Mary Shelley

Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus Mary Shelley

On a dark and stormy night, a group of friends was staying at a manor in Switzerland. The year is 1816, and the group consists of famous authors of the time, including Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and his girlfriend, Clair Claremont, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.

Lord Byron came up with an idea to pass the time. They would each write a ghost story. Of the group, only two ever made it to publication. The first was a short story by Polidori that introduced a famous literary genre, the vampire as an aristocratic seducer. And, the second was a masterpiece by Shelly's eighteen-year-old wife, Mary, "Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus".




The story is about a man who decides to create a monster. Victor Frankenstein is a genius in the natural sciences. Through his research, he discovers that electricity can reanimate dead creatures. He becomes obsessed with the idea, and puts a man together, then on a dark and stormy night, he harnesses the lightning to bring his creation to life.

Immediately, Victor is horrified by his creation and runs. When the monster begins to comprehend the world, he also runs. Victor spends the story ill and terrified. The monster spends the story confused than angry. Victor wants to forget his creation, to ignore him. The monster will not let him.

When the monster gains the knowledge of his abominable creation, he goes after his creator, for revenge. He becomes the monster he resembles. The monster murders everyone Victor loves. The story ends with the death of the monster and his creator.

Because of the fact that the monster in the story is created as a result of scientific work, Mary Shelley's story is considered one of the first sci-fi stories in the world's literature.