Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Frankenstein is such a popular, well known story that it has nearly one million ratings on goodreads and thousands of books have been written with this creature as a starting point, inspired by it or just using this name that has become part of the dictionary- one of the works you can find on the net is…Frankenstein in Baghdad.

Nevertheless, this reader would not engage with the novel- indeed, the note refers to the BBC adaptation, for the unabridged original material seemed too long- given his lack of propensity for horror narratives.

A recent motion picture, Mary Shelley – reviewed here: http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/06/mary-shelley-written-by-emma-jensen-and.html - reveals details from the life of the writer, who had to live for a long time in the shadow of the then famous Percy Bysshe Shelley.

The film is so good that can make one interested in going to the original story, instead of limiting as happened up to now to the various interpretations on the big screen, which is inspired by details from the life of the one who lived for long under the name of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin.

Indeed, the Creature itself has elements in common with Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, who was forced to live in the shadow of the great Creator and Poet, one who showed in spite of the sensitivity and romanticism apparent in his poems, a rather loathsome side, at least in some stages of their relationship, as depicted in the movie.

The author of The Modern Prometheus has been attending some seminaries where the effects of electricity on the muscles of frogs have been demonstrated, galvanism, chemistry and she includes this in the plot that has the worldw3ide famous Doctor Frankenstein create the Ultimate, Quintessential Monster.

Another interesting element in the origin of the book is the challenge made by Lord Byron, in his residence in Switzerland where he had invited Mary, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Claire Clairmont- the latter would give birth to Byron’s child.

Lord Byron proposed that they all write a horror story and the result in the case of Mary Wollstonecraft is so astounding that people in her time refused to believe that Shelley is not the author and a young woman could be the Creator of such a Gothic, terrible narrative.

Some in the Far East might say it is karma, others would refer to Divine Justice and yet others would pertain this to a fair revenge of the ghost of Mary Wollstonecraft against the partner who had neglected her and even invited his lover to have affairs, move in, have sex with other people.

For multitudes know about the author of Frankenstein today, whereas many times less- approximately thousands of times less? – are aware of the name, never mind the work of the poet, even if on the matter of difference in merit, there is a totally different discussion.

The subject is familiar- the undersigned had seen the various adaptations for the screen, including the rather forgettable Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with Robert de Niro and Kenneth Branagh- and therefore   it is not advisable to repeat the plot.

What is more important- as is the case for all major works of art, stated by the popular quote…”beauty is in the eye of the beholder”- is what the message of the thriller is and what readers make of it.

Modern Prometheus refers to what man can do with his new powers and even in the age of Mary Shelley it seemed that humankind had gained the power to transform all around them and give life to dead people- the eponymous Frankenstein takes corpses, cuts through and creates something or someone who has to live alone and this becomes the cause of the catastrophe.

With Artificial Intelligence already a major part of our lives, it can be argued that the Future Frankenstein would be a viable proposition, if in the form of self-driving cars, robots that look like humans and are more intelligent than they are.

The theory of singularity has another version of Frankenstein at its core, that where the artificial intelligence surpasses that of people and the Modern Prometheus would be able to think better that all humankind put together.

Other perspectives could be used to adapt and look in the world of today and perhaps the future to look at Monsters and human creators, like the fallacies of democracy that has created a Creature like Trump that, once liberated from the hands of the Voters creates havoc and looks set to diminish democracy in America and elsewhere

As for Frankenstein, it is possible to look from the point of view of the doctor, a scientist who tries to invent, use new “technology” or the advances of science to break the barriers and find eternal life-, which seems possible with new discoveries.

As for the Creature, even if it is involved in destruction, the motive is its isolation- by the way; studies have demonstrated isolation to be twice as deadly as smoking for those living in it, and Frankenstein emphasizes its perils for the others.

This novel is unique in that both the Evil and the Good are suffering and they are in fact inter changeable, the creator suffers for his daring enterprise and his thirst to break barriers and the Creature causes death, but it seems to be forced to, motivated by the tragedy of having no consort, being rejected, unaccepted, without affection.

Finally for this short note, we can see this with the lens of biotechnology and plastic surgery, domains which are so much used by people today, pertaining the idea that most of those around us- and ourselves- have become Creatures from Frankenstein, seeing as we have implants, Botox, enlargements of this and that, false teeth, eyelashes, nails and so much more…

The legacy of Frankenstein lives on…