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111-396: The Ghost Pirates is a horror novel by English writer William Hope Hodgson , first published in 1909. In it, Hodgson never describes in detail the ghosts – if this is indeed what they are, since their true nature is left ambiguous – he merely reports on their gradual commandeering of the ship. The novel is presented as the transcribed testimony of Jessop, who we ultimately discover is
222-750: A sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared in the second edition, which was published in Paris in 1821. Shelley travelled through Europe in 1815, moving along the river Rhine in Germany, and stopping in Gernsheim , 17 kilometres (11 mi) away from Frankenstein Castle , where, about
333-427: A century earlier, Johann Konrad Dippel , an alchemist , had engaged in experiments. She then journeyed to the region of Geneva , Switzerland, where much of the story takes place. Galvanism and occult ideas were topics of conversation for her companions, particularly for her lover and future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley . In 1816, Mary, Percy, John Polidori , and Lord Byron had a competition to see who wrote
444-545: A complete genre of horror stories, films, and plays. Since the publication of the novel, the name "Frankenstein" has often been used, erroneously, to refer to the monster , rather than to his creator/father. Frankenstein is a frame story written in epistolary form . Set in the 18th century, it documents a fictional correspondence between Captain Robert Walton and his sister, Margaret Walton Saville. Captain Walton
555-533: A cottage, he grew fond of the poor family living there and discreetly collected firewood for them, cleared snow away from their path, and performed other tasks to help them. Secretly living next to the cottage for months, the Creature learned that the son was going to marry a Turkish woman whom he was teaching his native language, which the Creature listened in on the lessons and taught himself to speak and write. The Creature also taught himself to read after discovering
666-461: A drifting ice floe . Victor has been in pursuit of the gigantic man observed by Walton's crew. Victor starts to recover from his exertion; he sees in Walton the same obsession that has destroyed him and recounts a story of his life's miseries to Walton as a warning. The recounted story serves as the frame for Victor's narrative. Victor begins by telling of his childhood. Born in Naples , Italy , into
777-417: A feeling of repulsion or loathing". Horror intends to create an eerie and frightening atmosphere for the reader. Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for larger fears of a society. The horror genre has ancient origins, with roots in folklore and religious traditions focusing on death, the afterlife, evil, the demonic, and the principle of the thing embodied in
888-464: A fully-fledged novel. She later described that summer in Switzerland as the moment "when I first stepped out from childhood into life." Shelley wrote the first four chapters in the weeks following the suicide of her half-sister Fanny. This was one of many personal tragedies that impacted Shelley's work. Shelley's first child died in infancy, and when she began composing Frankenstein in 1816, she
999-568: A ghostly figure bound in chains. The figure disappeared in the courtyard; the following day, the magistrates dug in the courtyard and found an unmarked grave. Elements of the horror genre also occur in Biblical texts, notably in the Book of Revelation . The Witch of Berkeley by William of Malmesbury has been viewed as an early horror story. Werewolf stories were popular in medieval French literature . One of Marie de France 's twelve lais
1110-657: A glorious undertaking such as theirs. He urges them to be men, not cowards. However, although the speech makes an impression on the crew, it is not enough to change their minds. Knowing that continuing on would surely result in mutiny , Walton agrees to abandon the voyage and return home, but Victor, despite his condition, declares that he will continue to hunt the Creature, and is adamant that he must be killed. Victor dies shortly thereafter, telling Walton, in his last words, to seek "happiness in tranquillity and avoid ambition" but then refuting this, speculating that some other scientist might succeed where he has failed. Walton discovers
1221-451: A high degree of life," whereas horror is described as that which "freezes and nearly annihilates them." Modern scholarship on horror fiction draws upon a range of sources. In their historical studies of the gothic novel, both Devendra Varma and S. L. Varnado make reference to the theologian Rudolf Otto , whose concept of the " numinous " was originally used to describe religious experience. A recent survey reports how often horror media
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#17327877415821332-692: A living being, he has a right to happiness. The Creature promises that he and his mate will vanish into the South American wilderness, never to reappear, if Victor grants his request. Should Victor refuse, the Creature threatens to kill Victor's remaining friends and loved ones and not stop until he completely ruins him. Fearing for his family, Victor reluctantly agrees. The Creature says he will watch over Victor's progress. Clerval accompanies Victor to England, but they separate, at Victor's insistence, at Perth , in Scotland. Travelling to Orkney to build
1443-420: A log fire at Byron's villa, the company amused themselves by reading German ghost stories translated into French from the book Fantasmagoriana . Byron proposed that they "each write a ghost story." Unable to think of a story, Mary Shelley became anxious. She recalled being asked "Have you thought of a story?" each morning, and every time being "forced to reply with a mortifying negative." During one evening in
1554-435: A lost satchel of books in the woods. When he saw his reflection in a pool, he realized his appearance was hideous, and it horrified him as much as it horrified normal humans. As he continued to learn of the family's plight, he grew increasingly attached to them, and eventually he approached the family in hopes of becoming their friend, entering the house while only the blind father, De Lacey, was present. The two conversed, but on
