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I love reading classic books because I get part way through one and I suddenly realise that despite its prevalence in pop culture, I don't actually know what it's about, or how it ends.

and that is great. because then I get to read the rest of it and then, finally, I sit there and I go "oh, fuck, THAT'S why it's a classic!"

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People need to talk about how well Frankenstein handles the concepts of cause and effect and familial abuse. There is not one good parent in Frankenstein, and that directly ties into so much. If Caroline hadn’t groomed Elizabeth and manipulated Victor and Elizabeth into feeling like they needed to marry eachother, Elizabeth would’ve been alive. If Alphonse hadn’t dismissed victors interests as “sad trash” the creature would’ve never existed. If Henry’s dad didn’t judge his passions to the point Henry felt pressured to stay at home for two years, the creature, say it with me

WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN CREATED.

If Justine’s mother gave even one fuck about her Justine wouldn’t have ran off to live with the frankensteins, and say it with me

WOULDN’T HAVE DIED!!!

And all of this is complimented by Victor grasping at any sense of control and making his creature, his son, only to run away in disgust. The story is atleast a little bit about how parenting affects a child, and I will stand by that Til I die. If literally any of the people in this story were good parents, so many deaths and plot points could’ve been avoided.

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How some straight men in classic literature act: women are smart and beautiful, but they seem so out of reach. 

Anyway, here is my best friend. He is so beautiful. He is the one person I can trust. We might have kissed a few times in this novel, like all good friends do. Did I mention how beautiful he is in this feminine way? It takes my breath away.

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I sometimes feel like there is such an emphasis on the author's intent and reading the text "as it was mean to be read" that people genuinely don't get that you can have different readings of things and even if they aren't what the author meant, they still have value.

For instance, a few of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein's possible readings.

1. Frankenstein is a tale about human hubris interfering with nature, leading to unforseen consequences.

2. Frankenstein is about the fear of parenthood. The act of creations itself, the fear of raising or not raising a child wrong, and your being responsible for their actions.

3. Frankenstein is about the fear of parental abandonment. It explores how childhood experiences can twist someone's mind and heart until they do things that would make their younger self disgusted.

4. Frankenstein is about the cycle of violence and revenge, beginning with violence towards the human body in creating The Creature and ending with The Creature's violence against himself.

5. Frankenstein is about Mary Shelley's grief at the losses in her life. The book was a way to process that grief.

6. Frankenstein is an exploration of disability and how society treats disabled people, especially when they fight back. Like the bodies of so many disabled people throughout history, The Creaure's body is toyed with when he can not consent, and he must live with the consequences of what was done to him.

7. Frankenstein is a commentary on the intersection of disability and gender. A lot of The Creature's violence comes from him feeling "owed" relationships from other people, especially women. He knows the pain his existence brings him, yet he wants Victor to create a woman for him, regardless of the consequences it will have for her. The Creature thus treats the potential companion the way he was treated before his birth. The fact that she would be a woman is not irrelevant. The Creature wants a wife and all that implies. Though loneliness is a factor, having a woman by his side is one way he can prove himself as not just a man but a human being by the standards of late 17th century European society.

8. Frankenstein is about class warfare, specifically the fear of the rich towards the poor. Victor is able to get away with much of what he does because of his class, up to and included doing nothing as Justine is murdered by the State. Victor starts the story with money, friends, and a loving family. The Creature, who was born with none of those things, systematically strips Victor of them.

10. Frankenstein is about the fear and apprehension of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution.

11. Frankenstein was written because Mary Shelley was stuck in Geneva with Lord Byron and there was a writing contest.

Are all these readings what Shelley meant? Probably not. Are they ways to interpret the novel that you could support with citations from the novel? For the most part, yes. Are the readings good jumping off points for a wider discussion? I think so.

And the discussion doesn't have to be academic! It can be explored through fan fics or original works inspired by the novel or what have you.

So, while what the author says and the author's opinions matter, especially if they are still alive, the feelings, thoughts, and opinions their works incite for the audience matters, too.

