“We rest; a dream has power to poison sleep.
We rise one hand wand’ring thought pollutes the day.
We feel, conceive, or reason; laugh or weep,
Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away;
It is the same; for, be it joy or sorrow,
The path of its departure still is free.
Man’s yesterday may ne’er be like this morrow;
Nought may endure but mutability!”
– Percy Shelley’s “Mutability” quoted in Frankenstein
The only immutable aspect of life is its ability to change. One goes through life in a constant state of fluctuation. Everything from textbooks to pop culture magazines displays new or contradicting information. New technology becomes obsolete in two years; a once favorite book is relegated to the bottom shelf of a passionate reader’s collection; age and time devour everything. The only constant aspect of life is inconsistency. This thought, as exemplified by this quote which appears in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, recognizes life as unstable and changing but also comes to embody the prevailing notion of Victor Frankenstein’s world – from his emotions, to his relationships, to his experiments. Although Frankenstein seems at first to be a cautionary tale outlining the dangers of crossing boundaries in science which are not meant for humans to pass into, the motif of mutability is more complex. Shelley’s argument can also be seen as a claim in favor of the inevitability of advancement and progress in which thus Shelley recognizes the impossibility of permanence. However, this understanding is the reason for her apprehension of what such advancement will brings. Although much change happens naturally in the course of day-to-day life, Shelley cautions against mutability in matters that are governed by humans and cared out lightly without thought of consequence by using Frankenstein as a cautionary tale.
The poem which appears in Shelley’s novel is one written by her husband, and it in fact has two different adaptations both titled “Mutability,” one of which serving as the focal point for Shelley’s motif of the changeability in life. Both poems convey similar underlying themes and similar language but still differ, illustrating changeability not only as an overarching theme of the poems but also as a process to which the poem has been subjected. The second poem which is not present in Shelley’s text employs much of the same language and expression but presented in a way that is unlike the other version: “Dream thou—and from thy sleep/Then wake to weep” (P. Shelley). In both poems, the version quoted here and that quoted above, share similar characteristics in their use of sleep, resting and rising, as an indication of the passage of time wherein one day is very unlike the next. The general subject of the two poems is the same, but the way in which it is told varies through language. The poem itself is not an immutable object. One can look at the two poems as the continuation of a life, a living evolving organism. The language, which is parallel to the events in one’s life, differs drastically, though from one version, or one point in time, to another. In looking at the history of the “Mutability” text, it is clear that change is not only an integral aspect of Frankenstein’s narrative, as it will become evident, but of the poems themselves. The poem does not merely exist as a standalone piece or an instance of fleeting rhetorical fancy; it can be applied to the larger issues of the novel as one pulls the lens back from the poem itself to the context of Frankenstein’s emotions, his environment, the state of science and technology at the time, and the larger implications for the novel throughout time.
The inclusion of this stanza from Shelley’s husband’s poem, “Mutability,” encourages deeper analysis into the various aspects of change and impermanence present in Shelley’s novel. Victor’s moods are a highly changeable state throughout the novel, representing the fragility that his actions have caused. At the time his monster is created after great toil and struggle, he suddenly grows despondent, and the young scientist notes, “the different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature” (M. Shelley 60). Realizing that even in overcoming the most seemingly permanent aspect of life – death – Victor perceives that human moods are still far more fickle. Additionally, Frankenstein refers to the “accidents” of life, although his creation of the monster seems intensely deliberate. In this way, Frankenstein distances himself from the choice he has made to create the monster, blaming instead his fickle feelings. However, from Frankenstein’s eventual fate, the author implies that choice plays a large role in the mutability of life and that one cannot distance himself from the choices he makes in changing the world around him. As a result of his choices, Frankenstein descends into what appears almost to be a sort of madness, which Elizabeth notes as “an expression of despair, and sometimes revenge” (M. Shelley 88), followed by the inner peace he feels during his excursion into the wilderness is what prompts the inclusion of this poem as a commentary on the transience of objects and states. Frankenstein claims that his heart “before sorrowful, now swelled with something like joy” (M. Shelley 92). From the juxtaposition of these two mental states, Frankenstein emotions seem deeply instable and subject to change, highlighting Shelley’s undercurrent of mutability. This instability in Frankenstein’s life seems to cause himself and those around him great mental anguish as they search for the source of his distress. In this case and others, changeability is often a part of life but can also cause harm to oneself and those around him when entered lightly into. Although in this case the quoted passage from “Mutability” seems to allude to Frankenstein’s instability in emotion due to it placement in the text, it can also be applied to the larger issues of life and death and seems to be an unavoidable aspect of the young scientist’s existence.
