She conceived of Frankenstein during one of the most famous house parties in literary history when staying at Lake Geneva in Switzerland with Byron and Shelley. Interestingly enough, she was only nineteen at the time. She wrote the novel while being overwhelmed by a series of calamities in her life. The worst of these were the suicides of her half-sister, Fanny Imlay, and Shelly's wife, Harriet.
Mary became an invalid at the age of forty-eight. She died in 1851 of a brain tumour with poetic timing. The Great Exhibition, which was a showcase of technological progress, was opened. This was the same scientific technology that she had warned against in her most famous book, Frankenstein.
This book is written about Victor Frankenstein. Victor grows up in a wealthy family. From a young age he was interested in Natural Philosophy and even as a child he has a violent temper, vehement passions and a thirst for knowledge. His first interest was in poetry but quickly turns to science. Later on in the novel, he is in the room when his mother dies. This focuses his mind more on science. It is only after his creation that he realises the consequences of his actions, as reflected in the novel. This time in history was a time of major process in the scientific world. This scene is a crucial moment in the novel because it is the scene when we get lead into the twisted world of Victor Frankenstein, to the creation of the monster and also has a lot of consequences. Shelly wants this scene to be dramatic and to stand out more than the other scenes because this is the scene that precipitates all other events and she uses language, setting and description to do this.
When describing the setting, Mary does this extremely well. She draws the readers closer into the book and in fact into the scene itself. When she uses the quote, “It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out”. This conveys anticipation that something was about to happen. We share Victor’s feelings at this moment in time, as he is about to breathe life into his creation.
When Victor Frankenstein first sets eyes upon his creation he quotes, “I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! -- Great God!” this shows that he is proud of his creation and he as accomplished what he set out to do – but this feeling of pride was quickly shatters it begins to dawn on him the reality of his creation. “I beheld the wretch – the miserable monster whom I had created” and “it became a thing such as Dante could not have conceived”, these describe the monster as hideous and as evil as one could be. Frankenstein’s description of the creature describes what he had envisaged. For example, “Teeth of a pearly white” and “his hair was a lustrous black”. But he was filled with absolute disgust. “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe”. Another quote from Victor is, “it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived”. This represents horror and loneliness, which was worse than the worst possible hell.
Victor feels cheated because he had spent two years trying to create life to the expense of everything else. “I had worked hard for nearly two years”. This aim had become an obsession to the exclusion of everything else, I had desired it with an ardour that exceeded everything else” in his life. In his horror he simply wanted to escape; to run away and put distance between him and his responsibilities.
He goes to his bedroom in complete frustration and disbelief. Eventually he falls into a fitful sleep disturbed by nightmares. He is awoken by the creature standing over his bed. The creature uttered sounds, which he could not understand. “He muttered some inarticulate sounds” and “He might have spoken, but I did not hear”. Instead Victor fled.
This scene is extremely effective because it demonstrates that no man is God. Life was created but this came from an obsession, not love. "For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart." The scene also shows that just as quickly did he create life in the same moment in time he rejected his creation. “But I escaped and rushed downstairs” “I had so miserably given life”. This leads into the events of the rest of the novel. His obsession had made him blind as he couldn’t see what he had created or understand the responsibility that came with this.