1665-491: A nurse, who briefly cared for her and her half sister, before marrying his second wife Mary Jane Clairmont , who did not like the close bond between Shelley and her father. The resulting friction caused Godwin to favour his other children. Shelley's father was a famous author of the time, and her education was of great importance to him, although it was not formal. Shelley grew up surrounded by her father's friends, writers, and persons of political importance, who often gathered at
1776-507: A pen name for Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire , a collection of poetry he wrote with Elizabeth, to Percy's days at Eton, where he had "experimented with electricity and magnetism as well as with gunpowder and numerous chemical reactions," and the way in which Percy's rooms at Oxford were filled with scientific equipment. The Modern Prometheus is the novel's subtitle (though modern editions now drop it, only mentioning it in introduction). Prometheus , in versions of Greek mythology,
1887-463: A rock of Caucasus , where each day an eagle pecked out his liver, only for the liver to regrow the next day because of his immortality as a god. As a Pythagorean , or believer in An Essay on Abstinence from Animal Food, as a Moral Duty by Joseph Ritson , Mary Shelley saw Prometheus not as a hero but rather as something of a devil, and blamed him for bringing fire to humanity and thereby seducing
1998-430: A sense similar to the reason a person seeks out the controlled thrill of a roller coaster , readers in the modern era seek out feelings of horror and terror to feel a sense of excitement. However, Barrette adds that horror fiction is one of the few mediums where readers seek out a form of art that forces themselves to confront ideas and images they "might rather ignore to challenge preconceptions of all kinds." One can see
2109-408: A story intends to shock and disgust, but the best horror intends to rattle our cages and shake us out of our complacency. It makes us think, forces us to confront ideas we might rather ignore, and challenges preconceptions of all kinds. Horror reminds us that the world is not always as safe as it seems, which exercises our mental muscles and reminds us to keep a little healthy caution close at hand. In
2220-411: A time, from raw materials supplied by "the dissecting room and the slaughter-house"), which he then brings to life using his unspecified process. Part of Frankenstein's rejection of his creation is the fact that he does not give him a name. Instead, Frankenstein's creation is referred to by words such as "wretch", "monster", "creature", "demon", "devil", "fiend", and "it". When Frankenstein converses with
2331-632: A wealthy Genevan family, Victor and his younger brothers, Ernest and William, are sons of Alphonse Frankenstein and the former Caroline Beaufort. From a young age, Victor has a strong desire to understand the world. He is obsessed with studying theories of alchemists , though when he is older he realizes that such theories are considerably outdated. When Victor is five years old, his parents adopt Elizabeth Lavenza (the orphaned daughter of an expropriated Italian nobleman) whom Victor plans to marry. Victor's parents later take in another child, Justine Moritz, who becomes William's nanny. Weeks before he leaves for
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#17327877415822442-445: A wealthy country squire with strong political connections and a descendant of Sir Bysshe Shelley , 1st Baronet of Castle Goring , and Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel . Similarly, Victor's family is one of the most distinguished of that republic and his ancestors were counsellors and syndics . Percy's sister and Victor's adopted sister were both named Elizabeth. There are many other similarities, from Percy's usage of "Victor" as
2553-563: A year or more often. Unsurprisingly, there is a strong correlation between liking and frequency of use (r=.79, p<.0001). Achievements in horror fiction are recognized by numerous awards. The Horror Writers Association presents the Bram Stoker Awards for Superior Achievement, named in honor of Bram Stoker , author of the seminal horror novel Dracula . The Australian Horror Writers Association presents annual Australian Shadows Awards . The International Horror Guild Award
2664-610: Is Stephen King , known for Carrie , The Shining , It , Misery , and several dozen other novels and about 200 short stories . Beginning in the 1970s, King's stories have attracted a large audience, for which he was awarded by the U.S. National Book Foundation in 2003. Other popular horror authors of the period included Anne Rice , Shaun Hutson , Brian Lumley , Graham Masterton , James Herbert , Dean Koontz , Richard Laymon , Clive Barker , Ramsey Campbell , and Peter Straub . Best-selling book series of contemporary times exist in genres related to horror fiction, such as
2775-423: Is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which are in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon , in 1984, defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length ... which shocks, or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces
2886-552: Is a failed writer who sets out to explore the North Pole in hopes of expanding scientific knowledge. After departing from Archangel , the ship is trapped by pack ice on the journey across the Arctic Ocean . During this time, the crew spots a dog sled driven by a gigantic figure. A few hours later, the ice splits apart, freeing the ship, and the crew rescues a nearly frozen and emaciated man named Victor Frankenstein from
2997-534: Is a werewolf story titled " Bisclavret ". The Countess Yolande commissioned a werewolf story titled " Guillaume de Palerme ". Anonymous writers penned two werewolf stories, "Biclarel" and " Melion ". Much horror fiction derives from the cruellest personages of the 15th century. Dracula can be traced to the Prince of Wallachia Vlad III , whose alleged war crimes were published in German pamphlets. A 1499 pamphlet
3108-415: Is almost as old as horror fiction itself. In 1826, the gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe published an essay distinguishing two elements of horror fiction, "terror" and "horror." Whereas terror is a feeling of dread that takes place before an event happens, horror is a feeling of revulsion or disgust after an event has happened. Radcliffe describes terror as that which "expands the soul and awakens the faculties to
