Post Traumatic Stress Disorder In Frankenstein By Mary Shelley

In the novel, Frankenstein, the author, Mary Shelley, draws the reader into the story by bringing life to the characters through detailed description and events. Shelly revealed her life through insight of her characters. She used her writings, as a form of psychotherapy, to release repressed emotions and experiences in her life, which included happiness, death, depression, fright, madness, guilt and regret. Little did she know that the science considered insane in the novel, is considered today as welcomed research and life saving procedures, just what the character Victor Frankenstein wanted to succeed in doing. Through the mad mind of Victor Frankenstein, or by the revenge of the monster, Mary Shelley shows the parallel between her

Her mental state could be labeled today as PTSD. PTSD stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is a disorder that develops in some people who have seen or lived through a shocking, scary, or dangerous event (NIH). She made the characters in her novel experience traumatic events and had them live through stressful situations, just as she did. Writing was obviously a form of therapy for Mary Shelley. In today’s world the character of Victor Frankenstein could have been labeled as suffering from PTSD. He was saddened so much by the death of his mother, he wanted to find a way where no human being would ever have to feel the loss that he did or that his father did. He went to medical school, only to learn how he can stop death from happening. His mental state lead to him becoming a mad scientist. He did not think about the consequences of his desires to stop death. After Victor created the monster, he was very happy with his success, but he soon suffered stress and anxiety. He lived in fear, because he knew what he had created was not good. He knew what the monster was capable of doing. Mary Shelley brought out her anxiety and fears very well in her character of Victor

In her own life and in her character’s lives, the emotions are revealed. The novel reveals how happiness can turn to sadness and pain in an instant. It also reveals how the human being can sometimes, without thinking of the consequences, make decisions that can negatively affect the rest of their life. This was true in the novel “Frankenstein”. It is the decision of the individual to find a way to survive the ups and downs of life. In Mary Shelley’s case, she chose to live her life out in characters in a novel; perhaps the most widely known novel of terror (Encyclopedia Britannica), and one of the best novels of all