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Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus: The 1818 Text (Oxford World's Classics)

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Most editions of Mary Shelley's landmark book available today follow the heavily revised 1831 version. The impulse behind this trend is an honorable one (to present what is seemingly an author's "final revision"),but the 1818 version is preferable for many reasons. Looking back on her creation in later life, Shelley felt obliged to alter the book's focus in significant ways, adding what critic Marilyn Butler accurately describes as "long passages in which her main narrator, [Victor] Frankenstein, expresses religious remorse for making a creature..." The author sought to make the 1831 edition less controversial and thereby more palatable to the tastes of the reading public. The 1818 version is closer to Mary Shelley's original intentions, though it too, unfortunately, was filtered through the sensibilities of her husband, the poet Percy Shelley, who took many of his wife's rather straightforward passages and rendered them into his own more ornate and Ciceronian style. Still, the 1818 version remains more vital, more original, and less constrained by what the author believed would be acceptable to readers in 1830s England.

The original version of Frankenstein (or, The Modern Prometheus) was published anonymously in 1818. However, the version of Frankenstein that most people have read is the 1831 edition, which has significant changes from the original 1818 text. This book gives the readers a chance to experience the original text, which is less refined and a bit darker then the revised text. It also provides a wonderful introduction and notes discussing Mary Shelley's life, the context in which this story was written, and the differences between the original text and the 1831 edition. These notes and introduction are by Marilyn Butler, who was a Professor of English Literature at Cambridge.

The story is well known, although certainly the book is nothing like most of the movies that use its name. While clearly one can find many issues from Mary Shelley's life and times that are addressed in this book, what makes it stand the test of time is how it can be made to relate to modern day issues as well. One theme, science creates a "monster" which it cannot control and which ultimately destroys the lives of those that created it, can be found today in areas such as genetics, nuclear physics, etc., and will undoubtedly be with us in the future as well. Other themes from the story carry forward from 1818 to today as well, which undoubtedly why this story is a classic and will always endure.

Victor Frankenstein was a precocious child, inspired by and obsessed with the scientists of the past. In university, he continues his obsession, which culminates in the creation of a man made of corpses. As the creature awakens, Victor is horrified and disgusted and runs away. He becomes stricken with illness shortly afterwards and his childhood friend, Henry Clerval, helps nurse him back to health. After four months, Victor finally recovers, only to find that his little brother, William, has been murdered. Sure that the fiend he created is responsible, Victor returns to his home. The tormented creature eventually reveals himself to his furious creator and relays the events leading to William's murder. After his heart-rending story, he begs his creator to make a woman for him who will accept him and become his mate. Victor agrees, but has second thoughts. Should he create another monster like the one already in existence? If he decides against this second blasphemy, what repercussions will he and his family have to endure?

Mary Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein is an iconic work that has spawned countless spin-offs, sequels, remakes, copies, and re-imaginings. It's hardly surprising considering the eloquence and skill that she exhibits. With all the allusions and references to literature and works of science, she shows her vast education, which is even surprising today for an eighteen year old. I absolutely love this book, but I used to hate it. I remember reading it as a child and finding it boring and hard to understand. As an adult, I see the different philosophies being illustrated and the significance of its place in the romantic era. It explores themes such as the nature of man, the effect of isolation verses society on man, and the ethics of science. These are themes that science fiction authors are still writing about today, as seen in the film Splice, Scott Sigler's novel Ancestor, and countless others. This is really the epitome of the gothic novel, which conveys its messages with a dose of horror and suspense.

The characters and their development is really what makes Frankenstein special. I can see the suffering and anger on both Victor's and the creature's side. Victor is a good person who got swept up in his fervor for science without thinking about the consequences. After making the creature, he tries to move forward with his life, but his past follows him. The creature, on the other hand, is actually a sympathetic character. Far from the shuffling, silent monster seen in film, he exhibits great intelligence and is shown to be inherently good. After being consistently rejected and abused by man, he turns to violence and really only to mimic how people have always treated him. He only ever desired to be loved and accepted. I tend to side more with the monster because he was created and then immediately abandoned with no instruction on how to act or survive in the human world. I find the fact that Victor finds this acceptable and proceeds to further antagonize his creation reprehensible.

I could probably go on and on about how Frankenstein is one of the best books ever written, so I'll stop here. This work is still relevant today and can both horrify and interest modern audiences. I think everyone should read this book at least once.

I thought the movie was good (circa 1933, all the others pale in comparison, but that is another review all together), until I read the source material for myself. Now I will not watch any iteration of it on celliod. Hollywood, has slowly killed an amazing story of man playing God. Only after playing God, did the good Dr. realize why man isn't a god.

Even more amazing than the story itself is that Mary Shelly wrote this by the time she was 20 in the early 19th century.

Definately a great way to spend your spare time. Infact, set aside some time just to read this one.

This is by far the best book I've ever read. What intrigued me the most was Shelley's style. Her language puts you in mood that I cannot easily put to words. Only three other authors have books similar to this: Rudyard Kipling ("The Man Who Would be King"), David Anthony Durham ("Acacia"), and Anthony Nana Kwamu ("Timbuktu Chronicles: Aida and the Chosen Soldier"). "Frankenstein" (the 1818 text) is just breathtaking! Highly recommended.

Loved this book. I can't believe that Mary Shelley wrote it as a teenager. The language is so flowery and she commands it so well. Books aren't written like this anymore.

I just finished reading Frankenstein (first time I've read it). I was surprised that I actually liked it! I imagined it would be dull. The story moved along at a good pace. I especially liked how much emotion was expressed by the characters, and the parallels that can be drawn from Frankenstein's creation that haunts him and things we create in our own lives that may do the same.

