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Frankenstein And Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

Decent Essays

Though the books were published almost seven decades apart the monsters in Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde share many similarities: They were both created in laboratories by European scientists for somewhat morally suspect purposes, both were outcasts of society, and murdered characters secondary to their creator. Even in their final days they followed a similar archetype by taking the lives of their creators before ending their own. One should ask the question why these stories have stood the test of time while countless others fall by the wayside. In Frankenstein, the monster is created by Victor Frankenstein in an attempt to do what has never been done before, create life from death. “Victor’s thirst for knowledge led him to serious questions about the nature of life and souls.” (Holland, Tiger. “Book Review: Frankenstein by Mary Shelly.” All-Consuming Media, 18 February 2012. Web.) By way of ancient scientific disciplines, the monster is reanimated from a hodgepodge of different body parts Victor assembles. But, upon seeing his creature’s grotesque form, he is so terrified by the magnitude of his accomplishment the doctor flees the laboratory and has subsequently fallen ill and is bedridden with nervous fever for months. This, however, is just the beginning of the creature’s ill-fated interaction with the population of Europe. Standing well over seven feet tall and sewn together like an ill-proportioned, patchwork quilt, the residents of the villages and

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