Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus By Mary Shelley

Ever since its original publishing in 1818, Mary Shelley’s classic Gothic work, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, has been read by hundreds of millions of literary thrill-seekers and been adapted into countless plays, movies, musicals, and “modern retellings”. Because of this, the original story has been twisted and warped, losing many key elements – such as Frankenstein’s mental instability, the geographic locales, subtle literary allusions, and Gothic language – which truly defined the novel as one of the greatest works of Gothic Literature. By displaying the importance of the melancholic and tortured mood which pervades the novel’s depths, the way in which unstoppable nature and weather control the environment in this book, and the
Namely, he is a person who is obsessed with himself in every degree. He states in the beginning of his narrative to Robert Walton, the captain of the ship by which he was rescued, that he considered himself the ruler or master of his childhood friend, Elizabeth, stating that he “loved to tend on her, as [he] should on a favourite animal” (Frankenstein, Vol. 1, Ch. 1). Victor goes not much further into his story until he signifies that, after poring over the whole works of Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus, he “entered into the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life.”(Frankenstein, Vol. 1, Ch. 1) While he does state that he would probably use these objects to better humanity, he almost immediately betrays his intentions by noting that “the raising of ghosts or devils was a promise liberally accorded by [his] favourite authors, the fulfilment of which [he] most eagerly sought.” While this behavior simply seems like a macabre interest in ghosts and demons, Frankenstein had actually experienced one of the most dangerous manifestations of his narcissism: the desire to have power over life, death, and spirits, because truly the man who wielded this power would be
1, Ch. 3), he hastens to put it into action, hampered only by his lack of materials and indecision of how to use it. He is so excited by his new-found power, a power for which he has hungered all his life, that he rushes headlong into the production of the ideal “frame for the reception of it.” (F, Vol. 1, Ch. 3). When he at last finishes “the accomplishment of [his] toils” and “infuse[s] the spark of being into the lifeless thing”, he is terrified and bewildered at what he has just made. This terror betrays his psychological disorder. According to the Danish Philosophy and History blog, Indadvendt.dk, “the narcissist’s ultimate nightmare is to have his fallibilities revealed, because this will disrupt his self-image and protection against his painful subconscious.” It is not difficult to decipher Frankenstein’s reaction as that of spoilt child and not of a true scientist. Frankenstein’s reaction is emotionally, rather than rationally, charged. He expresses horror at the fact that he could possibly create something so imperfect and ugly and this sudden realization so scars his psyche that he refuses to have anything to do with his own creation. He refuses to see that his artificial progeny could psychologically and spiritually be a greater man than he. He enters a state of tortured denial, refusing to take responsibility for his actions. He goes into a “nervous fever”