"Frankenstein", by Mary Shelley is a challenging book to read. It is written in Chinese box narrative, a kind of narration with two or more persons telling their own story. It starts of with Walter, an explorer, writing to his sister. His ship gets stuck and he goes outside only to find Victor Frankenstein. Victor is in a bad way, dying in fact, and so tells Walton his story. Halfway through Victor's narrative, he creates the creature, which comes in, and tells his account. Then Victor comes back to conclude his tale, and the book finishes with Walton summing up, adding his own opinions, and writing to his sister again. Frankenstein was written in 1817, but even now is regarded as a classic. However, many views on the novel are changing due to the recent alteration in possible genres. Some people see it as an early form of science fiction.
Steel engraving (993 x 71mm) for frontispiece to t...
English: Portrait of Mary Shelley
Manuscript page from Frankenstein by Mary ShelleyThere are many reasons for this, which I will be presenting and explaining in this essay. Most of the reasons and theories were placed into the book by Mary Shelley because of the advancements and dramatic progress in the science field around Shelley's time. Things like the discovery of electricity, storage of food in cans and other major events that changed our world forever.
As Victor concentrated on the earth science, his more than sister, Elizabeth, was quite the contrary. She occupied herself with art, poetry and music. Elizabeth had as big of an influence as possible on Victor. "It was a most beautiful season; never did the fields bestow a more plentiful harvest, or the vines yield a more luxurious vintage." Here, for the first and only time in the book, Victor appreciated the look of nature, and not its physical content. Mary Shelley herself was a romantic,