Mary Shelley was the daughter of the famous feminist and author, Mary Wollstonecraft, who is best known for her work The Vindication of the Rights of Women. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a young university student, Victor Frankenstein, obsesses with wanting to know the secret to life. He studies chemistry and natural philosophy with the goal of being able to create a human out of spare body parts. After months of constant work in his laboratory, Frankenstein attains his goal and brings his creation to life. Frankenstein is immediately overwrought by fear and remorse at the sight of his creation, a "monster." The next morning, he decides to destroy his creation but finds that the monster has escaped. The monster, unlike other humans, has no social preparation or education; thus, it is unequipped to take care of itself either physically or emotionally. The monster lives in the forest like an animal without knowledge of "self" or understanding of its surroundings. The monster happens upon a hut inhabited by a poor family and is able to find shelter in a shed adjacent to the hut. For several months, the monster starts to gain knowledge of human life by observing the daily life of the hut's inhabitants through a crack in the wall. The monster's education of language and letters begins when he listens to one of them learning the French language. During this period, the monster also learns of human society and comes to the realization that he is grotesque and alone in the world. Armed with his newfound ability to read, he reads three books that he found in a leather satchel in the woods. Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther, Milton's Paradise Lost, and a volume of Plutarch's Lives. The monster, not knowing any better, read these books thinking them to be facts about human history. From Plutarch's works, he learns of humankind's virtues. However, it is Paradise Lost that has a most interesting effect on the monster's understanding of self. The monster at first identifies with Adam, "I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence." The monster, armed only with his limited education, thought that he would introduce himself to the cottagers and depend on their virtue and benevolence; traits he believed from his readings that all humans possessed. However, soon after his first encounter with the cottagers, he is beaten and chased off because his ugliness frightens people. The monster is overwrought by a feeling of perplexity by this reaction, since he thought he would gain their trust and love, which he observed them generously give to each other on so many occasions. He receives further confirmation of how his ugliness repels people when, sometime later, he saves a young girl from drowning and the girl's father shoots at him because he is frightful to look at. The monster quickly realizes that the books really lied to him. He found no benevolence or virtue among humans, even from his creator. At every turn in his life, humans are judging him solely based on his looks. The monster soon realizes that it is not Adam, the perfect being enjoying the world, which he is most alike. Instead, he comes to realize that he most represents Satan. The monster is jealous of the happiness he sees humans enjoy that he has never attained for himself. The monster tells Frankenstein that he found his lab journal in his coat pocket and read it with increasing hate and despair as he came to understand what Frankenstein's intent was in creating him. The monster curses Frankenstein for making a creature so hideous that even his creator turned from him in disgust.

Shelley's intent here is plain to see. "The fate of the monster suggests that proficiency in `the art of language' as he calls it, may not ensure one's position as a member of the `human kingdom." In a sense, she is showing that both her parents were mistaken when they advocated greater education reform for people. They thought education would make people better, which in turn would improve society for all. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein contradicts this belief.

Starting with the full title of Mary Shelley's book, Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus one can instantly see that mythology was integral to her book. Lord Byron, poet and friend of the Shelley's was writing a poem entitled Prometheus, and Mary was reading the Prometheus legend in Aeschylus' works when she had a dream, which was the impetus for her book. The Greek god Prometheus, is known for two important tasks that he performed, he created man from clay, and he stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. The stealing of fire really angered Zeus because the giving of fire began an era of enlightenment for humankind. Zeus punished Prometheus by having him carried to a mountain, where an eagle would pick at his liver; it would grow back each day and the eagle would eat it again.

The presence of fire and light in this gothic story helps to point to the similarities to Prometheus and Victor Frankenstein, the creator of the monster, in Shelley's book. The book uses light as a symbol of discovery, knowledge, and enlightenment. The natural world is full of hidden passages, and dark unknown scientific secrets; Victor's goal as a scientist is to grasp towards the light. Light is a by-product of fire that the monster learned quickly when he is living on his own. The monster experienced fires' duality when he first encountered it in an unattended fire in the woods. He is mesmerized by the fact that fire produces light in the darkness in the woods, but is shocked at the sensation of pain it gives him when he touches it. Victor is defiant of god in the same way that Prometheus was defiant of Zeus. Victor steals the secret of life from god and creates a human out of spare body parts. He does this out of an altruistic wish to spare humankind from the pain and suffering of death. Thus, Victor Frankenstein embodies both aspects of the Promethean myth creation and fire. Victor in a sense has the same experience with the fire of enlightenment similar to his monster; he is "burned" by the fire of enlightenment. Victor also suffers from the classic Greek tragic condition of hubris for his transgression against god and nature.

The book also adopts two other great mythic legends. One is Adam from the Bible. Victor Frankenstein bears striking resemblance to Adam and his fall from grace for eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. The other is Satan, a mythic figure that Shelley admired from her readings in Milton's book Paradise Lost. In an interesting juxtaposition of booth myths, she expands on the motif of the fall from grace in her book when she portrays the monster comparing himself to Adam; after he read, Milton's book Paradise Lost. The monster tells Victor, that he at first identifies with Adam God's first creation. "I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence." However, after several incidents of mistreatment that he suffered from the humans he encountered in his travels; the monster soon realized that it is not Adam, the perfect being enjoying the world, which he was most alike. Instead, he came to realize that he most represented Satan. The monster's feelings of hatred and despair stem from the fact that humans found him grotesque to look at and would not accept him as a member of human society. The monster cursed Victor for making a creature so hideous that even his creator turned from him in disgust. Thus, it is obvious for all to see that Shelley's Frankenstein is replete with mythological references and they are central to the plot.

This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities. Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, philosophy, and literature.

Length:: 1:39 Mins

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I am very happy with this product. The book was in great condition and makes a good read. It has kept readers engaged over so many decades