Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is the product of a nineteen year old's imagination.

It was a Dark and Stormy Night

In 1816, a collection of young people met at Lake Geneva. Volcanic activity the previous year had altered the climate and the normally sunny vacation spot was rainy and dreary. Stuck indoors in the days before TV and videogames, the group entertained themselves by reading horror stories.

These were all very intelligent, very literate and countercultural people, and one of the party suggested that they all write horror stories such as the ones they had been amusing themselves with.

Everyone agreed to give it a go, but only two manuscripts survived to publication. One, by Dr. John Polidori, The Vampyre, would prove inspirational to Bram Stoker in his writing of Dracula.

The other was Frankenstein, or A Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley.

Actually, in 1816, Mary was Mary Godwin. The Shelley she was living with in unwed bliss was still married to his first wife Harriet; Mary would not become Mary Shelley for another three years. Her 'significant other' was lyrical poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, with whom she had eloped when she was sixteen. She was nineteen when she wrote Frankenstein.

Frankenstein and his monster

The tale is a familiar one. Set in a time when anyone can become a 'scientist' by reading ancient tomes and solitary study, it tells the story of one Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who yearns to discover the secret of 'life'. Putting together a person out of spare parts, intending it to be a work of great beauty, he animates the construction, but is revolted by its ultimate appearance. He flees from his own creation, and falls ill, which puts him out of commission for some months.

His creature, waking to find his 'father' runs from the sight of him, skulks in hiding in the vicinity. He learns to talk by spying on a family of peasants, although here one's credulity is strained by the extent to which the 'monster' is able to articulate his thoughts and feelings in fully-formed, educated and polished prose that would not shame a scholar. The peasants are also revolted and frightened when they find their friendly spy.

Discovering that he is universally loathed, the poor monster becomes a monster in truth, wrecking havoc in the area. Victor Frankenstein attempts to hunt his monster to destroy it, but is captured by it instead. The monster only wants Victor to create another like him, preferably female, so that he can have one companion that won't shun him for his appearance. But Victor first agrees, then reneges. Eventually, losing his best friend and his wife to the monster, Victor takes ill and dies. The monster escapes, vowing to immolate himself on Victor's funeral pyre.

Themes

Treatises have been written on the underlying themes in Frankenstein. Its overt thesis is that there are some studies, such as the creation of life, that should be left solely to the province of God the Creator. But it is hard to avoid the feeling that this story is more about 'lookism' than about man trespassing in God's domain. The 'monster' wasn't a monster until he was shunned and reviled by first his creator and then by everyone he met. If he had had a gentler introduction to mankind, would he have been a killer? It is unclear if Mary Shelley intended to leave this moral in her story.

Afterlife

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has been brought to the stage and screen in numerous incarnations, most notably in the 1931 film starring Boris Karloff as the monster.