The lives taken from Frankenstein, young William and Justine, also become reminders of a changing world wherein today may bear no resemblance to tomorrow, and the choices on makes impacts those around him. William, the youngest brother of Frankenstein’s family, dies, presumably at the hands of the creature which Frankenstein creates, and Justine is hanged on suspicion of his murder. Both cases are of very young lives, which are full of opportunity, taken before their potential can be fulfilled. Upon receiving the news of William’s death Frankenstein laments: “One sudden and desolating change had taken place; but a thousand little circumstances might have by degrees worked other alterations, which although they were done more tranquilly, might not be the less decisive” (M. Shelley 74). While acknowledging the shock of his brother’s death, the scientist also ruminates on the nature of small changes in everyday life, imperceptible but none the less devastating when amassed into one. In pointing out the inevitability of small changes within his life, Frankenstein acknowledges that some change is inevitable. However, in juxtaposing these small changes with the larger shock of William’s death, he suggests that the result of his hubris is far more detrimental than any other everyday mutability. In this idea one can perceive a type of warning for pushing change upon the world. Frankenstein pays for tampering with the seemly permanent force of death with the lives of the young who, for them, life still seems almost permanent because they yet have so much life to live. Not only do Frankenstein’s actions cause the creator inner turmoil but he also causes great pain and suffering to those around him, reinforcing the concept of caution when dealing with matters of change.
While one perceives the alterations in both Frankenstein’s internal and external environments through his moods and circumstances, one can also pull the lens back farther to examine those in the scientific field and the world at large within Shelley’s novel. Both Frankenstein and his foil, Robert Walton, experiment in new advancements in the fields of natural science and exploration respectively, and both risk the lives of others in their thirst for novelty and knowledge. However, Walton is ultimately spared from a fate similar to Frankenstein’s loss. At the outset of Walton’s journey into the Arctic he asks, “Why not still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element? What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man” (M. Shelley 34)? Immediately following this daring exclamation, Walton comes upon Frankenstein, a haunted man seeking revenge who has already experienced the horrors of his own resolved will, lacking in concern for caution much like Walton’s own adventurous spirit. The contrasting visions Shelley presents of these two men, seeming so much alike and yet so different, presents a warning. For Walton the danger is yet ahead, while for Frankenstein, his downfall has already come to pass. Frankenstein, at times, urges Walton forward but deters him from making a mistake similar to his own, seeking knowledge at the cost of caution. Walton eventually turns back, ignoring his friend’s urgings, making an argument for permanence in regards to the boundaries that man is not meant to cross, sparing his men and himself from further horrors. In this way, Shelley warns of the dangers of forced change in scientific advancement when men push the boundaries of mortality and humanity.
The changes that Frankenstein has caused in his life through his hubris have undoubtedly changed his life for the worse, affecting everything from the inner workings of his mind to the wide world of science and technology, far beyond the everyday instability of human lives. However, permanence not only becomes an impossibility within the confines of Frankenstein’s experience but also in the way the novel has been perceived and retold. The changeability in this text, represented by the poem’s variation and Frankenstein’s fluctuation in mood, family, and scientific boundaries, comes to represent the way in which the narrative has evolved and grown beyond its original story. Mary Shelley’s original Frankenstein existed as a short horror story, evolving and changing into a rumination on the nature of humanity, mutability, and hubris. Furthermore, since the story’s original conception, it has not yet ceased evolving to meet the needs and demands of a new generation. The current common conceptions of the Frankenstein narrative involves a grotesque green creature, incapable of thought and seemingly stitched together with the very worst of materials. In the Frankenstein text, however, the monster is crafted from features seen as “beautiful” (M. Shelley 60), and although Frankenstein later remarks on the hideous quality these features take, the eloquent swift creature that results from his work does not resemble the slow-moving zombie-like vision usually associated with Frankenstein’s monster. In this way, Shelley’s own “hideous progeny” (M. Shelley 25) has taken on an evolving life of its own as it changes to meet the desires of different media of story-telling. It can be said that the life of a novel itself is far from stagnant and unchanging. It flows on in the reader’s mind, and even if it is not adapted, as Frankenstein has been, into different forms, the understanding of a novel is a forever shifting and evolving process. One reading of a novel, even by the same reader, may provide different insight than a previous reading. The lives of humans and books are immutable in their mutability.
Works Cited
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. Print.
Shelley, Percy B. “Mutability [“The Flower That Smiles To-day”].” The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Vol. 4. N.p.: n.p., 1839. N. pag. The Poetry Foundation. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.
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Alexandria Smythe
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