The Origins of Supernatural Beings

Staples of Horror- Frankenstein

Frankenstein

"Hateful day when I received life!' I exclaimed in agony. 'Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred." -Mary Shelley, The Modern Prometheus, 1817

Mary Shelley describes Frankenstein as eight feet tall with taut yellowed skin, so translucent that the muscles and arteries can be seen underneath. He has glowing watering eyes, black hair, blackened lips and strikingly white teeth.

It is widespread knowledge that Frankenstein's monster originates from the novel "Frankenstein", originally titled "The Modern Prometheus", written by Mary Shelley in 1817. The story surrounding her inspiration and the cultural events that influenced Frankenstein are less known.

Mary Shelley (nee Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin) was born in London, England on August 30th, 1797 to William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. Both of Mary Shelley's parents were political writers. William Godwin wrote many journalistic pieces and books, including "An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice", "An Attack on Political Institutions" and "The Enquirer". He was a known advocate for anarchism and a self-professed Atheist. Mary Wollstonecraft was an early feminist and authored "The Vindication of the Rights of Woman". Mary Wollstonecraft died of fever caused by infection ten days after Mary Shelley's birth, leaving both her young daughters motherless. Mary Shelley had a half-sister named Fanny Imlay, whom William Godwin continued to care for out of respect for Mary Wollstonecraft. William Godwin remarried a lady named Mary Jane Clairmont, who was already a mother of two. She found her step-mother unbearable, and Mary Jane Clairmont denied Mary Shelley an education. Despite the fact she had no formal education, she was raised surrounded by literature and famed authors, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth.

Her father had a private library, and Mary Shelley developed an appreciation for reading from a young age. Additionally, she loved to write and would use her imagination to escape her home life. She did experience one reprieve when she was sent to live with a friend of her father, William Baxter, and his family in Scotland. Mary Shelley enjoyed living in the Baxter household and lived with them for a whole year. Upon returning from Scotland, the teenage girl began a relationship with a student of her father named Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father did not approve of the match, especially considering that Percy Bysshe Shelley was already married and six years older than his daughter, who was only sixteen years old. The couple left together and travelled Europe, along with Mary Shelley's step-sister Jane "Claire" Clairmont. Allegedly, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Jane "Claire" Clairmont were romantically involved too. Lord Byron, a friend of Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Jane "Claire" Clairmont, referred to the women as his "wives". Considering Percy Bysshe Shelley abandoned his first wife to run away with the women, it would not be out of character for him to begin relationships with several women simultaneously. In that period of their lives, Percy and Mary Shelley struggled with poverty and experienced the death of their first child, a daughter who only lived a few days.

A year after the death of their child, the couple was vacationing in Geneva, Switzerland, along with their companions Jane "Claire" Clairmont, Lord Byron, and John Polidori. The weather was atrocious, and the group could not go outside, and so they entertained themselves by reading a book of ghost stories. To pass the time, Lord Byron suggested they have a ghost-story writing contest. Mary Shelley was the only person in the group to complete her piece, a book called "Frankenstein" or "The Modern Prometheus". She based her new novel on a recurring nightmare she was undergoing and continued to work on the book throughout the following year.