Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Compare and Contrast the episodes of the creation of the monster and

the creation of the second monster in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Mary Shelley finished her first edition of 'Frankenstein' in 1816,

when she was nineteen years old. Since then her "monster" has become

so popular in the twenty-first century that he appears in films,

advertisements, comics and even computer games. So how is it that as

such a young age she was able to write such a gripping novel, which

has become more famous than any other work of 'Romantic' literature,

and indeed, her own? It could have been a result of an intellectually

stimulating childhood due to having free access to her fathers

extensive library and literary connections; or it could have been a

result of her being emotionally undernourished as a child. Whichever

way, she has succeeded in writing a novel that 'speaks to the

mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror' (p.8 -

author's introduction), as she wanted; and she has included many

personal ideas about politics and familial relations as well as moral,

philosophical and scientific ideas on the creation and 'elixir of

life' (p.42).

In this essay I will be looking at the differences between the

creation of the first and second monster, how Mary Shelley portrays

the feelings of Victor and the monster and the different myths and

legends that she refers to within the novel.

Victor Frankenstein had a wonderful life as a child:

'No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself'

(p.39)

He was loving and cared deeply for his family, especially for his

foster-sister, Elizabeth, who he looked upon as his own, and saw as a

'more than sister' (p.37). Victor always had an 'eager desire to

learn' (p.39) about 'the secrets of heaven and earth' (p.39). When he

was thirteen years old he started studying the works of Cornelius

Agrippa and the fact that his father called it all 'sad trash' (p.40)

fuelled his curiosity and enthusiasm and caused him to study even more

which was to him, 'the fatal impulse that led to my [his] ruin'

(p.41). His 'thirst for knowledge' continued for two years and when

his mother died he was motivated more so than before 'into the search

of the philosophers stone and the elixir of life' (p.42) and to

'banish disease' (p.42) so that he could prevent all human beings from

dying in painful circumstances. This shows that his reasons for making

the "monster" was for altruistic reasons and 'benevolent intentions'

(p.93) He became obsessed with the change from life to death and death

to life and started to create the "monster", in what he would call 'my