The Cardiovascular System In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

In the world, every day is different from the previous one. Something new might be learned or observed. This pattern of continuous learnings is particularly evident in the science and medical fields. While this is still true of our world today, there was a notable peak of scientific learning in the 1800s. In addition to these scientific breakthroughs in the 1800s, there were many great cultural works created during this time, such as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Although Frankenstein, a story about scientific discovery, was written during a period of great scientific and medical discoveries, it is inaccurate to the times in which it was written.
One of the greatest scientific advances of the 1800s was the successful transfusion of blood

In the novel, a living monster was created, which is very inaccurate to the times in which it was being written. A fully functioning human has twelve systems, each with a very specific role to contribute to the overall being. One of these systems is the cardiovascular system. The cardiovascular system is responsible for the transportation of many materials throughout the body, through blood. However, in Frankenstein, the absence of mentioning any sort of blood inside the monster creates many questions of accuracy. Shelley (or Victor?) recognizes many of the human systems, as she (or he?) writes, “Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation, yet to prepare a frame for the reception of it, with all its intricacies of fibres, muscles, and veins, still remained a work of inconceivable difficulty and labour” (Shelley 58). Despite this recognition, Shelley still does not mention blood or the circulatory system, one that is as intricate and important as any of the ones to which she does refer. Since one cannot make blood, James Blundell’s discovery of blood transfusion would have been extremely useful to the creation of the living monster. Victor Frankenstein, the main character, could have transfused blood from one living individual to his monster, giving the being life. However, such a successful transfusion is extremely unlikely considering it was never mentioned, and, because Victor was the only person who knew about his monster, he would have been the only one able or willing to donate blood. Based on how new Blundell’s discovery was, and Blundell’s limited initial success rate in transfusions, it is immensely unrealistic to hypothesize that even if Victor did donate his own blood, it would have