The Modern Prometheus

by Jules

“Man, how ignorant art thou in thy pride and wisdom! Cease; you know not what it is you say.” -Frankenstein (Pg.204)

That's right. I'm talking about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in 1816. Mary was nineteen at the time recently married to Percy Shelley. They took a trip to Switzerland and became neighbors to Lord Byron. It was a rainy summer and they were often confined to the house and as Mary Shelley put in the introduction of the book “Some volumes of ghost stories, translated from the German into French, fell into our hands.”(Pg.45) And as a group of authors, Lord Byron  proposed that they each write their own. There were four of them in this contest of sorts: There was John Polidori Byron's physician friend, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and Mary Shelley. Everyone thought of one except for Mary. Then one night, half asleep it came to her. She imagined the creation of Frankenstein's monster. She woke up and wrote the whole story in one night. Pretty amazing huh? 

I really enjoyed the story and I think that it's under appreciated. I think it's horror as it should be. Not full of senseless death and maiming, with over use of gore. It's classier than that. It's full of feeling and emotion with twists and turns. It's a tragedy along with a horror story. 

I also think Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is also badly portrayed in film. Frankenstein's monster isn't some green guy with bolts in his neck. He's sewn together flesh. He's a thing with emotions, not some bumbling giant. He's vengeful! He's alone! He grieves. I think the book was really powerfully written and impressive. I think everyone should read it.