Frankenstein Literary Analysis

The sole purpose of literature is to be interpreted and to convey an artistic view of happenings in the real world with an underlying meaning. Mary Shelley understood this better than any writer. Shelley herself lived a tragic life, but in that life of misery came a masterpiece of literature that would last for two centuries, Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. While a good scary tale to read, one cannot help but think about the underlying theme or meaning in the tale. The tale itself follows a mad scientist who is “drunk on knowledge and possibility” (Franklin Web) that created a ‘monster’ that eventually turns on him. When analyzing the tale, the most prominent suggested underlying motif, is the idea that this magnum opus was created to assist with the grief that overwhelmed Shelley, the idea of her loved ones being reanimated, and creating characters to fill in for the lack in her life.
Death began in Mary Shelly’s life before she could even remember. Her mother, English novelist, Mary Wollstonecraft, died just 10 days after her second daughter was born. Mary also lost her half-sister, Fanny Imlay, who was from an affair with a soldier, to suicide. Mary married a man by the name of Percy Bysshe Shelley, who was married before to another woman by the name of Harriet Westbrook. Just
Other theme ideas have presented themselves such as science and politics, but the clearest is the theme of life and death. There is not one person who hasn’t questioned life and death at least once in their life, and Mary Godwin Shelley embodied this curiosity in magnificent literary form. Each character represents important qualities about life and mankind, and lessons can be learned within them. Mary Shelley’s novel impacted modern culture greatly, with many movies and other merchandise created, but they can never capture the true essence of life and death like the original