3219-486: Is consumed: To assess frequency of horror consumption, we asked respondents the following question: "In the past year, about how often have you used horror media (for example, horror literature, film, and video games) for entertainment?" 11.3% said "Never," 7.5% "Once," 28.9% "Several times," 14.1% "Once a month," 20.8% "Several times a month," 7.3% "Once a week," and 10.2% "Several times a week." Evidently, then, most respondents (81.3%) claimed to use horror media several times
3330-543: Is fear of the unknown." the first sentence from his seminal essay, " Supernatural Horror in Literature ". Science fiction historian Darrell Schweitzer has stated, "In the simplest sense, a horror story is one that scares us" and "the true horror story requires a sense of evil, not in necessarily in a theological sense; but the menaces must be truly menacing, life-destroying, and antithetical to happiness." In her essay "Elements of Aversion", Elizabeth Barrette articulates
3441-399: Is merely one of many interpretations of the metaphor of Dracula. Jack Halberstam postulates many of these in his essay Technologies of Monstrosity: Bram Stoker's Dracula . He writes: [The] image of dusty and unused gold, coins from many nations and old unworn jewels, immediately connects Dracula to the old money of a corrupt class, to a kind of piracy of nations and to the worst excesses of
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3552-476: Is strange to note how well-nigh universally the term "Frankenstein" is misused, even by intelligent people, as describing some hideous monster." Edith Wharton 's The Reef (1916) describes an unruly child as an "infant Frankenstein". David Lindsay 's "The Bridal Ornament", published in The Rover , 12 June 1844, mentioned "the maker of poor Frankenstein". After the release of Whale's cinematic Frankenstein ,
3663-401: Is tends to be inconclusive on the impact that viewing such media has. One defining trait of the horror genre is that it provokes an emotional, psychological , or physical response within readers that causes them to react with fear. One of H. P. Lovecraft's most famous quotes about the genre is that: "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear
3774-485: Is unknown for sure why children enjoy these movies (as it seems counter-intuitive), it is theorized that it is, in part, grotesque monsters that fascinate kids. Tangential to this, the internalized impact of horror television programs and films on children is rather under-researched, especially when compared to the research done on the similar subject of violence in TV and film's impact on the young mind. What little research there
3885-799: The Franks ", and is associated with various places in Germany, including Frankenstein Castle ( Burg Frankenstein ) in Darmstadt , Hesse, and Frankenstein Castle in Frankenstein , a town in the Palatinate . There is also a castle called Frankenstein in Bad Salzungen , Thuringia, and a municipality called Frankenstein in Saxony. The town of Frankenstein in Silesia (now Ząbkowice, Poland)
3996-469: The University of Ingolstadt in Germany, his mother dies of scarlet fever ; Victor buries himself in his experiments to deal with the grief. At the university, he excels at chemistry and other sciences, soon developing a secret technique to impart life to non-living matter. He undertakes the creation of a humanoid, but due to the difficulty in replicating the minute parts of the human body, Victor makes
4107-649: The fair copy for her publisher, are now housed in the Bodleian Library in Oxford . The Bodleian acquired the papers in 2004, and they belong now to the Abinger Collection. In 2008, the Bodleian published a new edition of Frankenstein , edited by Charles E. Robinson, that contains comparisons of Mary Shelley's original text with Percy Shelley's additions and interventions alongside. Although
4218-474: The summer of 1816 , Mary, Percy, and Claire took a trip to visit Claire's lover, Lord Byron, in Geneva . Poor weather conditions, more akin to winter, forced Byron and the visitors to stay indoors. To help pass time, Byron suggested that he, Mary, Percy, and Byron's physician, John Polidori , have a competition to write the best ghost story to pass time stuck indoors. Mary was just eighteen years old when she won
4329-575: The werewolf fiction urban fantasy Kitty Norville books by Carrie Vaughn (2005 onward). Horror elements continue to expand outside the genre. The alternate history of more traditional historical horror in Dan Simmons 's 2007 novel The Terror sits on bookstore shelves next to genre mash ups such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009), and historical fantasy and horror comics such as Hellblazer (1993 onward) and Mike Mignola 's Hellboy (1993 onward). Horror also serves as one of
4440-511: The "Prometheus of modern times" in reference to his experiments with electricity. Shelley completed her writing in April/May 1817, and Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus was published on 1 January 1818 by the small London publishing house Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones. It was issued anonymously, with a preface written for Mary by Percy Bysshe Shelley and with a dedication to philosopher William Godwin , her father. It
4551-572: The 1950s satisfied readers' quests for horror imagery that the silver screen could not provide. This imagery made these comics controversial, and as a consequence, they were frequently censored. The modern zombie tale dealing with the motif of the living dead harks back to works including H. P. Lovecraft's stories " Cool Air " (1925), "In The Vault" (1926), and " The Outsider " (1926), and Dennis Wheatley 's "Strange Conflict" (1941). Richard Matheson 's novel I Am Legend (1954) influenced an entire genre of apocalyptic zombie fiction emblematized by
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4662-539: The Ancient Mariner are evident in the novel. In The Frankenstein of the French Revolution , author Julia Douthwaite posits that Shelley probably acquired some ideas for Frankenstein's character from Humphry Davy 's book Elements of Chemical Philosophy , in which he had written that, science has ... bestowed upon man powers which may be called creative; which have enabled him to change and modify
