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The Paradox Of Aesthetics In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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“The Monster You Made Me”: The Paradox of Aesthetics in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein is a classic example of literature that can maintain a vice grip on readers for centuries after its publication. The novel captivates audiences through its employment of imagery and the horrifying descriptions of the consequences for meddling with the fundamental forces beyond our understanding. This Gothic novel explores themes related to knowledge, nature, and the ethics of creation. Although these themes are the most widely analyzed and interpreted, the idea of beauty and its impact on the world is just as important and prevalent within the story.
Through the motivations of Victor Frankenstein and the characterization of his creation, Mary Shelley …show more content…

“It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things, or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my enquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world” (Shelley 25). Through this quote Mary Shelley suggests that beauty is not simply a matter of physical attractiveness, but a complex concoction of inner qualities and external factors.
This idea of a deeper, more complex beauty is further emphasized through the creation of the
“Creature”. Victor’s obsession with creating life is driven not only by his desire to understand the natural world but also his yearning to create something beautiful. While working on this project, Victor exhumes and dismembers multiple corpses to acquire the necessary materials to build his Creature. Instead of simply sewing together the body parts that he has on hand, Victor cuts off specific features from the cadavers that he identifies as attractive. His patchwork golem is not merely a pile of flesh and bone,

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