Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is one of, if not the best, classic of all time. It has an engaging story, some flowery wording (which you learn to love by the end of the book), and interesting characters to get you hooked.
From a quick glance, the story of Frankenstein is quite simple. It’s a frame story that follows a student, Victor Frankenstein, who wishes to be one of the well-remembered scientists of his time. To do that, he concludes that he will perform a feat that no one has done, or even thought of before: he will create a being out of different random body parts and essentially play god. His plan is a success, but he then deals with the consequences that come with such a burning desire for discovery. From its allusions and allegories to its message and human-esque monsters, Frankenstein is a piece of literature that delves deeper than an average horror story and tells such a melancholic tale that can move, and disturb, the hearts of many.
Before Mary Shelley’s creation, there were no thoughts of stories that had “zombies” or “mad scientists” in any other piece of literature; people couldn’t fathom the idea of anything un-human or supernatural being the main plot point of a book. Monumental works like Dracula and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde would not have even been pursued past a tiny little afterthought if not for Frankenstein‘s debut.
Mary Shelley does an amazing job at teasing the most profound psychological debate, nature versus nurture. Is a monster born with malice in its heart? Or is it the community that raised it that puts the venom in its blood? The Creature, who in truth, was just a baby, yet he was never treated like one. He was a clean slate. It was the trials and tribulations he faced that ultimately led him to fall into Tartarus, the eternal hell. The opposite can also be argued– that it was in the strings of his man-made fate that made him who he was, an inevitable trait he was bound to show no matter how human-like he became. However, this argument is not only projected onto The Creature but the creator himself too– Victor. Frankenstein manages to create so many thought-provoking situations while showing the dangers of certain actions and the consequences that follow. It asks a question, then makes the reader come up with their own answer over and over again.
The tales of the bible are also such crucial parts of this story. Victor, at multiple different points in the book, alludes to himself as the ultimate creator, God, with the same intention to create and be loved for doing it in a way that no one else has done before or could replicate. But then, towards the end of the novel, as we reach the last few rounds of cat and mouse, both Victor– and The Creature– start to see themselves less as their holy counterparts and start seeing themselves as something other.
Frankenstein, in a different lens, can also be seen as a biography. From birth, Mary Shelly has been witness to the trials of death. The death of her mother at birth, the death of almost all of her children, and the death of her husband. With all of this in mind, while reading Frankenstein, you see that these are not characters that she conceived out of nowhere, but a reflection of herself. At a point in time, she was both creator and “createe”. Both Victor and The Creature. With its various techniques, storytelling, lessons, and raw emotion, the power that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein possesses will never fade out.
Photo credit: National Portrait Gallery London
