frankenstein essay

Frankenstein Mary Shelley

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Frankenstein Essays

Frankenstein and jurassic park: scientific progress, cautionary tales rebecca hayes college, frankenstein.

Humans have acquired more and more power throughout history through scientific advancements, such as vaccines and cell phones. However, one thing that has proven never to be recreated is life. Both stories are about a scientific monstrosity going...

How does the Rocky Horror Picture Show link to The Bloody Chamber and Frankenstein? Darcy Victoria 12th Grade

Before it graced cinema screens in 1974, Richard O’Brien’s ‘the Rocky Horror Picture Show’ was originally a stage show titled ‘the Rocky Horror Show,’ which eventually spread from a small London theatre, to the West End, Broadway and theatres in...

Bondage in Frankenstein (Shelley) and ‘Prometheus Bound’ (Aeschylus) Sara Manlowe College

Both Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Aeschylus’s ‘Prometheus Bound’ carry heavy themes of bondage, both physically and metaphorically. Indeed, the fact that Frankenstein is often titled Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus demonstrates that the two...

The Psychological Development of Frankenstein’s Monster Matt Tibbitts 12th Grade

Seconds after leaving the womb, babies start to take in the world around them. Although they may know little information about it or its inhabitants, they are taking the first steps on the road to becoming a human—being self-aware of existence. In...

Themes in Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus Anonymous 12th Grade

Good intentions with horrible consequences is a thread which ties the classical story of Prometheus, the Greek Titan, to Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, a 19th century Romantic novel by Mary Shelley. The ancient story of Prometheus goes as...

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Frankenstein Theoderek Wayne

Both Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein tell cautionary tales of scientists abusing their creative powers to exist in another sphere where they cannot be directly blamed for their actions. Though...

Egotism, Personal Glory, and the Pursuit for Immortality Tiffany Guinan

The desire to make history to discover what remains undiscovered, or to know what remains unknown is a timeless human goal. Although many have failed to realize this dream, a very few have been wildly successful in its pursuit. The immortality...

Frankenstein and the Essence Of the Romantic Quest Tadd Hiatt

Victor Frankenstein, like many Romantics, relies upon his unusual capacity for sensitivity and creativity to aid him in his ambitions. In contrast to Robert Walton, who ventures to the North Pole to find "beauty and delight" (Shelley 15) amidst...

Like Father Like Son: Imitation and Creation Alison Anne Kuhns

Genesis states, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him". Humans, therefore, were created as a likeness to God. <I>Frankenstein</i> describes a similar act of creation in that in the novel, too, the...

Frankenstein's Discovery Theoderek Wayne

In Mary Shelley's <I>Frankenstein</I>, the paradoxical quality of the concept of "discovery" echoes that found in Milton's <I>Paradise Lost</I>: initial discovery is joyful and innocent, but ends in misery and corruption....

Nature As Victor Frankenstein's Physician Debbie Daniel

Setting plays a pivotal role throughout Mary Shelley's Frankenstein . Nature is presented as possessing an immense curative power: the beauty of the natural world heals Victor when he is too miserable to find solace anywhere else. The Arve Ravine...

The Tree of Knowledge Sara Granovetter

In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley warns that with the advent of science, natural philosophical questioning is not only futile, but dangerous. In attempting to discover the mysteries of life, Frankenstein assumes that he can act as God. He disrupts the...

Prometheus and Frankenstein: Use of the Myth Steve Kendon

In what ways and for what ends does Mary Shelley utilise the myth of Prometheus in her novel, Frankenstein?

Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein as a modern day version of the legend of Prometheus. Prometheus created men out of clay and taught...

Parallels With the Ancient Myths Sunny Hwang

Frankenstein might have been written as a horror story, but the ideas and themes prevalent in the novel are ones men have grappled with for ages. From ancient Greek myths to the Bible, the tale Shelley tells is an old one - one rife with the...

Sour Dreams: Dueling Nightmares in Frankenstein Jeremy Zorn

The question of how to interpret dreams within a novel is one of the most contentious in all of literary criticism. The natural tendency may be to analyze them as though they were real dreams, which includes the implicit assumption that authors...

The Gothic as Portrayed Through Taboo Material in Frankenstein Eleanor Bance

The distinctive features of the Gothic may be defined as a series of strategies, partly evasive, partly revelatory for dealing with tabooed material. Discuss with reference to Frankenstein.

Frankenstein, although not placed within the 'gothic'...

Mary Shelley's Confrontation of Life A. Livezey

Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein curdles readers' blood not merely with dreary nights and gruesome murders, but through a tale of man's most morbid undertakings. While the monster itself constitutes the most concretely catastrophic effect of...

The Middle Road to Happiness Carla Rowland

Too much exercise destroys strength as much as too little, and in the same way too much or too little food or drink destroys the health, while the proportionate amount increases and preserves it. The same is true of temperance and courage and the...

The Prometheus Myth and Science in Frankenstein Raylee Bonnell

How does the subtitle "The Modern Prometheus" assist Shelley in pointing out the underlying significance of her story?

Mary Shelley's work Frankenstein is a symbolic representation of the doubts and fears she, and her contemporaries, shared...

Influences on Life and Literature John Aitchison

Frankenstein, recognized as one of the most famous literary works of horror ever written, was the direct result of three brilliant authors challenging themselves to create a story that would incite fear and horror in the reader. Mary Shelley and...

The Resposibilities of Creation Anonymous

The idea of voluntary creation, of giving birth to something utterly original from some established foundation, instantly attracts unanswerable inquiries of morality and the nature of novelty and life. However, when invention is attempted on a...

Break On Through To the Other Side Anonymous

After ten weeks of intently studying a wide range of some of literature's greatest authors and their representative works, one is hard pressed to single out only four of these transcendiary pieces from such a distinguished list. However, four of...

Frankenstein's Paradise Gregory Conley

"Paradise has been lost." Frank Henenlotter's 1990 film, a campy retooling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein by the name of Frankenhooker (Wolf 344), tells the tale of a mad scientist who, in order to bring his wife back to life, decapitates,...

Mary's Miswriting: A Misreading of Frankenstein Sujoy Ghosh

The issue of the gender of the writer playing a crucial part in her or his writing has been much discussed in contemporary critical debate. Feminist critics argue that the patriarchal ideology of society makes it imperative for male writers to...

