Mary Shelley’s (1797-1851) the most representative writer of Gothic literature. She had important parents: in fact, her father was the philosopher W. Godwin, while her mother was the feminist M. Wollstonecraft. Her whole life was signed by events that we can define “Gothic”: for example she learnt to read and spell her name on the epitaph oh her mother’s grave. She grew up among famous writers, philosophers and poets. At 16 she met and ran away with Percy Shelley. During the summer of 1816, in Geneva they met with Byron, Rossetti and Polidori; they all wrote a tale in the same evening, and Mary gave birth to her masterpiece: “Frankenstein”. After writing it, she was overwhelmed by a series of calamities, such as Percy’s drowning.

What events led Mary to write “Frankenstein”? 

She was influenced at first by experiences from that summer of 1816, but she also incorporated two important sources, those are “Metamorphoses” by Ovid and “Paradise Lost” by Milton.

From “Metamorphoses” she took the myth of Prometheus, that dared to steal gods’ fire.

From “Paradise Lost”, instead, Mary took the main elements of her novel: the sense of revenge and rage, the isolation of the hostile being and the consequent increase of his hostility, the molding of a living being and the revolt against God.

The novel tells the story of Dr. Frankenstein, a brilliant scientist who dreams to gain Nature’s secret by creating life from death. A day, he succeed in giving life by electric shocks, to a monster that will be repulsed at first by the doctor and by all the other people. This creature’s isolation will bring to Frankenstein a series of tragedies that will make him alone and lead him to search for killing his own creation. But the monster will murder his “father” and he’ll escape to the Antartic sea.

Frankenstein is the synthesis of Gothic and Romantic elements those are the basis of the first science fiction novel.

The novel’s Gothic elements are: wild and obscure sceneries, fear, blood, death and dark heroes. Instead, Romantic elements are: loneliness, melancholy, childhood, rebellion against establishments or, better, against nature's laws (for the doctor), love for nature (for the creature), friendship and great passions.

Besides, isolation of Mary Shelley’s hero reflected her own isolation with her husband, who was rejected as a rebel by the society.

In the modern age, Frankenstein is very topical; in fact inspired discussion about creating life in labs, transplanting and in general, about the application of genetic engineering. Shelley, through Dr Frankenstein, disclosed the building up of a dynamic science, able to transform and manipulate lives; besides, she disclosed a two-faced behaviour that still dominates the public biology’s images.

It means that we won’t get rid of Frankenstein because it’s rooted in our culture.