Frankenstein and FMA Analysis
I hadn’t recalled this while watching Fullmetal Alchemist but now that our Western Civilization class has read Frankenstein, it finally dawned on me that Victor Frankenstein studied Alchemy was well. But, alchemy is viewed differently in Victor’s world than Edward’s world. It is out-dated and pale in comparison to modern science. In Edward’s world, alchemy is modern science, and it’s pretty powerful, used in the military in Amestris and for medical purposes in Xing. I read the book for the first time Junior year in high school and thought it was a pretty interesting book, but the second time around, I found it to be even more fascinating than the first because now I can compare and contrast Frankenstein with Fullmetal Achemist.
Both Victor and Edward were pretty absorbed in their studies on human life and the idea of creating life or restoring life. Victor Frankenstein’s mother died as well, but his objective to create a living being is different from the motives of the Elric brothers. He simply wanted to see if it was possible to create life without biological means (asexually). Edward wanted to bring his mother back to life to see her smile again, out of love for his mother.
Victor created a monster who was largely grotesque yet intelligent and compassionate. Edward, however created a monster that died right after its creation, but in return he lost his leg and arm. He lost his leg as a passing fee when he saw the gate and his arm when he tried transmuting his brother’s soul to a suit of armor. Alphonse had his body taken to the other side of the gate and almost lost his soul as well when it was somehow taken by the monster, but luckily was rejected because the soul is only compatible with certain media. In a way that suit of armor is like a time bomb because he will never know when and if that suit of armor will reject his soul.
Well, that was the manga version of human transmutation. The anime version somewhat flows better with Frankenstein’s monster since the monster or better known as homunculus created by Ed and Al did survive. But Ed and Al’s monster was not rejected by society because she was not grotesque and looked pretty human from the outside. Had people known she was a homunculus, however, like Ed and Al later, she would have been somewhat of an outcast, but still accepted by the other homunculi namely Wrath. But then again, she did resemble of a decayed body till after eating the Red Stones or incomplete Philosopher’s Stones.Yet Ed and Al’s homunculus had an evil conscience and Frankenstein’s monster was only driven by revenge after being shunned by society as well as his creator. I wonder if that would have been the case for Ed and Al’s homunculus had it not been fed Red Stones.
Now I’m wondering if Frankenstein’s monster can be considered a homunculus since it probably didn’t have a soul since there’s no way of creating one. Victor didn’t use a Philosopher’s Stone or Red Stones - at least not that I’m aware of. He did use various dead body parts and human sacrifices were also needed in alchemy to resurrect the dead. There was even mention of the Philosopher’s Stone, transmutation and chimeras. Perhaps Frankenstein’s monster can be more accurately defined as a chimera. According to the MSN Encarta Dictionary, “an organism, or part of one, with at least two genetically different tissues resulting from mutation, the grafting of plants, or the insertion of foreign cells into an embryo.” And homunculus in our world are classified as basically a “little person.” and Frankenstein is a giant compared to human.
As for themes, both Frankenstein and FMA have Dangerous Knowledge as a theme. With the knowledge in chemistry/anatomy/alchemy, both Victor and Edward go beyond accepted human limits and access the secret of life. Whereas Victor’s obsessive hatred of the monster drives him to his death, Edward has his brother’s support and they had no idea that they had created a homunculus till much later. They were both able to defeat their homunculus, but not without difficulty as she resembled their mother so much. It was especially hard for Al to see the homunculus die in the anime.
Monstrosity is another theme. Though both Frankenstein’s monster and Ed and Al’s Homunculus can be considered monsters, so too are Victor Ed and Al. Both Ed and Al were alluded to as monsters at some point or another because Al does not have a body and Ed doesn’t have an arm and a leg. One can argue that Victor himself is a kind of monster, as his ambition, secrecy, and selfishness alienate him from human society. Ordinary on the outside, he may be the true “monster” inside, as he is eventually consumed by an obsessive hatred of his creation.
Both Victor and the Elric Brothers carry an unforgivable sin. For Frankenstein, however, he had lost more of his family and friends and was driven with revenge and the want to kill his monster. His ending was a tragic one whereas the Elric Brothers - in the anime - were able resolve their problem and kill their homunculus. According to the movie, they ended up living together, Al with his body back, though they lived in our world, where alchemy is devoid of its powers found in Amestris in their world.
Similar Posts
6 Comments
Thank you for taking the time to leave a message. Your comment is much appreciated. Also, please leave a comment relevant to the posted topic. If this is your first time commenting, your comment will be held for moderation before being displayed. If you would like a custom avatar to appear beside your message, please sign up for an account on Gravatar
That’s a very interesting analysis. i had not compared the two but now that you mentioned it, they do bear a lot of similarity. although i felt, the homunculous were, like, frankenstein, both souless, yet also strangely human. in the anime at least they showed all too human emotions, suggesting they are not monsters as they are portrayed to be, but like frankenstein, merely outcasted. i liked your point that the creator seemed the true monster of the two.
That’s a very interesting comparison! I totally forgot that Frankenstein also included the science of Alchemy. Haha, your argument was definitely very pointful and amusing. I now must go and get Full Metal Alchemist
I haven’t read Frankenstein yet, but I simply had to read this post because not enough people think that anime and manga can have literary significance.
I don’t agree that Frankenstein has no soul. Without a soul, how could have he been so compassionate? One thing that FMA also touches on is that the concept of the soul isn’t necessarily just attributed with natural human beings. For who can’t say that the homunculi in FMA don’t have souls either? They act just too human, even though they are not. To me, every living “thing” has a soul and the lines between good and evil, because of it, are always blurry. If you’ve been following Naruto, just look at Itachi.
To me, both works outline the boundaries that humanity can mess with. Basically, you don’t mess with life.
By the way, I’ve been sapping your, or someone’s bandwith with the music player. So awesome…
omfg - yeh FMA is very thought provoking. I’ve heard of Frankenstein, through reading some Eng Lit past paper questions on it. Most of them center about the evils of furthering science, as presented by M Shelley.
I think I personally sympathize loads with Scar and Lust and the other Homunculi. The Ishbalians view Alchemy like evil, which was synonymous with Christianity back in the days of Galileo whilst Scar’s brother was seeking to discover etc.
a really thought provoking anime and a very interesting post
I don’t know much on the subject of Frankenstein I know the story but beyond I am lost.I may read up on some of it sometime
I’m not familiar with Alchemy. Or Frankenstein for that matter. I know the basics of both, but nothing more.