The novel "Frankenstein, or modern Prometheus" was written more than 200 years ago in 1816. This remarkable philosophical work was the first science fiction novel in the world. The girl - Mary Shelley, nee Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin - managed to write such a story.
Who created Frankenstein — Mary Shelley or the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley?
The young hero of the book's name is Victor. He is decisive, educated, desires at all costs to learn the secret of life on earth. He creates a terrible monster, which, by the way, in the book the writer refers simply to - the creature.
Many years later, due to various adapted film shows and free interpretations, the monster itself began to be called Frankenstein, and many people do not remember who created it. In the original book, Victor created a monster with the help of science, and made it out of indefatigable curiosity, which was not limited to moral principles.
Who created Frankenstein? She came up with the image and wrote this book, in many ways deep and philosophical, the writer and translator Mary Shelley, when she was only 19 years old. For a long time it was believed that the author was her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, or their friend, the famous poet Byron.
Since the novel was published without the author’s guidance, only with dedication, speculation existed. But later it became obvious that this was Mary. The girl’s mother and father were both writers, and the girl had a passion for inventing stories since childhood.
The story of the creation of the novel Frankenstein
The novel in notes about the monster and its creator was written in the rainy summer of 1816. This summer, the young poet Percy with his beloved Mary, who was going to become his wife, Lord Byron and two other people lived by the picturesque Lake of Geneva. Since the weather did not favor bathing, Byron, and perhaps Shelley himself, suggested that the company have fun, telling scary stories in the evenings.
Mary also participated in this competition among writers. Some notes say that she had a strange dream, which she later described in her Frankenstein. It was Mary Shelley from the usual scary story who created the whole novel and published it.
There are suggestions that in the role of Victor Frankenstein, she saw her lover Percy. The young man was outwardly young and handsome, but inside he turned out to be a cruel traitor.
The main theme and idea of the book about the Frankenstein monster
The idea is that the ugly creature created by Victor still had a good human soul, capable of gratitude, good and evil deeds. He needed the guidance of his creator, help and training. But the creator was only a frightened young man, who himself was frightened of his creation. A poetic experiment was conducted a long time ago, but its consequences are horrific.
The theme is the ethics of science. Can a scientist appropriate the right to become the creator of life on earth, can he control and develop what he created? Mary Shelley argues that no, the person is not ready for this role, and will never be ready.
Summary of the work
So what is the romance about? The story describes the life of a young Geneva scientist, ambitious and wealthy. His name is Victor Frankenstein. He is handsome and possesses an indomitable bold character.
He leaves home to study at the university, leaves a young lover, whom he will soon marry, and two younger brothers to take care of his father.
His interests are related to science and alchemy. Victor reads a lot, spends time in solitary pursuits and tries to recreate life, become a creator. Once he does it. The large and terrifying appearance of the "beast" comes to life. And Victor becomes so scared by the revived dead body that he escapes from the laboratory and gets down with a nervous fever.
The creature he created flees into the forest, taking Victor’s cloak with him. He lives in the forest, trying to learn how to get his own food. Then he finds an abandoned extension near the house of people, eavesdrops on their conversations and learns from them. Gradually, he begins to understand speech, to understand that he was created by someone.
When he learned to read, he was able to read Victor's diary, which remained in the pocket of his laboratory white coat. He knew hatred of the one who created it without a purpose, created that he felt loneliness and hatred of people and then left in the cold in the forest.
The creature was kind in nature. It did not want to do harm to anyone, but seeing how the villagers feared and rejected it, it gradually became embittered. And when it finds out where Victor Frankenstein’s family lives, he goes to Geneva and kills his younger brother, William. Then he kills the bride of Victor immediately after the wedding. The father of William and Victor, after a series of deaths of loved ones, dies in the arms of his desperate and embittered eldest son.
Now Victor only dreams of revenge. He heads north in pursuit of the monster and dies on the ship of the ship that picked him up from frostbite and physical exhaustion.
Who created Frankenstein? Now it’s clear that the main character is an ordinary person, no one created him. He himself is the creator of a mythical creature that has already become mythologized and has found the name of its creator.
Creature prototype
It is believed that the prototype of the terrible creature was an unknown hermit and an eccentric named Johann. He lived in a huge old castle called Frankenstein and conducted strange experiments that frightened ordinary people.
This young man, frightening people, was the famous alchemist of those years - Johann Conrad Dippel, who disappeared for unknown reasons in 1734 and did not return to the castle. Now in this castle there is a Frankenstein museum with many souvenir shops.
Popular adaptations of our time
A novel about Frankenstein and the monster connected with his fate was put on theaters many times and scripts for films were written on it. The best movie is considered to be an adaptation of 1931, this version was shot by director James Whale.
Many other films and series have also been shot:
- "Evil of Frankenstein" 1964
- "Frankenstein must be destroyed" 1969
- "House of Dracula" 1945
- Dracula vs. Frankenstein 1972
- "I am Frankenstein!" 2013 year
- And one of the newest and most popular versions is Victor Frankenstein, starring James McEvoy and Daniel Radcliffe. 2015 film.
And in the now popular series "Once Upon a Time" in season 2, the image of Frankenstein also occurs. Filmed based on the novel and the series - "Boulevard of Horrors."
Reviews on the book "Frankenstein, or modern Prometheus"
Mary Shelley's book is still popular. Science fiction lovers buy and read it. People love this work. This is not just a "horror", the book is filled with meaning, reasoning. After reading it becomes clear who created Frankenstein. The name of the doctor is Victor, and the one who read the original will never fall into the trap of cinema, which sometimes creates distortions. Many readers note that the original version is much more interesting than the revised counterparts.
The novel "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley has become a classic of popular science literature. All the books that were written before, were built on reality or magical stories, where the main characters are wizards. But after this novel, science fiction writers began to try to use scientific facts to create a plot different from our reality. The writer continued to create short stories and novels, but not one of them became as famous as her first work.
Film biography of Mary Shelley herself
In 2017, a film was released about the writer Mary Shelley and how and under what conditions she wrote her novel. In the Russian translation, the film is called "Beauty for the Beast."
Starring Elle Fanning (played by Mary) and Douglas Booth (he plays Percy). Film director Haifa Al-Mansor.
The film shows how difficult Mary's fate was and how such a terrible image of a monster created by her protagonist, a scientist, "settled" in the soul of a young person.
Conclusion
Who created Frankenstein? A young inexperienced girl who escaped from her native land. What could she say about the future of the country, or her own? Nothing. However, she said a lot about what will happen in our time. In the reviews, people mention this. Indeed, we are already on the verge of cloning, we also want to conduct an experiment with life. And, perhaps, in our time a new Prometheus will be found.