Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus: Illustrated and annot...

First published in 1818, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel by Mary Shelley. It is written in the tradition of Romanticism, a late 18th-century and early 19th-century movement that responded to the Enlightenment. Rejecting rationalism, Romantic literature often celebrated the power of nature and of the individual. Frankenstein is also considered a Gothic novel because of its emphasis on darkness, the sensational, and the wildness of nature.Shelley was the daughter of political philosopher William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, a pioneering feminist thinker. In 1815, Shelley, along with future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet Lord Byron, and others, traveled to Switzerland. Partly inspired by the erratic weather caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora, they held a contest to see who could write the most frightening story. Shelley’s resulting novel, Frankenstein, explores the themes of the omniscience of nature, the danger of excessive knowledge, and what makes one human. Frankenstein opens with a frame story, told in first-person narrative from the point of view of Robert Walton. Walton is writing to his sister as he prepares to hire a ship to explore the North Pole, a boyhood dream. He expresses cautious excitement to discover parts of the world never before seen. One day, he and his crew save a man nearly frozen to death on the ice—Victor Frankenstein. Walton immediately takes a liking to Frankenstein, who despite his melancholy appears kind and well bred. When Walton tells him about his desire for knowledge and glory, Frankenstein tells his own story so Walton might take a lesson from his life.The novel then moves into the first-person perspective of Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein is from Geneva. After enjoying an idyllic childhood, he goes to university in Ingolstadt, Germany, to pursue his interest in the natural sciences. After voracious study, he learns the secret of creating life. He is excited by the idea that he alone knows the answer to a question that has baffled scientists. Frankenstein embarks on the dark task of creating a living being. When the creature awakens, Frankenstein, horrified by his grotesque appearance, abandons him. Henry Clerval, Frankenstein's childhood friend, surprises him by arriving in Ingolstadt to join him at the university. When Frankenstein falls into a fever, Clerval nurses him back to health. Frankenstein is devastated when a letter from his father reveals that his youngest brother, William, was murdered and a young woman who grew up in the Frankenstein’s home, Justine Moritz, is accused of killing him. Frankenstein returns home, where Justine, though innocent, is executed. Frankenstein is sure the creature killed William and framed Justine, and he feels responsible for their deaths. He is also furious with the creature for causing this misery.To soothe his despair, Frankenstein embarks on a solitary tour through the mountains. When the creature suddenly appears, Frankenstein threatens to kill him. The creature attempts to explain that his nature was once good, but loneliness and misery led him to commit monstrous acts. He also chastises Frankenstein for abandoning him and promises that if Frankenstein listens to his story and fulfills a request, he will leave humankind forever.

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