"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 young scientist who creates a hideous, humanoid monster. 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 with Romanticism[1] elements. After publication, Frankenstein remains Shelley's masterpiece and also created an iconic horror monster in its name. The novel also serves as a potential warning of the dangers of science and philosophy.
Plot Summary[]
Around the 18th century, an English sea captain named Robert Walton sets sail on an expedition to the Arctic. He describes his journey in a series of letters to his sister, Margaret Saville. 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, living a happy, idyllic childhood. He had a devoted family, a close friend named Henry Clerval and was in love with his adoptive sister, Elizabeth Lavenza. As a child, he was fascinated with natural philosophy, alchemy and science. At age 17, he was enrolled at the University of Ingolstadt. Before he leaves, his mother dies of scarlet fever, but she hopes that he and Elizabeth will marry one day.
Victor arrives at the university grief-stricken and away from his family. But he soon focuses on his studies as he researches science, chemistry and philosophy. He becomes obsessed with his research as he discovers the secret of life and reanimation. He spends the next few 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 also attends 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 spots the Monster lurking around where his brother's body has been found, and he suspects it killed William. After returning to his family home, Victor discovers that Justine Moritz, a young girl adopted into the family and assigned as William's caregiver, has been accused of murder after the boy's locket was found on her. Victor and his family try to prove that Justine is innocent, but she is tried and executed. Victor is guilty and distraught that he has indirectly caused the deaths of two innocent loved ones.
Victor travels to the Swiss Alps to ease his grief. He meets his creation along the way, making him listen to his story. After coming to life, the Monster knows nothing about the world and life around him. The humans constantly chase him away as they fear him and he tries to get used to the daily elements, such as light, darkness, 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 Laceys, an exiled French aristocratic family living in the cottage. The Monster learns to speak from their language and teaches himself to read. He even sees his own reflection and understands his hideous appearance. The Monster decides he wants to be like the De Laceys and befriend them. He tries to talk with the blind father, but the rest of the family are horrified by him and 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 he 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 build the female creation. But he constantly fears the consequences of creating a female monster that could endanger humankind. In fear and disgust, he destroys his unfinished project. The Monster is furious when his creator breaks his promise and warns him that he will "be with him on his wedding night."
Victor dumps the remains of the female monster in the lake, and his boat ends up in Ireland, where he is arrested and accused of the death of Clerval, whose body was found close by, and 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 Monster as they head up to the North Pole. When Walton's crew saw him, he was close to finding it but collapsed from hypothermia and exhaustion. 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 he dies soon after Walton rescues him. Later, Walton finds the Monster grieving over Victor’s body, where he tells the captain about his hatred and loneliness. Now that his creator is dead, the Monster can now end his 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 wrong, and his life is 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 of human body parts. He came into the world with no knowledge or thought but managed to learn about life's dangerous, sinful ways. He is so lonely and depressed that he decides the only way to redeem himself is to avenge 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 into his letters.
Elizabeth Lavenza- Victor's beautiful adoptive sister with whom he had grown up and fallen in love with. She is loved and adored by the family, and she later marries Victor but meets her tragic fate at the hands of 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, Clerval eventually made his way into university to join Victor. He is caring and loyal to Victor, who 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. The Monster killed him 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 Frankensteins as a child. She was responsible for looking after William, and after the Monster killed him, Justine was framed as the culprit, resulting in her being tried and executed. Her death affects Victor deeply.
Alphonse Frankenstein- Victor's father. He is a kind father who adores his children, mostly Victor and Elizabeth. He attempts to console Victor during the family's most tragic moments and is concerned when Victor starts showing red flags of depression and insanity. He dies shortly after Elizabeth's death from a broken heart.
Ernest Frankenstein- Victor's younger brother. He plans to join the army and is the only member of Victor's family who survived the Monster's wrath.
Caroline Beaufort- Victor's mother. She was the daughter of a merchant Alphonse had befriended and married her husband sometime after her father's death. On her deathbed, her final wish was for Victor and Elizabeth to be married.
M. De Lacey- An exiled French aristocrat. He is a blind, old man who lives in a cottage with his children after they are stripped of their wealth.
Agatha De Lacey- The daughter of M. De Lacey. She shows kindness and compassion towards her family despite living in poverty.
Felix De Lacey- The son of M. De Lacey. He fell in love with a Turkish woman, but after helping her and her father escape from prison, he and his family were banished from their home in Paris.
Safie- A young Turkish woman who Felix De Lacey is in love with. She escapes from prison with her father, a wealthy Turkish merchant. But after her father betrays the De Laceys, she manages to escape from him and reunites with Felix at the cottage.
M. Krempe- One of Victor's professors at the University of Ingolstadt. He criticizes Victor for his obsession with philosophy and chemistry.
M. Waldman- Another of Victor's professors. Unlike M. Krempe, Waldman supports Victor's interests and teaches him more about chemistry.
Mr. Kirwin- A magistrate in Ireland. He had Victor in custody when he became a suspect in Clerval's death.
Margaret Saville- Walton's sister. He writes her letters from the expedition and narrates the entire story to her.
