Context & Introduction

Understanding the context of Frankenstein is essential for achieving top marks at GCSE. The examiner wants to see that you can connect Shelley's choices to the world she was writing in. This lesson covers Mary Shelley's life, the Romantic and Gothic literary movements, and the scientific and philosophical influences that shaped the novel.

Mary Shelley: The Basics

Fact	Detail
Born	1797, London
Died	1851
Parents	William Godwin (philosopher) & Mary Wollstonecraft (feminist)
Partner	Percy Bysshe Shelley (Romantic poet)
Frankenstein written	1816–1817
Frankenstein published	1818 (anonymously); revised edition 1831
Full title	Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
Genre	Gothic / Romantic / Science Fiction

Mary Shelley was just eighteen when she began writing Frankenstein. She came from an extraordinary intellectual family and moved in radical circles that questioned religion, social hierarchy, and the limits of science.

The Genesis of Frankenstein

In the summer of 1816, Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, John Polidori, and Claire Clairmont stayed at the Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva, Switzerland. Unusually cold and stormy weather (caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 — the "Year Without a Summer") kept them indoors.

Byron proposed a ghost-story competition. Mary Shelley later described how the idea came to her in a waking dream:

"I saw — with shut eyes, but acute mental vision — I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together."

This vision became the seed of Frankenstein.

Examiner's tip: The circumstances of the novel's creation are worth mentioning in essays. The stormy, claustrophobic setting at Villa Diodati mirrors the novel's Gothic atmosphere, and the company of radical intellectuals reflects the novel's engagement with dangerous ideas.

The Romantic Movement

Frankenstein was written during the Romantic period (roughly 1780–1850). Romanticism was a reaction against the rationalism of the Enlightenment.

Key features of Romanticism

Emotion over reason — feelings, intuition, and imagination were valued above cold logic.
The sublime — awe-inspiring, overwhelming natural landscapes (mountains, storms, glaciers) that dwarf humanity.
Individualism — the Romantics celebrated the individual genius and the rebel figure.
Nature as a moral force — nature was seen as healing, restorative, and spiritually significant.
Suspicion of science — many Romantics feared that science was overreaching and destroying the natural world.

Romantic value	How Frankenstein reflects it
The sublime	Alpine landscapes, the Arctic, storms and lightning
Nature vs science	Victor abandons nature for the laboratory — and suffers for it
The rebel / outcast	Both Victor and the Creature are isolated figures who defy norms
Emotion over reason	Victor is driven by obsessive passion, not rational thought
Danger of unchecked genius	Victor's brilliance leads to catastrophe

The Gothic Tradition

Frankenstein is also a Gothic novel. The Gothic genre emerged in the mid-18th century and uses horror, mystery, and the supernatural to explore psychological and social anxieties.

Key Gothic conventions in Frankenstein

Convention	Example in Frankenstein
Dark, isolated settings	Arctic wastes, laboratories, remote cottages, graveyards
The supernatural	The creation of life from dead matter
Doubling / doppelganger	Victor and the Creature mirror each other
Transgression	Victor crosses the boundary between life and death
Extreme emotion	Despair, rage, obsession, terror
The "monstrous"	The Creature — but also Victor's ambition
Secrets and concealment	Victor hides his creation; the Creature hides from society

Examiner's tip: When discussing genre, avoid simply listing features. Instead, explain why Shelley uses Gothic conventions — for example, the isolated Arctic setting reflects Victor's emotional isolation from humanity and the barrenness of a life consumed by obsession.

Scientific Context: Galvanism and the Enlightenment

The late 18th and early 19th centuries saw revolutionary scientific developments that directly influenced Frankenstein:

Galvanism

In the 1790s, Italian scientist Luigi Galvani discovered that electrical impulses could make dead frogs' legs twitch. His nephew Giovanni Aldini conducted public experiments applying electricity to human corpses, making them appear to move.

Mary Shelley was aware of these experiments. They raised a terrifying question: could electricity bring the dead back to life?

Erasmus Darwin

Erasmus Darwin (Charles Darwin's grandfather) speculated about generating life from non-living matter. Shelley mentions him in her 1831 preface.

The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment (17th–18th centuries) championed reason, science, and progress. Thinkers like Newton, Locke, and Voltaire believed human knowledge was unlimited. Frankenstein asks: what happens when that belief goes too far?

The Enlightenment Promise:
    Science → Knowledge → Progress → Human Happiness

Frankenstein's Warning:
    Science → Hubris → Creation → Catastrophe → Destruction

The Prometheus Myth

The novel's subtitle — The Modern Prometheus — is crucial:

Who was Prometheus?

In Greek mythology, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity. As punishment, Zeus chained him to a rock where an eagle ate his liver every day, only for it to regrow overnight — eternal torment for eternal transgression.

How does Victor parallel Prometheus?

Prometheus	Victor Frankenstein
Steals fire (knowledge) from the gods	Steals the secret of life from nature / God
Gives a gift to humanity	Creates a new being
Punished eternally	Suffers loss, guilt, and death
Defies the natural order	"Playing God" — crossing the boundary between life and death

Examiner's tip: The subtitle tells us how to read Victor — as a figure who transgresses divine or natural limits and is punished for it. Always refer to the "Promethean" theme when discussing Victor's ambition.

Philosophical Influences

William Godwin (Mary's father)

Godwin was a radical philosopher who believed that society's institutions — government, religion, marriage — were corrupt and that humans were naturally good but corrupted by unjust systems. This directly influences the Creature's story: he is born innocent but turned violent by society's cruelty.

Mary Wollstonecraft (Mary's mother)

Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), arguing that women were not naturally inferior but were made so by lack of education. She died shortly after giving birth to Mary. The novel's themes of creation, birth, and parental responsibility can be read through the lens of Shelley's motherless upbringing.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Rousseau argued that humans are born good but corrupted by civilisation ("noble savage" theory). The Creature's experience directly echoes this — he begins as an innocent being who learns language, feels compassion, and craves love, but is brutalised by society until he becomes violent.

John Locke — Tabula Rasa

Locke proposed that the mind begins as a tabula rasa (blank slate) and is shaped entirely by experience. The Creature's development — learning language, morality, and emotion through observation — illustrates this theory. His eventual violence is the result of experience, not nature.

Historical and Social Context

The French Revolution (1789)

The Revolution began as an idealistic attempt to overthrow tyranny but descended into the Reign of Terror — mass executions, chaos, and violence. Frankenstein echoes this pattern: Victor's noble ambition to conquer death leads to destruction. The novel warns that revolutions — whether political or scientific — can spiral out of control.

Industrialisation

Britain was undergoing rapid industrialisation. Factories, machines, and new technologies were transforming society but also creating pollution, poverty, and dehumanisation. Frankenstein can be read as a warning about technology without ethics.

Class and social exclusion

Shelley's novel explores what happens when a being is denied a place in the social order. The Creature is intelligent, articulate, and emotionally sensitive, but is rejected purely on the basis of his appearance — a powerful commentary on prejudice and social exclusion.

Key Context Revision Checklist

Summary

Frankenstein was written at a time of extraordinary scientific ambition, political upheaval, and philosophical debate about human nature. Mary Shelley drew on the Romantic and Gothic traditions, on galvanic experiments, on the Prometheus myth, and on her own extraordinary family background to create a novel that asks timeless questions: What are the limits of human knowledge? What responsibilities do creators have to their creations? And what happens when society rejects those who are different? Understanding this context is the foundation for everything that follows.