The character of Frankenstein.

This far into Frankenstein I have found the most interesting thing to be the relationship between Frankenstein and his creation. I don't have too much insight into it thus far, its more of an intrigue. Frankenstein spent a long time, pouring over this project of his, to the point of obsession. He seemed to become so consumed by this aspect of natural sciences that his normal thought process was put aside. He never seemed to consider the down side of what he was doing, he just continued blindly. The second that his creation was completed, instead of feeling relief or pride, he became instantly terrified. He had been staring at this project for months and yet, the second that life was brought to it, he ran and hid. Over the next couple of years he had occurrences with the "monster" eventually leading up to the murder of his younger brother. Finally, he has a face-to-face with the creature and we get the full story. Personally, after hearing the accounts of the creation, I myself half forgave him for the murder of the innocent little boy. What would anyone else have done in his situation? He started life as innocent as a new born, and through the prejudice of humans, learned that it didn't matter how innocent he was, he was never going to be accepted. The terror and rage he felt led him to his evil deeds, and it seemed natural and almost deserved that he would take out revenge on his creator with a serious vengeance.
This whole account makes me doubt the character of Frankenstein. Although his creature was unnatural and terrifying to look at, he had created him. He gave up months of his life in solitude, all dedicated to this one craft. It seems natural that he should feel some responsibility towards the monster, to be almost a father figure to him. How can you knowingly bring something to life and then just release it into the world without looking back? Even after hearing the heart-breaking story of his creation, he was still appalled by him, and felt no remorse on his account. Frankenstein comes off as heartless, and selfish; a naive youth with no realization of how his actions are always going to create an outcome. He feels no responsibility towards the thing that he brought into the world. I am thus far on the side of the monster. I pity his situation and cannot fully blame him for the crimes he has committed. He has never experienced love, acceptance, or real happiness; only witnessed it. His is a heartbreaking story, and Frankenstein is callous to it when it is all really his own doing.

The Church's role in "The Monk'

For this, my first blog, I want to discuss Lewis' take on the Catholic church, or possibly, religion in general. I cannot say that I am a nonreligious person, but I think anyone who truly looks at it can find hypocrisy wherever they go, especially in the church, no matter what religion you are. I spent the first 12 years of my schooling in Lutheran schools so I can honestly say that I have witnessed this as well. Lewis makes it seem like the common thing to do in that time was to join a convent if you were unhappy in love, or life in general. Just that in itself is a blasphemous idea. Looking at it from an outside perspective it would seem the ultimate in hypocrisy to commit your life to God because, well, you had no other options at the time. Look at Agnes, she was pledged to the convent before birth. Why would a mother ever wish a life like that upon her child unless that was truly what that child wanted. I can't imagine how lonely and pointless your life would seem if you unhappily married the church. Lewis' take on the whole matter is enough to make you see the church with an air of disgust. The prioress that found Agnes out acted with unfairness, and heartlessly. I don't want to know a God that would wish to deny someone true love, and in my personal opinion, I don't think He would. How can this woman, who had dedicated her life to a higher cause, act like she was the ultimate judge. In her eyes the "sin" of love was punishable by death, all to keep her name and her convent in good standing. On top of that, she lied about what she had ordered. Why, if she hadn't deep down known she was wrong, would she feel the need to conceal what she had done. The hypocrisy in it all is so evident that its hard to see any good in these people. I don't mean to start some religious debate, because it can be a touchy matter, but I feel like this was Lewis' intent. I'm also not saying that there are not truly well-meaning people in the church, but it does seem that we always hear about that bad and not the good. I know it may have just been the accepted thing to do in those times, but the whole idea of willingly giving up all the real experiences of life because of lost love or what have you, is just shocking to me, and I felt that it deserves some attention.