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Victor Frankenstein wants to create life! Victor Frankenstein creates life! The life that Victor Frankenstein creates storms through the countryside killing people! In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley has created a man haunted by the same paradoxes that plague our society today.

Video Transcription:

I wouldn’t call Mary Shelley a political writer, but she was definitely interested in the issues of her day. Up next, a look at Frankenstein’s hidden—and not-so-hidden—meaning.

So on the surface, Frankenstein is the tale of a monster and his creator. And how, in creating a monster, the creator himself turns into a monster.

This book has it all. A mad scientist, dark and stormy nights, a beast with a lust for revenge … and more philosophical and political issues than you can count.

That’s right. Frankenstein is actually better suited to the election season than it is to Halloween. That’s because it asks questions about the role of science. It takes on evolution and abortion. It’s concerned with the environment, with religion, and with the welfare of society.

As if that wasn’t enough, Frankenstein is also an exploration of creation—about the role of the artist in our culture. As Victor Frankenstein worries about what he has unleashed on society, as he wonders what havoc his monster will wreak, you can almost hear Mary Shelley wondering how people will respond to her novel, to her creation. Will they find it beautiful … or horrifying?

I’m sorry. Were you just looking for a creepy but compelling story? Don’t worry. Frankenstein is that, too. Just click on the next Recap to hear all about the plot.