4773-487: The Creature tall, about 8 feet (2.4 m) in height, and proportionally large. Victor works at gathering the vital organs by pilfering charnel houses , mortuaries and by entrapping and vivisecting feral animals. Despite Victor selecting its features to be beautiful, upon animation the Creature is instead hideous, with dull and watery yellow eyes and yellow skin that barely conceals the muscles and blood vessels underneath. Repulsed by his work, Victor flees. While wandering
4884-597: The Creature on his ship, mourning over Victor's body. The Creature tells Walton that Victor's death has not brought him peace; rather, his crimes have made him even more miserable than Victor ever was. The Creature vows to burn himself on a funeral pyre so that no one else will ever know of his existence. Walton watches as the Creature drifts away on an ice raft, never to be seen again. Mary Shelley 's mother, Mary Wollstonecraft , died from infection eleven days after giving birth to her. Shelley grew close to her father, William Godwin , having never known her mother. Godwin hired
4995-422: The Creature was described in later works as a composite of whole body parts grafted together from cadavers and reanimated by the use of electricity, this description is not consistent with Shelley's work; both the use of electricity and the cobbled-together image of Frankenstein's monster were more the result of James Whale 's popular 1931 film adaptation of the story and other early motion-picture works based on
5106-423: The Creature will kill him after he finally becomes happy. Victor sails out to sea to dispose of his instruments, and falls asleep in the boat. He awakens some time later, and is unable to return to shore due to a change in the wind, and falls unconscious, drifting to Ireland. When Victor awakens, he is arrested for murder. Despite the severity of the charges, he is met with sympathy from the magistrate in charge of
5217-694: The Frankenstein castle in Mary Shelley's "lost journals". However, according to Jörg Heléne, Day's and Florescu's claims cannot be verified. A possible interpretation of the name "Victor" is derived from Paradise Lost by John Milton , a great influence on Shelley (a quotation from Paradise Lost is on the opening page of Frankenstein and Shelley writes that the monster reads it in the novel). Milton frequently refers to God as "the victor" in Paradise Lost , and Victor's creation of life in
5328-471: The Lake Geneva villa the previous year and inspecting data about the motion of the moon and stars, concluded that her "waking dream" took place between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. on 16 June 1816, several days after the initial idea by Lord Byron that they each write a ghost story. Mary Shelley began writing what she assumed would be a short story, but with Percy Shelley's encouragement, she expanded the tale into
5439-638: The Noble Grecians and Romans in the account of Cimon , the author describes the spirit of a murderer , Damon, who himself was murdered in a bathhouse in Chaeronea . Pliny the Younger (61 to c. 113) tells the tale of Athenodorus Cananites , who bought a haunted house in Athens . Athenodorus was cautious since the house seemed inexpensive. While writing a book on philosophy, he was visited by
5550-596: The Ripper , and lesser so, Carl Panzram , Fritz Haarman , and Albert Fish , all perpetuated this phenomenon. The trend continued in the postwar era, partly renewed after the murders committed by Ed Gein . In 1959, Robert Bloch , inspired by the murders, wrote Psycho . The crimes committed in 1969 by the Manson Family influenced the slasher theme in horror fiction of the 1970s. In 1981, Thomas Harris wrote Red Dragon , introducing Dr. Hannibal Lecter . In 1988,
5661-881: The Wanderer (1820), Washington Irving 's " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow " (1820), Jane C. Loudon 's The Mummy!: Or a Tale of the Twenty-Second Century (1827), Victor Hugo 's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831), Thomas Peckett Prest 's Varney the Vampire (1847), the works of Edgar Allan Poe , the works of Sheridan Le Fanu , Robert Louis Stevenson 's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), Oscar Wilde 's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 's " Lot No. 249 " (1892), H. G. Wells ' The Invisible Man (1897), and Bram Stoker 's Dracula (1897). Each of these works created an enduring icon of horror seen in later re-imaginings on
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#17327877415825772-422: The aristocracy. Halberstram articulates a view of Dracula as manifesting the growing perception of the aristocracy as an evil and outdated notion to be defeated. The depiction of a multinational band of protagonists using the latest technologies (such as a telegraph ) to quickly share, collate, and act upon new information is what leads to the destruction of the vampire. This is one of many interpretations of
5883-410: The author. There are many theories as to why people enjoy being scared. For example, "people who like horror films are more likely to score highly for openness to experience, a personality trait linked to intellect and imagination." It is a now commonly accepted view that the horror elements of Dracula 's portrayal of vampirism are metaphors for sexuality in a repressed Victorian era . But this
5994-534: The beings around him ... References to the French Revolution run through the novel; a likely source is François-Félix Nogaret [ fr ] 's Le Miroir des événemens actuels, ou la Belle au plus offrant (1790), a political parable about scientific progress featuring an inventor named Frankésteïn, who creates a life-sized automaton. Both Frankenstein and the monster quote passages from Percy Shelley's 1816 poem, " Mutability ", and its theme of
6105-520: The best horror story. After thinking for days, Shelley was inspired to write Frankenstein after imagining a scientist who created life and was horrified by what he had made. Frankenstein is one of the most well-known works of English literature . Infused with elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement, it has had a considerable influence on literature and on popular culture, spawning
6216-417: The cause behind the murders of William and Henry, but senses a curse and begs Victor to honour his mother's last wish that Victor marry Elizabeth. In Geneva, Victor is about to marry Elizabeth and prepares to fight the Creature to the death, arming himself with pistols and a dagger. The night following their wedding, Victor asks Elizabeth to stay in her room while he looks for "the fiend". While Victor searches
