The Horror of Frankenstein

Frankenstein and Dracula

As a child I was not allowed to watch horror movies so monsters of any kind for me were associated with Halloween. I discovered it myself in my teens when my fascination with horror movies began. My mother’s first horror movie was the classic “Dracula” also released in 1931 with Bela Lugosi portraying the vampire. My parents as immigrants arrived in New York City in 1951 and during the 1950s they released “Dracula” once again in the movie theaters. Well mom was so interested that one evening dad took her to see the movie. She said she was never so frightened in all her life and was holding on tight to dad on the way home. Dad of course, had a great laugh about it all. I first met Frankenstein in the classic horror movie from Universal Pictures that was released in 1931 with Boris Karloff portraying the Monster. So when I asked mom if she would watch “Frankenstein” with me she did, but held onto a glass of wine.

The Novel

The creation of this imaginary monster began with the novel “Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus” published by author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in 1818. At this time the author was only 21 years old and if she had lived in a different century I would have wanted to know what it was that she had taken to have such hallucinations to be able to write this book. The novel is often considered to be the first science fiction novel to be written in the world. It was all about a scientist interested in the process of life who creates a “monster” from parts of corpses to see if this creature will come alive. Unfortunately for the creature it does come to life and is looked upon as a horror and rejected by humans. It looks for companionship and understanding, it looks for a mate and as it is constantly pushed aside it starts to become brutal.

Creating Frankenstein

Such is the story of Frankenstein that we must start wondering – how does a writer create such a monster? Well for Mary Shelley it apparently all happened on a rainy afternoon in 1816 while she was in Geneva, Switzerland. She was there with her husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and with their mutual friend Lord Byron. It was Lord Byron who suggested that each of them write a gothic ghost story. Neither of the gentlemen finished their stories but Mary Shelley did finish hers. The original story behind the novel actually explores philosophical themes and challenges romantic ideal about nature’s beauty and goodness. It is also said that supposedly before she finished the story she had a dream about a scientist who had the ability to create life and then was horrified seeing what he had actually made.

The Life of Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley didn’t have a very calm life. Her mother Mary Wollstonecraft died just days after giving birth to her. When her father remarried she couldn’t get along with her stepmother and finally was sent to Scotland to live with foster parents when she was just in her teens. At the age of 17 she fell in love with poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who at that time was married. In 1817 the couple finally married after Shelley’s wife committed suicide. In my opinion there is a novel ready right here but it was never written. They both lived abroad in order to avoid Shelley’s creditors. More tragedy shadowed them as Mary Shelley gave birth to five children but only one of them lived to adulthood. When she was 24 her husband drowned in a sailing accident and she continued to edit two volumes of this works. Afterwards Mary Shelley received some money from her father-in-law Lord Shelley up until her own surviving son inherited his fortune and title in 1844. She eventually fell ill and her doctor suspected that she had a brain tumor. She died at the young age of 53.

Her Death

I then took a look at what was written about Mary Shelley’s death and I would say what happened a year after her death gave me the chills. It was the first anniversary of her death and the Shelley’s opened up her box-desk. There they discovered locks from her dead children’s hair, a notebook that she had shared with her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and a copy of his poem Adonais. Are you ready for this? One page of the poem was folded about a silk parcel; inside it were some of the poet’s ashes and the remains of his heart. That I think is enough to make one’s hair stand on end. How did she get his heart? Well they do say that love never dies.

Unfortunately for Mary Shelley only her novel “Frankenstein” and some of her journals are still being widely read.