Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

"Frankenstein" the novel written by Mary Shelly was first published in

1818. Shelly was the only daughter of the philosopher William Godwin

and his wife Mary Wollstonecraft, the radical feminist writer.

Unfortunately Shelly's mother died almost immediately and Shelly was

brought up by her father and his second wife. Although "Frankenstein"

was published in 1818, Shelly first wrote "Frankenstein" in 1816

visiting Lord Byron on the shores of Geneva with her husband. The

whole idea of creating a novel was thought of by Byron. This was

because the four of them (Shelly, her husband Percy, Byron and Mary

Shelly's adopted sister Jane Clairmont) had nothing really to do and

Byron suggested to have a little competition - see who could write the

best ghost story. He thought this would keep the group occupied, which

it did and that was when "Frankenstein" was created. The idea

originated from a nightmare Shelly had had and when her novel was

written Percy Shelly told her to expand her story and helped her

publish it in 1818.

The novel is vastly influenced by Shelly's life, as the way

Frankenstein's mother died and the rough life Shelly had.

Frankenstein is about an anatomy student who deeply seeks in the

creation of life and takes science to the limits. With this, his

creature is born. He soon realises his mistake and the burden he has

placed on his family.

"Frankenstein" is a science fiction novel but is very close and has

many connections with the gothic horror genre. For example, gothic

horror novels have people killing, committing crimes and doing other

unlawful things, then getting punished for th...

... middle of paper ...

... struggling

to defeat the creature. This ending to this novel is ironic because

Frankenstein is healed by nature when his actual crime is against

nature.

My opinion on who is the most monstrous out of the two characters,

Victor Frankenstein and Its Creation. I have shown in this essay that

both did horrid things, unforgettable things and that's why making a

choice is difficult for the readers of the "Frankenstein". My decision

is still unmade and probably will be as Frankenstein created the

monster which was horrible and then ignored it and rejected it. The

creature was born and did no harm at first, but the many rejections

drove it to kill. You could say Frankenstein is mostly to blame as he

created the monster and the monster got driven to kill, but then again

you can say, did the monster really 'have' to kill?

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