The Monsters by Dorothy Hoobler

Author:Dorothy Hoobler
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780316075725
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2009-05-29T16:00:00+00:00

Her voice did quiver as we parted,

Yet knew I not that heart was broken

From which it came, and I departed

Heeding not the words then spoken.

Misery—O misery,

This world is all too wide for thee.

As always, Mary found solace in reading and work. In her journal entry for October 28, she noted that she was reading the Humphry Davy pamphlet A Discourse, Introductory to a Course of Lectures on Chemistry. She spent several days with it, so there is no doubt it was of great interest to her. In it, Davy celebrated the accomplishments of the modern chemist, particularly “his” ability to “modify and change the beings surrounding him, and by his experiments to interrogate nature with power, not simply as a scholar, passive and seeming only to understand her operations, but rather [as] a master, active with his own instruments.” Davy sounds here, with his idea of mastering nature, much like Victor Frankenstein.

Mary also read Lord George Anson’s A Voyage Around the World, which familiarized her with the ongoing process of mapping the regions of the world. Nowhere, of course, was the map so incomplete as in the polar areas, which were subjects of intense speculation. Magnetism was another of the forces of nature that scientists of the time were investigating, and they wondered what polar property might be attracting compass needles to point in that direction. Also on Mary’s reading list was John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding. She used much of its observations on learning and sensation to describe her creature’s intellectual development. Her conscientious research on what must have been difficult topics show Mary’s serious purpose: this was not to be a Gothic potboiler, but a novel that posed—and perhaps answered—serious questions.

In addition, unlike the Gothic novelists, Mary didn’t intend to create horror from magic, superstition, or fantasy, but from the fear of modern science. The “mad scientist” whose experiments spin out of control may be a cliché today, but in Mary’s time it was brand new, and she was ahead of her time in imagining that scientific discoveries could be as scary as the witchcraft and sorcery of the past. She recognized that the “gift” that the scientist Victor Frankenstein gave to the world was as much a threat as a blessing, anticipating the fears of a scientist as notable as Albert Einstein, who wrote about the unintended consequences of the search for knowledge, “By painful experience we have learned that rational thinking does not suffice to solve the problems of our social life. Penetrating research and keen scientific work have often had tragic implications for mankind.”

To lengthen and enrich her tale, Mary filled in details, now writing a subplot about the unjust accusation made against the Frankenstein family’s servant Justine, who is framed for William’s murder when the monster leaves incriminating evidence on her sleeping form. Although Victor’s cousin/fiancée Elizabeth stoutly defends Justine at her trial, Victor himself—who knows the truth—fails to testify in her behalf. He leaves the courtroom because he fears the shame of admitting it was his creation that has killed his brother.

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