Frankenstein Themes

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Surprise: a book about creating life has a lot to say (or, at least ask) about life and consciousness. Like, "Are we really just born this way?" And, "...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Pop quiz! You walk into your neighborhood Whole Foods to buy some corn flakes. The box is labeled, "Contains GMOs." Do you think:A. "Sweet! GMOs ca...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Beauty may only be skin deep, but, as Shmoop's campus gym once advertised, no one can see your brain from twenty feet away. Sure, Frankenstein seems to...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Vengeance is sweet. Revenge is a dish best served cold. The best revenge is a life well lived. Revenge—well, you get the point: people have a lot of t...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Victor, the monster, and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air have one thing in common: Parents just don't understand. If only Victor's dad had taken the time to...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Walton doesn't exactly start his first letter by writing, "The North Pole … the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the S.S. Prometheus," but he...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) You may be able to remember your name in the desert, but the monster can't—because he doesn't have a name. Without a name—a label—there's really n...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Most of the characters in Frankenstein seem to lack compassion entirely. The monster alone shows compassion and kindness, attributes that are soon ruine...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) You know who sacrifices himself to save humanity? Jesus. And, if you were an ancient Greek or Roman, Prometheus. Does that make Victor a god-like figure...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) Deception in the form of secrecy is one of Victor’s fatal flaws. His inability to share his secret about the monster brings the destruction of those h...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) If there's one moral to Frankenstein that we can agree on, maybe it's this: some things are meant to stay secret. Trying to make nature reveal herself i...

(Click the themes infographic to download.) We can't exactly see Victor singing "Born This Way" (but we like to imagine it). At the same time, that's basically his anthem: over and over, he tells...