Frankenstein facts for kids
Frankenstein's monster
in the first movie adaptation, (1910) |
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| Author | Mary Shelley |
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| Language | English |
| Genre | Gothic, Horror, Romance, science fiction |
| Publisher | Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones |
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Publication date
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11 March 1818 |
| Media type | |
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by Mary Shelley. It is about a creature produced by a strange scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was nineteen. It was published when she was twenty-one. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1818. Shelley's name appears on the second edition, published in France in 1823.
Shelley had travelled in the region of Geneva, Switzerland, where much of the story takes place. Ideas about occultism were topics of conversation among her travelling companions, especially her future husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary, Percy, Lord Byron, and his doctor John Polidori decided to have a competition to see who could write the best horror story. After thinking for weeks about what her possible storyline could be, Shelley dreamt about a scientist who created life and was horrified by the result. She then wrote Frankenstein.
Since publication of the novel, the name "Frankenstein" is often used to refer to the monster itself. This usage is sometimes considered erroneous, but usage commentators regard the monster sense of "Frankenstein" as well-established and an acceptable usage. In the novel, the monster however is called "creature", "monster", "fiend", "wretch", "vile insect", "daemon", "being", and "it". Speaking to Victor Frankenstein, the monster refers to himself as "the Adam of your labors", and elsewhere as someone who "would have" been "your Adam", but is instead "your fallen angel."
Plot
Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. He brings his creation to life during an electrical storm. The monster scares Frankenstein. It begins to kill without reason or cause. Frankenstein chases the monster to the Arctic, and dies pursuing the creature. The Creature mourns over Victor's body and then vows to burn himself on a funeral pyre so that no one else will ever know of his existence. The monster drifts away on an ice raft, never to be seen again.
Images for kids
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Draft of Frankenstein ("It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld my man completed ...")
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A variety of different editions
See also
In Spanish: Frankenstein o el moderno Prometeo para niños
