The Real Monster in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Frankenstein is a classic horror novel, but with a twist of many other

genres. Written by Mary Shelley, it was a novel which mixed many

exciting elements, such as horror, drama and romance. The story

follows a young doctor named Victor Frankenstein, who has an obsession

to reincarnate the dead, but his attempts at this fail horribly, and

Victor finds himself in deep peril, as the monster stalks him

throughout the world. I aim to investigate the issue, however, of who

is the true monster in Frankenstein. The monster or Frankenstein

himself?

Mary Shelley, the creator of Frankenstein, was a highly intellectual

and creative woman, one of the elite writers in Britain. Her

inspiration for Frankenstein was taken from several things. The plan

itself for Frankenstein was taken from a dream, but her theories of

life and explanation of the human anatomy came from noted scientists,

philosophers and alchemists from Europe. This spawned the seed of the

monster of Frankenstein, an intellectual creature, a lover of music,

poetry and other such sophisticated occupancies. The basis of the

whole story in itself, however, is a result of a visit to the country

and place where the actual book was based in itself. In the summer of

1816, nineteen-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and her lover, the

poet Percy Shelley (whom she married later that year), visited the

poet Lord Byron at his villa beside Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

Normally, poor weather conditions would entreat them to go into the

house, where they would often entertain each other with a volume of

ghost stories Lord Byron held in his possession. . One particularly

stormy evening, Byron challenged his guests to each write one

themselves. Mary's story, inspired by...

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... the monster with

less than basic human emotions; he spurned it, and hoped never to see

it again. This is an extremely irresponsible decision. It is evident

that Frankenstein did not realize that, even though his “specimen” was

defective on the outside, it was still a living, breathing, thinking

being. A being which needed love, care and tutoring. In his misguided

and blind attempts to cheat death, Frankenstein has in fact brought

death on others, which is a despicable act. Some may argue that

Frankenstein had no choice, but I believe that is inaccurate. He had a

choice. He could have stayed, tutored the monster, and tutor it as an

equal, in matters of logic and science, and given it as normal a life

as it could have. Or, he could have chosen the path that he did, that

path Mary Shelley laid out for this book, one which inevitably led to

pain and chaos.