Frankenstein - Free Essay Samples And Topic Ideas

Frankenstein is a novel by Mary Shelley, often heralded as one of the first pieces of science fiction, exploring themes of creation, ambition, and the moral implications of scientific advancement. Essays on “Frankenstein” could delve into these themes, the character analysis of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature, and the novel’s enduring legacy in literature and popular culture. Moreover, discussions might extend to the novel’s influence on the genre of science fiction and horror. A substantial compilation of free essay instances related to Frankenstein you can find at Papersowl. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Novel “Frankenstein” : Roles of Gender

Throughout reading the novel Frankenstein, I thought it was indeed interesting how Mary Shelley incorporated themes of gender and the aspect of creation. Mary Shelley uses her own life experiences to shape her works and to gain ideas to integrate social issues into her work. Mary Shelley portrays the problems and incorporates them throughout the book and touches on the aspect of social hierarchies of gender, which inherently value men over women. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, issues of gender and […]

Who is the Real Monster in Frankenstein

Monsters in literature are normally characterized as a creature that possesses some type of inhuman qualities or deformities, is perceived as evil, and has no compassion for mankind. The term monster can also refer to a person who has done a terrible thing in life that poorly affects others around them. In literature, outcasts are people who are not wanted and are rejected by society. In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, many readers label the creature as a monster […]

The American and the French Revolutions

The right of revolution was an idea proposed by Enlightenment Philosopher John Locke, which inspired and challenged the colonies in America and the people of France to revolt. Displeased with their current positions with their governments, they mustered up the courage and strength to challenge authority. Through their battles and hardships, both revolutions sought a government that mirrored the Enlightenment beliefs of natural rights, power of the people, and equality. With those goals in mind, they demonstrated the idea that […]

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Gothic Elements in Frankenstein

Mary Shelley lived and wrote her novel Frankenstein during the peak of the romantic era of literature in the early 1800's. She shows this as her work reflects many of the key elements that are associated with romanticism. In Frankenstein, Shelley also utilizes many of the elements of gothic literature. Shelley uses many of the conventions aligned with romantic and gothic literature in Frankenstein's setting, subject matter, characterization, and plot to portray her overall tone and mood in the novel. […]

Physical Appearance in Frankenstein

The main theme in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is the importance of appearance which correlates to the idea of acceptance in modern society. Today's society, as well as in the society of Frankenstein, people judge one often solely on their looks. Social prejudice is often based on looks, whether it be the pigments that make up someone's skin color, the facial features that one has and the clothes that a person wears. Society makes rapid judgments based on these and other […]

Differences between French, Russian and American Revolutions

A revolution is a successful attempt made by a large group of people to change / challenge the political system of their country. People who are willing to engage and take action in a revolution are trying to fix the struggles in justice, reminding people not to forget the future against the past. People who want to change the political system are looking out for the future of their country. Revolution was the only way average people or citizens felt […]

Frankenstein Revenge

In her novel ?Frankenstein?, Mary Shelley shows that both Frankenstein and his creature are obsessed with revenge through their strong emotional language and obsessive actions, yet neither of them wins and gets revenge in the end. After Victor Frankenstein is threatened by the creature after destroying his nearly complete bride, Frankenstein states that he “?burned with rage to pursue the murderer of my peace and precipitate him into the ocean. I walked up and down my room hastily and perturbed, […]

Family Relations and Alienation in “Frankenstein”

In today's fast-paced world, it is important to build connections and relationships with people and society. Being able to bond with surroundings, is key for living a healthy and happy life. Family is what helps humans build their foundations and are able to learn and succeed with the support of them. In Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, the lack of connection the characters have to either their family or society leads them to murder, hopelessness and tragedy. Specifically Victor and his […]

Shelley about Romanticism Versus the Enlightenment

In the novel, "Frankenstein," Mary Shelley uses various elements of both mysterious and romantic literature to convey her indictment of the Enlightenment thinking over the use of her characters displayed throughout the novel. Being written in the time of the Romantic era, Shelley uses vivid language to portray her objection of the Enlightenment age as it influenced many people to use logical reasoning and science to disregard barbarism and superstition from the World. In Frankenstein, Shelley's response to this ideology […]

Frankenstein Dangerous Knowledge

Isolation is a dangerous act. Whether it is forced by the ones around us or a choice made by us to be alone isolation separates the victim from society damaging them emotionally. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the monster, Frankenstein's monster, comes to know the true act of isolation. The monster was not only cast out by the townspeople but by his creator. Their prejudiced views of the monster as only that, a monster, turned him into what they truly sought […]

Frankenstein Isolation

One theme presented in Marry Shelley's book Frankenstein is the theme of isolation. Right from the beginning, someone has felt isolated from someone else. The three characters consistently developed the theme of isolation are Victor, the Creature, and Elizabeth. Though the three experience isolation, their isolation experience differs. Unlike the Creature and Elizabeth, Victor chose to isolate himself from people. This is evidenced from right when he was working on his research and when he tries to create a life. […]

Dark Romanticism

“Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality” (Edgar Allan Poe). Dark Romanticism is a literary movement that made waves that still resonate today within modern horror and pop culture, from Frankenstein to Dracula many recognizable names came from this era of writing. From the subjects covered by the many influential authors of the era to how it still has a place within modern writing, Dark Romanticism, a writing movement that began in […]

Feminism Represented through Frankenstein Characters

Frankenstein is known all over for being about a monster that loses control and kills people, but no one talks about some of the topics that Mary Shelley portrays in the novel. This book seems male dominant. The females play a big role, but not in the way that big roles are usually played. Women seem to hide from playing a part in Frankenstein, but Mary Shelley finds a way to display feminism in the book and that is how […]

Discrimination and Prejudice in Frankenstein

During our human history, prejudice and discrimination have existed. Prejudice refers to the irrational and inflexible attitudes that members of a particular group hold about members of another group (Sibley and Duckitt 248). Prejudices are either harmful or positive. Both forms of prejudice are usually preconceived by the people who hold them and are extremely difficult to alter (Stephan, Cookie and Stephan 33). The negative form of prejudices leads to discrimination- unjust behaviors that holders of negative prejudice direct against […]

Philosophy of Dualism and Materialism in “Frankenstein”

In Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, the philosophies of dualism and materialism can be found through the story's main characters, Victor Frankenstein and the Creature. Throughout the novel, the decisions that both make and their justifications for those decisions are rooted in both dualistic and materialistic ideas. In the scene leading up to the creation to the Creature as well as the scene itself, much of Victor's decision to even try such a feit stems from a materialistic standpoint, using science […]

The French Revolution Within Frankenstein

Almost twenty years after the end of the French Revolution, Mary Shelley published her gothic horror novel, Frankenstein, in 1818. Shelley grew up with parents who were intellectual radicals (Sterrenburg 143). Yet, she was detached from radicalism and opted for a more conservative perspective (Sterrenburg 143). She did a vast amount of readings on the French Revolution (Sterrenburg 143). By extensively studying the ideas around the revolution, it is not a surprise that they appear embedded through her work, more […]

American, French and Mexican Revolutions

When it comes to the American Revolution, there was one individual that gave American people an idea of what they should be fighting for. John Locke’s idea of “life, liberty, and estate” heavily inspired Thomas Jefferson’s “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” when fighting against the British. So why did the Americans revolt? What beliefs did they have? One thing the American, French, and Mexican revolutions have in common is that their governments were corrupt. The Colonists called for […]

The Role of Science in Frankenstein

Mary Shelley tells a story of a scientist who creates a hideous creature in the novel Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein is an amazing, smart scientist who admired human anatomy, and soon decided to create his own creature. Who is more at fault for the monsters behavior, Victor or the monster? If you were in the monsters position would you become a murderer for revenge? The monster is often viewed as the antagonist, however is Victor Frankenstein the reason many people in […]

Frankenstein and Gothic Literature

The character's identity and outward appearance interferes with the norms of the hierarchical societies in which they live. Thus, preventing them from experiencing life outside of the isolated confinement they are subjected to. While experiencing a constant conflict with acceptance it strikes the curiosity inside them. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the experience of loneliness and obsession of science drives Victor Frankenstein to assume the role of God by reanimating a corpse. The horror presented derives from the source of control […]

