“It’s Alive!”: A Major Discrepancy

“It’s Alive!”…This is the renowned line from Frankenstein that has become a cult favorite in the genres of Sci-Fi and Classic Horror. Though if you’ve ever read the book, this line is missing…why is that, how odd…though there is one other major difference between the 1931 film and Mary Shelley’s equally famous book: Victor’s fear (or really, in the case of the film, Victor’s character as a whole…if you know, you know). Victor’s fear is what causes his downfall, not the Creature’s intentions, and hence he doesn’t proclaim his pride as the Creature arises from the table in an elaborate show .

We all know Frankenstein’s Creature is a monster…right? Though many of those who see the Creature in pop-culture believe that he is an evil beast filled with overflowing malice, that is truly not the true portrait of the Creature. Victor is a fearful example of a creator, fleeing from his creature the moment he sees it’s yellowed undead eyes, not allowing the Creature to be introduced or guided in the was of humanity. By nature, the creature was actually created a benevolent being and only wanted Victor’s companionship and guidance, as shown when he goes up to the recently scared Victor’s room and tries to grab him, not to cause harm, but rather to greet and see why Victor had fled. Though Victor doesn’t account for the potential that the Creature was benevolent but instead jumped to the conclusion that it was dangerous. Ultimately, fear is what causes Victor’s downfall, not the Creature’s evil intents, and hence he doesn’t proclaim his pride as the Creature arises as the film so prominently does.

The Neglectful Father

Behind Victor’s usual cold-depressed façade, his fear truly controls him. Similarly to how he abandoned the Creature soon after its creation out of fear of the consequences, Victor displays a parallel form of self-preservation and fear during Justine’s trial, where instead of confessing his wrongs and saving Justine’s life, he decides to stay quiet and allow Justine to be convicted of murder and hung. This fear, as mentioned previously, causes Victor to neglect his duties as the father and creator of the Creature and, in turn, cost the lives of nearly his entire social-circle. Because Victor ran away from the Creature immediately after creating it, the Creature feels a sense of neglect from his “father” and retreats into nature to forge his own path and find a new companion, creating the central conflict of the novel. This scene is absolutely the most pivotal moment in the entire story, as if it wasn’t for Victor’s neglect of the Creature’s basic desire of companionship, the Creature wouldn’t have ran away and slowly grown into the hellbent monster that we all know, essentially putting Victor at fault for nearly all of the novel’s many deaths and catastrophes, making him a neglectful father and the real monster of the story.

Our Divine Creator: The Stalwart Father

Although Victor may have abandoned his Creature with no remorse, there is a greater creator who will never leave His creation, no matter how malformed and corrupt: God, our heavenly and perfect creator. Unlike the Creature, we mustn’t fear that our Creator will abandon us and instead praise and worship him for the everlasting care and love that he provides us. Therefore, because our Father will never abandon us, we are lead to one lesson form a monster, or rather both of Frankenstein‘s monsters: If we are loved and cared for by a omnipotent and all-loving God, we shouldn’t rebel and hate our Creator but instead love him back unconditionally, as concisely yet beautify written in Romans 5:8:

The Principles of Yin & Yang

The Yin-Yang is a popular symbol of contrast in our society today. The symbol itself is derived from the Taoist ideas of opposites in nature: light and dark, hot and cold, male and female, etc…the interest however lies in the fact that each side of the yin-yang cannot exist without the other, and although the two halves are contrasting, they are one; though they are separate, they connect. Although the Yin-Yang itself is from a completely non-Christian religion, it can serve a purpose in illustrating one of God’s most notable characteristics: Divine Love. Ironically, God’s love is not completely unlike the Yin or Yang; all of which matter most when their counterparts are active and strong. Similar to how the Yin can only grow when the Yang does and the reverse, God’s love always shines greater to us when we are in the darkness of sin and shame. We cannot value God’s love without sin, just as we cannot value success without failure. One quote, though by no means Biblical, from one of my favorite childhood shows, Avatar: The Last Airbender, very concisely demonstrates a powerful truth that we as Christians can apply to God’s holy and divine love:

“Love is brightest in the dark.”

– Aang, ATLA

Milton’s View of Divine Love

Similar to the contrasting yet supporting nature of the Taoist Yin-Yang, the 17th Century Restoration writer John Milton also demonstrates the ideas of contrast and proportion in his epic poem Paradise Lost. In the story Paradise Lost, Milton makes it clear that his mission is to “justify the ways of God to man…” and what he does, certainly hits the mark. At the beginning of the story we see Lucifer, now cast away due to his rebellion, burning and suffering in Hell. As Lucifer (Satan) rises from the flaming lake he has been cast into, he starts to feel: not pity, not sadness, but hatred. Satan’s hate slowly grows as he sees God’s “tyranny” and “injustice” that caused his failed rebellion and he quickly decides that it is now his life’s mission to corrupt God’s perfect creation and “greive God”. But, Satan won’t succeed and someone has decided to stop him: Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Up in heaven, Jesus tells his Father that although Satan’s hate may be strong and vicious, his love for the soon-to-fall humanity is strong and will forever grow stronger the stronger Satan’s “hellish hate” becomes, similar to the idea of supporting opposites and direct proportions in the philosophy of the Yin-Yang. Jesus’ love for our fallen humanity was so strong that he not only came and sacrificed himself on a Roman torture device, but rose from the dead and conquered death and Satan once and for all just to prove how much he loves and cares for us. The Bible also supports the value of God’s divine love in numerous verses such as Psalm 18:28 which states: 

This verse beautifully sums up the luminous and powerful nature of God’s love which no matter how much the darkness of the world and our sinful nature may get, he will never falter, he will never shake, and his ever-burning love will never go out, no matter how far lost we believe we are.