Frankenstein

"If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear!"

Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, is an 1818 novel by Mary Shelley. Having first written the novel when Shelley was just 18 years old, it tells the tale of a brilliant but mad young scientist who creates a hideous, humanoid creature and upon restoring it to life, the monster soon becomes dangerous and sets out to destroy his creator.

Frankenstein is also known to be a Gothic fiction novel, alongside with having Romantism elements associated with it. After publication, Frankenstein not only remains as Shelley's masterpiece, but has also creatured an iconic horror monster in its own name. The novel itself also serves as a potential warning of the dangers of science and philosophy.

Plot Summary
Around the 18th-century, a sea captain named Robert Walton sets sail on an expedition to the Arctic. Writing in a series of letters to his sister, he describes his journey. On the way, Walton and his crew spot a giant man on a dog sled, followed by another man on a sled, exhausted and near death from exposure. Walton rescues him and brings him onto his ship. The man introduces himself as Victor Frankenstein and tells the captain his story.

Victor grew up in Geneva, Switzerland and lived a happy, idyllic childhood. He had a devoted family, a close friend named Henry Clerval and is in love with his adoptive sister Elizabeth Lavenza. As a child, he had a fascination with natural philosophy, alchemy and science. At age 17, he is enrolled at the University of Ingolstadt. Before he leaves, his mother dies of scarlet fever, but hopes that he and Elizabeth would marry one day.

Victor arrives at the university grief-stricken and being away from his family. But he soon focuses on his studies as he researches on science, chemistry and philosophy. He becomes obsessed with his research as he discovers the secret of life and reanimation. He spends the next couple of months collecting body parts and constructing a human creature.

When he finally brings his creation to life, he becomes so terrified of the creature's hideousness that he flees from it and wanders the streets of Ingolstadt. He meets his friend Clerval, who is also attending the university, and takes him into his home. Victor cannot stop thinking about the monster he made and falls ill with a fever; even though the monster is gone. Clerval spends the next few months nursing his friend back to health.

Once Victor recovers, he receives news from back home that his youngest brother William has been murdered. He returns home immediately, and he spots the monster lurking around the area where his brother's body has been found, and he suspects it killed William. After returning to his family home, Victor finds out that Justine Moritz, a young girl adopted into the family and assigned as William's caregiver, has been accused of his murder after the boy's locket was found on her. Victor and his family try to prove that Justine is innocent, but she was tried and executed. Victor is guilty and distraught that he had indirectly caused the deaths of his two family members.

Victor travels to the Swiss Alps to ease his grief. Along the way, he meets his creation and he makes him listen to his story. The monster tells his own tale.

After coming to life, the monster does not know anything about the world and life around him. He is constantly chased away by the humans as they were afraid of him and trying to be used to daily elements, such as light and darkness and heat and cold. He wanders into the wilderness and seeks shelter in a hovel next to a small cottage. While staying in the hovel, he observes the lives of the De Lacey's, an exiled French aristocratic family living in the cottage. The monster learns to speak by their language and teaches himself to read. He even sees his own reflection and understands his own hideous appearance. The monster decides he wants to be like the De Lacey's and befriend them. He tries to talk with the family's blind patriarch, but the rest of the family were horrified of him and they all flee their home.

Disappointed and ashamed, the monster vows revenge on his creator for causing his ugliness. He comes across the Frankenstein family home, where he kills William and frames Justine.

The monster begs his creator to make him a female mate, so he wouldn't be lonely and have a companion just as ugly as he is. They would run off to South America together and threatens to kill more people if Victor refuses. Now fearing for the safety of his family and friends, he finally agrees to do it.

Victor and Clerval travel across Europe together and arrive in England. Victor leaves his friend behind as he goes to the Orkney Islands in Scotland to begin building the female creation. But he is constantly afraid of the consequences of creating a female monster that could put mankind in danger. In fear and disgust, he destroys his unfinished project. The monster is furious when his creator broke his promise and warns him that he will "be with him on his wedding night".

Victor dumps the remains in the lake, and his boat ends up in Ireland, where he is arrested and accused on the death of Clerval, whose body was found close by and that the monster had killed him. Victor suffers a mental breakdown and falls feverishly ill. But after he recovers, he is acquitted and returns home with his father.

After arriving back in Geneva, Victor marries Elizabeth, just as their mother had wished they would. But on their wedding night, the monster kills Elizabeth. His father dies of grief shortly afterwards.

Victor vows to hunt and destroy his creation that had ruined his life. He tracks down the creature as they head up to the North Pole. He was close to finding it, but he collapses from hypothermia and exhaustion, where Walton's crew find him.