6327-589: The central genres in more complex modern works such as Mark Z. Danielewski 's House of Leaves (2000), a finalist for the National Book Award . There are many horror novels for children and teens, such as R. L. Stine 's Goosebumps series or The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey . Additionally, many movies for young audiences, particularly animated ones, use horror aesthetics and conventions (for example, ParaNorman ). These are what can be collectively referred to as "children's horror". Although it
6438-498: The chase leads to the Arctic Ocean and then on towards the North Pole, and Victor reaches a point where he is within a mile of the Creature, but he collapses from exhaustion and hypothermia before he can find his quarry, allowing the Creature to escape. Eventually the ice around Victor's sledge breaks apart, and the resultant ice floe comes within range of Walton's ship. At the end of Victor's narrative, Walton resumes telling
6549-538: The conclave. The group talked about Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment ideas as well. Mary Shelley believed the Enlightenment idea that society could progress and grow if political leaders used their powers responsibly; however, she also believed the Romantic ideal that misused power could destroy society. Shelley's manuscripts for the first three-volume edition in 1818 (written 1816–1817), as well as
6660-399: The confrontation of ideas that readers and characters would "rather ignore" throughout literature in famous moments such as Hamlet 's musings about the skull of Yorick , its implications of the mortality of humanity, and the gruesome end that bodies inevitably come to. In horror fiction, the confrontation with the gruesome is often a metaphor for the problems facing the current generation of
6771-537: The contest with her creation of Frankenstein . Shelley's work was heavily influenced by that of her parents. Her father was famous for Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and her mother famous for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman . Her father's novels also influenced her writing of Frankenstein . These novels included Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams , St. Leon , and Fleetwood . All of these books were set in Switzerland, similar to
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#17327877415826882-573: The creature, he addresses him as "vile insect", "abhorred monster", "fiend", "wretched devil", and "abhorred devil". In the novel, the creature is compared to Adam , the first man in the Garden of Eden . The monster also compares himself with the "fallen" angel. Speaking to Frankenstein, the monster says "I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel". That angel would be Lucifer (meaning "light-bringer") in Milton's Paradise Lost , which
6993-435: The creature. In Shelley's original work, Victor Frankenstein discovers a previously unknown but elemental principle of life, and that insight allows him to develop a method to imbue vitality into inanimate matter, though the exact nature of the process is left ambiguous. After a great deal of hesitation in exercising this power, Frankenstein spends two years painstakingly constructing the Creature's body (one anatomical feature at
7104-406: The crew pass off as either bad luck or the result of the witness being either tired or "dotty". Jessop only offers brief personal interpretation; he states that while he cannot discount the idea that the beings plaguing the ship may be ghosts, he presents his theory that they may be beings from another dimension that, while sharing the same physical space as theirs, are normally completely separated to
7215-411: The early 20th century made inroads in these mediums. Particularly, the venerated horror author H. P. Lovecraft , and his enduring Cthulhu Mythos transformed and popularized the genre of cosmic horror , and M. R. James is credited with redefining the ghost story in that era. The serial murderer became a recurring theme. Yellow journalism and sensationalism of various murderers, such as Jack
7326-402: The events, spending most of the time relating the story in an almost journalistic fashion, presenting a relatively unvarnished description of the events and conversations as they occurred. He describes his confusion and uncertainty about what he believes he has seen, at times fearing for his own sanity. He eventually hears other members of the crew speak of strange events, most of which the rest of
7437-405: The excitement of living on the edge, the tension between hunter and hunted. So we told each other stories through the long, dark nights. when the fires burned low, we did our best to scare the daylights out of each other. The rush of adrenaline feels good. Our hearts pound, our breath quickens, and we can imagine ourselves on the edge. Yet we also appreciate the insightful aspects of horror. Sometimes
7548-407: The experiments of Luigi Galvani as well as James Lind . Mary joined these conversations and the ideas of Darwin, Galvani and perhaps Lind were present in her novel. Shelley's personal experiences also influenced the themes within Frankenstein . The themes of loss, guilt, and the consequences of defying nature present in the novel all developed from Mary Shelley's own life. The loss of her mother,
7659-494: The extent that neither dimension is aware of the existence of the other. He offers only vague, superficial suggestions as to the cause of his theorized dimensional breach. The seafaring jargon, coupled with the phonetically rendered dialects of some of the crew, make the text at times somewhat opaque, while at the same time lending it an air of authenticity and believability. Through the use of compactly written prose and simple, almost offhand foreshadowing, Hodgson gradually increases
7770-453: The family home. This inspired her authorship at an early age. Mary, at the age of sixteen, met Percy Bysshe Shelley (who later became her husband) while he was visiting her father. Godwin did not approve of the relationship between his daughter and an older, married man, so they fled to France along with her stepsister, Claire Clairmont . On 22 February 1815, Shelley gave birth prematurely to her first child, Clara, who died two weeks later. In
