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==Mary Shelly- brilliance and tragedy==
The creator of one of the greatest horror stories of all time was an English lady. Mary Godwin (1797-1851), was the daughter of the great feminist author Mary Wollenscroft and the political philosopher William Goodwin. When she was 16 she began an affair with the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelly. Her father disapproved of the affair and the young lovers eloped to France. While visiting Lord Byron near Lake Geneva, Mary, conceived of the idea for her most famous creation. The idea for the story came to her as she and some friends were having a competition, as to who could write the scariest ghost story. She won the competition and began to turn her idea into, first a short story and then a novel. Mary developed the idea when she was only 18 years old.Her future husband, Shelley, is believed to have given her advice on the plot and the novel’s development. The novel, Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus was published in 1818 to great acclaim. Mary married Shelly in 1816. After several years of marriage her husband drowned, which left her devastated. She lived her remaining years, caring for her son with the great poet and continued to write novels. Her later works were not well received at the time, but in recent decades there has been a reappraisal of her later novels such as The Last Man. Mary continued to mourn her husband until her death and never remarried.
[[File: Frankenstein 2.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Portrait of Mary Shelley]]
==The Story==
The novel begins with a captain exploring the Arctic comes across Victor Frankenstein, a Swiss scientist, and Baron. He tells the captain a remarkable story. Born in Geneva, in 1793, and raised in Castle Frankenstein, during his youth he falls in love with his stepsister Elizabeth. Victor and Elizbeth become secretly engaged before he moves to Ingolstadt to study. Here he becomes fascinated with science and befriends another student Henry Clerval. Victor becomes the protegee of a brilliant scientist, Prof. Waldman, who believes that it is possible to create a living being. However, Waldman is reluctant to experiment on the dead because he fears unintended consequences. However, after he dies Victor steals his notes and begin to experiment on the dead in his family Castle. He attempts to create a living being out of parts of dead people. Victor believes that he is creating a superior type of being. The young Baron manages to create a living being but to his horror, it is a monster. In the novel it is known as the Creature. The monster is typically known by the name of his creator Frankenstein, but this is not the case in the 1818 novel. Victor is appalled by what he has done and finally admits that he made a terrible mistake. He abandons the Creature and expects him to die. He manages to survive and learns to speak and even to read and write. The being created by Victor Frankenstein wants to be part of society, but he is rejected and experiences profound loneliness and becomes increasingly embittered. He blames his creator for his plight. The Creature finds Frankenstein and demands that he makes him a female companion. The Baron refuses and the Creature swears to kill all those whom Victor loves if he does not make him a partner. Victor fearful for the safety of his loved ones reluctantly agrees and the two travel through Europe looking for body parts out of which to create a companion for the Creature. Eventually, Baron Frankenstein has second thoughts and once more abandons his creation. The monster, in revenge first kills his best friend and then Elizabeth. Victor vows revenge and follows the Creature , who flees to the Arctic. During the pursuit, the Baron, falls sick and dies. The monster is distraught at the death of his creator and is last seen on an ice flow drifting out to sea, presumably facing certain death <ref> Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein (Peterborough, Broadview Press, 2012)</ref>.