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Being into gothic horror is wild, because you’ll look up the reviews/public opinion on a book and all the posts will be like “ugh, this was insufferable. The main character was the most melodramatic whiny narcissist cunt who’s perspective I’ve ever had the displeasure of following. When the main character wasn’t whining, it was just pages and pages of the most useless boring shit describing stupid landscapes over and over again. Boring and insufferable to read.”

And then you’ll get the book and read it and it’ll be like “Hi, I’m gothic protagonist. My entire family got brutally murdered by an unknown person and I also got horrifically abused as a child and struggle with severe mental illness, and now there’s unholy paranormal forces at work all against me, but at least I have the love of my life and my closest friends who I’d kill and die for and they’d do the same for me. Even though I’m cripplingly psychologically unwell and severely burdened with the mass of terrible things in my past, I’m going to figure out and track down the thing that killed my family and seek to destroy it, whilst poetically mirroring my suffering with the most beautiful and profound descriptions of the nature around me that you’ve ever read, contrasting the horror of nature with the beauty and goodness of it and giving you an existential crisis. This book is going to make you so ridiculously attached to these characters and change your whole perception of the life you lead.”

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The problem with Victor Frankenstein isn't that he's not as smart as he thinks he is. The problem with Victor Frankenstein is that he's exactly as smart as he thinks he is in one very specific area, and he just expects that to automatically translate to every other area of his life and is taken completely by surprise every single time it doesn't.

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Emergency Commissions!

Hi there! I unfortunately lost my job last week and so am opening commissions to help me get by while I look for another job. Below are all my prices. If you have questions or are interested in commissioning me, don't be afraid to DM me! I also have an etsy shop linked in my bio as well as a ko-fi page :^)

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i don’t think victors misinterpretation of the creatures threat “i will be with you on your wedding night” as a warning of his own impending death was to show victor’s hubris or self-centeredness, but instead shelley employing a deliberate display of dramatic irony, which is common within gothic literature. the gothic genre thrives on tension, dread, and suspense, and gothic narratives often involve secrets and psychological turmoil, all of which dramatic irony enhances. it also further cements frankenstein as a tragedy and, because of the disconnect between what characters perceive and what the reader anticipates, it reinforces the theme of fate throughout the novel (which is particularly pervasive in the 1831 version). but hey whatever this might be the rampant victor defender in me speaking 

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Moms of girls: "I'm glad I have girls. Boys take too much energy."

Dads of girls: "I'm glad I have girls. Boys grow up to be men. And men are evil spirits who exist only to ruin lives. Men are inherently evil and iredeemable. Men should be flayed alive for existing in proximity to women. In this essay I will-"

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some frankensteins

sketches for the portraits under the cut because i liked em

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To be honest I think both, "Victor was a mentally ill teenager who had just lost his mother and was absolutely not in a good state of mind at the time of the creature's creation and is absolutely worthy of sympathy, especially for how ultimately a single moment ends up in his entire family being murdered." and, "Victor still created and (however unintentionally) abandoned a sapient being who he had the responsibility to care for and desecrated corpses in the process of making said creature, almost certainly without the consent of the original bodies nor their families," Can both be true at the same time.

Similarly, "Creature deserved to have someone care for and love him and he never would've done any of the morally abhorrent things he did had he simply been treated with the basic respect a living creature deserves," and, "Creature murdering innocent people, including a literal child, is inexcusable and how he was treated does not justify him taking it out on innocent people," are also both true.

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Happiness Will Come To You.

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Introduction to entomology - James Duncan, William Jardine, et al - 1840 - via Internet Archive

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reblog this to have people guess what you look like in your inbox :3

IF YOU POST PICTURES OF YOURSELF YOURE CHEATING >:( /j

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So today I watched this interview with the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast and they demonstrate the phenomenon "space ship acting"

and they all go

and it just cracks me up, ESPECIALLY Sir Patrick Stewart

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hello dolpcverse. hit me (another ask game)

feel free to rb for your own use :3b