air” (Shelley 84). This shows how Victor felt absolutely dreadful because he felt responsible for the death of his brother, which increases the burden he has to bear. Victor did in fact have a lot that he had to carry around with him, but just because he kept things from people doesn’t mean that his loved ones weren’t affected.
Shelley’s own life involved many secrets that were kept, partly because she didn’t agree with most of the roles that women had to follow in life; some of the secrets she kept, however, affected how others behaved towards or thought about her. In a biography written about Mary Shelley, when speaking of Mary and Percy’s secret relationship it was mentioned here that “He was still married to his first wife when he and the teenaged Mary fled England together that same year. The couple was accompanied by Mary's stepsister Jane. Mary's actions alienated her from her father who did not speak to her for some time” (Biography.com Editors). Even though Mary and Percy loved each other, their love affected how others thought of them and behaved towards them, such as her father. Shelley also reflects this in her story, albeit in a more violent way, when the monster starts killing people. After Justine was unjustly killed due to Victor’s creation, Victor expressed his remorse by saying “Justine died, she rested, and I was alive. The blood flowed freely in my veins, but a weight of despair and remorse pressed on my heart which nothing could remove” (Shelley 101). Even though Justine committed no crime, she was executed because no one knew of the real murderer, which affected everyone in the story. Even if a secret is being kept for the greater good, it could affect anyone at any time, but the main reasoning behind keeping a secret is usually from fear of how society will react towards it.
Shelley herself did keep a good amount of secrets, but this was because in the time period she lived in, most of the things she did, such as bearing a child out of wedlock, were reason enough for women to be shamed in society at the time. Mary first fled with Percy, then it is explained in the biography that “Mary and Percy Shelley traveled about Europe for a time. They struggled financially and faced the loss of their first child in 1815. Mary delivered a baby girl who only lived for a few days” (Biography.com Editors). If Mary had stayed in her hometown, she would have had to deal with the judgement of people that knew she had her baby without getting married first. Equivalent to Shelley, Victor also has a great secret, and after William’s death he wondered what would happen if he told people about his secret by thinking, “I reflected on the story that I had to tell. A being whom I myself had formed, and endued with life, had met me at midnight among the precipices of an inaccessible mountain. I remembered also the nervous fever with which I had been seized just at the time that I dated my creation, and which would give an air of delirium to a tale otherwise so utterly improbable. I well knew that if any other had communicated such a relation to me, I should have looked upon it as the ravings of insanity” (Shelley 85). He had wanted to tell someone, but due to the thought that he might be called crazy he refrained from confiding in anyone. Having to keep information confidential can take a toll on both the keeper of the information and the person the information is being kept from, even if it is all for the greater good.
Mirroring her own life, Mary Shelley integrated the theme of secrecy into her novel, Frankenstein, by focusing on the burden that untold actions have on people, how secrets can affect those besides the keeper of the information, and showing that most secrets are kept because of how society views certain things.

Victor Frankenstein only kept the knowledge of his creation from everyone because he was afraid of being labeled as crazy, but he paid the price by feeling responsible for all the misfortunes that occurred in the story and carrying around a constant feeling of remorse due to them. A safe environment could have been all that Victor needed to confess his actions, which could have eventually brought about the monster’s demise, tying in with reality; if society’s views are changed for the better, in which people aren’t judged for being unique in their physical appearances, thoughts, or actions, then people won’t feel as much of a need to keep

secrets.