7881-404: The films of George A. Romero . In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the enormous commercial success of three books - Rosemary's Baby (1967) by Ira Levin , The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty , and The Other by Thomas Tryon - encouraged publishers to begin releasing numerous other horror novels, thus creating a "horror boom". One of the best-known late-20th century horror writers
7992-862: The gradual development of Romanticism and the Gothic horror genre. It drew on the written and material heritage of the Late Middle Ages, finding its form with Horace Walpole 's seminal and controversial 1764 novel, The Castle of Otranto . In fact, the first edition was published disguised as an actual medieval romance from Italy, discovered and republished by a fictitious translator. Once revealed as modern, many found it anachronistic , reactionary , or simply in poor taste, but it proved immediately popular. Otranto inspired Vathek (1786) by William Beckford , A Sicilian Romance (1790), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), The Italian (1796) by Ann Radcliffe , and The Monk (1797) by Matthew Lewis . A significant amount of horror fiction of this era
8103-476: The happiest time of his academic career. This is cut short when Victor receives a letter from his father notifying him of the murder of his brother William. Near Geneva, Victor sees a large figure and becomes convinced that his creation is responsible. Justine Moritz, William's nanny, is convicted of the crime after William's locket, which contained a miniature portrait of Caroline, is found in her pocket. Victor knows that no one will believe him if he testifies that it
8214-451: The house and grounds, the Creature strangles a screaming Elizabeth. From the window, Victor sees the Creature, who tauntingly points at Elizabeth's corpse; Victor tries to shoot him, but the Creature escapes. Victor's father Alphonse, weakened by age and by the death of Elizabeth, dies a few days later. Seeking revenge, Victor pursues the Creature across Europe and Russia, though his adversary stays one step ahead of him at all times. Eventually,
8325-460: The human race to the vice of eating meat. Percy wrote several essays on what became known as vegetarianism including A Vindication of Natural Diet . Byron was particularly attached to the play Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus , and Percy Shelley soon wrote his own Prometheus Unbound (1820). The term "Modern Prometheus" was derived from Immanuel Kant who described Benjamin Franklin as
8436-449: The metaphor of only one central figure of the canon of horror fiction, as over a dozen possible metaphors are referenced in the analysis, from the religious to the antisemitic . Noël Carroll 's Philosophy of Horror postulates that a modern piece of horror fiction's " monster ", villain , or a more inclusive menace must exhibit the following two traits: In addition to those essays and articles shown above, scholarship on horror fiction
8547-405: The middle of summer, the discussions turned to the nature of the principle of life. "Perhaps a corpse would be re-animated," Mary noted, " galvanism had given token of such things". It was after midnight before they retired and, unable to sleep, she became possessed by her imagination as she beheld the "grim terrors" of her "waking dream". I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside
8658-563: The monster has read. Adam is also referred to in the epigraph of the 1818 edition: Some have posited the creature as a composite of Percy Shelley and Thomas Paine. If the creature's hatred for Victor and his desire to raise a child mirror Percy's filial rebelliousness and his longing to adopt children, his desire to do good and his persecution can be said to echo Paine's utopian visions and fate in England. The Creature has often been mistakenly called Frankenstein. In 1908, one author said "It
8769-629: The most noted natural philosophers among Shelley's contemporaries were Giovanni Aldini , who made many public attempts at human reanimation through bio-electric Galvanism in London, and Johann Konrad Dippel , who was supposed to have developed chemical means to extend the life span of humans. While Shelley was aware of both of these men and their activities, she makes no mention of or reference to them or their experiments in any of her published or released notes. Ideas about life and death discussed by Percy and Byron were of great interest to scientists of that time. They discussed ideas from Erasmus Darwin and
8880-560: The need by some for horror tales in a modern world: The old "fight or flight" reaction of our evolutionary heritage once played a major role in the life of every human. Our ancestors lived and died by it. Then someone invented the fascinating game of civilization, and things began to calm down. Development pushed wilderness back from settled lands. War, crime, and other forms of social violence came with civilization and humans started preying on each other, but by and large daily life calmed down. We began to feel restless, to feel something missing:
8991-413: The novel is compared to God's creation of life in Paradise Lost . In addition, Shelley's portrayal of the monster owes much to the character of Satan in Paradise Lost ; and, the monster says in the story, after reading the epic poem, that he empathizes with Satan's role. Parallels between Victor Frankenstein and Mary's husband, Percy Shelley, have also been drawn. Percy Shelley was the first-born son of
9102-489: The only survivor of the final voyage of the Mortzestus , having been rescued from drowning by the crew of the passing Sangier . It begins with Jessop's recounting how he came to be aboard the ill-fated Mortzestus and the rumors surrounding the vessel. Jessop then begins to recount the unusual events that rapidly increase in both frequency and severity. In the telling of his tale, Jessop offers only sparse interpretation of
9213-424: The page, stage, and screen. A proliferation of cheap periodicals around the turn of the century led to a boom in horror writing. For example, Gaston Leroux serialized his Le Fantôme de l'Opéra before it became a novel in 1910. One writer who specialized in horror fiction for mainstream pulps, such as All-Story Magazine , was Tod Robbins , whose fiction deals with themes of madness and cruelty. In Russia,
