The story of Frankenstein is a familiar one to most, even if the details are hazy. Everyone is familiar with the monster that Dr. Frankenstein created, but what if the real monster was the good doctor? In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is a dedicated man of science who is intrigued in the possibility of conquering death, and devises experiments to discover how to prevent people from dying. But to really stop dying, one must first figure out how life begins. Stealing body parts from corpses or murdering people to obtain them. Victor builds a man stitched together, and uses electricity to bring it to life. Unfortunately, he is immediately stricken with how hideous and horrific his creation truly is, and he renounces his newborn.
Left to rot and fend for himself, Frankenstein's monster loses what little innocence he had at the beginning, and he vows revenge on Victor and those he loves to punish him for his hubris. Chased by a relentless monster he cannot bring himself to destroy, Victor must flee to the end of the Earth, hoping against hope that he will find a salvation that will never come.
Written by Mary Shelley when she was only 18 years old, Frankestein inaugurated both the science fiction and the gothic genres, and explored what it means to be truly human. Frankestein is a must-read for fans of gothic horror, and in the modern age of genetic manipulations and science that pushes back the limit of what is possible, the questions that Frankenstein raise remain important.
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