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Mary Shelley · 1818
Frankenstein
The story of Mary Shelley’s novel in a few minutes: what happens, who is who, what it means, and its most famous lines.
- Author
- Mary Shelley
- Published
- 1818
- Setting
- Switzerland, Germany, the Arctic
- Genre
- Gothic novel, early science fiction
Summary
Victor Frankenstein, a young Swiss student of science, discovers how to give life to dead matter and builds a creature from parts of corpses. When it opens its eyes he is horrified by what he has made and runs away. The creature, abandoned, learns to speak and read by secretly watching a family, but every human who sees it is terrified.
Rejected by all, the creature turns to revenge on its maker. It kills Victor’s little brother and asks Victor to make it a companion; Victor begins, then destroys the female creature. In return the creature kills Victor’s friend Clerval and his bride Elizabeth. Victor pursues it to the Arctic, where he tells his story to the explorer Robert Walton and dies. The creature mourns over him, then goes off into the ice to end its own life.
Main characters
| Victor Frankenstein | the scientist who creates life |
| The creature | nameless, intelligent, and made monstrous by rejection |
| Elizabeth Lavenza | Victor’s bride |
| Henry Clerval | Victor’s loyal friend |
| Robert Walton | the Arctic explorer who hears the story |
Themes
- The dangers of ambition and science without responsibility
- Loneliness and the need for love
- Who is the real monster
Read it free
Frankenstein is out of copyright. The whole novel can be read or downloaded free from Project Gutenberg.
Quotes
Famous quotes from Frankenstein
Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.
I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend.
Questions
About the novel
Is Frankenstein the name of the monster?
No. Victor Frankenstein is the scientist; the creature is never given a name.
How old was Mary Shelley when she wrote it?
She began it at eighteen, in 1816, and it was published in 1818.
What is the message of Frankenstein?
That knowledge pursued without care for its results can destroy, and that cruelty and rejection create monsters.