Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein , a young scientist who creates 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 , when she was Her name first appeared in the second edition, which was published in Paris in Shelley travelled through Europe in , moving along the river Rhine in Germany, and stopping in Gernsheim , 17 kilometres 11 mi away from Frankenstein Castle , where, about a century earlier, Johann Konrad Dippel , an alchemist , had engaged in experiments.
Galvanism and occult ideas were topics of conversation for her companions, particularly for her lover and future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley. Frankenstein is one of the best-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 a complete genre of horror stories, films, and plays.
Since the publication of the novel, the name "Frankenstein" has often been used to refer to the monster. Victor Frankenstein, son of an upper-class Genevese family, spends his youth obsessed with alchemy. As he grows older, he develops an interest in modern sciences such as chemistry and electricity. After his mother dies of scarlet fever , Victor leaves home to attend the University of Ingolstadt.
Through his studies, Victor discovers a new way to create life, which he uses to create a large and grotesque humanoid creature.
When the creature awakens, Victor flees in terror. He returns to find the creature gone. The newly conscious creature runs away, discovers fire, and learns to avoid humans, who find him frightening. He finds a hovel attached to a small house, which lets him observe a family while remaining unseen.
