History Literature / Frankenstein

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* NeverMyFault / TheUnapologetic: Victor, who even [[spoiler:on his death bed condemns himself for creating the Creature, but exonerates all of his subsequent actions]].

* PoorCommunicationKills: If [[CannotSpitItOut Victor had told a few key people about the monster]], ''a lot'' of trouble probably could have been avoided. Victor justifies this secrecy to himself and Walton saying that [[NeverMyFaultpeople would have thought him mad and not believe him]].

* PunnyName: The name 'Victor' is actually a sneaky reference to ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' (a big influence on the story), as Milton often refers to God as 'the Victor'. Then [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything the Monster equates himself with Adam....]]
* PurpleProse: Suffers from this in parts.
** It's more like ultraviolet prose. So much so, that the highlighter across the room is glowing like a portable sun.
** This is probably due to Percy Shelley's revisions, which changed Mary's prose to be as unnecessarily complicated and melodramatic as possible. For instance, he changed "I do not wish to hate you" to "I will not be tempted to set myself in opposition to thee."

* PoorCommunicationKills: If [[CannotSpitItOut Victor had told a few key people about the monster]], ''a lot'' of trouble probably could have been avoided. Victor justifies this secrecy to himself and Walton saying that [[NeverMyFaultpeople would have thought him mad and not believe him]].

* PoorCommunicationKills: If [[CannotSpitItOut Victor had told a few key people about the monster]], ''a lot'' of trouble probably could have been avoided.

* GratuitousLaboratoryFlasks: Just about any given cover will have this in full effect. The Bernie Wrightson edition of ''Frankenstein'' goes one step further; all depictions of Victor Frankenstein's work area throughout the book are so chock full of glassware that they can serve ''no'' practical purpose to Frankenstein whatsoever, and, indeed, seem to play no role in his work.

The novel tells of Dr. Victor Frankenstein who unlocks the secrets to CreatingLife. He uses this knowledge to create an artificial man, larger and stronger than most mortals, [[AndSomeOtherStuff by means which he chooses not to describe]]. While he is initially triumphant with his success, a few moments of observing the flailing and moaning patchwork being leaves [[UncannyValley Victor disgusted by and fearful of his creation]]. [[GoneHorriblyRight Realizing the ramifications of his success]], he is horrified. He abandons the Creature and flees to his family's estate.

* IdiotBall:
** Arguably, Frankenstein in deciding not to [[spoiler:create a female mate for his Creature, as they could have children. Possibly, he could have made her infertile.]]
*** FridgeBrilliance: The monster cynically thanks Frankenstein for getting at least one thing right, giving him a fine mind (see InstantExpert below). Had the Creature been allowed to observe the entire process of [[spoiler:his mate's]] reanimation, it would be a simple matter of reverse engineering the process to reanimate "children" of their own [[TheExtremistWasRight and pass along the knowledge to their descendants, creating a race of undead superhumans.]]

The subtitle, ''The Modern Prometheus'', compares Victor Frankenstein to the Greek titan [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Prometheus]], who brought the secret of fire from Mount Olympus to mortal men, reflecting on Frankenstein's spiritual would-be theft of the secret to creating life -- but like Prometheus, Frankenstein also came to regret his transgression.[[note]]As a note, Prometheus also created man himself and could see into the future, his name meaning "foresight". One interpretation is the parallel between Victor and Prometheus' acts of creation. Additionally, Prometheus knew what would happen to him when he took the flame.[[/note]] Many would say that ''Frankenstein'' was the ultimate warning of ScienceIsBad, though similar stories were common throughout the industrial revolution and it is not even clear whether the act of creating the Monster was bad in itself, if the world wasn't ready for it, or Frankenstein was just a [[ParentalAbandonment horrible]] and [[AbusiveParents abusive]] parent.

* DefiniteArticleTitle: The second half of the EitherOrTitle: "The Modern Prometheus".

''Frankenstein; [[EitherOrTitle or, The Modern Prometheus]]'', usually abbreviated to ''Frankenstein'' is a novel by Creator/MaryShelley. It was originally published in 1818. It had a 1823 reprint without Shelley's involvement and a third edition in 1831, this time with significant edits from the author. ''Frankenstein'' is considered a TropeMaker of ScienceFiction (if Literature/TrueHistory isn't counted) and inarguably has vast historical significance.

* HandWave: Frankenstein never reveals just ''how'' he gave life to the Creature, which was {{lampshaded}} in ''Film/YoungFrankeinstein'' when Frederick finds Victor's book "How I Did It".

''Frankenstein'' has had [[Franchise/{{Frankenstein}} countless adaptations and unofficial sequels]], beginning with a stageplay. Manga creator Creator/JunjiIto created one of the more faithful adaptations of the story in recent years. For a complete list of the films, see Franchise/{{Frankenstein}}.

* VictorianNovelDisease: A pre-Victorian example exists through Victor's nervous illness that he comes down with after the horrifying night where he creates the monster.

* UncertainDoom: Despite the monster's Nothing Left to Do but Die speech at the end and throwing itself out of the ship's cabin window, Walton's account ends right there. We know that Victor has died because his body is there. But we don't know about the monster for sure since we're not told anything after the action above. We just have an assumption that given their location (The Arctic), that NoOneCouldSurviveThat. While some adaptations make the [[KilledOffForReal monster's death a certainty]], others retain the ambiguity. Very plausible given the monster's stated tolerance of cold.

* PowerTrio: The three children who together represent the ideal man.

** Used for tragedy: The monster is a hideous ghoul stitched together from various corpses, yet is the most warm, kind-hearted character in the book... at first. The people he meets are unable to see past his exterior and, with the obvious exception of the blind man, assume his heart is as ugly as his face. Over time, this mistreatment twists him into the very thing people assume he is.

* RobotWar: Yes, really. When contemplating making his Creature a bride, Victor ponders whether, should they reproduce, "a race of devils would be propagated upon Earth who might make the very existence of the species of man a condition precarious and full of terror". This little vision just might be the UrExample in fiction, particularly if we employ the term "robot" in its [[Theatre/RUR original sense]].

** During chapter 12, the creature [[ItMakesSenseInContext compares himself to a donkey]]. The problem is that you wouldn't know that he is talking about a donkey unless you knew that "ass" originally meant "donkey".

* AllFirstPersonNarratorsWriteLikeNovelists: Subverted as the entirety of the novel was epistolary in the form of letters sent by Captain Robert Walton to his sister. Walton allegedly wrote down the account as given to him by Victor who was virtually on his deathbed. It includes long speeches and descriptions given by the characters as well as the content of letters that Victor relates. He is either very verbose and has a good memory for a man dying of pneumonia brought on by hypothermia, or Walton, given his HoYay tendencies concerning Victor, really went overboard with embellishing Victor's spoken account of events.

''Literature/TheVampyre'' by John William Polidori happened to be written around the same time, while both authors (along with her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley) stayed at a villa near Lake Geneva during the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_a_Summer summer of 1816.]]

* RevengeByProxy: [[spoiler:The Creature decides to get revenge on Frankenstein for its own wretched existence by making him suffer, so he kills Frankenstein's youngest brother, followed by his greatest friend, and then on Frankenstein's wedding day, the monster strangles his bride.]]