Creation of Life in “Frankenstein”

The next major aspect of the novel that I would like to focus on is the creation of Frankenstein. This will include dissecting the experience into pieces, such as the use of technology, the role of God and religion and the reason behind creating the monster. In the novel, technology is used in correlation with the creation of Frankenstein. Victor says, I collected bones from charnel houses; and distributed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame (Shelley […]

Foster’s Chapter “Every Trip is a Quest” in “Frankenstein”

In Foster's Chapter, Every Trip Is A Quest , he implies that every journey is a quest and every quest has to have a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials along the way, and a real reason to go. When a character goes on a quest, he goes with intentions on fulfilling the originally stated reason, but once he is on the quest, he never ends up going for that originally stated […]

Economic Crisis Druing the French Revolution

The economic issues made by the French kings additionally added to the Revolution. Amid the eighteenth century, the French government spent more cash than it gathered in expenses. By 1788, the nation was bankrupt. Arthur Young, an Englishmen, and spectator, who ventured out to France from 1787 to 1789 furiously portray the living conditions of the workers in his book Travels in France (Campbell, 18). The measure of expense every individual must pay is out of line. Landholders found in […]

The History of Frankenstein in Film

From the dawn of the cinematic age, both horror and science fiction films have been shown throughout every cinema available. More common, however, were films based upon previously written works such as books or plays as they were easy to adapt from one medium to another. In 1910, Edison studios released what would inevitably lead to a cultural shift around the plot of one of the most famous, if not the most famous gothic novels: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818). The […]

Isolation: Frankenstein and the Heart of Darkness

As humans we are naturally inclined to socialize with each other. There are times when we don’t want to be surrounded by others and just by ourselves, but prolonging that isolation can be detrimental to one’s psyche. Isolation can lead to stress levels rising, poor sleep, immune system dysfunction, and even cognitive depreciation (Psychology Today). In Heart of Darkness ?by Joseph Conrad, we see through Marlow’s eyes the descent of the antagonist Kurtz due to prolonged isolation in the wild […]

Technology and Morality in Shelley’s “Frankenstein”

In Frankenstein, Shelley addresses her concerns regarding human advancement by using a framed narrative that includes parallels, foils, and allusions in order to express that many people are unaware of the consequences of their actions because their hubris and ambition blinds them. This tends to disrupt the balance of society. Shelley’s framed structure leads us gradually to the central ideas of her novel and has us question our own society as a whole. The intention of each narrative in the […]

Victor Frankenstein in “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist in the 18th century. The story begins with a letter from Captain Walton to his sister. The first letter is dated 17--. In Walton's letters, he tells his sister of his encounter with the scientist Victor Frankenstein. Victor becomes consumed with discovering the secret of creating life. In his pursuit of this knowledge, Victor creates a living creature made of body parts of corpses. Victor is successful in creating life, but […]

How Technology Changed Society

Technology has dramatically changed society in ways people never imagined. Before the dawn of modern-day technology, life was troublesome and everyday tasks like chores or transport consumed too much of humans’ effort and time. Now, because of technology human can communicate, transport, and work faster than ever. Due to the efficiency of tech, humans’ lives have been eased tremendously and almost all humans live in comfort. In the 21st Century, technology and human life are inseparable; society these days depends […]

Frankenstein Book Review

In the book “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, it is clear to lay the blame upon Victor Frankenstein. The definition of blame is the assignation of responsibility towards someone/something for a fault or wrong. Victor’s love and passion for science led to a monstrous idea and ended up killing three people. While his pride was a driving force, abandoning the creature was not a smart move. Due to the fact that his idea was matched with the act of doing gives […]

Frankenstein: the Cruelty he Faced

For centuries, society has placed stereotypes on those individuals who are different. Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein is an example of one specific stereotype, which is the discrimination of a person because of a physical deformity. Frankenstein shows how social prejudices against physical deformities can automatically classify a person as bad or monstrous. In gothic novels, visual codes were used to identify good from bad and socially acceptable from socially unacceptable. By using these codes, it was possible to tell if […]

Frankenstein Critical Analysis

In Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, isolation is a motif, or recurring idea with symbolic importance, revealed throughout the story between two characters, Victor Frankenstein, and his scientifically animated monster, the Creature. They both engage in acts and narratives of projecting the consequential dogma of isolation, that inevitably isolation results negatively and perpetuates misanthropy. Victor on one hand is an obsessive personality, lost in his studies he removes himself from very much human contact and engaging society. It results in his […]

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How To Write an Essay About Frankenstein

Introduction to mary shelley's frankenstein.

Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" is a seminal work of Gothic literature that explores themes of creation, responsibility, and the nature of humanity. In the introduction of your essay, set the stage by briefly summarizing the novel's plot, which centers around Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sentient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Highlight the novel's key themes, such as the dangers of unchecked scientific ambition, the quest for knowledge, and the moral implications of playing God. This introduction should provide a snapshot of the novel’s key elements and the thematic explorations you will delve into, laying the groundwork for a critical examination of Shelley's work.

Analyzing Themes and Characters

In the body of your essay, focus on a detailed exploration of the novel's central themes. Discuss the theme of creation and the consequences of Victor Frankenstein's pursuit of scientific discovery without ethical boundaries. Analyze the creature’s development and his quest for identity and companionship, which turns into a desire for revenge against his creator. Explore the novel's exploration of isolation, both self-imposed and societal, as experienced by Victor and his creature. Additionally, examine the characters' relationships and how they contribute to the novel's themes, using specific examples from the text to support your analysis. Each paragraph should focus on a different theme or character, weaving a comprehensive understanding of Shelley’s narrative.

The Novel's Context and Shelley's Writing

It's important to contextualize "Frankenstein" within its historical and literary background. Discuss the significance of the novel being written during the early 19th century, a time of significant scientific advancement and romantic literary movement. Explore how Shelley’s personal experiences and the scientific context of her time influenced the themes and style of "Frankenstein." Additionally, consider the novel's structure, narrative technique, and use of symbolism and imagery. This part of the essay should demonstrate an understanding of how "Frankenstein" not only reflects the time in which it was written but also contributes to the genre of science fiction.

Concluding Reflections

Conclude your essay by summarizing the key points of your analysis and reaffirming the novel's significance in literary history. Reflect on the enduring relevance of "Frankenstein" in modern times, particularly in discussions about scientific ethics, the boundaries of human endeavor, and the consequences of technological advancement. Consider the novel's impact on readers and its role in shaping subsequent literary and cultural narratives. A strong conclusion will not only encapsulate your insights but also underscore the novel's continued importance, encouraging readers to reflect on its themes in the context of today's world.

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Research essay: a ‘monster’ and its humanity.

Professor of English Susan J. Wolfson is the editor of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: A Longman Cultural Edition and co-editor, with Ronald Levao, of The Annotated Frankenstein.  

Published in January 1818, Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus has never been out of print or out of cultural reference. “Facebook’s Frankenstein Moment: A Creature That Defies Technology’s Safeguards” was the headline on a New York Times business story Sept. 22 — 200 years on. The trope needed no footnote, although Kevin Roose’s gloss — “the scientist Victor Frankenstein realizes that his cobbled-together creature has gone rogue” — could use some adjustment: The Creature “goes rogue” only after having been abandoned and then abused by almost everyone, first and foremost that undergraduate scientist. Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg and CEO Sheryl Sandberg, attending to profits, did not anticipate the rogue consequences: a Frankenberg making. 

