FREE ESSAY ON TRANSFORMATION BY MARRY SHELLEY

TRANSFORMATION BY MARRY SHELLEY

THE DARK SIDE OF "THE MOON"
So you plant your own garden and decorate
Your own soul, instead of waiting
For someone to bring you flowers...
(Unknown poet)
The short story " Transformation" by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley is a confession of a
man, who experiences supernatural adventure that completely changes his personality. One
of the most important themes of the story is the struggle of good and evil in a soul of a
person. This theme is topical at all times. Every person has his own sins, and he is able
to estimate them only if he manages to take a detached view of himself. Happiness of a
person depends on weather he is able to fight against dark side of his soul or not. Love
and selfless feelings help him in this fight. To convey this theme successfully the
author uses the concept of doppelganger. It helps her to develop the character of Guido
(the narrator), and to divide his good and bad features. She stresses the importance of
what the character sees through his own eyes, how he perceives himself and others around
him. 
In the beginning of the story the narrator characterizes himself as an extremely selfish,
elate, careless person, who is not able to control his wild emotions and passions. He
looses his father's money only because of that. More than that he is not able to keep the
most important person of his life - his innocent and fragile bride Juliet. Unfortunately,
at the moment the narrator does not understand all his mistakes and just continues his
wasteful life. Only at the edge of his life, when he is sure that he will die in a while
"I shall soon die here on these lonely sands, and the limbs he covets will be mine no
more..." he meets this ugly malignant dwarf and finally realizes all his mistakes. The
dwarf actually forces him to find the way out, he shows him all the ugliest sides of his
soul and it makes the narrator revalue the meaning of his life. His beautiful appearance
and gracefulness is not really important for him any more. He is ready to lay it down for
a chance to keep his love.
The theme of love is the central one in this story. For me it seems to be very
complicated. I have a feeling that in the beginning of the story the narrator does not
truly love Juliet. He easily leaves her in Genoa and goes traveling. He comes back in a
while, but only because of his pride, he can not accept an idea that she might belong to
someone else: "Another will call her his! - that smile of paradise will bless another!"
His true feelings become clear to the reader only when he starts to fight the dwarf to
save Juliet: "to-morrow my bride was to pledge her vows to a fiend from hell! And I did
this! - my accursed pride - my democratic violence and wicked self-idolatry had caused
this act." The real "transformation" of the character begins at the same moment. Being
infirm and helpless it is easier for Guido to "transform" into a better person. At the
darkest moment of his life he sees the dream that guides him to fight for his love: "
What did it mean? was my dream but a mirror of the truth? was he wooing and winning my
betrothed? I would on the instant back to Genoa..." He is sure that he wants to destroy
the fiend, but at the same time it is hard for him to accept an idea that he has to kill
his own body. His fear disappears when he sees Juliet with this terrible man, who is nice
and handsome outside, but cruel and ugly inside: "Now I was no longer master of myself. I
rushed forward - I threw myself on him - I tore him away..." Only true love made the
character involve in this deadly action, and he is ready to loose his life for it. Guido
wins this fight. 
Only at the very end of the story the narrator understands that this ugly dwarf is
nothing but himself from the inside: " knowing that him whom she reviled was my very
self". I think that Mary Shelley wants us to understand that a man's soul like the Moon
has its two opposite sides - the bright and the dark one. We all are to fight against our
bad features during the life. This fight is the most successful when a man's life is
unstable, when a person looses his wealth, beautiful body, and health. In such moments
only the divine love helps him to become better, purer and to exhibit the best features.
A man will be a winner in the struggle against "draft" only if he does not regret for the
past, does not afraid of the future and does not blame somebody else in his misfortunes.
In this case a person would accumulate love in his soul through the whole live, and this
feeling would help him to become happy and to provide successful future to his children.