Frankenstein

On a stormy night in the late 18th century, a young scientist named Victor Frankenstein sat hunched over a table, his face illuminated by flickering candlelight and the glow of strange instruments. Around him were pieces of human bodies—limbs, organs, bones—stitched and wired together into the shape of a man. His hands shook, not from fear, but from anticipation. He had spent years chasing the impossible: the secret of life itself.

That night, he succeeded.

The stitched-together corpse stirred, its chest rising with a ghastly breath. Its eyes opened—yellow, watery, yet alive. But instead of triumph, Victor felt horror. The “man” he had created was hideous. Its monstrous proportions, discolored skin, and twisted features made Victor recoil in disgust. He fled the room, abandoning his creation.

When he returned, the Creature was gone.

Victor’s Obsession

Victor had once been an innocent boy in Geneva, fascinated by science. He devoured the writings of alchemists and philosophers, convinced he could push beyond human limits. When he entered university, he discovered modern chemistry and anatomy. Soon, his curiosity turned to obsession. He reasoned: if he could understand death, he could master it.

For two years, he shut himself away from family and friends, scavenging body parts from graveyards and slaughterhouses. He dreamed of creating a new race of beings, strong and perfect. But when the moment of life came, his dream curdled into a nightmare.

The Monster Alone

The Creature, abandoned and confused, wandered through the forests and villages of Europe. Everywhere he went, people screamed, threw stones, or drove him away with fire. He longed for kindness, but his grotesque appearance made him an outcast.

He learned language by secretly observing a poor farming family. Hidden in a hut near their cottage, he watched as they cared for one another, sharing stories and songs. From them, he discovered love, family, and compassion. Yet when he revealed himself, hoping for friendship, they fled in terror.

Grief turned to rage.

The Creature realized he would never be accepted. His own creator had abandoned him. Hatred for Victor burned inside him, and he swore revenge.

First Blood

Victor tried to forget his failed experiment, returning home to Geneva. But tragedy struck when his young brother, William, was found murdered. A locket that belonged to him was discovered in the possession of the family’s servant, Justine Moritz, who was wrongly accused and executed.

Victor alone knew the truth: it was the Creature’s doing. The monster confronted him in the mountains, recounting his loneliness and suffering. He admitted to killing William, saying, “I am malicious because I am miserable.”

Then the Creature made a demand:

> “You must create a companion for me, as hideous as I am. Someone who will not turn away in disgust. Do this, and I will disappear forever?”

At first, Victor agreed, fearing further violence.

The Second Creation

Victor traveled to a remote island in Scotland, working secretly to build a second creature. But as he looked upon his half-finished work, doubt consumed him. What if the two monsters bred? What if they unleashed a race of horrors upon the world?

Terrified of his own ambition, Victor destroyed the second creation before giving it life.

The Creature, who had been watching, erupted with fury. He promised vengeance, hissing that he would be with Victor on his wedding night. Then he vanished into the night.

The Curse Unfolds

Victor returned to Geneva, exhausted and haunted. At last, he married his beloved childhood sweetheart, Elizabeth Lavenza. But his wedding night ended in horror. True to his word, the Creature came—not for Victor, but for Elizabeth. Victor found her lifeless body, her throat crushed by the monster’s hands.

From that moment, Victor’s life became a pursuit of vengeance. His father soon died of grief, leaving Victor alone. He swore he would chase the Creature to the ends of the earth.

Across mountains, rivers, and oceans, Victor hunted him. The pursuit drove him north, into the icy wastelands of the Arctic.

The Final Chase

In the frozen wilderness, Victor collapsed, half-dead, and was rescued by a ship of explorers trapped in the ice. To the ship’s captain, Robert Walton, Victor recounted his terrible tale—the story of how ambition had led him to create life and how that creation had destroyed everything he loved.

Before Victor could complete his revenge, his body gave out. He died aboard the ship, consumed by regret.

But the story did not end there.

That night, the captain discovered the Creature standing over Victor’s corpse, weeping. The monster spoke, saying he never wanted this life, never asked to be born. He had once longed for love, but rejection had turned him into a murderer. Now, with his creator gone, he had no purpose.

The Creature swore he would travel to the northernmost ice, build a funeral pyre, and destroy himself. He disappeared into the frozen darkness, leaving only sorrow behind.

The Tragedy of Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is more than a horror story—it is a meditation on ambition, responsibility, and isolation. Victor Frankenstein is not punished by a supernatural curse but by the consequences of his own actions. His thirst for knowledge leads him to create life, but his refusal to take responsibility for that life brings ruin.

The Creature, though monstrous in form, is deeply human in his longing for love and belonging. He is both victim and villain, reflecting humanity’s fear of being rejected and our capacity for cruelty when denied compassion.

Even today, more than two centuries after it was written, Frankenstein endures because it asks timeless questions: What does it mean to be human? How far should science go? And what happens when ambition blinds us to the cost of our actions?