Sickness as a Theme in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Introduction: Frankenstein and the Theme of Sickness

Frankenstein is a name that everyone who has ever read a book would recognize. It has become synonymous with monstrous desires and pure evil. Many use it interchangeably with the word "monster," but the truth is that Victor Frankenstein was not the monster — the monster was the creature he created and never gave a name to. Why would a man create such a being? That was never Victor's intention, but whatever his intentions were, they were clearly not sanctioned by God or nature. And so Victor continued to suffer throughout his life.

In simple terms, Victor was sick. He had a serious sickness of mind and heart that did not allow him to think like a normal, contented human being. He was obsessed with doing something extraordinary and with conquering the world of science. This pursuit led him to create a human being that turned out to be a ghastly error. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein shows nature acting against Victor as he rebels against God, and that is why sickness is one of the most prominent themes in the novel.

Physical Illness as Omen and Consequence

Throughout the novel, sickness is mentioned so frequently that it seems like the defining theme of the work. It is not just physical illness that appears on the page; there is also sickness arising from fear, gloom, depression, and pure horror. Victor sees illness as a bad omen from the very beginning, when it strikes right before his departure for further studies:

"My departure was therefore fixed at an early date, but before the day resolved upon could arrive, the first misfortune of my life occurred — an omen, as it were, of my future misery. Elizabeth had caught the scarlet fever; her illness was severe, and she was in the greatest danger." (Chapter 2)

Elizabeth was one of the very few people Victor truly cared about, and her illness signaled that something bad was about to befall him as well. As if that were not enough, Victor's mother also fell ill during the same period. He had urged his mother not to attend to Elizabeth, but she could not restrain herself:

"She could no longer control her anxiety. She attended her sickbed; her watchful attentions triumphed over the malignity of the distemper — Elizabeth was saved, but the consequences of this imprudence were fatal to her preserver. On the third day my mother sickened; her fever was accompanied by the most alarming symptoms, and the looks of her medical attendants prognosticated the worst event. On her deathbed the fortitude and benignity of this best of women did not desert her. She joined the hands of Elizabeth and myself." (Chapter 3)

Illness befell Frankenstein himself as well, particularly in the aftermath of his stressful experiments. He became so ill that he could not write to his loved ones. Elizabeth, deeply worried, wrote to him: "You have been ill, very ill, and even the constant letters of dear kind Henry are not sufficient to reassure me on your account." Victor himself confirmed her fears: "But I was in reality very ill, and surely nothing but the unbounded and unremitting attentions of my friend could have restored me to life."

Nature's Rebellion Against Victor's Ambitions

The theme of sickness is best understood within the framework of nature acting against evil ambition, because only then can we fully grasp why Frankenstein and his loved ones fell ill so frequently. Anne K. Mellor (2003) offers a clear and compelling explanation:

"Victor's scientific experiment, as the world knows by now, does not succeed. This is not merely because the creature turns on him, but also because 'Mother Nature' fights back. She destroys Victor's health (he is frequently sick with both physical and mental diseases and dies of 'natural' causes at the age of twenty-five); prevents him from creating a 'normal' creature by denying him the maternal instinct or the emotional capacity for empathy; and stops him from engendering his own natural child by diverting his desire for his bride on their wedding night into a desire for revenge. Pointedly, Nature pursues Frankenstein with the very electricity — that 'spark of being' with which he animated his creature — that this 'modern Prometheus' has stolen from her." (p. 19)

This reading positions nature not merely as a backdrop but as an active agent, one that punishes transgression with physical and psychological decay. Victor's repeated illnesses are thus not random misfortunes but manifestations of a deeper moral and natural order that he has violated.

Conclusion: Sickness as a Multifaceted Theme

Sickness is a multifaceted theme in Frankenstein that serves many purposes. On the one hand, it operates as a force fighting against Victor's evil ambitions; on the other, it can be seen as a compassionate force seeking to restrain him. It is, ultimately, a matter of perception. Had Frankenstein understood why he fell ill so often — and recognized that there might be a reason greater than mere physical discomfort — he could have learned from his mistakes.

But as that did not happen, Frankenstein continued to suffer throughout the novel from various forms of sickness. When it was not physical, it was emotional or mental. His weak nerves came under repeated attack from melancholia and gloom. Sickness is therefore an important and central theme in the novel, one that illuminates Victor's moral failures, his isolation, and the relentless consequences of overreaching human ambition.

Works Cited

Mellor, Anne K. "Making a 'Monster': An Introduction to Frankenstein." The Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley, edited by Esther Schor. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Bennett, Betty T., and Charles E. Robinson, eds. The Mary Shelley Reader. Oxford University Press, 1990.