One of European literature’s most traditional books, Frankenstein, was written by the
prolific nineteenth century writer, Mary Shelley. The novel is believed to be affected by
various outside sources in Mary Shelley’s life and formed the way some characters and
themes are developed in the book. A significant theme that beacons itself throughout the
novel is man altering nature and the severe consequences that come of it, a branching out
from the Greek myth character, Prometheus.
Opening with a series of letters from a ship captain named Robert Walton, Mary Shelley
writes that the ship’s journey was hindered by frozen solid ice. While stuck, Mr. Walton
encounters a man named Victor Frankenstein, and listens intently to his story about how he
created a monster. At an early age, Victor became consumed with natural philosophy and
chemistry, thoroughly reading books by certain authors, “[taking] their word for all they
averred, and I became their disciple” (Shelly 26). At an old enough age he enrolled at
Ingolstadt University, shortly after, his mother passed away from catching scarlet fever.
While in school he met a professor M. Krempe, who pushed him to study natural
philosophy and chemistry. Becoming obsessed with his studies, more specifically the
human body, Frankenstein ignores his social life and longs to discover the secret of life.
Consumed over the meaning of life and carcasses, Victor begins to assemble a creature out
of various body parts into a “lifeless thing” One late, “dreary” night, he brings the creature
to life; however, it is so hideous that Victor is petrified at his own creation, saying, “No
mortal could support the horror of that countenance.” (Shelley 44) He proceeded to rush
out of the laboratory and fall asleep, but only to meet the horrific dream of his mother and
his friend, Elizabeth’s corpses. At his awakening, the monster stood over his body
grinning, causing Victor to frantically run out of his apartment. Before fleeing his
apartment, which the monster disappeared from, he receives a letter from his father,
notifying him his brother William was murdered. Victor “covered [his] face with [his]
hands” (Shelley 69). On his quest home, he spots the monster at the scene of the crime,
convincing himself the monster is to blame for the murder; conversely, his dear friend
Justine is convicted and hanged for the murder. Victor realizes he is responsible for the two
deaths, relaying, “words cannot convey an idea of the heart-sickening despair that I then
