We all know the big green monster that most people call “Frankenstein.” This character, properly named “The Creature” in the novel, is one of the most iconic characters in all of pop culture. This is due to the lasting impact that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has left on the world. To quickly summarize Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a young scientist named Victor Frankenstein lived a great childhood in a loving family. He is a very intelligent individual and has been with us his entire life. Eventually, he goes off to college after his mom’s passing, hoping it will help him forget about her. At college he does a little more than just learning and studying, he makes a whole monster. This process takes him many months of grueling work and research …show more content…
Sci-fi novels tend to combine aspects of science, possible or impossible, with a fictional story. In Frankenstein, science is very prevalent and is even seen as a powerful tool only being able to be used by those with very special minds. In the case of Victor Frankenstein, his obsession with science led to his downfall. This downfall teaches us that science can hurt you if you don’t use it the right way. Mary Shelley does a great job of showing this, as explained here, “Works such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein emphasized the responsibility of society in the quest for scientific advancement and presented the belief that nature must be appreciated and respected rather than controlled” (Roy No. p.). If Victor appreciated the science and didn’t try to seek power from it, the outcome of the story would’ve been better for him. Victor’s professor gives a perfect explanation of the power scientists have when he said, “They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows” (Shelley 25). Victor, hearing this statement, decided to try to gain the ability to reanimate human beings. This process is very grueling and when he completed it he said, “It was on a dreary night in November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into a lifeless thing that lay at my feet” (Shelley 32). Mary Shelley’s diction here shows how exhausted he truly was after all the work he did. The focus on science in the story is not the only thing that makes it such a great beginning to the sci-fi genre. Frankenstein also has many movie adaptations that rocket this novel into