Making the Monster Quotes

“Darwin adhered to the theory that sperm contained all the potential for a complete human but that a woman was necessary for its development into a baby. Both Mary and Percy Shelley were hugely influenced by Darwin.”
― Kathryn Harkup, Making the Monster: The Science Behind Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

“Victor Frankenstein has become the prototype for pretty much all subsequent depictions of mad or evil scientists. Many people have their impressions of Victor formed from film or theatre adaptations of Mary’s novel, or the interpretations of the Frankenstein scientist type that followed from them. However, the idea you may have in your head of an hysterical, obsessive scientist with evil ambitions is very different from the character Mary Shelley created in 1816. The figure she depicted was certainly focused, perhaps even obsessive, about his scientific endeavours, but she did not portray Victor Frankenstein as mad. Victor’s work may have been misguided, and lacking foresight, but Mary never showed his intentions to be evil. Nor is Frankenstein a very good example of science gone wrong. Victor’s experiment in bringing life to an inanimate corpse was a complete success. It was his inability to foresee the potential consequences of his actions that brought about his downfall.”
― Kathryn Harkup, Making the Monster: The Science Behind Mary Shelley's Frankenstein