The early nineteenth century was not a good time to be a female writer particularly if one was a novelist like Mary Shelley. Contemporary wisdom held that no one would be willing to read the work of a woman; the fantastic success of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein served to thoroughly disprove this rather asinine theory. (Worldonline) Frankenstein established Shelley as a woman of letters when such a thing was believed to be a contradiction. She was the daughter of the British philosopher William Godwin and the British author and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; she was born in London, and privately educated. She met the young po

The subject that perplexes and fascinates the monster is fire. During his departure from the forest, the loss of fire is the only loss he laments proving that he intuitively understands its enormous power. This was the most important discovery the Monster makes and through fire, he learns to exercise his powers of observation. Fire plays an essential role in the transition from pure animalistic behavior to a domesticated existence.

et Percy Bysshe Shelley in May 1814, and two months later left England with him. When Shelley's first wife died in December 1816, he married Mary. In 1818, her first and most important work, the novel Frankenstein, was published. (Encarta 99) A remarkable accomplishment for a 20-year-old, the work was an immediate critical and popular success. This tale of Frankenstein, a student of the occult, and the subhuman monster he assembles from parts of human corpses added a new word to the English language: A "Frankenstein" is any creation that ultimately destroys its creator. (Worldonline) No other work by Mary Shelley achieved the popularity or excellence of this first work.

As the prejudice against women writers was quite strong, Shelley was determined to publish the first edition anonymously. (Encarta 99) Despite this fact, the novel's unprecedented success paved the way for some of the most prominent women writers of the nineteenth century, including George Eliot, George Sand, and the Bronte sisters. All of them owed Mary a tremendous literary debt. Without the pioneering work of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, a great many female authors might never have taken up their pens; they might never have felt free to exhibit dark imagination, nor to engage in philosophical reflection. (Encarta 99) Without her, and the women whose work she made possible, English literature would be unquestionably the poorer.

Victor is also one character who is alienated from others by choice. This is due to his desire for knowledge, and the vast amount of time in which he spends completing his scientific experiments. Victor chooses to be alienated, despite the fact that he insists many times that the only reason he is isolated from others is because of the monster. Another reason Victor Frankenstein is also portrayed as somebody who is isolated from others, is that he seems to be terrified of relationships. As a child, his only friends are Elizabeth and Clerval and they are in fact the only friends he has throughout his entire life. He isolates himself from society during the time he is creating the monster. He claims that this is necessary if he is to discover the secret of life. One reason why Victor isolates himself is seems to be due to a fear of sexuality. When he creates the monster, he is eliminating the role of women and rejecting normal sexuality. This is also shown, when Victor's father suggests that he should marry Elizabeth immediately, this shows Victor's problems with relationships and therefore his isolation from others.

Similarities between Victor Frankenstein and Robert Walton

Victor's incestuous dream, in which the figure of Elizabeth turns into his mother's corpse, seems to represent his feelings of guilt and betrayal. (Harwood 33) By leaving home, Victor had separated himself from all feminine influences, instead immersing himself in the masculine world of scientific endeavor. Thus, it seems that the awakening of the monster represents the violent return of his repressed sexual desires: he has forsaken marriage and fatherhood to give birth to a monster of his own exclusively male creation. Since his mother's dying wish was his marriage with Elizabeth, it is as though the marriage is to be to his mother as well. The repressed sexual desire is in fact directed toward both women.

The monster is also a symbol of the Romantic nature. His ambiguous nature is especially effective and conveys the disturbing message that each creature and each creative act possesses the potential for both good

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