Frankissstein

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus is a novel published in 1818, and Frankissstein portrays the period during and after Shelley’s work on the novel. Frankenstein follows Victor Frankenstein, a Swiss scientist experimenting with reanimation following the death of his mother. He creates a monster out of discarded human body parts and animals. Victor is afraid of his creation, but the Creature disappears. Much of the narrative follows the way the Creature reacts to and experiences life, often focusing on existential dread over what it means to be created. The Creature learns to read and write, but it is repulsed by its own appearance and often frightens humans unintentionally. The Creature pursues Victor, feeling that Victor is responsible for the Creature’s existence and suffering. Ultimately, the Creature strangles Victor’s wife, Elizabeth, on their wedding night. Victor pursues the Creature across Europe into the Arctic, where he dies in pursuit of the Creature.

Frankenstein is commonly accepted as an important part of the canon of English literature, but it received mixed reception in 1818, largely due to Mary Shelley being a woman. Included in Frankissstein is a quote from Byron stating that “it is a wonderful work for a girl of nineteen” (125), implying, as many notable figures did, that the novel is handicapped in some way by the sex and age of its author.