Lines from John Milton's Paradise LostIn Frankenstein, the intelligent and sensitive monster created by Victor Frankenstein reads a copy of Milton's Paradise Lost, which profoundly stirs his emotions. The monster compares his situation to that of Adam. Unlike the first man who had "come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature," Frankenstein's creature is hideously formed. Abandoned by Victor Frankenstein, the monster finds himself "wretched, helpless, and alone."
From the title page of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheuse, 1818
Robert Walton to his sister Mrs. SavilleFrankenstein opens with a series of letters written by Arctic explorer Robert Walton, engaged in a personal quest to expand the boundaries of the known world. It is Walton who first encounters Victor Frankenstein in the Arctic desperately searching for the monster he has created. The explorer becomes the only person to hear Victor Frankenstein's strange and tragic tale.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheuse, 1818
Victor Frankenstein to Robert WaltonIn Mary Shelley's day, many people regarded the new science of electricity with both wonder and astonishment. In Frankenstein, Shelley used both the new sciences of chemistry and electricity and the older Renaissance tradition of the alchemists' search for the elixir of life to conjure up the Promethean possibility of reanimating the bodies of the dead.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
Professor Waldman to his class at the University of IngolstadtBy the early nineteenth century, philosophers like physician Erasmus Darwin and chemist Humphry Davy, both well known to Mary Shelley, pointed the way to mastery of the physical universe. Discoveries about the human body and the natural world promised the dawn of a new age of medical power, when such things as reanimation of dead tissue and the end of death and disease seemed within reach.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
Victor FrankensteinWith feverish excitement, Victor Frankenstein pursues nature to her hiding places. By moonlight, he gathers the body parts he needs by visits to the graveyard, to the charnel house, to the hospital dissecting room and the slaughterhouse. Although he finds his solitary preoccupation repulsive, he is not deterred from his quest to restore life.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
Victor FrankensteinOvercome by the horror of what he has done, Victor Frankenstein abandons the "miserable monster" he fathered in his laboratory. That evening a nightmare disturbs his sleep; Elizabeth, his fiancée, becomes in his arms the decaying corpse of his own dead mother. The next morning when he returns to his "workshop of filthy creation," the monster has escaped.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
The MonsterMary Shelley gave her monster feelings and intelligence. Fatherless and motherless, the monster struggles to find his place in human society, struggles with the most fundamental questions of identity and personal history. Alone, he learns to speak, to read, and to ponder "his accursed origins." All the while, he suffers from the loneliness of never seeing anyone resembling himself.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
Victor FrankensteinAbandoned by his creator, the monster takes his revenge on Victor Frankenstein by killing his younger brother, William. Frankenstein's silence, in the face of the monster's murderous actions, exacts a terrible price. His self-imposed isolation from society mirrors the social isolation the monster experiences from all who see him. Frankenstein's decision to remain silent about the monster leads to further tragedy.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
The Monster to Victor FrankensteinVictor Frankenstein initially agrees to create a mate for his monster. But as Frankenstein begins to assemble an Eve for his Adam, he grows terrified by the prospect that this female creature will be "ten thousand times more malignant" than her companion, and that the two might themselves produce "a race of devils." Breaking his promise to the monster, Frankenstein disposes of the body parts he gathered to produce the female creature. Inflamed with hatred, the monster sets outs to destroy in Frankenstein's life all that he coveted for his own. After killing Clerval, Frankenstein's best friend, the monster murders Elizabeth, Frankenstein's bride, on their wedding night.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
Victor Frankenstein to explorer Robert WaltonAs he lies dying aboard Walton's ship, Frankenstein offers an ambivalent assessment of his own conduct. In both the subtitle (The Modern Prometheus) of her novel and through Frankenstein's dying words, Mary Shelley suggests that Frankenstein's misfortune did not arise from his Promethean ambition of creating life, but in the mistreatment of his creature. Frankenstein's failure to assume responsibility for the miserable wretch he fathered in his workshop is his real tragedy.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
The Monster to explorer Robert WaltonEncountering Robert Walton aboard his ship, the monster expresses overwhelming remorse for his frightful catalogue of misdeeds, the deaths of William, Clerval, Elizabeth, and his creator. The creature informs the explorer that he will destroy himself in the frozen north, and disappears in the icy waves. The tragedy of Frankenstein and his monster is complete.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818