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Frankenstein in English

Mary Shelley
originalC2languageBritish English · Regency · 1818genreGothic & mysteryvibeDarkScienceAmbitionaudioUSUK

A scientist creates a living being, runs away from it, and has to face what he made.

The book is a story inside a story inside a story. It opens with letters from a polar explorer, who meets Victor on the ice; most of the book is Victor's own account of how he made the creature and what followed. In the middle of that account the creature speaks for himself at length, and then the frame closes again. The pace is steady rather than fast: long, thoughtful stretches of narration, interrupted by a few violent events. The language is formal early-19th-century prose with long, balanced sentences, rhetorical questions and plenty of strong feeling.

You will like it if
  • you like gothic stories that are about ideas as well as fear
  • you want to read the original behind the famous image
  • you enjoy a story told by several narrators
  • you are interested in questions about science and responsibility
You will not if
  • you want a fast horror story, because most of the book is reflection and conversation
  • the opening letters feel slow before the main story starts
  • long, formal sentences and old-fashioned vocabulary tire you
  • you expect the monster from the films: the book's creature is very different

What kind of book“Frankenstein” is

Versions of “Frankenstein” in English: B1

Same book, adapted to a level you can read without stopping

Pick a version. The bar at the foot of the page opens the one you pick.

levelA1–A2B1–B2C1–C2unbandedunique wordswords per sentencepagesaudiobook

Vocabulary by level

  • A1 59%
  • A2 17%
  • B1 10%
  • B2 6%
  • not in dictionary 4%

A sample from “Frankenstein” in English

One passage, the way each version writes it.

Tap any word — we will show the translation

C1.2191 words

When my guest had recovered a little, I had great difficulty keeping the men away. They wished to ask him a thousand questions. But I would not let their idle curiosity trouble him. His body and mind clearly needed complete rest to recover. Once, however, the lieutenant asked why he had come so far across the ice in such a strange vehicle.

His face immediately took on an expression of the deepest sadness, and he replied, “To seek someone who fled from me.”

“And did the man you were pursuing travel in the same way?”

“Yes.”

“Then I think we have seen him. The day before we picked you up, we saw some dogs pulling a sledge across the ice, with a man in it.”

This caught the stranger’s attention. He asked many questions about the route taken by the daemon (an older spelling of demon, used as an angry name for someone thought evil), as he called him. Soon afterwards, when he was alone with me, he said, “I have certainly stirred your curiosity, as well as that of these good people. But you are too thoughtful to ask questions.”

B1.7198 words

My guest was a little better. I had much trouble keeping the men away. They wished to ask him a thousand questions. But I would not let them trouble him with their useless questions. His body and mind clearly needed full rest. Once, however, my officer asked a question. “Why did you come so far on the ice in so strange a carriage?”

His face at once grew very dark and sad. He replied, “To seek one who ran away from me.”

“And did the man you followed travel in the same way?”

“Yes.”

“Then I think we have seen him. One day before we found you, we saw some dogs. They were pulling a sledge (A vehicle on runners that slides over snow or ice) with a man in it across the ice.”

This woke the stranger’s attention. He asked many questions about the road the daemon (an older spelling of demon, used here as an angry name) had taken. He called him that. Soon after he was alone with me. He said, “I have surely woken your curiosity. I have woken the curiosity of these good people too. But you are too kind to ask questions.”

The same passage at different levelsContinue in the reader

The original language of “Frankenstein” and what it gives you

How hard the language is C2

Most of the words are simple, with 59% in the A1 band and another 17% in A2, and only 7% fall beyond the 5,000 most frequent words. The difficulty is in the sentences: they average 22.5 words and are long, balanced and often full of subordinate clauses. Add formal Latinate vocabulary and 4% of words that a modern dictionary does not cover, and our measurement puts the original at C2. Expect to read slowly, even if you know most of the individual words.

What this means in practice: Simple words in long, formal sentences: a hard read even for strong learners, and a good reason to start with an adaptation.

