Why...?

Have you ever felt disappointed when you are watching a film or reading a novel and you know what is going to happen next? Well I have several time and it is really hard for me to enjoy an obvious story plot but with the novel Frankenstein it was different. Frankenstein by Mary Shelly has a creative story plot and unique characters. It has a mix of horror, romance, and mystery to the plot that gets you wanting to read more. Interestingly, Frankenstein was inspired by one of Mary Shelly's nightmares about bringing her first child back to life. Frankenstein is the modern version of the story of the Greek God Prometheus because the stories relate. Victor Frankenstein want to give the knowledge of reanimation while Prometheus wants to give the knowledge of fire.

Brief biography of the author

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born on August 30, 1797, in London. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was an author. Wollstonecraft died giving birth to Mary, leaving her Mary in the care of her husband, William Godwin. Mary married Percy in 1816 weeks after Percy’s wife, Harriet, drowned herself. Percy edited Mary’s novel Frankenstein and it was published on January 1, 1818. Years after three of her four children died in infancy and in 1822 Percy drowned on the shore of Tuscany. Mary became a widow and a single mother and spent the rest of her time writing other novels. Mary died in 1851 from a serious illness.

Characters

Victor Frankenstein studies and discovers reanimation, with this knowledge he creates and intelligent but deformed monster. Victor fears and regrets his creation keeping it a secret from society. The Monster is Victor’s creation, he is deformed and abandons from his creator. He is an ugly, tall, intelligent, and sensitive and constantly reject by society. The Monster try to fit in with everyone else by teaching himself how to speak and learning human behavior, but he is feared upon. The more people reject him, the more he seeks revenge on his creator Victor Frankenstein. Elizabeth was brought in to the Frankenstein family as an orphan. She is considered to be Victor Frankenstein cousin even though Victor falls in love with Elizabeth.

Cultural Background

During Mary Shelley’s time women of her age lacked power and were in the shadow of men. It’s believed that she passed this part of her culture into the novel. The women in the novel were not well rounded and this showed the lack of power women had during that time. The monster itself is also considered to depict the women during her time because it was controlled by the male character in the novel. The Monster was also purposefully depicted as to have very little intelligence, physically independent and free of strict control. Like the monster that had no name, Mary Shelley herself was nameless as the author of this novel because of the culture during that time. Her name appeared five years later in 1823 in the second edition.

Theme

Many themes are explored throughout the novel like for example the theme of supernatural. Victor creates a monster that has super strength and its physical features are more exaggerated that that of a human being. Also reanimation is a supernatural concept in the novel because in reality you can’t bring the dead to life. Human psychology is also a theme in the novel. Victor Frankenstein behavior is affected by the knowledge he has to himself. When he tries to share his knowledge his ideas were rejected so he learned how to keep his ideas to himself. Victor’s secrets make him somewhat insane and he becomes ill at one point in the novel. The Monster also experiences psychological problems when he tries to fit in with normal people. The Monster became animal like when he notices he had no chance to become a regular person. He was mistreated so many times he hated humans and decided to take revenge.