Frankenstein

Frankenstein (full title: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus) is a novel written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and was first published in 1818. The tale itself has passed somewhat into legend by now. It tells the story of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a scientist that animates a mass of parts into a living(ish) creature, Frankenstein’s’ monster. Victor Frankenstein, after accomplishing the feat, rejects his creation. He dehumanizes the creature by not giving it that most important trait of a being: a name. Instead, he refers to it epithetically: “wretch”, “monster”, “demon”, “devil”, “it”, and more.


Shelley was only 18 when she began writing the novel and was 20 when it was published, cementing her legacy and making her a staple of the Western canon. The creation of Frankenstein, the novel, is as legendary as the book. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, her lover and future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Polidori were all staying at Villa Diodati during a stormy summer. Over the course of their stay, two of them had written modern day classics and staples of horror.