9324-548: The person. These manifested in stories of beings such as demons, witches, vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. European horror-fiction became established through works of the Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans . Mary Shelley 's well-known 1818 novel about Frankenstein was greatly influenced by the story of Hippolytus , whom Asclepius revives from death. Euripides wrote plays based on the story, Hippolytos Kalyptomenos and Hippolytus . In Plutarch 's The Lives of
9435-500: The public at large began speaking of the Creature itself as "Frankenstein". This misnomer continued with the successful sequel Bride of Frankenstein (1935), as well as in film titles such as Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein . Mary Shelley maintained that she derived the name Frankenstein from a dream-vision. This claim has since been disputed and debated by scholars that have suggested alternative sources for Shelley's inspiration. The German name Frankenstein means "stone of
9546-408: The relationship with her father, and the death of her first child are thought to have inspired the monster and his separation from parental guidance. In a 1965 issue of The Journal of Religion and Health a psychologist proposed that the theme of guilt stemmed from her not feeling good enough for Percy because of the loss of their child. During the rainy summer of 1816, the " Year Without a Summer ",
9657-438: The return of the others, the rest of them were frightened. De Lacey's son Felix attacked him, and the Creature fled the house. The next day, the family left their home out of fear that he would return. Witnessing this, the monster renounced any hope of being accepted by humanity, and vowed to get his revenge. Although he hated his creator for abandoning him, he decided to travel to Geneva to find him because he believed that Victor
9768-560: The role of the subconscious is discussed in prose. Percy Shelley's name never appeared as the author of the poem, although the novel credits other quoted poets by name. Samuel Taylor Coleridge 's poem " The Rime of the Ancient Mariner " (1798) is associated with the theme of guilt and William Wordsworth 's " Tintern Abbey " (1798) with that of innocence. Many writers and historians have attempted to associate several then-popular natural philosophers (now called physical scientists) with Shelley's work because of several notable similarities. Two of
9879-438: The second creature, Victor suspects that the Creature is following him. As he works on the new creature, he is plagued by premonitions of disaster. He fears that the female will hate the Creature - or worse still - be even more evil than he is. Even more worrying to him is the idea that creating the second creature might lead to the creation of a race of beings just as strong as the monster who could plague humanity. He tears apart
9990-521: The sequel to that novel, The Silence of the Lambs , was published. Early cinema was inspired by many aspects of horror literature, and started a strong tradition of horror films and subgenres that continues to this day. Up until the graphic depictions of violence and gore on the screen commonly associated with 1960s and 1970s slasher films and splatter films , comic books such as those published by EC Comics (most notably Tales From The Crypt ) in
10101-574: The setting in Frankenstein . Some major themes of social affections and the renewal of life that appear in Shelley's novel stem from these works she had in her possession. Other literary influences that appear in Frankenstein are Pygmalion et Galatée by Mme de Genlis, and Ovid , with the use of individuals identifying the problems with society. Ovid also inspires the use of Prometheus in Shelley's title. The influence of John Milton 's Paradise Lost and Samuel Taylor Coleridge 's The Rime of
10212-446: The story. A few days after the Creature vanishes, the ship is trapped by pack ice for a second time, and several crewmen die in the cold before the rest of Walton's crew insists on returning south once it is freed. Upon hearing the crew's demands, Victor is angered and, despite his condition, gives a powerful speech to them. He reminds them of why they chose to join the expedition and that it is hardship and danger, not comfort, that defines
10323-435: The streets the next day, he meets his childhood friend, Henry Clerval, and takes Clerval back to his apartment, fearful of Clerval's reaction if he sees the monster. However, when Victor returns to his laboratory, the Creature is gone. Victor falls ill from the experience and is nursed back to health by Clerval. After recovering he forgets about the Creature and goes into Clerval's study of Oriental languages, which he considers
10434-404: The suspense and sense of dread. Added to this is the fact that the beings invading the ship are neither described in any detail nor explained as to their origin or motive. The combination of these literary devices allows Hodgson to amplify the feeling of impending doom until the moment of the novel's unavoidable climax, when the "sea-devils", as Lovecraft describes them, pull the Mortzestus beneath
10545-463: The term, considering it too lurid. They instead use the terms dark fantasy or Gothic fantasy for supernatural horror, or " psychological thriller " for non-supernatural horror. Frankenstein Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley . Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein , a young scientist who creates
10656-464: The thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion. Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world. In September 2011, astronomer Donald Olson, after a visit to
10767-578: The trial, which suggests that the case is crumbling. Victor is acquitted when eyewitness testimony confirms that he was in Orkney at the time the murder took place. However, when shown the murder victim, Victor is horrified to see it was Henry Clerval, whom the Creature strangled as part of his promise to kill all his friends and family. Victor suffers another mental breakdown and after recovering, he returns home with his father, who has restored to Elizabeth some of her father's fortune. His father does not know of
10878-416: The unfinished female creature after he sees the Creature, who had indeed followed Victor, watching through a window. The Creature immediately bursts through the door to confront Victor and demands he repair his destruction and resume work, but Victor refuses. The Creature leaves, but gives a final threat: "I will be with you on your wedding night." Victor interprets this as a threat upon his life, believing that
