Many read Khan’s heralded entry and ignominious exit as further proof of Pindi’s omnipotence and ability to change civilian governments at will. Outside homes of politicians (and their ex-wives), and even in the Protests are held, not in public squares, but Polarisation has reached a level where rank and vile abuse masqueradeĪs political critique. But since the publication of Frankenstein, the brash experimenter and the experiment gone wrong have become a recurrent theme in apocalyptic science fiction. Shelley’s original novel paints a far more nuanced picture of hubris and betrayal. In the popular portrayal, Frankenstein’s creature is a monster - a fearsome being consumed with hatred for mankind and its creator. And, at least some of them, are running scared. He warned them, like Frankenstein’s creature, how much more dangerous he would be if returned to the streets shorn of fear and the trappings of high office. He told them what he thought of “neutrality”. To be fair, Imran Khan made every attempt to let his creators know what would happen if he were abandoned to the vicissitudes of the political world. Our generals and judges are learning it too.
Every parent weaning a child quickly learns how narrow the line between gratitude and rage is. To face abandonment when seeking nurture, to encounter neutrality when expecting support - the denial of entitlement inevitably evokes powerful emotions. Rejected by the world and his creator, the embittered creature remonstrates with Frankenstein - “Remember, that I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel.” The scientist initially relents but, when he forsakes the creature again, it warns him of revenge - “Beware for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.” In Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s famous Gothic novel, the brilliant scientist Frankenstein creates a living being which, out of fear, he abandons to its fate.