The original Frankenstein told a terrific tale, tapping the idealism in the new sciences of its own age, while registering the throb of misgivings and terrors. The 1818 novel appeared anonymously by a down-market press (Princeton owns one of only 500 copies). It was a 19-year-old’s debut in print. The novelist proudly signed herself “Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley” when it was reissued in 1823, in sync with a stage concoction at London’s Royal Opera House in August. That debut ran for nearly 40 nights; it was staged by the Princeton University Players in May 2017. 

In a seminar that I taught on Frankenstein in various contexts at Princeton in the fall of 2016 — just weeks after the 200th anniversary of its conception in a nightmare visited on (then) Mary Godwin in June 1816 — we had much to consider. One subject was the rogue uses and consequences of genomic science of the 21st century. Another was the election season — in which “Frankenstein” was a touchstone in the media opinions and parodies. Students from sciences, computer technology, literature, arts, and humanities made our seminar seem like a mini-university. Learning from each other, we pondered complexities and perplexities: literary, social, scientific, aesthetic, and ethical. If you haven’t read Frankenstein (many, myself included, found the tale first on film), it’s worth your time. 

READ MORE  PAW Goes to the Movies: ‘Victor Frankenstein,’ with Professor Susan Wolfson

Scarcely a month goes by without some development earning the prefix Franken-, a near default for anxieties about or satires of new events. The dark brilliance of Frankenstein is both to expose “monstrosity” in the normal and, conversely, to humanize what might seem monstrously “other.” When Shelley conceived Frankenstein, Europe was scarred by a long war, concluding on Waterloo fields in May 1815. “Monster” was a ready label for any enemy. Young Frankenstein begins his university studies in 1789, the year of the French Revolution. In 1790, Edmund Burke’s international best-selling Reflections on the French Revolution recoiled at the new government as a “monster of a state,” with a “monster of a constitution” and “monstrous democratic assemblies.” Within a few months, another international best-seller, Tom Paine’s The Rights of Man, excoriated “the monster Aristocracy” and cheered the American Revolution for overthrowing a “monster” of tyranny.

Following suit, Mary Shelley’s father, William Godwin, called the ancien régime a “ferocious monster”; her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was on the same page: Any aristocracy was an “artificial monster,” the monarchy a “luxurious monster,” and Europe’s despots a “race of monsters in human shape.” Frankenstein makes no direct reference to the Revolution, but its first readers would have felt the force of its setting in the 1790s, a decade that also saw polemics for (and against) the rights of men, women, and slaves. 

England would abolish its slave trade in 1807, but Colonial slavery was legal until 1833. Abolitionists saw the capitalists, investors, and masters as the moral monsters of the global economy. Apologists regarded the Africans as subhuman, improvable perhaps by Christianity and a work ethic, but alarming if released, especially the men. “In dealing with the Negro,” ultra-conservative Foreign Secretary George Canning lectured Parliament in 1824, “we are dealing with a being possessing the form and strength of a man, but the intellect only of a child. To turn him loose in the manhood of his physical strength ... would be to raise up a creature resembling the splendid fiction of a recent romance.” He meant Frankenstein. 

Mary Shelley heard about this reference, and knew, moreover, that women (though with gilding) were a slave class, too, insofar as they were valued for bodies rather than minds, were denied participatory citizenship and most legal rights, and were systemically subjugated as “other” by the masculine world. This was the argument of her mother’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), which she was rereading when she was writing Frankenstein. Unorthodox Wollstonecraft — an advocate of female intellectual education, a critic of the institution of marriage, and the mother of two daughters conceived outside of wedlock — was herself branded an “unnatural” woman, a monstrosity. 

Shelley had her own personal ordeal, which surely imprints her novel. Her parents were so ready for a son in 1797 that they had already chosen the name “William.” Even worse: When her mother died from childbirth, an awful effect was to make little Mary seem a catastrophe to her grieving father. No wonder she would write a novel about a “being” rejected from its first breath. The iconic “other” in Frankenstein is of course this horrifying Creature (he’s never a “human being”). But the deepest force of the novel is not this unique situation but its reverberation of routine judgments of beings that seem “other” to any possibility of social sympathy. In the 1823 play, the “others” (though played for comedy) are the tinker-gypsies, clad in goatskins and body paint (one is even named “Tanskin” — a racialized differential).

Victor Frankenstein greets his awakening creature as a “catastrophe,” a “wretch,” and soon a “monster.” The Creature has no name, just these epithets of contempt. The only person to address him with sympathy is blind, spared the shock of the “countenance.” Readers are blind this way, too, finding the Creature only on the page and speaking a common language. This continuity, rather than antithesis, to the human is reflected in the first illustrations: 

In the cover for the 1823 play, above, the Creature looks quite human, dishy even — alarming only in size and that gaze of expectation. The 1831 Creature, shown on page 29, is not a patent “monster”: It’s full-grown, remarkably ripped, human-looking, understandably dazed. The real “monster,” we could think, is the reckless student fleeing the results of an unsupervised undergraduate experiment gone rogue. 

In Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein pleads sympathy for the “human nature” in his revulsion. “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health ... but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room.” Repelled by this betrayal of “beauty,” Frankenstein never feels responsible, let alone parental. Shelley’s genius is to understand this ethical monstrosity as a nightmare extreme of common anxiety for expectant parents: What if I can’t love a child whose physical formation is appalling (deformed, deficient, or even, as at her own birth, just female)? 

The Creature’s advent in the novel is not in this famous scene of awakening, however. It comes in the narrative that frames Frankenstein’s story: a polar expedition that has become icebound. Far on the ice plain, the ship’s crew beholds “the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature,” driving a dogsled. Three paragraphs on, another man-shape arrives off the side of the ship on a fragment of ice, alone but for one sled dog. “His limbs were nearly frozen, and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering,” the captain records; “I never saw a man in so wretched a condition.” This dreadful man focuses the first scene of “animation” in Frankenstein: “We restored him to animation by rubbing him with brandy, and forcing him to swallow a small quantity. As soon as he shewed signs of life, we wrapped him up in blankets, and placed him near the chimney of the kitchen-stove. By slow degrees he recovered ... .” 

The re-animation (well before his name is given in the novel) turns out to be Victor Frankenstein. A crazed wretch of a “creature” (so he’s described) could have seemed a fearful “other,” but is cared for as a fellow human being. His subsequent tale of his despicably “monstrous” Creature is scored with this tremendous irony. The most disturbing aspect of this Creature is his “humanity”: this pathos of his hope for family and social acceptance, his intuitive benevolence, bitterness about abuse, and skill with language (which a Princeton valedictorian might envy) that solicits fellow-human attention — all denied by misfortune of physical formation. The deepest power of Frankenstein, still in force 200 years on, is not its so-called monster, but its exposure of “monster” as a contingency of human sympathy.  

“Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley Essay

A summary of mary shelley’s “frankenstein”.

