In Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein, the reader must suspend disbelief during many crucial points in the plot. There are also many inconsistencies in the minor details of the story.
Critics have pointed out the lack of verisimilitude in Frankenstein, which can be defined as the appearance of being true or real. The novel contains several instances where the reader must accept events that are highly unlikely or even impossible. For example, the creature’s ability to learn language and read books within a short period of time is not believable.
Furthermore, there are inconsistencies in the details of the story. For instance, the timeline of events is unclear, and the characters’ motivations are often unclear or contradictory.
This lack of verisimilitude may be noticed by readers today, but in the nineteenth century, when this novel was written, readers were too terrified with the storyline to notice the unlikelihood of many of the happenings. For example, the moment that Frankenstein gave life to the previously inanimate form of the being he made, he remained fixed to the spot while the gigantic monster walked away. Then Frankenstein never heard any more from him for nearly two years. The author supposed that Frankenstein had the power to communicate life to dead matter, but how do we suppose this creature learns habits? If Frankenstein could have endowed his creature with the vital principle of a hundred beings, it would not have been able to walk without previously having done so, just as it would not be able to talk, reason, or judge.
Victor does not pretend that he could endow it with faculties as well as life, and yet when it is about a year old, we find it reading Werter, Plutarch, and Volney. The whole detail of the development of the creature’s mind and faculties is full of these inconsistencies. After the creature leaves Frankenstein on the night it came to life, it wanders for some time in the woods and then takes up residence in a kind of shed adjoining a cottage. Here it remains for many months without the inhabitants knowing and learns to talk and read by watching them through a hole in the wall. As you can see from my examples, Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein lacks much verisimilitude. I have given you examples of the monster alone, but these unlikelihoods go on throughout the plot as well. This is not unfamiliar for a science fiction or gothic novel, where many times belief must be suspended in order to get the effect the author is trying to put out.
