Frankenstien

Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein was a landmark novel that shook the world. It caused a sensation when it was first published and the sensation still lives on. The book tells us of a young natural philosopher, who, obsessed with the prevention of death and the birth of life, commits hubris, and so, sins against God. Unfortunately, he disowns the creation; this develops grave consequences, not only for Frankenstein, but his family and friends also. I believe this book is for the more intellectual adult. Some people have reason to believe the monster is a vague reflection on Mary Shelly’s life, on levels it tells you about her self-sense of abandonment and self-hatred. Mary Shelly’s parents, David Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft were known as radical thinkers and maybe they influenced her life; the way she ran off with a married man and took alcohol and drugs. She also had waking nightmares, that made her have a very vivid imagination, but we cannot know for sure what we can believe about Mary Shelly and the monster in her book.

Chapter five is the essential moment of creation during the book. It deals with the obsession and consequences of Frankenstein, and the reality of rejection that the monster endured. Frankenstein concluded that he had not accomplished his mission because his monster was hideous, he says;

“Beautiful? - Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of…and straight black lips.”

This is a very bizarre description of the monster because some of the qualities are beautiful and would look stunning on a person, but other qualities are hideous and terrifying, but together, this makes the creature the scariest thing on Earth. This creation would outrage the people of the nineteenth century, because science had only just been discovered. Frankenstein reveals that he is a flawed genius, he is the first man in the