Often referred to as the parent of science fiction novels, “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelly is definitely a pioneer in this genre. The book made its first appearance in 1823 and tells the story from two perspectives. The first being an amazing scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who manages to gain an understanding of life’s “origin” when he creates a human from dead body parts. However, he is soon troubled and overwhelmed by all the responsibilities that came with this new knowledge.  The second perspective is his creation, the “monster”, whose anger towards his creator causes him to make some terrible decisions. This book served as a warning to anyone who is fully dedicated to their ambitions. For example, Victor, who was in search of life’s deepest secrets. It shows us how our ambition can cloud our judgment, lead us to isolate ourselves, and cause us to become totally different people.

The story begins from Victor’s point of view as he gives insight into his family’s history. In Volume 1, he introduces his future wife, Elizabeth, who is actually his cousin and his adopted sister. They had a great childhood and were promised to each other by Victor’s mom. Upon turning 17, he is set on attending university to continue his studies, but right before his departure, his mother and Elizabeth become ill with scarlet fever. Elizabeth survives, but his mother does not. The passing of his mother is the start of Victor’s curiosity about the origin of life. During his first two years at university Victor completely isolated himself from family, and friends to focus on his and his hopes of bringing the dead back to life. He eventually succeeds but is horrified when his creation is awoken, and completely abandons it. For the next two years, Victor takes a break from science and begins to spend a lot of time with his friend, Henry. Unfortunately, this happy moment does not last when Victor receives a letter from home notifying him of his youngest brother, William, passing.  He immediately decides to return home; on his journey, he stops at the place that William past and when lighting stript, he notices the monster in the distance and begins to suspect that the monster killed William. During his time at home, Victor never mentions the monster and that leads to the housemaid, Justine, being accused of the murder of William.

Volume 2 begins with Victor taking a trip with his family to Belle Reeve. When he goes hiking, he comes across the monster and tries to kill it, but the monster convinces him to listen to his side of the story. He described how he obtained his knowledge over time, and he discovered different sensations. The monster was often chased away when he went into villages, due to his hideous appearance. He gained knowledge about human life when he spied a family through a shed next to their home. His observations also made his desire for a companion grow even more. The monster eventually finds a stack of journals and books which he reads to learn about history and religion. With all the knowledge he gained he decided to meet a member of the family he has been observing. He waited until the blind grandfather was home alone so that he may speak to him. In the middle of the conversation, the family returns and chases him out of their home. With the second experience of rejection, the monster wanted revenge on Victor even more. As he was hiding out in the woods a boy came up to him, the monster grabbed him and he began to scream and reject him. When he learned that the boy was of the Frankenstein family, he killed him as revenge. The monster concludes his story and volume 2 by demanding Victor make him a female companion.

In Volume 3, Victor procrastinates the making of the female companion for the monster. When he was on the verge of finishing the project, he feared the monsters might reproduce and decided to cancel his plans. Then monster witnessed this and became angry at Victor. On the same night, he snuck into Victor’s room and told him he would get revenge. Soon after that, Victor’s friend, Henry, was murdered by the monster. Upon his return back home, he decides to finally marry Elizabeth, but on their honeymoon, the monster sneaks into their room and kills Elizabeth. Upon finding out about the event that his father also passes away, Victor goes insane and he relentlessly begins chasing the monster around the world. The story comes to an end when he arrives in Russia, where they are separated by a crack in the ice, and Victor is rescued by a passing ship. Knowing he was going to die, he told his story to the captain, Walton, and makes him swear to kill the Monster.