Frankenstein, or Modern Prometheus l Mary Shelley | Definition, Summary, and Conclusion -- englit.in

Q: A critical discussion of Mary Shelley’s science-fiction ‘Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus’.

One of the most intimate Gothic novels of the nineteenth century is 'Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus’ (1818), written by “the mother of science fiction”, Mary Shelley. She published a revised edition of this novel in 1831. One of the most striking aspects of the story is its “ambition”. In the course of the novel, Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist of the story, creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. In a rainy afternoon, the science-fiction was written in 1816 in Geneva by Mary Shelley, when she is staying with her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley.

In the story, Frankenstein pays close attention to the ways in which Shelley blends the “Ghost story” concepts of nineteenth century. On the whole, Shelley  utilizes two versions of the myth of Prometheus to portray Victor Frankenstein as “The Modern Prometheus”. In Greek mythology, ‘Prometheus’  is sometimes referred to as the Titan god of fire. Who is best known for defying the Olympian gods, and gives technology, knowledge, and more generally, civilization to humans by stealing from God.

 At the beginning of the novel, a captain, Robert Walton, going to the North pole and he writes a letter to his daughter Margaret Saville that “I shall write to you often, Margaret, and share with you the wonders and perils of this daring journey”, and today I rescue a youngest man ,Victor Frankenstein, who offers me to listen his life story. Frankenstein expresses about his parents and family. Alphonse (his father) and Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein (his mother) and the sister, Elizabeth. Thus Victor had a good friend, Henry Clerval.

After his mother’s death, he goes to Ingolstadt to complete his study on philosophy and science. In Frankenstein’s mind: he wants to make a new life, and his desires on human life. Ultimately, he decides and makes a “horrible creature”. After its creating, Frankenstein reacts with “breathless horror and disgust filled my (his) heart”.

A few months later, Frankenstein gets a letter that his brother is murdered; and he utilizes that the creature has done it. From an another angle, the monster expresses to Victor Frankenstein, “I am much stronger and bigger than you are. You made me so. I could break you like a dry twig. But I won’t do that. You are my creator, and I cannot raise my hand against you”. Regarding this matter, the creature longs and expresses his desires to  Victor to make a female monster for him to love.

In a significant epoch, Frankenstein’s father  expresses him to marry his sister, Elizabeth. Following a substantial hiatus, Victor started creating a female monster; in this regard, he realizes that the female monster would be more ferocious, therefore the male and the female monsters would make a cultivar. In case, Victor stops creating  the female creature. By victor’s fending, the Male Creature wishes he will take  revenge against Frankenstein. At Frankenstein’s married night, the creature kills Victor’s wife,  Elizabeth. Ultimately, Robert Walton is expressed by Victor Frankenstein’s speaking that he dies by wishing that he could destroy the Monster, whom he created.

In conclusion, Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus’ (1818), reaches at its tragic climax. Victor Frankenstein’s actions and motives, as well as the central imagery of electromagnetism, symbolize at once the passing of alchemical magic and the coming of modern science. Ultimately, it explores with a sense of profound tragedy, and highlighting the destructive power of unchecked ambition, the depths of human loneliness, and the moral responsibility of creation. Thus, “Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus” (1818) can rightly be regarded as the prototype of science fiction novel.