The concept and story of Frankenstein itself is fairly powerful, but it is easy to see why Mary Shelley is not known for much else. Her writing style is a bit tedious and it got to the point I would mentally cringe every time I came across the word "endeavor". Still, a strong story.
To me, Frankenstein stands out from other horror fictions and perhaps it is due in part to the irreplicable monster Shelley has created. Unlike the vampires and werewolves and zombies, we know the origin of Frankenstein’s Monster so well his name has become symbiotic with his creator’s. Typically with werewolves, vampires and zombies, their existence is perpetually sustained through an action like biting their victims, and their inception is often kept as an unimportant mystery. It’s refreshing to have a monster we know everything about.
Really, the creation of the Monster is the most memorable event in the story - and probably the one constant in all of its pop-culture variants. In knowing his responsibility for having created the Monster, Victor’s story becomes a parable. The Monster is the product of a past deed that remains an unstoppable force. In real life nobody has much to fear from monsters, but shame and guilt are human experiences we have all dealt with. Perhaps it is this emotional resonance that has made Mary Shelley’s monster stand out over the years.
Because of Doctor Frankenstein’s wrong doing I think he functions more as a sort of anti-hero. As the Monster tells his story of wanting only love but getting only rejection, he is surprisingly easy to sympathize with. Whereas in much of the horror genre monsters may be found to be, at most, anti-heroes themselves. This “twist” of sympathizing with the Monster could only be shocking because of how he has been represented by our pop-culture over the years.
There is an additional conflict in the book that goes largely ignored, however, I find it interesting: Frankenstein’s decision to not build the Monster a partner. Creating a partner for the Monster could have potentially resolved everything, yet Victor seemed genuinely convinced that his creation was an “abomination”. It would be fascinating to know whether the author herself would agree with this decision of Frankenstein’s, considering tone of the novel would suggest that there was something inherently wrong with wanting to create life in the first place.
Learning more about Mary Shelley’s life enriched the story of Frankenstein for me. It becomes a much more personal story rather than this phenomenon.
