Communist Manifesto and Frankenstein

Throughout history, there are different types of social groups that are influenced by each other. The influence does not necessarily in a positive manner rather the depiction can be seen as antagonistic. The Communist Manifesto starts with a great rivalry between the Bourgeois and proletarian or oppressor and oppressed with frequent struggle as it moves forward in time. As we can see this type of opposition between Victor Frankenstein and his monster, we can attain certain similarities to this situation.  In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein novel, every time the monster and Victor has an incident, it utterly reconstructs the minor parts of the society as also we can see this reconstruction in the Manifesto. These reconstructions, then, create a self-sufficient and dangerous system which cannot be controlled by its creators just like the monster in Frankenstein novel.  The monster affects the environment while disregarding the fact that the social norms are in presence. In the Manifesto, same similarities should not be ignored, the system that is created by the bourgeois outlaws the social norms and re-writes the process. 

 While considering the interpretation, similarities between the creations of both Mary Shelly's novel and the Karl Marx’s Manifesto can be represented as the continually growing system and also as suppression to its source of creations after starting to be as a force that shapes society. There is a theory that is specifically called “Technological Momentum” which could be the term for both cases. In the Mary Shelly’s novel, after the creation of the monster, at first, it begins to learn and is affected by the society “My days were spent in close attention, that I might more speedily master the language; and I may boast that I improved more rapidly than the Arabian, who understood very little and conversed in broken accents, whilst I comprehended and could imitate almost every word that was spoken.”(Frankenstein, 1998) However, after a while when the monster becomes fully autonomous (stronger than its creator), it started to transform to a stark force that affects the society such as killing Victors’ brother. In Karl Marx’s Manifesto, the source of the bourgeoisie actually comes from the remainders of the feudal society. Even though they are created by a superior system, later on, bourgeoises become a force that affects the norms of society just like the monster in the Frankenstein.  From this point of view, the monster is more suitable to be observed as bourgeois since the bourgeoises’ power have shifted after it “creates a world after its own image”.(Communist Manifesto, 1996)  From another perspective,  proletariats and the monster can also be associated with each other. The correlation behind the curtain is that the suppression and the decrease in their wage give rise to the strong revolt against bourgeoises. To keep their existence and living, the monster too seeks its survival in society. The oppressed monster tries to achieve the overwhelming power of the oppressor in the society just like proletariats revolutionary attempts against the bourgeoisie. “The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.”(Karl Marx) The monster eliminates its chains(autonomy) because it has nothing to lose just like the proletarians and will lead to the chain of events(revolt).

After the invention of contemporary types of machinery, the self-value of the proletariat becomes very low. This may be represented as in the monster’s feelings which are the feelings of inadequacy and worthless or basically loneliness. “I had never yet seen a being resembling me, or who claimed any intercourse with me. “(Frankenstein, 1998) This sort of inadequacy feeling can also be found in the proletariats due to the fact that new productions methods are brought up and replaced with their very own existence, which makes them worthless too. Their work decreases and becomes inferior as the time passes, which cause the attempts to destroy the bourgeoisie system by 3 fundamental methods. The very first of them can be associated with the monsters’ revenge against Victor. It tries and accomplishes to harm its creator. Meanwhile, proletariats conduct similar attempts to destroy the machines. Both behaviors indicate that both situations plot similar pictures from the perspective of revenge to their superior state of affairs.

Same with Victor’s end, the end of the bourgeoisie could only be continued up to a certain point due to the guarantee “an existence to its slave within its slavery.” (Communist Manifesto) Every society has been founded on class hierarchy. However, in order to sustain the slavish existence, the intensity of slavery must be held steady-state. Unlike in the Frankenstein novel, the monster’s demands are not fulfilled and are not hold steady. This kind of oppression with domination gives rise to an increase in the monster’s outbreaking attitude. Rather than domination by the creators of the system in both circumstances whether in Frankenstein or in Communist Manifesto, both systems must not prominently suppress their existence. With one particular example, this can be explicitly observed, when the monster demands a mate from Victor, Victor’s abundance domination lead to the layout of the foundation of his death. “You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being.” (Frankenstein, 1998)  This could be demonstrated as the violation of the existence just like the violation of existence against the proletariats by the bourgeoises.

I believe that the theme of Frankenstein is changed due to the basic relation between the communist manifesto and Frankenstein. The materialistic approach is mostly related to how the society is altered without natural forces on the contrary to Frankenstein. The superior forces are created by society itself. Fundamental forces do not occur by natural forces. Therefore, we can conclude that Frankenstein novel actually consists of a part of the notion which lay down the foundation of the materialism when combining all pieces together at one and diminishes the uniqueness of nature.