How does Shelley prepare us for the horror of Frankenstein’s creature?

How does Shelley prepare us for the horror of Frankenstein’s creature?

Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in 1818. Shelley (the wife of poet

Percy Shelley) first got inspiration for her book in Geneva. There she

stayed with her husband, Lord Byron and a few others. They were all

challenged to write a ghost story during a hellish storm. Though she

did write a story it was a forgettable on. The real inspiration came

on June 22nd, the night before Shelley’s departure. The group

discussed a subject from de Stael’s ‘De L’Allemagne’ where they

considered whether the principle of life could be discovered and

whether scientists could be discovered and whether scientists could

galvanize a corpse of manufactured humanoid.

This was the true inspiration for Shelley and the next morning she had

found her story and began writing the lines that opened Chapter 5 ‘It

was a dreary night in November’

The alternative name for this novel is ‘ the modern day Prometheus’

The original myth written by Aeschylus, was about a man named

Prometheus that tried to create life by manipulating a human out of

clay. The two variations to myth merged together and fire became the

compound used to animate the objects/images. This myth can be compared

with Frankenstein because the elements, fire and electricity used to

animate were said to me discovered by man. And in both the creators

were punished, although god punished Prometheus. This is relevant

because the myth points us in the direction the novel Frankenstein

will go and Shelley uses this as analogy for her story. Eventually the

overreaches trying to defy nature will be punished.

Shelley also alludes to Milton’s paradise lost where if Frankenstein

is compared to Adam in paradise lost then the reader finds they are

quite similar. Both characters have a thirst for knowledge, which end

in their downfall. Frankenstein is also like Satan in that both

characters wanted to surpass God; Frankenstein may have wanted to

become a greater scientist but he wants more power for selfish

ambition just like Satan. Frankenstein wants to be the only person

that is able to create a human life and he wants to greater than his

nature, however Satan is punished in Paradise lost and this hints at

Frankenstein’s fate and the direction of the novel.

Mary Shelly signed the novel anonymously signifying that in society at

that time women weren’t very respected, in fact they were ostracized.

Shelley’s novel was shunned, a critic said ‘ the book had no principle

or morals and should be dismissed with no further comment’. In science

reason and rationality were the biggest genres for the 18th century