Writing History/Reception[]
At 18 years old, Mary Shelley and her future husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, travelled across Europe. They stayed inside a cottage in Switzerland with their friends, John Polidori, Lord Byron, and Byron's girlfriend, Claire Clairmont. While being sheltered inside the cottage on a stormy day, the group decided to have a contest on who could 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, presented it to the group, and won their competition[2]. 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 in 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 when a woman wrote Frankenstein. 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.
Themes[]
Curiosity[]
In Frankenstein, Shelley describes her characters as having a sense of curiosity and their morbid consequences. Walton is a seafarer determined to make discoveries at the North Pole. At the same time, Victor is easily fascinated by elements and philosophy that led his curiosity to make his creation. Both men believe their curiosity would be life-changing and make them famous for achieving something unique. Their quests made them so obsessed that they indirectly allowed chaos and tragedy to set in. Victor made the Monster that ends up killing all his loved ones, and Walton wants to keep pursuing his research until his ship gets stranded and places his crew's lives in danger. In addition, the Monster is curious about his life and discoveries about human nature and society, even wondering what he would be like if he were accepted by humanity. But curiosity wasn't handled correctly, and without it carefully, it could lead to disastrous consequences. Victor succumbed 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 human curiosity and abandons his obsession for the sake of his life and the others.
Monstrosity[]
Another common theme in Frankenstein is a monstrosity. The Monster is a giant, ugly creature who strikes fear in everyone with his appearance. He was left alone, and his iniquity only increases when he turns evil after failing to bond with humanity and declares revenge on his creator. His loneliness had made him shunned and depressed, to the point when he was 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 true for Victor Frankenstein, the man responsible for the Monster's birth and existence. Some readers and critics believe Victor is the true monster in the novel. He is selfish and reckless even to bother being sympathetic for his creation and ends up estranged from society. He believed for a moment that he was God and he could create a new species just like how the Greek titan Prometheus made humankind, 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, often used in Romanticism novels, offers the main characters a perfect and peaceful atmosphere, and its serene beauty can quickly restore depression. Whenever Victor becomes distraught from his mistakes and tragedies, he embraces himself with nature, such as walking in the German countryside or exploring the landscape of Chamonix. Its beauty brightens him, but it would only lift his spirits temporarily. His peace with nature would quickly be shattered when the Monster came back to him, or he received news back home that 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 other times, nature can be treacherous and dangerous. When Walton's ship enters the North Pole, he and his crew are greeted by icy sheets and freezing weather, and as Victor chases after his creation, he cannot endure the cold, which 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 primary analysis of why Shelley published Frankenstein is a crucial fact warning about the dangers of science. Before publication, science was thought by people that its discoveries could value knowledge, and since it was first published in the 1818 edition, the novel offered some critical morality. At a young age, Victor was fascinated by the conceptions of science and philosophy. He even read many books about alchemy since they taught him 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 spends months obsessively building it. But after the Monster turns on his creator, Victor has his life ruined by 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 restoring the dead and making a monstrous, humanoid species is never a romantic way.
Symbols[]
Fire and Light[]
The elements fire and light have two different symbolisms. Light symbolizes knowledge and discovery; when Walton arrives at the North Pole for a research expedition, he sees it as a "country of eternal light." 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 as the main title, for the Greek titan Prometheus allegedly stole fire from the gods to give to his human creations and was punished for being forever chained and having his liver eaten by an eagle to cause him pain. The Monster used fire as survival to keep himself warm and cook food, then used it as a dangerous weapon to burn down the De Lacey's cottage and 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 John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Adam symbolizes the first man created by God; in the creature's case, he is the first and only living being made by his "God," Victor Frankenstein. Like Adam, the Monster is curious about life and dreams of having a female companion like Adam’s companion, Eve.
Satan symbolizes the Devil and the ruler of hell. The Monster also sees himself as a "fallen angel, " an alternate name to Satan featured in Paradise Lost. The creature's life is hell, and he was meant to live that way from birth. Like how Adam was banished from disobeying God, the Monster was somewhat cast out the same way after being abandoned by Victor. The Monster may have attempted to be compassionate and generous to his creator's humans, but he was clearly 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 for William's murder.
- Victor has a nightmare when he dreams of Elizabeth turning into a corpse. Foreshadows her eventual death at the hands of the Monster.
Adaptations[]
A film adaptation directed by James Whale and featuring Boris Karloff was released in 1931, which is now considered a classic in early horror cinema. Several changes, however, were made in the plot as the Monster is not intelligent or eloquent like his book counterpart.
A film adaptation, The Curse of Frankenstein, was released in 1957. Directed by Terence Fisher, it features Christopher Lee as the Monster and Peter Cushing as Victor Frankenstein.
A film adaptation, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, was released in 1994. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, it features Branagh as Victor, Robert de Niro as the Monster, Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth and Aidan Quinn as Robert Walton. While faithful to the source material, there are some major changes in the film not featured in the book.
A TV miniseries was released in 2004. Directed by Kevin Connor, it features Alec Newman as Victor, Luke Gloss as the Monster, Nicole Lewis as Elizabeth, Donald Sutherland as Captain Walton and William Hurt as M. Waldman.
References[]
- ↑ Romanticism was an artistic and literary movement which was common in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
- ↑ https://earlybirdbooks.com/mary-shelley-frankenstein-history