Every passing week brings them closer. They lurk on the horizon, waiting to pounce when you’re most vulnerable. They rob the week before spring break of its bubbly anticipation — midterms. Devil’s work.
The stress is enough to eat any student alive. Obsession with studies can quickly eradicate any semblance of a social life you’re still clinging to as the semester progresses. The burden of responsibility weighs heavily, the library sees an upswing in visitors and edginess is palpable in the air.
Dr. Victor Frankenstein can relate. Antihero of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel “Frankenstein,” Victor’s own obsession with his studies leads to the destruction of everything he has ever known and loved. As if this weren’t enough, it gradually dawns on him _he_ is completely to blame.
Victor’s dangerous single-mindedness births the problem, and his denial nurtures it. The first third of the novel describes his descent into the science of animating the dead. He wishes more than anything to bestow life on an inanimate object, preferably one of his own creation. Weird, but obsessions have a way of setting normalcy by the wayside, as evidenced in the caffeine-saturated all-night study routines of the average college student.
He turns to the old scientists, men discounted in modern (by 17th century standards) society for their unorthodox, scandalous and frightening notions. With their books as his guide, Victor closets himself in his apartment and works feverishly on his “creation.”
Much as your professor gathers the corpses of long-ago-learned material from dusty file folders and cobbles it into a hellish examination, Victor Frankenstein fashions a man-like creature using deceased body parts and some fancy needlework.
Everyone living above ground can recollect the scene from the “Frankenstein” movie with the quote, “It’s alive! *evil laughter*,” but not everyone can give an accurate account of the events that follow.
Victor is later horrified by the monster he’s made, but disgust doesn’t absolve a guilty conscience. Monster Man is _his_ brainchild and _he_ is responsible. Victor at first spurns the blame, rejecting the Creature and fleeing his mistakes. Later, though, when the Creature goes on a killing spree, Victor is forced to come clean. He is at fault.
Victor Frankenstein’s brilliant mind and nimble fingers craft the Creature in the first place, and his rejection breeds resentment in the heart of his creation. Victor is responsible not only for animating a massive superhuman made from rotting corpses, but also for turning it against other men and inspiring its murderous rage. Both his obsession and his refusal to accept blame for his actions spell his ultimate doom. Spoiler alert: He goes insane and dies.
Not that midterms — organic chemistry aside — are powerful enough to send you over the edge, but the same principle applies both to college and to life beyond (yes, it does exist).
Step away from the textbooks or the computer screen or the flashcards (because, let’s be honest, does anyone read the books?). The stress of midterms, of college courses in general, is enough to make anyone obsessed; a student so easily morphs into a sleep-deprived monster. Step away from life’s petty problems that seem all-consuming. They’re not.
