Adler’s Manifesto

To the inhabitants of Geneva, Scotland, and all places sullied by Victor Frankenstein,

I write to you today in sorrow, as a guilty man. Consider this letter my confession for the murders of William Frankenstein, Henry Clerval, and Elizabeth Lavenza, as well as, by manner of my own trickery, Justine Moritz. It is true, I am the beast who has killed these people, guiltless as they were, but their blood is not on my hands.

Do you blame the rapier that pierces the duellist’s heart? Or do you blame the hand that wove it through the air? Do you blame the smith who wrought such a weapon from the metal of the earth?

I am such a weapon, wrought not from metal and melted by fire, but sewn from corpses pilfered from peaceful resting places and struck by lightning. If it sickens you to read this grisly affair, I urge you to condemn the sickness that may drive a man to bend himself to such work. An as to that man, I accuse one of your own, one Victor Frankenstein. He is the alchemist guilty of my animation, the smith guilty of my crafting, the swordsman guilty of my crimes. He brought me into this world and named me creature, named me beast, named me abomination, but his charge is not mine to bear.

My name is Adler. My demands are simple:

1. I demand a companion. I demand that Victor Frankenstein craft me a partner, someone with whom I can spend my days, who will not flinch at my face but love the crude stitching, see their black lips reflected in mine. Is it so much to ask that I am permitted to live my life in company?
2. I demand that Victor Frankenstein be tried for my crimes and imprisoned, so that all knowledge of his dark craft be forgotten. Never let another student make his mistakes nor retrace the horror of his path. No other creature should have to suffer as I have. Allow me the grace of one companion, then banish this knowledge from the face of the earth.
3. If these demands are met, we will retreat to some forgotten corner of this earth. We will find comfort in the beauty of our environs and in the presence of each other. In time, you will forget our names and the horror you display at our existence will fade into the realm of children’s tales and myth.

Until these demands are met, I will kill those dear to Victor Frankenstein, one by one, as I have done thus far. So long as he continues to deny my simple desire for companionship, I will do the same to him. One who willingly inflicts this pain on another being, even as he holds the cure to my sickness, is truly a monster and thus underserving of any comfort. I am sorry that it has come to this, but you have forced me to take these extreme measures.

I have tried to be kind. I have helped when I see suffering, I have given my hand and my bread to those in need. I have listened and learned and otherwise done all I can to be a part of your society, and what have you met me with? Scorn. Anger. Disgust. Violence. Threats. It seems to be the only language your kind knows how to speak with me. If I cannot be understood though kindness, I will communicate the only way I know how, the only way you have taught me. If you insist on violence, I respond with violence.

For those of you who are not acquainted with Victor Frankenstein, fear not. My grudge is not with you, and I assure you that you will be safe. But anyone who shelters Frankenstein, who associated with him and helps him in these infernal affairs, be wary. Urge him to comply with my demands. Force him, if need be. My vendetta is not with you, but you will suffer.  

The decision is yours.

Adler Frankenstein

Reflection

One of the more perplexing aspects of Frankenstein is the sheer quantity of the book that is told from the creature’s point of view. One can read this as a rare occurrence that foregrounds a disenfranchised and marginalized voice. It serves to humanize Frankenstein’s creature and help the reader sympathize with his plight. It’s also important to remember, however, that the narrator here is still Victor, relaying the words of the creature. As such, readers are never presented with a truly authentic account of the creature’s experience. This is the first issue that I sought to address with this project, and I began to question what the creature might say, given the opportunity.

I also intended this to serve as an exploration of violent reactions to discrimination or disenfranchisement. I was reading The Overstory recently, and a major aspect of the plot involves a group of individuals committing acts of ecoterrorism. Though it’s a far cry from Frankenstein, I was struck by the way the book led the reader to understand how these reactions can be justified. I was equally inspired by Steve Earle’s “John Walker’s Blues,” which provided an empathetic perspective on radicalization in post-911 America. A similar move happens in Frankenstein, as the creature’s story provides context for his violent actions. Without condoning them, we can read the series of murders as acts inherently linked to the creature’s position as an outsider and repeated inability to express himself in an “acceptable” manner.

This led me to question how, given the opportunity, the creature might address a society that repeatedly rejects him. The most logical answer to this, given the creature’s answers, was to write a manifesto. While maybe not explicitly terrorist in nature, the creature’s attacks certainly align with some characteristics of terrorism. If this is the case, then what might the creature’s manifesto look like? What would his motivations, demands, and threats look like?

The first problem was naming the creature. It seems counterproductive to continually dehumanize the creature by denying him a name, while also trying to humanize the creature by giving him a voice. “Adler” means “eagle” in German, which seemed like a fitting companion to the “Modern Prometheus” subtitle. As the eagle punishes Prometheus, so will Adler punish Frankenstein.

I drew the demands from the text. Adler is clear about what he demands of Frankenstein, and I was hesitant to change that. The demand that Frankenstein be tried for Adler’s crimes is an attempt to both push Adler’s demands in a more radical direction and acknowledge the deeper causes of his actions. The threat was equally drawn directly from the text, as this is simply a continuation of the creature’s actions. For this assignment, I imagined that Victor never chased the creature, and I instead situated my piece in a world where the creature remains in Europe to cause further terror.

As for the motivations, I drew inspiration from Martin Luther King’s statement that “a riot is the language of the unheard.” I asked why Adler might feel unheard, and what measures he would consider reasonable in order to communicate his message. This, again, is mostly drawn from the textual evidence of the creature’s inability to communicate peacefully with other people, due primarily to their initial fear and disgust at his appearance.

This is an important extension of a reading of Frankenstein that situates the creature’s violent actions within a larger structure of disenfranchisement. To seek an explanation for the murders is not an endorsement, but rather puts in question the perception that the creature’s nature might be inherently violent. The book does this work through the creature’s second-hand narration, but I wondered how I might make that message more explicit, while also translating it to a medium that is more easily understood by a modern audience. The scope of this project is larger than Frankenstein: how can contemporary examples of violence, particularly in the context of protest, be reinterpreted as reactions to structures that disenfranchise the individuals in question? How can we recontextualize our understandings of guilt and responsibility in these contexts?