When one thinks of Dr. Frankenstein's monster being created most jump to images of lightening, a laboratory, and the cackles of a mad scientist. Yet to the surprise of some, the story of Frankenstein started with more than a simple idea for a story. The year of 1816 is when Mary Shelley first conceived the idea of her now well-known novel. Earlier before this however, there came an event which first created the "Haunted Summer". A powerful volcanic eruption from Mount Tambora had happened in April of 1815, quite possibly the largest in human history. Supposedly all the ash from the even scattered far around the world (2). This led to the sun being blocked and temperatures dropping around the globe. During the following summer Mary Godwin, soon to marry Percy Shelley her future husband, their son William, and Mary's step-sister Clare Clairmont all had been traveling near Geneva(1).
The troop of travelers checked into the "Hotel d'Angleterre" for a few days. Unfortunately, Shelley was under much stress at the time from emotional and financial difficulties that she had become
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| Hotel d'Angleterre (4) |
physically ill(1). In some of her diary entries she describes the days of this summer being wet and filled with rain which left them in the confines of their homes. Shortly after some days in the hotel, Clare suggested meeting up with a Lord Byron in Geneva. Despite her health not being the best, Mary agreed simply to meet the man.
While staying with Byron, who at the time was a well-known Romantic Poet, some volumes of ghost stories had
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| Copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula(5) |
found their way into their hands. Lord Byron suggested each write a story and tell it to the others. Due to the constant rain and gloomy atmosphere outside, they had almost become trapped with nothing else to do. This weather was very common throughout that summer due to the volcano's effects persisting(2). Byron's was a short tale of a vampire. This was not well read at the time but did aid a later author's inspiration for a similar tale. Byron's lesser-known tale would help give way to the more well-know Bram Stroker's
Dracula. He had created his story before Mary even thought of hers. She was having difficulty thinking of any kind of story to tell. Her companions weaved tales of ghosts and vampires, the living dead. Luckily, hearing the other's stories helped aid her creativity in the form of a dream.
One night while asleep Shelley got a dream. In the dream was a man standing over a table with instruments of medicine strung all about a vacant and dark room. She walked to the table and gazed at what this man was working on. As Shelley looked down onto the table, she took in a sight of some
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| Image of Mary Shelley (3) |
lifeless thing laying on the structure. There was a clear intent of the man, to bring life back into this empty husk of a thing. The following evening either November 17th or 18th of June, unfortunately her diary was not clear, she read the story of her dream to her friends(1). She would later call this story her "hideous progeny" or otherwise known as
Frankenstein.
The entirety of the year gave various parts to the story Mary Shelley is known for creating today. Like the creature itself, not just one source contributed to the creation of Frankenstein. High emotions from Shelley's person life made her feel trapped and excluded such as both Victor and his creation. An entire summer with little to no sun and a very gloomy atmosphere was like many gothic novels at the time. Mary Shelley could easily poor her own senses and emotions of isolation and depressive surroundings into her novel. Listening the stories of her peers about living dead and conducting life into once lifeless beings sparked the idea of going beyond a ghost or a vampire. Her story would do what theirs did not, fully create life for something once dead.
Work Cited
(1) Jackson Kevin. "The haunted summer of 1816". Prospect Magazine, 17 May 2016 https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/arts-and-books/sumer-1816-frankenstein-shelley-byron-villa-diodati
(2) Andrews Evan. "What was the 'Year Without a Summer'". History, 19 August 2015 https://www.history.com/news/what-was-the-year-without-a-summer
Image Citations
(3) Marriott Laura. "Walking Dreams And Cadavers | Mary Shelley's Frankenstein". HeadStuff, 15 June 2017 https://headstuff.org/culture/history/waking-dreams-mary-shelley-frankenstein/
(4) "Summer of 1816". Wikipedia, https://mary-shelley.fandom.com/wiki/Summer_of_1816
(5) Quartermain Colin. "Plot Summary of Bram Stoker's Dracula". HubPages, 10 March 2018 https://discover.hubpages.com/literature/Plot-Summary-of-Bram-Stokers-Dracula
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