10989-694: The waves. The economic style of writing has led horror writer Robert Weinberg to describe The Ghost Pirates as "one of the finest examples of the tightly written novel ever published." H.P. Lovecraft commented " The Ghost Pirates . . . is a powerful account of a doomed and haunted ship on its last voyage, and of the terrible sea-devils (of quasi-human aspect, and perhaps the spirits of bygone buccaneers) that besiege it and finally drag it down to an unknown fate. With its command of maritime knowledge, and its clever selection of hints and incidents suggestive of latent horrors in nature, this book at times reaches enviable peaks of power." Horror novel Horror
11100-499: The world was locked in a long, cold volcanic winter caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815. Mary Shelley, aged 18, and her lover (and future husband), Percy Bysshe Shelley, visited Lord Byron at the Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva , in Switzerland's Alps . The weather was too cold and dreary that summer to enjoy the outdoor holiday activities they had planned, so the group retired indoors until dawn. Sitting around
11211-473: The writer Alexander Belyaev popularized these themes in his story Professor Dowell's Head (1925), in which a mad doctor performs experimental head transplants and reanimations on bodies stolen from the morgue and which was first published as a magazine serial before being turned into a novel. Later, specialist publications emerged to give horror writers an outlet, prominent among them was Weird Tales and Unknown Worlds . Influential horror writers of
11322-412: Was at first frightened, and the Creature held his wrist to calm him. When the boy screamed his full name and that he had powerful parents, this sparked the creature into killing the boy to spite Victor. The Creature then took William's locket and placed it into the dress of Justine, incriminating her as the murderer. The Creature demands that Victor create a female companion like himself. He argues that as
11433-545: Was presented annually to works of horror and dark fantasy from 1995 to 2008. The Shirley Jackson Awards are literary awards for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic works. Other important awards for horror literature are included as subcategories within general awards for fantasy and science fiction in such awards as the Aurealis Award . Some writers of fiction normally classified as "horror" tend to dislike
11544-531: Was probably nursing her second child, who was also dead by the time of Frankenstein 's publication. Shelley wrote much of the book while residing in a lodging house in the centre of Bath in 1816. Byron managed to write just a fragment based on the vampire legends he heard while travelling the Balkans , and from this John Polidori created The Vampyre (1819), the progenitor of the romantic vampire literary genre. Thus two seminal horror tales originated from
11655-464: Was published by Markus Ayrer, which is most notable for its woodcut imagery. The alleged serial-killer sprees of Gilles de Rais have been seen as the inspiration for " Bluebeard ". The motif of the vampiress is most notably derived from the real-life noblewoman and murderer, Elizabeth Bathory , and helped usher in the emergence of horror fiction in the 18th century, such as through László Turóczi's 1729 book Tragica Historia . The 18th century saw
11766-401: Was published in an edition of just 500 copies in three volumes, the standard " triple-decker " format for 19th-century first editions. A French translation ( Frankenstein: ou le Prométhée Moderne , translated by Jules Saladin) appeared as early as 1821. The second English edition of Frankenstein was published on 11 August 1823 in two volumes (by G. and W. B. Whittaker) following the success of
11877-491: Was the Titan who created humans in the image of the gods so that they could have a spirit breathed into them at the behest of Zeus . Prometheus then taught humans to hunt, but after he tricked Zeus into accepting "poor-quality offerings" from humans, Zeus kept fire from humankind. Prometheus took back the fire from Zeus to give to humanity. When Zeus discovered this, he sentenced Prometheus to be eternally punished by fixing him to
11988-590: Was the doing of the Creature; Justine is hanged. Ravaged by grief and guilt, Victor takes up mountain climbing in the Alps . While hiking through Mont Blanc 's Mer de Glace , he is suddenly approached by the Creature, who insists that Victor hear his tale. Intelligent and articulate, the Creature relates his first days of life, living alone in the wilderness. He found that people were afraid of him and hated him due to his appearance, which led him to fear and hide from them. While living in an abandoned structure connected to
12099-435: Was the only person with a responsibility to help him. On the journey, he rescued a child who had fallen into a river, but her father, believing that the Creature intended to harm them, shot him in the shoulder. The Creature then swore revenge against all humans. He travelled to Geneva using details from a combination of Victor's journal and geography lessons gleaned from the family. When in Switzerland he chanced upon William, who
12210-691: Was the site of a scandal involving gravediggers in 1606, and this has been suggested as an inspiration to the author. Finally, the name is borne by the aristocratic House of Franckenstein from Franconia . Radu Florescu argued that Mary and Percy Shelley visited Frankenstein Castle near Darmstadt in 1814, where alchemist Johann Konrad Dippel had experimented with human bodies, and reasoned that Mary suppressed mention of her visit to maintain her public claim of originality. A literary essay by A.J. Day supports Florescu's position that Mary Shelley knew of and visited Frankenstein Castle before writing her debut novel. Day includes details of an alleged description of
12321-631: Was written by women and marketed towards a female audience, a typical scenario of the novels being a resourceful female menaced in a gloomy castle. The Gothic tradition blossomed into the genre that modern readers today call horror literature in the 19th century. Influential works and characters that continue resonating in fiction and film today saw their genesis in the Brothers Grimm 's " Hänsel und Gretel " (1812), Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), John Polidori 's " The Vampyre " (1819), Charles Maturin 's Melmoth
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