After Victor's story, Walton's ship becomes stuck around the ice and once it clears up, the ship immediately turns around and goes back South. Victor's health worsens and dies soon after Walton rescues him. Later, Walton finds the creature grieving over his creator's body, where he tells the captain about his hatred and loneliness. Now that his creator is dead, the monster himself can end his own suffering. He leaves the ship, heads up northernmost, and is never seen again.

Characters
Victor Frankenstein- The main protagonist and narrator, as well as whose surname is the titular name. He is a young scientist who hopes that he can create the perfect human being. But his project goes horribly wrong and his life would be destroyed forever. He was also afraid of his own creation and failed to do anything to help it.

The Monster- Victor's hideous and terrifying creation, a humanoid monster made out of human body parts. He came into the world with no knowledge or thought but manages to learn about life's dangerous, sinful ways. He is so lonely and depressed that he decides that the only way to redeem himself is to take revenge on the cruel man who made him.

Robert Walton- An explorer who is also the chief narrator of the novel. He describes his expedition in a series of letters he writes to his sister back home in England. He and his men attempt an expedition to the Arctic circle, where he saves Victor from the cold climate and as he listens to Victor's story, he copies it all down into his letters.

Elizabeth Lavenza- Victor's beautiful adoptive sister who he had grew up and fell in love with. She is loved and adored by the family, and she later marries Victor, but meets her tragic fate by the Monster. In the 1818 edition, she is Victor's cousin, but in the 1830 edition, she was adopted from a poor Italian family and grew up as a foster sister to Victor.

Henry Clerval- Victor's best friend since childhood. Both friends were fascinated by science and alchemy as children, and as he got older, Henry eventually made his way into university to become a scientist. He is caring and loyal to Victor, as he nursed him from his fever and travelled with him across Europe.

William Frankenstein- Victor's younger brother and the youngest child of the Frankenstein family. A happy, angelic little boy, William is loved and devoted by his family. He was killed by the Monster in a forest in Geneva as the Monster's way to hurt Victor for leaving him alone.

Justine Moritz- A pretty, servant girl who had lived with the Frankenstein's as a child. She was responsible for looking after William and after he was killed by the Monster, Justine is framed as being the culprit, resulting in her being tried and executed. Her death affects Victor deeply.

Writing History/Reception
At the age of 18, Mary Shelley and her future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley went travelling across Europe. They stayed inside a cottage in Switzerland with their friends John Polidori and Lord Byron, as well as Byron's girlfriend Claire Clairmont. While being sheltered inside the cottage on a stormy day, the group decided to have a contest on who can write the scariest story. At the same time, Shelley had a dream in which a scientist reanimated a living corpse and was horrified by it. She wrote it down in a short story and presented it to the group, and won their competition. Bysshe then convinced her to extend her story and turn it into a novel. Frankenstein ended up being published anonymously in three separate volumes in 1818. Her name appeared on the second edition in 1823, and was published again in 1830, with some changes to the text and storyline, as well as a preface written by Shelley dedicated to Byshee who died in 1822.

The novel was met with both positive and negative feedback from critics. Novelist Sir Walter Scott reviewed the novel and praised the language used in the story but questioned some of the novel's events such as the monster's knowledge. Others were disgraced and offended, especially at the fact that Frankenstein was written by a woman. Some criticized Frankenstein's immorality and that Victor Frankenstein never got his real punishment by playing God and creating life himself. The novel was a major commercial success among readers and is even considered by many to be the first science-fiction story.

Curiosity
In Frankenstein, Shelley describes her characters having a sense of curiosity and their morbid consequences. Walton is a seafarer who is determined to find some discoveries in the North Pole while Victor is easily fascinated by elements and philosophy that led his curiosity be over his mind to make his creation. Both men believe that their curiosity would be life-changing and would make them famous for achieving something unique; but their quests resulted in them being so obsessed they indirectly allowed chaos and tragedy to set in. Victor made the Monster that ends up killing all of his loved ones and Walton wanting to keep pursing his research until his ship gets stranded and places his crew's lives in danger. In addition, the Monster himself is curious about his life and discoveries about human nature and society, even wondering what he would be like if he would be accepted by humanity. But it is clear that curiosity wasn't handled properly and unless it can be handled carefully, could lead to disastrous consequences. Victor ends up succumbing to his reckless discoveries and hadn't he told his story to Walton, the captain would have wanted to keep going in his quest and endanger everyone's lives. Afterwards, he finally understands what human curiosity really is and ends up abandoning his obsession for the sake of his life and for the others.