“Frankenstein” is a science fiction novel written by Mary Shelley. It revolves around a young boy named Victor Frankenstein who had an obsession with death and through this obsession he was able to create life from nothing. After creating life he is however terrified and disgusted of how it looks and he decides to abandon it without giving it a name as its physical appearance is scary and nothing at all as he expected.

He therefore tries to live a normal life and makes an effort to forget his own creation. Due to the abandonment the monster is left perplexed, annoyed and frightened. After his tiring work of creating human life, Victor falls ill and it takes four months for his youth friend to nurse him back to health. The monster then travels to Geneva and meets a little boy called William in the woods, where he hopes that the young boy who is not yet corrupted by the views of older people and the world will accept him as he is.

The monster is however wrong and when the Frankenstein sees it; he hurls invectives infuriating the monster. The monster however tries its best to talk to the boy but falls on deaf ears, the monster then covers the boy mouth to keep him quiet but this ends in the boy suffocating. Frankenstein receives a letter from his father stating that his younger brother is dead and that he was murdered. Despite the fact that this act was not intended, the monster took this as the first act of revenge towards his creator.

He places a necklace the boy was wearing on a sleeping girl, the nanny to the boy. Justine the boys nanny was tried and found guilty fro the murder and executed. When Frankenstein arrives he saw the creature in the woods and knew that the monster had killed his brother and placed his mother’s locket on the sleeping nanny.

Frankenstein, troubled and heavily burdened by anguish and self reproach for creating the monster that caused so much devastation, he flees to the mountains to find peace. After a while alone, the monster approaches Frankenstein, who tries to kill it. But the monster being physically bigger, stronger and more alert than his creator gets away and gives Frankenstein some time to cool off and compose himself.

The monster tells Frankenstein of its encounters with humans and how terrified it was of them. He spend a year observing a family from a cabin he was living in, this gave him more knowledge and self conscience concluding that his physical appearance was very different from the humans he was observing.

On revealing himself however, the humans rejected him and were horror struck by his appearance and reacted ferociously, a reaction that made the monster angrier and he seeks vengeance on his creator.

The monster demanded that Frankenstein create a female companion for him as it had the right to be happy. The monster promises that they will vanish into the wilderness and not bother any more about humans. Frankenstein however does not create a companion for the monster and destroys all the work he was doing.

The monster witnesses Frankenstein destroying his creation and vows to revenge on it. The monster murders Clerval and implicates Frankenstein. Frankenstein is acquitted and he returns home to marry his cousin Elizabeth, who is murdered on their wedding night by the monster as part of the monsters revenge.

Frankenstein father dies after this tragedy as he could not handle the tremendous loss of William, Justine, Clerval, and Elizabeth. Frankenstein vows to go after the monster and destroy it. They chase each other for several months and they end up in the North Pole where Frankenstein dies form illness and the monster mourns for Frankenstein justifying its revenge and expressing remorse. Afterwards, the monster travels further towards the pole to destroy itself so that nobody never finds out of it existence.

Comparing Shelley’s portrayal of the natural sciences in “Frankenstein” to her portrayal of other types of knowledge in that novel

According to Shelley, Frankenstein believed more in science than he did in humanity. His obsession with death from the time he was a young boy made him believe that he could eliminate death through science. This passion led him to pursue chemistry which became almost his sole purpose in life to use chemistry to create life and eliminate death. In the university, Frankenstein attempts to create life from nothing and he surprisingly manages to do so.

The only thing is his creation turns out not differently than he expected, the creature if gigantic and it horrifies him to look at. He sees it as an eyesore, a disgrace and the creature escape into the society leaving it at the mercy of humanity. The point at which the creature escapes brings in the humanity aspect in the novel (55-56).

However, after escaping into the society the creature is met with human hostility and feels rejected. The rejection forces the creature to vow revenge on his creator by killing all his close and loved ones (97). The creature carries out its vengeance on Frankenstein by killing his brother William, his friend Clerval and his wife Elizabeth (116).

The creature also mourns for Frankenstein after his death showing that it has a sensitive human side and then it goes of to kill itself as it terms and takes responsibility for causing the death of its creator. This shows that science and humanity came together in the creation and shaping of the creature. Science was used to bring the creature to life while humanity was used to shape how the creature interacted with people and how it handled its feelings and emotions. (173)

In Shelley’s view, science and humanities are separated by how they are carried out and how one comes into contact with them. Humanities take root when the creature observes a family from the woods learning to speak and also develop emotionally. If the creature had not observed the family then nurturing of the creature may have not taken place.

Science is preserved and maintained in the laboratory to make life from scratch while the humanities come into play as soon as the creature comes to life. Humanities take centre stage when the creature is first of all rejected by its creator and all other people follow suit.

This makes the creature feel as if he is not good enough and that it is its destiny to be alone without any companionship for eternity. This humanity in the creature forces it to go back to his creator to demand that he creates a companion but this turns out badly as Frankenstein does not go through with it (114). Humanity in this novel is also seen when Frankenstein experiences death of his loved ones that eventually pushed him to the scientific notion of creating life.

Frankenstein’s mother’s death and his father’s professor rebuking him fro reading trash which was in essence lightning that had destroyed a tree, pushed him to learn more about science becoming obsessed with it. If these events had not taken place maybe the creation of the creature would not have taken place leaving a very different story in its place.

In reference to Shelley, sciences have an effect on the people who study them. This is simply because the book shows us how one person’s irresponsibility and ambition can harm other people who are not directly involved on eh science project. Science made Victor Frankenstein create a monster and on realizing that the creature did not turn out to be how he expected, he abandoned and rejected it (73).

This rejection made the creature go on a rampage and kill innocent people related to the creator. The innocent people did not have to die but they lost their lives because of one Victor Frankenstein’s obsession and ambition to create life. Life is scared and surely to attempt to create it from dead body parts of other human beings is most likely than not expected to bring havoc and misery on unsuspecting individuals.

The main point in this book is every person should take responsibility of their actions and not expect other people to pay for their shortcomings. Science is something that every person who practices it should be aware that there is a probability of an experiment going wrong and therefore amply and adequately prepare for the outcomes of the experiment whether good or bad.

Humanities on the other hand are portrayed as how one builds his own personal character among the people around him and the people he encounters. In this novel, humanity is depicted in the loss of loved ones that makes Victor Frankenstein to be obsessed with death and try to find a cure for it.

Humanity is also seen whereby Frankenstein is anguished by the death of his brother, friend, Justine and Elizabeth that he vows to kill or be killed by the monster (Shelley 86). This shows that however much Victor was obsessed with science he also had strong feelings for the people around him and it tore him apart when the creature he created killed them.

Humanity in the creature is shown when he feels dejected by his creator and very other human who sets eyes on him and when he observes a family from a distance learns how to speak and develops emotionally.

The fact that everyone showed a hostile human side to the creature made the creature vulnerable and it went on a rampage killing innocent people (Shelley 208). In this novel the creature displays humanity when he demands for a companion to be created so as he can have someone to share his life with and also when he mourns over the death of his creator and implicates himself as the cause of the death of his creator.

In her novel Shelley portrays the knowledge of humanity more as compared to the knowledge of science. This is seen when she portrays that young Victor Frankenstein got an interest in science after experiencing the trauma of losing his mother. This loss made Frankenstein obsessed with death and he tried to find a cure for death.

