Mary Shelley's Influence On Frankenstein

During the time period when Shelley was writing Frankenstein there were major scientific advancements taking place. The scientific revolution was just beginning which meant that many discoveries about the world that people had been inhabiting for thousands of years were being made. Previously it was common knowledge that God was the creator of everything and that he had created the world in seven days, but as more and more discoveries were made the beliefs that people had held for thousands of years were being questioned. This made many uneasy and they had a difficult time accepting the validity of the findings and establishing a sense of trust for the safety of society because of seemingly “outlandish” nature of the experiments of the scientists. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was greatly influenced by the time and the change in societal beliefs which is reflected in her writing. Because of the historical context, I believe that the narrative Frankenstein will quickly regress
Since such experiments had never been done before there was a lot of uncertainty as to their outcomes. Many believed that supernatural beings would be formed as a result and would terrorize society. In Frankenstein, Shelley writes, “Nor were these my only visions. The raising of ghosts or devils was a promise liberally accorded by my favourite authors the fulfillment of which I most eagerly sought.” In the narrative Frankenstein is recorded speaking of the dreams that he had been having. He saw in his dreams ghosts and devils

coming to life and this was something that he desired greatly. This dream and these desires that Frankenstein has mirror the general belief within the public that such experimentation will result in the creation of a horrific creature or supernatural being, and foreshadows the horrors that will come as a result of the creation of Frankenstein’s