Frankenstein: Creation and Monstrosity. NY: Reaktion Books, 1997. Print. Gigante, Denise. “Facing the Ugly: The Case of Frankenstein.” English Literary History 67.2 (2000): 565-87.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1996. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 7 Dec. 2013. Thompson, Terry W. "Wrapped In Darkness: Hecate In Chapter Sixteen Of Frankenstein."
Web. 22 April 2014. Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein: The 1818 Text, Contexts, Criticism. Ed.
Throughout the book, Victor Frankenstein acts the part of the modern Prometheus, God the creator, and cursed Satan, while the Monster takes the roles of innocent Adam and Satan the avenger. According to “Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley,” Mary Shelley’s parents were two of the most eminent and revolutionary thinkers of their time. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a radical feminist who authored A Vindication of the Rights of Women while her father, William Godwin, was a radical political theorist who authored Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and Caleb Williams (“Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley” 3202). According to Carol Adams, Douglas Buchanan, and Kelly Gesch in The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Frankenstein, Mary’s parents “had entered the politiciz... ... middle of paper ... ...icism: 1500 to the Present. Ed.
New York: Norton. 2012. 355-368. Print. Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Norton Critical Edition: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: The 1818 Text, Contexts, Criticism.
GreatBookStudy, 29 Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. http://greatbookstudy.blogspot.com/2013/10/playing-god-in-frankenstein-by-mary.html Traynelis, Josh. "Who’s the Real Monster?"
Throughout Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, also known as The Modern Prometheus, this notion of alienation, is an illuminating theme that is manifested throughout the story. Another theme is that of creation, in which Victor Frankenstein, a main character in the book, usurps the role of God by giving life to a creature in his laboratory, but by artificial means, rather than conceiving one legitimately. Furthermore, the underlying factors of creation, that are carried out by Frankenstein, as well as the alienation suffered by Victor Frankenstein’s monster from Victor, and from society, will be made unequivocal. Creation, why is one drawn to the idea of it? Is it perhaps something that is within us all, an innate desire that we all possess, that desire being the power to give life to something, and in doing so, playing the role of God?
2010 . Griffith, George V. “An Overview of Frankenstein, in Exploring Novels.” Gale, Literature Resource Center, 1998. 18 March 2010 Hitchcock, Susan Tyler. Frankenstein a Cultural History. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007.
The creature is born into the world as if it is a baby, knowing nothing of life. This creature's first experience as a living existence is being shunned by its own creator. I beheld the wretch---the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me… He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs (Shelley 43). The monster is reaching out to the only thing he knows thus far, his creator, and is met with disgust.
Mary Shelley Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2014. . "Major Themes in Frankenstein."