The presentation of Frankenstein in chapters 11 16

The novel, Frankenstein is a story about a man who went to great extent to defy the laws of nature. His greatest desire; to create a being from scratch, one who will cheat its way out of the hands of death and diseases, one who never has to die or lose a loved one, a superior being, one that will revolutionise humankind. The author of this novel was a young woman named Mary Shelley who wrote the story at a youthful age of 19.

It’s said that the inspiration of the story came in a form of a nightmare while she was enjoying a holiday in Geneva with her family. The story was published in London in 1818.

The tale had a large impact across literature and sparked the birth of gothic horror in books and films. The novel has 2 settings; the North Pole and Geneva, her holiday location. The title of the novel refers to a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who learns how to create life and creates a being in the likeness of man, but larger than average and more powerful with powers and attributes no human could ever possess, kind of like taking the role of God into his own hands.

Miraculously, he is successful with his creation, but due to hasty decisions, he rejects it.

This he comes to regret later on, as one by one each of his family members die at the hands of the being who is driven by anger and revenge, until the only person left alive is Victor Frankenstein. Up until chapter 11, we hear from only Victor his impression of the monster. This is not a very nice impression as everything he says is very negative. But when the monster has enough of the rejection and hatred from society, he realises that the cause of this is Victor, therefore he hunts him down and forces him to listen to his sorrows.

At this point in the novel, we hear everything first hand from the monster’s perspective. We learn how the monster fights great hardship and suffering, yet still had the longing to learn the nature of human beings and the world around him. This causes conflict between the two received impressions and radically challenges our views of the monster. Before we hear the creature’s side to the story, we need to be aware of what Victor thinks of his creation. When the creature is first brought to life, Victor is taken aback horrifically by the physical appearance of the creature.

“Breathless horror and disgust filled my heart”. Victor thought his creation would be a successful project with beauty as a feature; this is because he specifically chose parts of the body from beautiful people. But the creature was totally opposite. ?? ?? ?? ?? Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mary Shelley section.