Frankenstein’s Monster
It was a dark and rainy night. Four people sat around a fire telling ghost stories. One of them suggested that they each write a ghost story. The only woman in the group worried about the challenge till lying in bed one night she saw an image that inspired her to write her story.
The young woman was Mary Shelley and the year was 1816. Shelley was in Geneva with poets Percy Shelley and Lord
Byron. Although Shelley meant to write a story for the competition, she ended up writing a novel. The novel, titled
Frankenstein , was published anonymously in 1818. It was only later that the world learnt the name of the creator of this disturbing tale.
A horrific creation
Frankenstein is the story of Victor Frankenstein and his obsession with creating life. He sews various body parts to create a creature, and infuses life into it. But the first sight of his creation horrifies Frankenstein. He understands the enormity of what he has done and runs away.
The creature is gone when he returns and for a while Frankenstein is happy.The creature tries to befriend humans
but realising that its appearance horrifies people, stays in hiding. Tired of this lonely life, the creature begs Frankenstein for a companion. Frankenstein, himself on the verge of getting married, agrees to do this. Minutes before infusing life into it, however, Frankenstein realises the danger of unleashing another monster on the world and destroys it. This angers the creature and he vows revenge. The creature follows Frankenstein and kills his newlywed wife, and later, his friend. Frankenstein’s father dies of shock. All alone now, Frankenstein sets out to destroy the monster he has created and make the world a safe place. He follows the monster to the North Pole but dies there. The monster understands that with the death of its creator it is doomed to a lonely, hopeless existence and declares that death is its only option now.
The book, considered an early example of science fiction, has inspired many adaptations for the silver screen. The phrase ‘Frankenstein’s monster’ is today used to refer to something that becomes dangerous to its maker.
Frankenstein is a thought-provoking book and forces readers to wonder — who is the real monster? The creature
or his creator? And this is perhaps the secret of this novel’s continuing popularity, 200 years after it was first published.