P1.B.FRA*Frankenstein* (Shelley) — creation, isolation, ambition, monstrosity; Romanticism and Galvanism; Walton's frame narrative

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818, revised 1831) was written when she was eighteen, during the 'Year Without a Summer' at Lake Geneva. A Gothic novel and early work of science fiction, it frames its central horror story within layered narratives. For Paper 1 Section B you will have an extract and a question on theme or character.

Plot in brief

Walton, an Arctic explorer, corresponds with his sister and rescues Victor Frankenstein from the ice. Victor narrates his obsession with "natural philosophy" and his creation of a living being from dead body parts — the Creature. Abandoned by his creator, the Creature educates himself, experiences beauty and rejection, and eventually demands Victor make him a companion. When Victor destroys the female creature, the Creature murders Victor's friend Clerval, his brother William, and wife Elizabeth. Victor pursues the Creature to the Arctic, where he dies. The Creature mourns and resolves to destroy himself.

Key themes

Creation and responsibility — Victor's Promethean ambition ("I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers" Ch 3) is presented with initial heroism, then critiqued. He abandons the Creature immediately after giving it life. Shelley inverts the creator-creature relationship: the Creature is morally superior to his creator by the novel's end.

Isolation — both Victor and the Creature are isolated, but for different reasons. Victor isolates himself voluntarily in his obsession. The Creature is isolated by his appearance and by Victor's rejection. Shelley frames isolation as destructive for both: Victor dies consumed by revenge; the Creature is driven to destruction by loneliness.

Ambition and hubris — the subtitle The Modern Prometheus evokes the Greek Titan who stole fire from the gods and was punished. Victor's ambition is scientific transgression — crossing the boundary between life and death without moral preparation.

The Sublime — Gothic landscapes mirror internal states. The Alps, the Arctic, Mont Blanc — all presented in Burkean "Sublime" terms: vast, overwhelming, producing awe and terror. When Victor pursues the Creature across the glacier, the landscape enacts their conflict.

Nature vs. nurture — the Creature is born innocent ("No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself" Ch 15 — speaking of the De Lacey period). He becomes violent only after systematic rejection. Shelley raises the question: is the Creature's malevolence innate or created by society?

Key characters

• Victor Frankenstein — overreacher; Promethean; responsible but irresponsible; his secrecy destroys everyone he loves.
• The Creature — the novel's most sympathetic voice in Chs 11–16; articulate, educated, capable of beauty; made monstrous by rejection.
• Walton — framing narrator; he mirrors Victor (arctic ambition, isolation from family); the story is a warning.
• Elizabeth Lavenza — Victor's fiancée; passive until her murder on their wedding night. Represents domesticity Victor sacrifices for ambition.
• De Laceys — the family the Creature secretly observes and helps; he learns language, history, feeling from them; their rejection triggers his violence.

Context (AO3)

• Mary Shelley (1797–1851) — daughter of political philosopher William Godwin and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (died in childbirth). Raised in radical intellectual circle. The novel engages directly with her parents' ideas about education, justice, and the perfectibility of humanity.
• The Geneva summer 1816 — Shelley, Percy Shelley, Byron, and Polidori challenged each other to write ghost stories. Volcanic winter after Mount Tambora's 1815 eruption.
• Scientific context — Luigi Galvani's experiments with electrical stimulation of dead frogs' muscles (1780s–90s) were widely known; the possibility of reanimation was seriously discussed.
• Romanticism — the Sublime, the power of nature, the dangers of isolated intellect — all Romantic preoccupations.
• 1831 revisions — Shelley significantly revised the text; Victor becomes more guilty, Elizabeth more passive. The 1818 edition is often considered the more radical feminist text.

Form and structure

• Frame narrative (Walton → Victor → Creature → Victor → Walton) — multiple perspectives, each unreliable.
• The Creature's voice (Chs 11–16) — central; allows direct reader sympathy; without it we have only Victor's hostile framing.
• Epistolary opening — Walton's letters to Margaret Saville; domestic frame for cosmic horror.