Frankenstein (The Modern Prometheus) - Mary Shelley

Key Facts

Country: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Author: Mary Shelley

Genre: Gothic, Horror Fiction, Science Fiction

Original Publisher: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones

Originally Released: 1 January 1818 

Publisher: Penguin

Released: 2012

Synopsis: 

Obsessed by creating life itself, Victor Frankenstein plunders graveyards for the material to fashion a new being, which he shocks into life by electricity. But his botched creature, rejected by Frankenstein and denied human companionship, sets out to destroy his maker and all that he holds dear.

Review

Rating (out of 10📕): 📕📕📕📕📕📕📕📕📕

Mary Shelley's infamous gothic horror novel, and the original sci-fi, was a rollercoaster ride of emotions, spiralling and entwining itself with delusions and madness. There is no doubt in my mind as to why this sordid tale is one we keep going back to. The concept of man 'playing God' really hit home for me while reading this, that we can lose ourselves in our deepest desires and whilst we think we are creating something beneficial it is in fact a horrid consequence of dark desire. What enamoured me the most about Victor Frankenstein is his, in my mind, is that he followed his passion but upon the conclusion of his story I was filled with utter dismay at his hate for his own creation. Instead of trying to understand the thing that he had made with his own hands, he scoured it, abandoned it and passionately hated it. I am of course looking at this with 21st Century eyes and I am not affected by the devout religious fervour of the time, so I see this with a tinged modern compassion for his monster. Contradictorily, I also feel a deep sadness for him as his very existence was plunged into the dark depths of despair. To say that this novel effected my emotions profoundly is a correct assumption.

At some stages I felt some compassion and sympathy for Frankenstein's creation, all he ever wanted was to be loved and accepted whilst giving love and friendship to his fellow man. His emotional instability was the product of his abandonment and environment. I'm sure many of us would feel deep seated emotions of anxiety, rage, scorn and contempt if we were left by the ones that created us. Even so, is eloquence and persuasive art is enough to pull on heart strings and even now I still feel some compassion for him, but to condone the taking away of all that someone loves in an attempt to fulfil your own selfish aims is abhorrent. I think that is what makes this novel so good, you're constantly torn between the plights of beast and creator, you're question what lengths you would go to with your own passions. It is also very clever in drawing you in to those two characters that, like Frankenstein, you forget about he others that you care about. Becoming so fixated on this mental battle between Frankenstein and his creator, you never really understand the trail of destruction left in its wake. That is until you hear from the book's opening voice, Captain Walton, again. His closing notes really bring home how the outside really couldn't understand what gripped Victor. I imagined Walton to be the embodiment of us, the reader, you can feel your own horror throughout the book but by closing with the final words of Walton you realise the extent of it. 

Shelley's timeless classic will definitely linger in my mind. I thoroughly enjoyed plunging into the mad mind of Victor Frankenstein, I still feel a slight chill writing about it. I think deep down the book shows hoe repugnant humans can be and when our creations fight back against our destructive tendencies we seek to extinct them. The lesson that I've learnt the most from this book is to think about he consequences of your actions and how they could drive people to do horrible things because of the way you treated them. I may've completely missed the point or message that Shelley was trying to convey but considering the story was composed as part of a pact with Lord Byron and her future husband Percy B. Shelley it is a hands down winner. Branching upon subjects such as  galvanism and occult ideas, that in modernity we seem to have become somewhat desensitised to, that I knew were in there, I still felt shocked upon reading the passages referencing them. Having read Robert L. Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde, I am no stranger to science going awry but Frankenstein has struck my very core. Whilst Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde, makes you think about the duality of man in your mind, for me Frankenstein played it out in a very real and very vivid environment. 

I thoroughly recommend Frankenstein to all fans of classic literature, never have I felt so conflicted whilst reading a novel of this intensity. Its dark and thrilling narrative will linger with me for some time to come!