Frankenstein
Mary Shelley, 1818
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Captain Robert Walton writes letters home from an Arctic voyage and tells of rescuing Victor Frankenstein. Victor, a student of chemistry at Ingolstadt, learns how to give life to assembled body parts, and then flees in horror when his creature wakes. Alone, the creature teaches himself language by watching a family, meets rejection everywhere, and demands that Victor make him a companion. Victor refuses, and the creature kills his brother, his friend and his bride. Victor chases him north, dies, and the creature vows to end his own life.
Where it happens
- Geneva Victor's family home, and the region where much of the story takes place.1
- Ingolstadt Victor studies at the university here and brings the creature to life.1
- Villa Diodati, Cologny Byron's villa by Lake Geneva, where the ghost-story contest was proposed in 1816.12
- Gernsheim Shelley stopped here on the Rhine in 1815, near Frankenstein Castle.1
- Bath Shelley was staying here when she started writing the story.1
- Naples Victor is born here to an upper-class Genevese family.1
- London The first edition was published here anonymously on 1 January 1818.1
- Paris A French translation here in 1821 first printed Shelley's name.1
Through time
- 1815Shelley travels along the Rhine, stopping at Gernsheim near Frankenstein Castle.1
- 1816At Byron's suggestion four friends agree to write ghost stories, and Mary begins Frankenstein.12
- 1818The first edition is published anonymously in London on 1 January.1
- 1821A French translation, published in Paris, is the first to name Mary Shelley.1
- 1823A second English edition credits Shelley as author on its title page.1
- 1831A revised one-volume edition appears under her name, with a new preface; the site carries this text.12
- 1931James Whale's film adaptation shapes the popular image of the monster.1
Who is in it, and behind it
Mary Shelley author
English writer who began the novel at eighteen and published it anonymously in 1818.1
Percy Bysshe Shelley subject
Mary's lover and future husband, who joined the 1816 ghost-story contest.12
John Polidori subject
One of the four who agreed to write a ghost story in 1816.1
Victor Frankenstein character
Young scientist from Geneva who makes a creature and abandons it.1
The Creature character
Learns language, finds Paradise Lost, and turns on Victor after being rejected.1
Robert Walton character
Ship captain whose letters frame the novel and who hears Victor's story.1
Elizabeth Lavenza character
Victor's childhood friend, born in Italy, murdered on their wedding night.1
William Godwin subject
Mary Shelley's father, with whom she grew close after her mother died.1
Johann Konrad Dippel subject
Alchemist who experimented at Frankenstein Castle about a century before Shelley passed nearby.1
What it is about
Creator's duty to creation
Victor abandons what he makes, and the creature insists that a maker owes care to his creature.1
Danger of seeking knowledge
Victor warns Walton about the harm that comes from pursuing knowledge without restraint.12
Rejection breeds violence
The creature turns to murder only after humans, including Victor, spurn him.1
Nested narration
Walton's letters frame Victor's account, which in turn contains the creature's own story.1
In its own words
“We will each write a ghost story,” said Lord Byron; and his proposition was acceded to
You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings
Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow
How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form
Remember, that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed
Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed
I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly, and exult in the agony of the torturing flames
The shape of the book
31 chapters, 77,726 words. Point at a bar.
How it came to be here
Mary Shelley began the story at eighteen, during a cold summer in 1816 when she, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and John Polidori each agreed to write a ghost story. It came out anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, and her name first appeared on the French translation of 1821. A revised edition under her name followed in 1831 with a new preface about how the idea came to her, and the site carries that text. The book is Gothic and Romantic, and it spawned films, plays and a whole genre of horror.
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Sources
Text: PG 84. CC0 (Standard Ebooks).