[Editorial] Hearts of Darkness: Mary Shelley - Mother of Monsters

It was a dark and tempestuous night in Villa Diodah, Switzerland in 1816 when the young Mary Shelley birthed a tale so monstrous, it went on to become one of the most well-known works of gothic literature and would go on to influence the horror genre for centuries. Shelley’s group of literary comrades of Lord Byron, Dr John Polidori and Percy Shelley had put forth a writing challenge of telling the scariest story imaginable, and influenced by Byron and Percy’s discussions of the nature of life, eighteen-year-old Mary devised ‘Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus’. From a personal standpoint, I have always been enamoured with not only the fact that Mary Shelley basically invented the science fiction genre, but also due to the way that Mary and her creation was always there for me in the darkest of times. Through parental rejection, the yearning for acceptance and child loss, the writing of Mary Shelley provided a story that brought much needed comfort.

Mary was born in 1797 to philosopher William Godwin and Britain’s first feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft, who died eleven days after giving birth to her daughter. William remarried to Mary Jane Clairmont, whose relationship with her stepdaughter was tumultuous at best. Mary Shelley (then called Mary Wollstonecraft-Godwin) was highly educated, something that was unusual at the time, and just like her mother before her, she continued to break societal norms. At the age of sixteen, Mary met the poet Percy Shelley, and in perhaps the most goth manner, began to have secret liaisons with her lover in the graveyard in which her mother was buried. 

Mary and Percy soon eloped and were married after two years, much to the disappointment of her father. The majority of Mary’s adult life was plagued with tragedy, her first born died as a baby in 1815, and whilst this was a devastating blow, it was said to be a massive inspiration on her science fiction creation. Due to her substantial loss, Mary began to have dreams of bringing the dead back to life, as well as ruminating on the sense of rejection she had faced with her stepmother and her husband (Percy Shelley had been having an affair with Mary’s stepsister Claire).

After visiting the actual Castle Frankenstein situated in Germany where the legend of scientist Konrad Dippel was trying to create an immortality elixir, Mary began to write her gothic novel in the nine months that she was pregnant with her third child. Initially refused by many publishers, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus was finally published in 1818 anonymously, with the second edition published in 1921 with Mary Shelley’s name as author. Despite the novel containing gothic elements, it forgoes any typical supernatural aspect, and instead can be said to be the very first work of science-fiction. Victor Frankenstein is a scientist who utilises modern experiments to create a fantastical situation. Predating H.P. Lovecraft by a full century, Mary Shelley is the mother of the sci-fi horror genre.

“I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel….”

At the core of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus is the relationship between creator Victor Frankenstein and his creation, commonly referred to as either the creature or monster. Despite the grotesque nature of how the creature was built-from body parts of executed criminals-he is given a childlike role within the story, with Frankenstein taking on the parental status. Even though he is not born from Victor’s loins, the creature is still birthed defenceless, confused and utterly dependent on his maker, much like a new-born infant. Despite it being Victor’s choice to bring the creature into the world and give him life, he almost instantly rejects him, horrified by his own magnum opus. This parental rejection is what sets into motion the journey of the creature to find acceptance not only with his “father” but also in the wider society that he has been forced to exist in. This storyline reflects the rejection that Mary Shelley herself had encountered with her father’s second wife as well as the kick in the teeth she must have felt when her husband had an affair. As anyone who has ever encountered toxic parental rejection, it is easy to relate to Frankenstein’s monster. On a personal level, I associated strongly with the character of the monster, growing up with a strong sense of feeling like I could never live up to a parent’s high expectations, I was forced into the capacity of an outsider, even in the wider world and so in Mary Shelley and her gothic invention was my first introduction to identifying with and finding childhood companionship in the “freaks” and “monsters” of horror. And just like Captain Walton remarks in the novel:

“....the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds which hardly any later friend can obtain.”

“Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, it is dear to me, and I will defend it.”

After suffering the loss of my first baby, I once again found refuge in the pages of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The questions of mortality, of life and the nature of death permeate the pages, as its most central theme. At this stage in my life, not only did I still empathise with the monster, but I found my situation reflected in some parts with that of the author Mary Shelley. After losing her first child, Mary became almost obsessed with the resurrection of those who had passed, most namely her daughter, Clara. As Victor also pondered and questioned the meaning of the universe, the character finds himself seeking life from the darkest of places, namely graves and execution sites. Victor is wanting to bring forth a resuscitation from death itself. And just like the relentless and strong-willed scientist, as a mother who has lost a child, you begin to wish for nothing more than to be able to control the natural order of life and death, as well as the desire to be able to restore a beating heart to a life taken far too soon. 

Despite Victor taking on a parental role in the story, it is not a maternal one. Recoiling in horror at his creation, and with an instant feeling of regret, it is not through his eyes that the reader is able to view the monster through a sympathetic lens. It is through the motherly tenderness of Shelley’s narration that the audience is able to associate the monster with the innocence and frailty of a child, gradually being moulded by his experiences with people who would rather judge his outward appearance. And thus, Mary Shelley became the mother of monsters, which became even truer through the incredible influence that her novel would go on to spawn for centuries to come in not only literature but in film, television and many forms of art.

“If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear.”

Apart from the out and out adaptations of the novel (think Frankenstein from 1931 directed by James Whale, or the overly hammy Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh) and the creature becoming an instantly recognisable pop culture figure, so much so that the monster is often called Frankenstein, the concept of the science fiction novel written by an 18-year-old woman has trickled down into some of the most well-loved movies in popular cinema today. The “mad scientist” trope exists in countless horror and sci-fi movies such as The Fly (both the 1958 and 1986 version), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Edward Scissorhands (1990) and of course 1985’s Re-Animator (despite being an H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, where do you think Lovecraft got his inspiration from?) Even the concept of building a person from the parts of dead corpses is seen in movies such as May (2002) and even television shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, where in Season 2 Episode 2 Some Assembly Required a grieving brother has reanimated his dead brother and must create a “bride” for him, as well as season four’s villain Adam who has been created by a scientist from different parts of humans and monsters. 

“I leave you, and in you the last of humankind whom these eyes will ever behold. Farewell Frankenstein!”

At the ripe old age of eighteen years old, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley created the very first science-fiction novel in existence containing themes of creationism, life and death and abuse of science which then went on to generate one of the most recognisable figures of popular culture, aside from Dracula. Through her life experiences and her novel, many like myself found a comfort and a safe harbour in the character of her monster. And just like actor Boris Karloff, who played the creature in the Universal Monster series of Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son Of Frankenstein (1939), said:

“The monster was the best friend I ever had.”

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