Thunder, lightning and flickering candles. It sounds like the stuff of a horror story—and for Mary Shelley, it was. Mary Shelley, a mere 19 years old, amidst the gloom and cold of an 1816 summer, birthed a story that would transcend time: “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.” The tempestuous weather of that year was the backdrop for a tale of creation and hubris, born out of a challenge among literary greats.
The narrative of “Frankenstein” began strangely enough with an actual natural disaster. The eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 led to a “year without a summer,” inciting Famines, epidemics and political revolts. As Europe grappled with ash-covered skies and failing crops, Mary Shelley arrived at Lake Geneva, seeking a reprieve. Instead, she found herself confined indoors with a company of individuals whose intellectual and artistic prowess would influence her chilling masterpiece.
Mary traveled with her lover, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, their four-month-old baby and her stepsister, Claire Clairmont. With Claire carrying Lord Byron’s child, they gathered with the rest of the group at the Villa Diodati, the stately mansion Byron had rented for his stay along with John Polidori, his doctor.
The group faced terrible weather which kept them inside more often than not. It was during these extended indoor gatherings, under the tumult of storms, that discussions arose about the potential of galvanizing the dead, about the thin line between science and playing god—themes that would find their way into the sinews of “Frankenstein.”
The environment within the villa grew tense, with personal conflicts simmering. Byron was annoyed by Claire’s attempts to enchant him. One night, he issued a challenge to divert the group: to write a ghost story superior to any they had read. Polidori, inspired by a tale of Byron’s, would go on to pen “The Vampyre,” but it was Mary who conceived something wholly unique. She later recounted the moment inspiration struck: “I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out,” and from this vision, the foundations of “Frankenstein” were laid.
The next day, Mary had her answer to the challenge. In the subsequent novel, she channeled the eerie ambiance of Villa Diodati and the morbid conversations of the poets. The result was a novel that asked penetrating questions about the consequences of man’s pursuit of power and knowledge. It was a meditation inspired, perhaps, by “the hubris of the company she kept in Switzerland.”
“Frankenstein” was published in 1818, igniting a spark in the realm of literature and popular culture. But the lives of the vacationers did not end happily. Polidori committed suicide in 1821. Percy Shelley drowned during a freak storm in 1822, when he was just 29 years old.Byron died in 1824 after contracting a fever.
Relevant articles:
– A Stormy Genesis: The Youthful Mary Shelley and the Summer That Birthed Frankenstein