Summary Of Mary Shelley And Her Legendary Novel Frankenstein

Mary Shelley and Her Legendary Novel, Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s achievement of writing Frankenstein is very remarkable because she completed her novel at twenty years young in response to her early life influences. Who would have known that a young woman like herself could produce a work so horrific and gothic yet so accurate in the depiction of modern society. Many critics will agree that readers, especially young readers, become especially engaged and interested in Frankenstein because of the similarities to our modern culture. Like the creature Dr. Frankenstein produced, many people in our modern day society lead to their destruction through abuse of power. Overall, Shelley’s work affected modern society as well as the Romantic era in various ways due to her early influences.

Mary Shelley lived through an interesting childhood that helped influence the way she wrote her works. Her mother, novelist Mary Wollstoncraft, died when she was on only a baby. Shelley used to read her mothers books and her mother became her idol even though she barely knew her (Abbey). At fourteen years of age, she met a twenty two year old man named Percy Shelley. They fell in love and eloped in July of 1814—about a month before she turned seventeen. The couple experienced many tragedies during her marriage with Percy. Her half sister committed suicide in 1816 and weeks later, Harriet (Percy’s ex-wife), drowned herself. They also experienced the loss of three of their children. The only child to survive was Percy Florence whosx was born in 1819. The couple’s marriage also suffered tremendously. Percy had many affairs and the couple was focused and always busy in their rigorous schedule of study (Rawson). All of these events forced Mary ...

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...woman is also prominently found through various parts of the novel. For example, Caroline Beaufort is a mother who passes away taking care of her daughter. Justine is also executed because she was found guilty for murdering William Frankenstein even despite her innocence. The female monster that Victor was making for the creature was put to a stop but Victor feared she would also become evil. Also, Victor’s new wife, Elizabeth, was murdered after waiting years of return from Victor (Abbey).

Frankenstein overall had profound effects on the Romantic Era and modern day culture. Mary not only wrote a chaotic story about the effects of technology and discovery may have on a person, but also about the ironic view of modern day society. Her mere intentions were to show that Frankenstein holds a deep message beyond the deaths and gore that is portrayed throughout.