Victor Frankenstein: The Creator and His Creature
Victor Frankenstein is the scientist who creates the creature in Mary Shelley's novel. His creation receives no personal name, though the name Frankenstein has often been attached to the monster since the book's publication. Shelley instead uses terms such as creature, monster, and fiend. The novel first appeared anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when Shelley was 20, with its author's name appearing in a French translation in 1821.
Shelley's ghost-story project began during a visit to Lord Byron near Lake Geneva in 1816. Poor weather kept the visitors indoors, where they read German ghost stories translated into French. Byron suggested that each member of the group attempt a ghost story. Mary, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Polidori joined the challenge. Conversations also turned to the principle of life and the possibility of reanimating a corpse. After struggling to find an idea, Mary imagined a scientist horrified by the living being he had made. She began with a short story, then expanded it into a novel with Percy's encouragement.
Victor Frankenstein grows up in an upper-class Genevese family after being born in Naples. His early fascination with alchemy develops into an interest in modern sciences, including chemistry and electricity. His mother, Caroline, dies of scarlet fever before he leaves for the University of Ingolstadt. There, his studies lead him to discover a new way to create life. He constructs a large humanoid being, but is repelled when it awakens. He flees, and on returning the next day finds the creature gone. Shelley leaves the precise animation process ambiguous; the familiar emphasis on electrical reanimation owes much to James Whale's later film adaptation.
The creature's education unfolds beyond his maker's supervision. After fleeing, he discovers fire and learns to avoid people who are frightened by him. A hovel attached to a small house lets him watch a family without being seen. When they teach their language to a foreigner, he learns alongside her, acquiring speech and writing. Books, including Paradise Lost, help him learn to read. Papers found in the clothing he took from Ingolstadt reveal his origins and his creator's identity. The family's blind father treats him kindly when they meet alone, but the others return, react with horror, and drive him away.
Further rejection deepens the creature's bitterness. He saves a girl from drowning, only to be shot by her father, who believes he attacked her. Traveling to Geneva to confront Victor Frankenstein, he encounters the scientist's younger brother William. When he recognizes the family connection, he kills William and places blame on the servant Justine. Victor suspects his creation's involvement but does not intervene during Justine's trial and execution. Later, on Mer de Glace, the creature tells his maker what has happened to him. He asks for a female companion, believing that companionship offers his only prospect of happiness, and Victor agrees.
Victor and his friend Henry Clerval travel to Britain, where a laboratory in Orkney becomes the setting for a second attempt at creation. While making the female being, Victor imagines the pair having children and decides to tear apart the unfinished body. The creature threatens to return on his wedding night and kills Henry in revenge. After a mental breakdown, Victor returns to Geneva and marries his childhood friend Elizabeth Lavenza. The creature kills her on the wedding night. Victor's father, Alphonse, dies of grief days later. Victor then pursues his creation, following him farther and farther until the chase reaches the Arctic.
Captain Robert Walton rescues Victor Frankenstein from exhaustion and hypothermia on the ice during an expedition toward the North Pole. Victor tells Walton his story and urges the crew to continue their expedition, but they choose to turn back. Still determined to pursue the creature, Victor dies aboard the ship in his weakened condition. His creation then boards, mourns him, and tells Walton that he intends to burn himself on a pyre before departing. The novel begins from Walton's perspective before moving into Victor's retelling and the creature's own story, allowing both maker and creation to speak within the expedition's framing narrative.
Paradise Lost figures both in his reading and in his comparisons of himself to Adam and the fallen angel. Her father's novels also contributed themes of social affection and renewed life. Her father, William Godwin, placed great importance on her education, and she grew up among writers and political figures visiting the family home. A revised edition appeared under her name in 1831, with stylistic changes, a new preface about the story's beginnings, and a more explicitly moral tone. Her early manuscripts and publisher's fair copy later joined the Abinger Collection at Oxford's Bodleian Library.