Through his quest and ambition to cure death he created the Frankenstein monster from dead decomposing body parts of other human beings that were sewn together and brought to life with the help of science (Shelley 73). Humanities is shown as more valuable and ethical as it forms the basis of how one will be portrayed by the society and how one will react to different things and people in society.

Humanity is portrayed as better than science in this novel as it shows different relationships between different people and how actions of one person adversely affect other people. For example, the decision by Victor Frankenstein to create life from dead body parts that brought for the creature termed as a monster brings serious effects and consequences to his family members not to mention the monster itself.

Humanity allowed the creature to develop emotionally and learn how to speak trough observation and experience kindness from a blind man and while saving a young girl form drowning, however in both instances the creature was reprimanded and driven off as people were not welcoming enough. Science only creates that creature but it is humanity that the creature has to deal with and understand why humans are so hostile towards him.

Similarities between science and humanities in this novel are brought out in that both concepts are interdependent and both of these concepts aim to bring improvements to the society as a whole and reduce human misery. The fact that humanity pushed Frankenstein to look for scientific ways to eliminate death from the society after his other loved ones died shows that these two concepts are correlated and work hand in hand with each other to make the society a better place to live in.

The differences on the other hand are that ethics or the pillars of humanities while blind innovation and creativity is the pillar of science. This is to say that scientists do not take into consideration the effects and consequences of their experiments that at times may have a negative effect in humanity.

This is seen when Frankenstein’s ambition makes him create a monster that is much bigger than the human race that caused havoc and misery among human kind. Humanity is seen when Frankenstein is haunted by his conscience after the monster goes on a rampage killing his loved ones. This shows that humanity has consequences and that people should take intro consideration the feelings of other people before they make decisions.

In conclusion, “Frankenstein” tells of a young boy named Frankenstein who attempted to create life, though he succeeded the experiment turned out to be scary and wrecked havoc.

The novel shows as much as science is innovative and interrelated with humanity, ethical issues should also be taken into consideration for most so that innocent people do not suffer. One man’s decision caused the death of three individuals this is not justified. If Victor Frankenstein had thought of the ethical issues of his creation a lot of suffering, misery and death would have been avoided.

Works Cited

Shelley, Marry. Frankenstein . New York: Norton, 1996. Print.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Books — Frankenstein

Essays on Frankenstein

Hook examples for "frankenstein" essays, monster or victim hook.

Is Frankenstein's creature truly a monstrous villain, or is he a victim of society's rejection and cruelty? Dive into the moral ambiguity of this iconic character and explore the depths of his humanity.

Mary Shelley's Inspiration Hook

Discover the intriguing story behind the creation of "Frankenstein." Explore Mary Shelley's life, her influences, and how this timeless novel emerged from the challenges and tragedies she faced.

Scientific Ambition Hook

Victor Frankenstein's relentless pursuit of scientific discovery leads to catastrophic consequences. Analyze the theme of scientific ambition and its ethical implications in the novel.

The Promethean Myth Hook

Frankenstein is often compared to the myth of Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods. Delve into how the novel explores themes of creation, rebellion, and the consequences of playing god.

The Pursuit of Knowledge Hook

Examine the characters' quests for knowledge in "Frankenstein" and how their thirst for understanding the unknown shapes their destinies. Consider the fine line between discovery and obsession.

Ethical Dilemmas Hook

"Frankenstein" raises profound ethical questions about the responsibilities of creators, the treatment of the other, and the consequences of one's actions. Explore these dilemmas and their relevance today.

Monstrosity of Society Hook

Discuss how "Frankenstein" critiques societal norms and prejudices. Analyze how the creature's rejection by society shapes his behavior and leads to his transformation into a true monster.

Gothic Elements Hook

Explore the Gothic elements in Mary Shelley's novel, from eerie settings to themes of isolation and horror. Consider how these elements contribute to the overall atmosphere and meaning of the story.

Modern Scientific Ethics Hook

Draw parallels between the novel's ethical dilemmas and contemporary debates on scientific advancements, cloning, and genetic engineering. Reflect on how "Frankenstein" remains relevant in today's world.

Victim of Nature in Frankenstein

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Social Norms in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

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1818, Mary Shelley

Novel; Gothic Fiction, Horror Fiction, Science Fiction, Romance Novel, Soft Science Fiction

Victor Frankenstein, the monster, Robert Walton, Alphonse Frankenstein, Elizabeth Lavenza, Henry Clerval, William Frankenstein, Justine Moritz, Caroline Beaufort, Beaufort, Peasants, M. Waldman, M. Krempe, Mr. Kirwin

Shelley has been influenced by her parents, especially her father's "Enquiry Concerning Political Justice" and "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman". It also included ideas of galvanism, which have been extremely popular during the time the novel has been written.

Light and darkness, good and evil, fire, isolation, anger, unorthodox approach.

It has been the main theme of reanimating the dead, which became the pioneering theme in literary works, yet the most important and symbolic importance of this novel is the interaction between the scientist Victor Frankenstein and the nameless creature that he has brought to life. It can be summed up with the words of the monster: "I was benevolent and good, misery made me a fiend" (Shelley 90). It speaks of Victor's creating the being, yet it was the society that has created the monster.

The novel tells a story of a gifted scientist called Victor Frankenstein who manages to bring life to his own creation. The challenge is that his creation is not exactly what he has imagined. As a monster creature, he is rejected by his creator and mankind in general. The main idea is to see and explore regarding who the true monster is.

Mary Shelley was only 18 years old when she started Frankenstein . She was 20 years old when the book was published. The Frankenstein has been written in the shadow of a tragedy as Shelley has lost her newborn daughter. The most common misconception is that Frankenstein is the name of the monster, which has already become symbolic all over the world. In truth, the monster has no name at all. Frankenstein word comes from the name of the German castle not far from the Rhine River, literally meaning "Stone of the Franks''. It was the place where an odd alchemist called Konrad Dippel has tried to create an elixir of immortality. It was thought that it was Mary's father Percy Shelley who wrote the book since he also wrote the preface. The book has not been accepted by the critics and was called "absurd" and "disgusting" The full name of the book is Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus.

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” “Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.” “I do know that for the sympathy of one living being, I would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.” “Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery, and be overwhelmed by disappointments; yet, when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures.” “How mutable are our feelings, and how strange is that clinging love we have of life even in the excess of misery!”

Although the story has been written a long time ago, it is still clear for contemporary readers because it can be related to scientific advancements, human relations, and AI. In a certain sense, it is the beginning of scientific fiction and the subject of "playing God". Mary Shelley's book is a warning to humanity and the scientists about responsibility with the main message being that science and technology can go way too far beyond the limitations. It proves that human beings must believe in the sanctity of our own being.

This book represents an essay topic for numerous academic fields from Data Science to Nursing and Education. Since it deals with ethics, responsibility, and being conscious about one's creations, it acts as the symbolic reflection of being the monster that we fear. The life of Victor Frankenstein is an example of scientists through decades, different countries and fields. It is a great warning for us all that we should not go too far.

