Shelly’s ‘’Frankenstein’’ is regarded as the first modern horror novel. It is in fact, a Gothic horror. The story came about mainly from a dream shelly had. The dream was heavily influenced by her background and past personal experiences. These include her visits to galvanism experiments, a visit to the Rock of Franks; a castle which translated gives ‘’Frankenstein’’ and her surroundings at the time, which where the Alps that made up the setting for some of the book. Other issues, which might have affected the outcome of the book, are her failed pregnancy, which could be linked to victors mother dieing. Events of the time had led to a near breakthrough to bring the dead to life and the near full exploration of the Earth leaving only the poles unexplored. Romantic and Gothic styles are used in the book the romantic style is the awe of nature a good example is ‘‘the abrupt sides of vast mountains were before me; the icy wall of the glacier overhung me’’ and the Gothic style is the psychological that encompasses the very personal themes of life and death this is shown by ‘’how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains I had endeavoured to form’’
The Story begins with Walton’s letters to his sister, he talks a lot about his ambitions of mapping the arctic and finding a companion who shares his ruthless ambition. After awhile he finds Frankenstein floating on a sheet of ice. After being nursed back to health Frankenstein begins his story. Victor talks about his childhood, how his mother died in childbirth, his younger brother Edward, and how he has read books about philosophy and alchemy most of which have been long disproved. Then he continues about when he was at university and his growing obsession with creating a being from the dead parts of humans also known as galvanism. Then he moves on to how he becomes obsessive and how it is only after he succeeds he realises what he has done and realises the implications of his dream. After being nurse back to health by his friend Henry Cherval Victor realises how badly he has treated his family and decides to return to his family, however before he can do this he receives a letter about his brother being murdered, the killer is presumed to be the family servant Justine and because Victor makes no mention of the monster she is hanged, victors farther also dies short after of a broken heart after losing William. Victor decides to travel to cope with his grief. It is at this point the monster appears and asks for a bride. The monster also explains that he has lived a blameless life until he was badly beaten and agrees that if victor does make him a bride he will live in the arctic until he dies. Victor agrees but wonders what this monster will be capable of. He moves to Ireland and constructs the monster but then realises what he is doing and tears it limb from limb under the watch of the monster. For this the monster kills Elizabeth on their wedding night and then Henry Cherval as well. Victor; now determined to destroy the monster, pursues it all over the globe until he is found by Walton exhausted and near death. The dreams of the three men play a big part in the book. Walters dream is to map the North Pole and to have a companion with his same ruthless ambition, Victor. The Monsters ambitions are to have someone to love and for Victor to be a proper to him. Victor’s ambitions are to create life from the dead and later on to destroy it. As you can see the ambitions of all three characters are closely interlinked.
