Reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in 2025
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“Contextually it’s very impressive, but otherwise all right.”
This was a text I sent to my friend who had gifted me a lovely hardback copy of “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley.
“Contextually as in an 18/19 year old writing this in 1818.”
“Lol I guess it’s fine. Just getting a book out in 1818 for a woman was enough of a deal,” my friend responded.
And that of course remains something awe-worthy about ‘Frankenstein’, that the young Mary Shelley, under the guidance of her famous poet husband, was able to publish a fiction book in the early 19th century, when women writers were as rare as women monarchs.
The lore and trivia around ‘Frankenstein’ might be a lot stronger than the actual content of the story itself. Many literature enthusiasts or simply pop-culture nerds might know that Frankenstein was written by a young Mary Shelley as part of a friendly ghost story competition with her husband, the famous poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and two other friends (John Polidori, and Lord Byron). She was only 18 at the time and went on to develop what was supposed to be a short story into a full-fledged novella that was first published in 1818. By then, Mary was 20.
The plot follows Victor Frankenstein, a rich kid from Geneva, who goes to study modern sciences at the University of Ingolstadt. He then embarks on a secretive project to create a living human being using parts sourced from human corpses. Obsessed with playing God, Frankenstein works feverishly for weeks to complete his project, only to realize the grotesque, disproportionate ugliness of his creation when it comes to life. Frankenstein recoils from the creature in horror, falling sick, while the poor creature, not capable of speech yet, flees Frankenstein’s room to an unknown fate, while his creator remains delirious and ill for a prolonged period.
It’s only in the latter half of the novel that we learn of the creature’s struggles in adapting to a hostile human world and his attempts at seeking revenge/justice (depending on how you see it) from Frankenstein for shunning him and leaving him at the mercy of a cruel world. In fact, Frankenstein himself refers to the creature as a ‘daemon’. I will be referring to him as the ‘Daemon’ in the rest of this write-up as well.
“I collected bones from charnel-houses; and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame.” – Victor Frankenstein.
Yeah, first off, Victor is a mad drama queen, he tries to create something human-like, but makes it unnaturally huge, so if it weren’t for the creature’s evidently superior physical strength, Victor would’ve tossed him out of the window, while screaming bloody Mary. Instead he faints, and then pretends like everything was probably a nightmare and doesn’t even attempt to locate his ‘daemon’. Dude’s an extremely irresponsible mad-scientist living in his own la la land. It’s only through an incredible co-incidence that he crosses paths with Daemon again, okay well, not incredible, because after spending days in the real world, Daemon learns the human language, realizes all humans are assholes to ugly-looking things like him, and decides to seek out his creator or daddy if you like.
Interestingly, ‘Frankenstein’ begins with a letter written by an Arctic explorer called Robert Walton to his sister, describing how he saved a man called Victor Frankenstein from drowning in the icy sea. Walton then goes on to narrate Victor’s story through a really really long letter, which includes all the morbid details of making a ghastly demonic being. Walton’s fascination with Victor borders on being romantic to a modern reader’s eye. Sample this sentence from the novel where Walton is describing Victor: “Sometimes I have endeavoured to discover what quality it is which he possesses that elevates him so immeasurably above any other person I ever knew….. add to this a facility of expression and a voice whose varied intonations are soul-subduing music.“
If you’re not convinced, he also says this about Victor: “His full-toned voice swells in my ears; his lustrous eyes dwell on me with all their melancholy sweetness….”
Now, of course Mary Shelley was certainly not trying to write what might sound like unrequited romantic sub-plot to some, Walton often calls Victor his ‘brother’. It’s just that Mary Shelley wrote male friendship through the lens of the female gaze, imagining male bonds to be as delicately emotional and tender as their female counterparts. You’ll rarely encounter such romanticism between men in say, the works of Charles Dickens, the famous 19th century writer or even in Jane Austen’s novels.
Anyway, Robert Walton’s role in the novel is merely that of a narrator, although his role as Victor Frankenstein’s savior is an important one. Victor tells Robert his story as a cautionary tale against too much ambition with too little foresight. Victor after all was only 17 when he went to University, which means he couldn’t possibly be older than 21 when he created Daemon. So, Mary’s tale is an interesting philosophical warning against youthful over-ambition and idealism. Perhaps, if Victor had more years of experience behind him, he wouldn’t have shrieked and run off from the Daemon like a 21-year-old jock ghosting his tinder date because she didn’t look like ‘his type’.
The Daemon himself is a fascinating character, missing in action in the first few chapters, but slowly, his calamitous journey to finding a ‘safe haven’ (without much success) is revealed. As a reader, I was rooting more of the Daemon and a lot less for Victor, which was most definitely not Mary’s intention as an author. If it weren’t for his unfortunate physical experience, courtesy bad artist Victor, Daemon is a beautiful soul, incredibly intelligent, maybe unbelievably so, since he manages to master the human language in less than a year, simply by observing a French family from afar and reading stolen books. The most striking theme is thus the Daemon’s quick understanding of the world, its laws, class divides, even if rudimentary. He is both repelled and impressed by human connections, but never finds someone to empathize with his own situation. He is the classic ‘outsider’, a man-made outcast, a physical symbol of prejudice, violence, and blind fears of ‘civilized beings’.
Eventually, the tale becomes a ‘who is more miserable’ competition between Daemon and Victor, each convinced they are more unlucky the other. No Victor, you whiny little pampered brat. Ultimately, it is Victor’s self-centered nature that brings about doom in his life, with those associated with him suffering terrible, undeserved endings. Victor is the kind of character who is constantly making everybody worry about him, while refusing to take any onus of his actions. He instead emotionally abuses himself, plays the victim card all the time, even though nobody around him even understands what’s troubling him.
If ‘Frankenstein’ were re-imagined for the modern reader, the best ending twist would be that Victor was in a psych ward the whole time, imagining he created something horrendous – himself. Alternatively, Mary Shelley’s ultimate lesson in the novel is that most times, humans create their own problems, then live with regret, instead of fixing their shit. Or like Taylor’s song “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me”. That one can be dedicated to Victor Frankenstein.
For literary enthusiasts, ‘Frankenstein’ is worth a read for its historic value as a literary piece, Mary Shelley delivers a truly tragic climax that would’ve been haunting for 19th century readers. And even though it’s a dominantly philosophical piece, one can see the religious undercurrents in the tale – that if you try to play God, the price will be hell.
Rating: 3 on 5.
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