1. Shelley, M., & Bolton, G. (2018). frankenstein. In Medicine and Literature (pp. 35-52). CRC Press. (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.1201/9781315375670-4/frankenstein-mary-shelley-gillie-bolton) 2. Gigante, D. (2000). Facing the Ugly: The Case of" Frankenstein". Elh, 67(2), 565-587. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/30031925) 3. Sherwin, P. (1981). Frankenstein: Creation as catastrophe. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/pmla/article/abs/frankenstein-creation-as-catastrophe/40AFBF23476041ECF8A55827303A3D43 PMLA, 96(5), 883-903. 4. Heffernan, J. A. (1997). Looking at the monster:" Frankenstein" and film. Critical Inquiry, 24(1), 133-158. (https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/448869?journalCode=ci) 5. Guzman, A. (2013). International organizations and the Frankenstein problem. European Journal of International Law, 24(4), 999-1025. (https://academic.oup.com/ejil/article/24/4/999/606374) 6. Kunich, J. C. (2000). Mother Frankenstein, Doctor Nature, and the Environmental Law of Genetic Engineering. S. cal. L. rev., 74, 807. (https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/scal74&div=42&id=&page=) 7. Ginn, S. R. (2013). Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: Exploring neuroscience, nature, and nurture in the novel and the films. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780444632876000099 Progress in Brain Research, 204, 169-190. 8. Holmes, R. (2016). Science fiction: The science that fed Frankenstein. https://www.nature.com/articles/535490a 9. Barns, I. (1990). Monstrous nature or technology?: Cinematic resolutions of the ‘Frankenstein Problem’. Science as Culture, 1(9), 7-48. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09505439009526278?journalCode=csac20) 10. Brooks, P. (1978). Godlike Science/Unhallowed Arts: Language and Monstrosity in Frankenstein. New Literary History, 9(3), 591-605. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/468457)

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Roger Corman, 98, Dies; Prolific Master of Low-Budget Cinema

He had hundreds of horror, science fiction and crime films to his credit. He also helped start the careers of Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and many others.

By Aljean Harmetz

Roger Corman, who for decades dominated the world of B movies as the producer or director of countless proudly low-budget horror, science fiction and crime films, died on Thursday at his home in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 98.

His death was confirmed in a statement by his family posted late Saturday on his official Instagram page.

Mr. Corman produced more than 300 films and directed roughly 50 of them, including cult classics like “A Bucket of Blood” (1959), “The Masque of the Red Death” (1964), “The Wild Angels” (1966) and the original “The Little Shop of Horrors” (1960), which he shot for $35,000 in two days on a set left over from somebody else’s movie.

When he got tired of directing, he opened the door to Hollywood for talented young protégés like Francis Ford Coppola (“Dementia 13”), Martin Scorsese (“Boxcar Bertha”), Jonathan Demme (“Caged Heat”), Peter Bogdanovich (“Targets”) and Ron Howard (“Grand Theft Auto”).

Mr. Corman “was able to nurture other talent in a way that was never envious or difficult but always generous,” Mr. Scorsese said of him. “He once said: ‘Martin, what you have to get is a very good first reel, because people want to know what’s going on. Then you need a very good last reel, because people want to hear how it all turns out. Everything else doesn’t really matter.’ Probably the best sense I have ever heard about the movies.”

Among the others Mr. Corman nurtured was Jack Nicholson, who was 21 when Mr. Corman gave him his first movie role, the lead in “The Cry Baby Killer” (1958), and 23 when he had a small part as a masochistic dental patient in “The Little Shop of Horrors.” Before he went on to stardom, Mr. Nicholson acted in eight Corman movies and wrote three of them, including “The Trip,” an uncautionary tale about LSD.

Bruce Dern and Peter Fonda were also part of the Corman repertory company, working together in “The Trip” and “The Wild Angels.” An unknown Robert De Niro played Shelley Winters’s heroin-addicted son in “Bloody Mama” (1970). The first script by Robert Towne, who later went on to write the Oscar-winning screenplay for “Chinatown,” was Mr. Corman’s nuclear-catastrophe love triangle, “The Last Woman on Earth” (1960). In order to earn his fee, Mr. Towne was also required to play the movie’s second lead, a handsome young man who is killed by the Last Woman’s jealous husband.

In addition to being remembered for the opportunities he gave young filmmakers, Mr. Corman was renowned for his ability to make movies with almost no money and even less time. In 1967, for example, Boris Karloff owed Mr. Corman two days’ work. According to Mr. Bogdanovich, “Roger said: ‘I want you to take 20 minutes of Karloff footage from “The Terror,” then I want you to shoot 20 more minutes with Boris, and then I want you to shoot another 40 minutes with some other actors over 10 days. I can take the 20 and the 20 and the 40, and I’ve got a whole new 80-minute Karloff film.’”

The result was the critically praised “Targets,” in which Mr. Karloff played an aging horror film star who confronts a deranged Vietnam veteran on a murderous rampage at a drive-in theater where one of his movies is playing.

From 1954 to 1970, Mr. Corman produced or directed dozens of movies for American International Pictures, most of them on a handshake deal with the fabled B-movie impresario Samuel Z. Arkoff. Budgets started at $29,000. “The Wild Angels,” considered a big movie, cost $360,000.

Bringing Bergman to the Drive-In

In 1970 Mr. Corman formed his own production and distribution company, New World Pictures. What he did next surprised Hollywood: He became the American distributor of Ingmar Bergman’s “Cries and Whispers.” The film earned Bergman nominations for Academy Awards in 1974 as writer and director; its cinematographer, Sven Nykvist, won an Oscar.

In his autobiography, “How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime” (1990, with Jim Jerome), Mr. Corman explained that he did not want his new company “to be identified, even stigmatized, by exploitation filmmaking.” So he booked Bergman into drive-ins, and New World went on to distribute films by Akira Kurosawa, François Truffaut and Federico Fellini.

“Cries and Whispers” made a profit of more than $1 million in American theaters. Nonetheless, the name Roger Corman forever remained, in the words of the film critic David Thomson, “a synonym for blithe exploitation.”

Roger William Corman was born on April 5, 1926, in Detroit. The son of an engineer, he assumed that he would be an engineer, too.

Even during the Depression, his parents, William and Anne (High) Corman, and their two sons — Roger was 18 months older than his brother, Gene — lived comfortably. But his father had to take a major cut in pay, and to Roger it was obvious that the wolf was lurking around the next corner.

“I have always assumed that somehow shaped my attitude toward money,” Mr. Corman reflected in his autobiography.

Driven west by the harsh Michigan winters, the family moved to Southern California. After excelling at Beverly Hills High School, Roger spent a year as an engineering student at Stanford University in the middle of World War II, then spent his sophomore and junior years at the University of Colorado as a cadet in a Navy program.

He returned to Stanford when the war ended, graduating in 1947 with a degree in electrical engineering. But after working for just four days as an electrical engineer, he quit engineering forever.

He was hired as a messenger at 20th Century Fox for $32.50 a week and eventually rose to story reader. But, he wrote in his memoir, “I knew I was going to be a writer, producer or director of motion pictures, and I needed more background in the arts of the 20th century.” He enrolled at the University of Oxford on the G.I. Bill to study the work of T.S. Eliot and D.H. Lawrence.

After six months at Oxford and six months in Paris, he came home and sold a chase-across-the-desert script to Allied Artists for $3,500. He was so unhappy with the finished film, “Highway Dragnet,” directed by Nathan Juran, that he decided to become his own producer.

