Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

As my son continues to read the horror stories in his English Monsters class he has moved on to Frankenstein. Thus so have I. Looking at the history of this book I always thought it was written at the end of the eighteen hundreds but I have found that it was written in 1818, it's second edition released in 1823.

The first thing that comes to light when reading this book is that everything we have seen and known of the Frankenstein story from modern television and movies is far from the book.

The story is told with a few different perspectives. We first meet Ship's Captain Walton, guiding a ship through the Arctic as he searches for a passage to the Pacific. Locked in by ice and facing a possible mutiny the Captain has much on his mind. Soon he has more. His sailors see a vision of a large man with a sled being pulled by dogs. He seems to be an apparition this far north and soon disappears. However soon he finds a man on an iceflow, half frozen, delirious and pulls him on board.

As the man thaws out and recovers his senses over a couple of days he begins to tell his story to the Captain. His name is Frankenstein. He tells Walton of his life story. His going to college and becoming entranced with Chemistry. Working to the point of exhaustion he discovers a method of reanimation that will allow him to bring the dead to life. Specifically he creates from parts of deceased beings a man. He makes him big and soon has created an eight foot tall man. As this being comes to life the Scientist becomes disgusted with the being, he regrets his decision. The Monster leaves the labratory, and in the part of the story one finds odd the Doctor just forgets him, glad to be rid of him.

Over time however the Doctor learns that he is not rid of the Monster. As losses begin to occur in his life starting with the loss of his youngest brother to a murder we begin to see that the Doctor will have to come to a resolution with his creation.

The Monster has learned much. Upon his revisiting with his creator he tells him of his life since leaving the laboratory. The Monster's treatment at the hand of society and his then anger with and violence toward society is laid at the feat of his creator.

The story goes on from there, we meet Frankenstein again. We see the Doctor, we see the Ship's Captain and we see the end of the story. The losses suffered by the Doctor are never made wholly right.

The story is very well told. It is like a new story as certainly the Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein version never comes to pass.

Interesting to me the story of the anger of the monster felt at his being rejected by society is telling. He loves people, he loves nature, his is a heart capable of love and filled with a desire to be part of the world. As his features and appearance bring nothing but fear and revulsion from those who meet him he is filled with sadness, followed by anger and hate. It does not take a huge stretch of the mind to compare Frankenstein's story with that of a child bullied at school who turns violent on his oppressors, or any of the thousands in jail for violent offenses who have earlier been rejected from society and struck back.


Human nature cannot be changed but certainly the realization that any harm or insult inflicted on a person can cut to the core, can affect their self worth and more. The truth is we never know what is the straw that breaks the camel's back that turns a person's future to one filled with violence. Usually it is not so easily traceable as the straight line one sees with the Monster in Shelly's book. The line however is there, it can be seen, and we should do our best in how we treat others to keep that line from ever having a point of no return.