Shelley's Frankenstein

Like most people, I've heard of Frankenstein referenced throughout pop culture my entire life. Unfortunately, also like most people, I've never actually read the book. I haven't even seen the movie. So, when I opened up to the letters, I was surprised. I was expecting immediate blood, gore, and convenient lightening bolts that would awaken a beast worthy of Hell. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Frankenstein opened with barely a mention of any of those. I kept reading, a little disappointed, and couldn't believe how relatively calm a good portion of the novel was. However, what the book lacked in gore, it made up for in story. I loved the concept behind Shelley's Frankenstein: how it only wanted love, but couldn't get it.

After learning more about Mary Shelley's life, I wouldn't be surprised to realize that she projected her own personal conflicts into the novel. I was especially interested in how Dr. Frankenstein was projected as a bad father figure. This is such a common theme in modern stories (bad parenting, lack of love, etc.), that it made me wonder how many people have been influenced by Shelley's take on monsters. After a bit of online research, I discovered that Shelley's influence was so great, she has been noted as one of the founders of modern science fiction, and that, because Shelley was a writer, and not a scholar or a scientist herself, she was able to easily put the emotional impact of her story before the details that made the science the most important factor. Shelley Mcrae, of helium.com, says that “had [Shelley] been compelled to describe how the electricity was introduced into the monster, or for that matter, how the scientist was actually able to construct the monster, it's likely she would not have written a story with such emotional impact.”