Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Mary Shelly wrote ‘Frankenstein’ in the year 1816. Mary Shelly wrote

the novel at the tender age of just 19, when visiting Geneva with her

partner Percy shelly – a young poet – During their trip, Bryon who

they were staying with, suggested that they should all write a ghost

story. This is of course when Mary Shelly came up with the idea of

‘Frankenstein’, which eventually got published two years later in

1818. Mary shelly however, did not instantly know what her ghost story

was going to entitle. In fact She struggled deeply to collect ideas on

what to write. Then one night Mary shelly had a dream, which shone

light onto these magnificent ideas, which have sweeped our nation

still centuries later. Also Mary Shelly suffered a great loss in her

life, before it really begun; Her Mother died as a result of giving

birth to Mary and was raised by her father and stepmother. I think

this could have influenced the main theme of the story.

Her novel is about a scientist called Victor Frankenstein who has a

deep obsession with bringing dead people back to life, which reflects

on the her loss in her earliest years . After all Victor’s research

and heavy obsessing he eventually sparks off the creation of a

monster. But did Victor know what he had let himself in for? The

moral behind this story is exploring how science can interfere with

nature and its results of doing such. This might have been influenced

by what was happening in the 1800s in science, as in the 1800s the

field of forensic science saw substantial progress. Also during this

time period people were deeply religious. Up to the mid 1800s religion

played a significant role in peoples lives, so at this time people

strongly disagreed with science and felt that scientists were trying

to take over and play the role of god. In this essay I will be

focusing specifically on how Shelly’s use of language portrays her

own views of science and religion, with particular reference to

Chapter 5 and Chapter 15.

We are first introduced to Frankenstein in Walton’s letters at the

start of Shelly’s novel. Walton first met Frankenstein in the Artic.

The way Shelly brings Frankenstein into the story makes us weary of

his presence from when he his first captured sight of by Walton. ‘ We

perceived a low carriage, fixed on a sledge and drawn by dogs, pass on

towards the north, at the distance of half a mile: a being which had

the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature, sat in the