Monstrosity
Another common theme in Frankenstein is monstrosity. The Monster is a giant, ugly creature who strikes fear to everyone with his appearance. He was left on his own and his monstrosity only increases when he turns evil after he fails to bond with humanity and declares revenge on his creator. His loneliness had made him shunned and depressed, to the point when he is sure he would forever be doomed to live without a companion or a society to declare his own. Both revenge and loneliness may have increased monstrosity, but perhaps the most accurate theme is failing to help something someone has created and guiding them to be more human. That may be the case for Victor Frankenstein, the man who was responsible for the Monster's birth and existence. Some readers and critics believe Victor is the true monster in the novel, as he is so selfish and reckless to even bother being sympathetic for his creation and ends up being estranged from society. He believed for a moment that he is God and he can create a new species just like how the Greek titan Prometheus made mankind, but his "monstrosity" evolved from his hatred towards his creation and had even kept it all a secret; which involved in him cursing all of humanity for not being prejudiced.

Nature
The theme of nature, which is often used in Romanticism novels, offers a flawless and peaceful atmosphere to the main characters and its serene beauty can easily restore depression. Whenever Victor becomes distraught from his mistakes and tragedies, he would embrace himself with nature, such as walking in the German countryside or exploring the landscape of Chamonix. He is brightened by its beauty but it would only lift his spirits temporarily. His peace with nature would easily be shattered when the Monster came back to him or he receives news back home his youngest brother was found murdered. His family and friends would often try to comfort him by introducing him to nature to ease his suffering and make him cheerful again. At others times, nature can be treacherous and dangerous. When Walton's ship enters the North Pole, he and his crew were greeted by icy sheets and freezing weather, and as Victor chases after his creation, he is unable to endure the cold and it takes a toll on his health. On top of that, after he declares revenge, Victor no longer cares about nature being sublime and is instead filled with ambition to reverse his choice.

Science
The main analysis of why Shelley published Frankenstein is as a key fact warning to the dangers of science. Before publication, science was thought by people that its discoveries can value knowledge, and since it was first published in the 1818 edition, the novel offered some important morality. At a young age, Victor is fascinated by the conceptions of science and philosophy, and even read a lot of books about alchemy since it gave him knowledge on how to turn something simple into a powerful being. As he constructs his creation, he fails to have second thoughts on the consequences of his project being alive and spent months obsessively building it. But after the Monster turns on his creator, Victor ends up having his life ruined from the dangers of science. Frankenstein was written and published in a time period when scientific advances were trending and even offered moral questions about the novel's premise. It has even provided an important example of why it is never an idealistic way to restore the dead and make an monstrous, humanoid species.

Fire and Light
The elements fire and light have two different symbolisms. Light symbolizes knowledge and discovery; such as when Walton arrives at the North Pole for a research expedition, he sees it as a place of "eternal light" and Victor is filled with enlightenment as he makes discoveries in alchemy and philosophy. But light can also be overbearing if it is too bright, as Victor and Walton have failed to understand the results of their ambitions.

Fire symbolizes survival instincts and destruction. Shelley referred to fire to the main title, for the Greek titan Prometheus allegedly stole fire from the gods to give to his mankind creations and was punished to forever be chained and have his liver eaten by an eagle to cause him pain. The Monster used fire as survival to keep himself warm and how to cook food; and then uses it as a dangerous weapon to burn down the De Lacey's cottage and then set himself on fire to end his life. Victor, like Prometheus, may have attempted to offer "fire" to humanity, but ends up being forever miserable by his creation's wrath.

Adam and Satan
Two Biblical names the Monster referred to himself as while reading Paradise Lost. Adam symbolizes the first man created by God, and in the creature's case, he is the first and only living being created by his "God", Victor Frankenstein. Like Adam, the Monster has a sense of curiosity of life and dreams of having a female companion like Eve.

Satan symbolizes the Devil and the ruler of hell. The Monster also sees himself as a "fallen angel" which is an alternate name to Satan featured in Paradise Lost. The life the creature lives in is hell, and he was meant to live that way from the moment he was born. Like how Adam was banished from disobeying God, the Monster was somewhat cast out the same way after being abandoned by Victor. The creature may had attempted to be compassionate and generous to his creator's humans, but it is clear he was meant to cause chaos and allowed to do evil.

Foreshadowing

 * Elizabeth introduces Justine Moritz in her letter. Foreshadows Justine's key role in which she is falsely accused and executed of William's murder.
 * Victor's nightmare when he dreams of Elizabeth turning into a corpse. Foreshadows her eventual death at the hands of the Monster.