An Inauspicious Start

With the $3,500, a borrowed one-man submarine and $6,500 raised from a dozen friends, he was almost ready to film “Monster From the Ocean Floor,” a movie about a man-eating mutant spawned by atomic testing. But he needed another $2,000 and a director. He got both by offering the directing job to a young actor, Wyott Ordung, if Mr. Ordung, who also appeared in the film, would put up the last $2,000.

On his first few movies, Mr. Corman produced, thought up the story, drove the equipment truck and filled in as a stunt driver. Knowing nothing about directing but needing another outlet for his energy, he became his own director in 1955 with “Five Guns West.” For the next 15 years, he directed almost all the films he produced.

He earned his first taste of respectability and the favor of European critics with a series of horror films based on Edgar Allan Poe stories, most of them starring Vincent Price. The series began with “House of Usher” in 1960, with a script by the science-fiction writer Richard Matheson, and culminated in 1964 with “The Masque of the Red Death,” photographed by Nicolas Roeg, and “The Tomb of Ligeia.”

Mr. Corman liked to call himself an outlaw filmmaker, and many of his movies celebrated outlaws: Peter Fonda as the head of a nihilistic motorcycle gang in “The Wild Angels,” with real Hells Angels riding their choppers alongside the actors; and Shelley Winters as the incestuous head of a murderous family in “Bloody Mama.”

In preparation for “The Trip” (1967), he spent seven hours hugging the ground beneath a redwood tree in Big Sur while tripping on LSD for, he said, the first and only time.

“The Wild Angels,” “Bloody Mama” and “The Trip” were all denounced by critics, and they all made money. One of Mr. Corman’s few commercial failures was his most deeply felt film, “The Intruder” (1962), the story of a rabble-rousing white supremacist. Mr. Corman gave the role of the Northern bigot who spreads hatred in a Southern town to a young stage actor, William Shatner. When no studio agreed to be his partner, Mr. Corman, a self-proclaimed lifelong liberal, provided most of the $80,000 budget and distributed “The Intruder” himself.

New World, New Honors

By 1970, Mr. Corman was burned out by directing and by his peripatetic bachelor life. That summer he completed the last movie he would direct for 20 years, “Von Richthofen and Brown,” about the World War I German flying ace known as the Red Baron and the Allied pilot who shot him down. (His next directorial effort, the 1990 science fiction-horror hybrid “Frankenstein Unbound,” was also his last.)

On Dec. 26, 1970, at the age of 44, Mr. Corman married Julie Halloran, a former Los Angeles Times researcher whom he had been dating off and on for six years. With his wife and his brother as co-producers, he formed New World Pictures.

At New World, he was responsible for “The Student Nurses,” “Private Duty Nurses” and “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden,” an intelligent and disturbing adaptation of Hannah Green’s semi-autobiographical novel about a teenage girl with schizophrenia, which received an Academy Award nomination for its screenplay, by Gavin Lambert and Lewis John Carlino.

He sold New World in 1983, keeping the valuable film library, and promptly created a new production and distribution company, Concorde-New Horizons. In 1997 he sold Concorde-New Horizons and its library for $100 million.

He is survived by his wife, Julie, and his daughters, Catherine and Mary, according to the statement from his family.

Mr. Corman remained active into the 21st century. He produced for Netflix “Splatter” (2009), a three-part online horror series with a difference: Audience votes determined which characters would be killed. He produced intentionally cheesy monster movies like “Sharktopus” (2010), “Piranhaconda” (2012) and “CobraGator” (2016) for the Syfy channel.

He received an honorary Oscar in 2009, and in 2011 he was the subject of a well-received documentary feature, “Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel,” directed by Alex Stapleton.

Interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter in 2013, Mr. Corman was philosophical about his life’s work. “Motion pictures have always been part art and part business,” he said. “If I have a burning vision, it’s to keep on working.”

Peter Keepnews and Yan Zhuang contributed reporting.

Frankenstein

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Robert Walton , the captain of a ship bound for the North Pole, writes a letter to his sister, Margaret Saville , in which he says that his crew members recently discovered a man adrift at sea. The man, Victor Frankenstein , offered to tell Walton his story.

Frankenstein has a perfect childhood in Switzerland, with a loving family that even adopted orphans in need, including the beautiful Elizabeth , who soon becomes Victor's closest friend, confidante, and love. Victor also has a caring and wonderful best friend, Henry Clerval . Just before Victor turns seventeen and goes to study at the University at Ingolstadt, his mother dies of scarlet fever. At Ingolstadt, Victor dives into "natural philosophy" with a passion, studying the secrets of life with such zeal that he even loses touch with his family. He soon rises to the top of his field, and suddenly, one night, discovers the secret of life. With visions of creating a new and noble race, Victor puts his knowledge to work. But when he animates his first creature, its appearance is so horrifying he abandons it. Victor hopes the monster has disappeared for ever, but some months later he receives word that his youngest brother, William, has been murdered. Though Victor sees the monster lingering at the site of the murder and is sure it did the deed, he fears no one will believe him and keeps silent. Justine Moritz , another adoptee in his family, has been falsely accused based of the crime. She is convicted and executed. Victor is consumed by guilt.

To escape its tragedy, the Frankensteins go on vacation. Victor often hikes in the mountains, hoping to alleviate his suffering with the beauty of nature. One day the monster appears, and despite Victor's curses begs him incredibly eloquently to listen to its story. The monster describes his wretched life, full of suffering and rejection solely because of his horrifying appearance. (The monster also explains how he learned to read and speak so well.) The monster blames his rage on humanity's inability to perceive his inner goodness and his resulting total isolation. It demands that Victor, its creator who brought it into this wretched life, create a female monster to give it the love that no human ever will. Victor refuses at first, but then agrees.

Back in Geneva, Victor's father expresses his wish that Victor marry Elizabeth. Victor says he first must travel to England. On the way to England, Victor meets up with Clerval. Soon, though, Victor leaves Clerval at the house of a friend in Scotland and moves to a remote island to make his second, female, monster. But one night Victor begins to worry that the female monster might turn out more destructive than the first. At the same moment, Victor sees the first monster watching him work through a window. The horrifying sight pushes Victor to destroy the female monster. The monster vows revenge, warning Victor that it will "be with him on [his] wedding night." Victor takes the remains of the female monster and dumps them in the ocean. But when he returns to shore, he is accused of a murder that was committed that same night. When Victor discovers that the victim is Clerval, he collapses and remains delusional for two months. When he wakes his father has arrived, and he is cleared of the criminal charges against him.

Victor returns with his father to Geneva, and marries Elizabeth. But on his wedding night, the monster instead kills Elizabeth. Victor's father dies of grief soon thereafter. Now, all alone in the world, Victor dedicates himself solely to seeking revenge against the monster. He tracks the monster to the Arctic, but becomes trapped on breaking ice and is rescued by Walton's crew.

Walton writes another series of letters to his sister. He tells her about his failure to reach the North Pole and to restore Victor, who died soon after his rescue. Walton's final letter describes his discovery of the monster grieving over Victor's corpse. He accuses the monster of having no remorse, but the monster says it has suffered more than anyone. With Victor dead, the monster has its revenge and plans to end its own life.