Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Frankenstein

Mary shelly wrote Frankenstein in the 18th century, it was a widely

read novel that brought about the ideas of rejection, prejudice and

isolation.

Written in the new scientific age, where there was a thirst for

knowledge in this area, people wanted to break new boundaries, open

new doors and explore the human body and anatomy.

There is also no doubt about it that Mary Shelly’s sad life and her

experiences of death inspired her to write this story, and to share

her feelings of injustice and reality’s inequality through another

form: Frankenstein’s creation!

Mary Shelly was exceptionally young when she wrote this novel, 19

infact, but yet she had experienced more death and injustice at that

age, maybe more than we will ever experience in our whole lifetime.

Victor Frankenstein was not a mad scientist, screaming the words ‘its

alive! Its alive!’ how Hollywood would portray him, but a mere

scientist with huge ambitions on how to bring the dead back to life.

But this is where the trouble starts, should the dead be left to be

dead? Society was not ready for this creature and neither was

Frankenstein. Perhaps so caught up in what he was doing he did not

stop to think about how the creature’s appearance would turn out and

his rejection lead to all the others. Victor clearly did not think

about the repercussions his creation could and indeed would bring. But

still he shunned the creature out of his home and onto the streets.

Banished onto the cruel streets of Ingelstaadt the creature encounters

some pitiless citizens that are aghast and angered at his presence.

Thinking he has Cholera he is hit and chased out of the village,

forced to flee into the woods.

It is in the woods that he comes across Felix and his family taking

refuge in a small cabin. The monster is in awe of the family and

desires and longs to be accepted and loved by them but he chooses not

to show his face, instead he watches them from a safe distance. The

family are aware of his presence as he helps them with crops by doing

it for them and leaves it at their doorstep at night. The family refer

to him as the ‘good sprit of the woods’.

It is in the barn of the house that the creature discovers he has

Frankenstein’s journal, he teaches himself to read and learns of

Frankenstein’s disgust and fear of his creation i.e. him. The creature

has started to feel at one with the family and when he sees that they

are in trouble he comes to their aid at once, this is a mistake!