The Real Frankenstein and the Story Mary Shelley Actually Wrote
This article explores the real Frankenstein, focusing on Mary Shelley’s philosophy, science fiction ideas, and the human story behind the myth.
Mary Shelley and the Birth of a New Genre
Not a Horror Tale, but a Thought Experiment
The First Science Fiction Novel
The Creature: A Symbol of Rejection and Longing
Creation, Responsibility, and the Limits of Human Ambition
Frankenstein in Modern Culture
Final Thought
We’ve all heard of Frankenstein. Maybe you picture a tall, green-skinned creature with bolts in his neck, stumbling through the fog.
But what if we told you — that’s not Frankenstein?
In Mary Shelley’s original novel, Frankenstein is the scientist, not the creature.
And the real story? It’s not about monsters and lightning — it’s about loneliness, love, fear, and the power of creation. It’s a story that’s thoughtful, tragic, and surprisingly modern.
Even more surprising?
It was written by a teenage girl over 200 years ago — and she forever changed how we think about science, stories, and what it means to be human.
Let’s take a closer look at the real Frankenstein — the book, the creature, and the brilliant young woman who created them both.
Mary Shelley and the Birth of a New Genre
Mary Shelley was only 18 years old when she began writing Frankenstein. She grew up in a family of famous thinkers — her mother was Mary Wollstonecraft, a feminist writer, and her father was William Godwin, a political philosopher.
In 1816, during a cold and stormy summer at Lake Geneva, Mary stayed with her future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. The group decided to each write a ghost story. Mary’s idea came from a dream: a scientist brings a man to life — but is horrified by what he’s made.
That dream became the beginning of a story that blended scientific curiosity, gothic emotion, and moral questions about creation and responsibility. Published in 1818, Frankenstein helped invent the science fiction genre — long before it even had a name.
Not a Horror Tale, but a Thought Experiment
Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist from Geneva, becomes obsessed with finding the secret of life. Inspired by chemistry, electricity, and the idea of “vital force,” he gathers parts from dead bodies and brings a creature to life. But when the creature opens its eyes, Victor is horrified:
Victor’s terror isn’t about gore or fear of death. It’s about the fear of what he’s done — the shock of creating life, only to reject it. He abandons his creation, who is left alone in the world, nameless and unloved.
The creature doesn’t become violent right away. He hides, learns to speak, reads books, watches a kind family, and longs for human connection. But everywhere he goes, people run from him or attack him.
This is not a monster story. It’s a story about being abandoned, about wanting love and not finding it, and about what happens when scientific curiosity isn’t balanced by emotional responsibility.
The First Science Fiction Novel
Mary Shelley didn’t call her book “science fiction” — that term didn’t exist. But today, many scholars believe Frankenstein is the first true sci-fi novel.
At the time, real scientists like Luigi Galvani and Giovanni Aldini were experimenting with electricity and the human body. People were asking: Could science reanimate the dead? Could humans create life?
Shelley took those questions and gave them emotional weight.
She didn’t write about monsters or magic. She wrote about science, the power to create, and the need for ethical thinking. Frankenstein imagines what happens when a brilliant mind becomes blind to emotion — and forgets to ask Should I? instead of Can I?
This question is still important today — in conversations about AI, cloning, robotics, and biotechnology.
The Creature: A Symbol of Rejection and Longing
One of the greatest surprises in the novel is the voice of the creature himself. He is not evil. He is not a villain. He is gentle, poetic, curious, and deeply emotional. He reads books like Paradise Lost, The Sorrows of Young Werther, and Plutarch’s Lives. He speaks with sadness and wisdom:
This line is one of the most important in the whole novel. The creature compares himself to Adam, the first human in the Bible — created by God. But unlike Adam, who was loved and guided, the creature feels like Satan, thrown out and left alone. He sees Victor Frankenstein as a godlike figure who created him — then rejected him.
Some readers and scholars believe this part of the story reflects a deeper theme:
It asks, What does it feel like to be abandoned by your creator?
Whether we think of this in religious terms or more generally, the novel explores the pain of being made — but not cared for.
The creature wants to understand his place in the world. He wants friendship, family, meaning. But because of how he looks, the world pushes him away. Even his creator runs from him. This rejection turns his love into bitterness, not because he is born evil, but because he is deeply hurt.
Frankenstein is not just about fear. It’s about the human need for connection, and what happens when that need is denied — by family, by society, or even, symbolically, by God.
Creation, Responsibility, and the Limits of Human Ambition
Victor Frankenstein is not a mad scientist. He is a young man with good intentions, deep curiosity, and the desire to discover truth. But he fails to take responsibility for what he’s made.
Shelley explores the idea of creation without care, and science without love. She reminds us that the act of creating — whether it’s life, technology, or art — always carries consequences.
Victor sees that human beings are complex and unfinished — always seeking meaning. Shelley suggests that when we create something new, we must also give it guidance, empathy, and connection — not just power.
This is what lifts Frankenstein far above a horror story. It is a philosophical novel that looks closely at guilt, grief, justice, and free will — told through the lens of a tragic bond between a maker and his creation.
Frankenstein in Modern Culture
Most people today picture Frankenstein’s creature as a green-skinned figure with bolts in his neck. That image comes from the famous 1931 film starring Boris Karloff — a version that created an icon, but also turned the complex, emotional creature into a silent horror figure.
Over the years, many other adaptations have tried to bring back the depth of Mary Shelley’s original story.
The 1994 film Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh with Robert De Niro as the creature, aimed to stay faithful to the novel. It focused on the emotional and tragic bond between creator and creation.
TV series like The Frankenstein Chronicles and Penny Dreadful explore new angles, mixing crime, horror, and gothic romance, while modern sci-fi films such as Ex Machina and Blade Runner borrow heavily from Shelley’s themes — asking what happens when humans create life without compassion.
In 2025, a new film adaptation, simply titled Frankenstein, is set to bring fresh attention to the story. Directed by Guillermo del Toro, known for blending fantasy and horror with heart, this version will star Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as the creature. Del Toro has said he wants to explore the emotional side of the story — the loneliness, longing, and tragedy — in a way that stays close to Mary Shelley’s vision.
The name “Frankenstein” is now part of everyday language — used to describe any invention that spirals out of control. This cultural power shows how deeply the story continues to affect how we think about science, creation, and the unknown.
Final Thought
Frankenstein is not a tale of monsters. It’s a story about a man who wanted to do something great, and a being who only wanted to be loved. It’s about what happens when knowledge moves faster than kindness — and when we forget to care for what we create.
Mary Shelley didn’t just write a scary story.
She gave us a mirror — to see science, power, and the human heart more clearly.
