https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/mary-shelley/frankenstein
Sharing another book that is free to download and own, depending on your local public domain laws. Enjoy!
"Mary Shelley (then Godwin) and Percy Bysshe Shelley were visiting their friend Lord Byron in Geneva one rainy summer. With the weather against them, they decided to spend their time writing ghost stories for each other. Frankenstein is Mary Shelley’s submission to their contest, later published anonymously in 1818.
I “reread” this a couple of years ago, only to discover I was reading it for the first time. Though the letter writing framing is a personal annoyance, the author drops out of that narrative style pretty quickly. Some other stuff may seem like tropes, but keep in mind that Shelley pioneered many of those tropes.
minor spoilers below.
The thing that stuck out to me was that the Monster was truly evil and didn’t deserve any sympathy. I know that contradicts the text of the book, but it’s true. The monster knows only pain and suffering, but it’s solution is to create another to suffer just as he has.
In the Ice cave scene, the monster specifically requests that his “bride” be made hideous so that she’d have no other option than companionship with the monster. The doctor doubts that the “bride” can be so easily controlled. These are the only times in the book where the “bride’s” agency is considered.
No, the monster isn’t a tragic hero, it’s a twisted incel who demands his government girlfriend.