What to be ready for

Regency prose. The English is formal British prose of 1818, with long, balanced sentences, exclamations and rhetorical questions.
Latinate words. The book prefers words such as commence, countenance, endeavour and peruse where modern English would say start, face, try and read.
Thee and thou. These old forms appear mainly in solemn address, in curses and in quoted verse, not in ordinary conversation.
Nested narrators. Letters, a long spoken confession and a story told inside it all use the same elevated register, with no dialect to tell the speakers apart.

How to read it and not quit

  • Find the main subject and verb first. In long sentences the clauses are stacked around them with commas and semicolons, and the verb can come late.
  • Learn the Latinate words that are rare today, such as countenance (face), endeavour (try) and peruse (read carefully); the same ideas are expressed in shorter words in modern English.
  • Check the articles and relative clauses: the nineteenth-century style uses which, whom and whose in long chains, and a missed the or a can hide who is being talked about.
  • Keep track of who is speaking. Past perfect and reported speech move you between narrators, and the changes are marked only by the context.

Contents of “Frankenstein” · 32 chapters

  1. Introductionpage 1
  2. Prefacepage 10
  3. Dedicationpage 12
  4. Epigraphpage 12
  5. Letter Ipage 12
  6. Letter IIpage 17
All 32 chapters
  1. Letter IIIpage 21
  2. Letter IVpage 23
  3. Chapter Ipage 32
  4. Chapter IIpage 38
  5. Chapter IIIpage 46
  6. Chapter IVpage 56
  7. Chapter Vpage 64
  8. Chapter VIpage 73
  9. Chapter VIIpage 82
  10. Chapter VII (continued)page 89
  11. Chapter VIIIpage 95
  12. Chapter IXpage 106
  13. Chapter Xpage 115
  14. Chapter XIpage 123
  15. Chapter XIIpage 134
  16. Chapter XIIIpage 141
  17. Chapter XIVpage 149
  18. Chapter XVpage 155
  19. Chapter XVIpage 166
  20. Chapter XVIIpage 178
  21. Chapter XVIIIpage 185
  22. Chapter XIXpage 195
  23. Chapter XXpage 204
  24. Chapter XX (continued)page 210
  25. Chapter XXIpage 216
  26. Chapter XXI (continued)page 223
  27. Chapter XXIIpage 230
  28. Chapter XXIIIpage 242
  29. Chapter XXIVpage 252
  30. Chapter XXIV (continued)page 262
  31. Chapter XXIV (continued)page 270

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The story of “Frankenstein”

  1. A ghost-story contest at Lake Geneva

    During a wet summer near Geneva, Mary Godwin (later Shelley), then eighteen, began the story after Lord Byron proposed that each of the company write a ghost story.

    Mary Shelley, Introduction to the 1831 edition

  2. Anonymous first edition

    Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus appeared in three volumes on 1 January 1818, unsigned and with a preface by Percy Bysshe Shelley, so that many reviewers assumed he was the author.

    Title page of the 1818 first edition

  3. Second edition names the author

    A second edition prepared with help from her father, William Godwin, carried Mary Shelley's name for the first time.

  4. First stage adaptation

    Richard Brinsley Peake's play Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein opened in London and began the long stage life of the story; Mary Shelley attended a performance.

  5. Revised one-volume edition

    Shelley heavily revised the text for the Standard Novels series and added a new introduction describing how the story came to her; this edition became the standard text for a century.

    Mary Shelley, Introduction to the 1831 edition

In culture “Frankenstein”

10 adaptations and mentions, 1818–2011

  1. In the language Frankenstein

    The name came to mean any creation that escapes its maker's control and turns on him, even though it belongs to the scientist rather than the creature he made.

  2. Stage Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein

    Peake's London melodrama first gave the creature a mute, menacing stage presence, an image that later films would reuse.

  3. Film Frankenstein (James Whale)

    Universal's film with Boris Karloff and makeup by Jack Pierce fixed the flat-headed, bolted monster that most people now picture, far from the novel's articulate creature.

  4. Series The Munsters

    The American sitcom turned the Universal monster into the gentle father of a family, showing how fully the figure had become folklore.

  5. Music "Frankenstein" (The Edgar Winter Group)

    The instrumental hit, reportedly built from spliced pieces of tape, took its name from the idea of assembling something new from parts.

  6. Stage The Rocky Horror Show

    Richard O'Brien's musical made Dr Frank-N-Furter a flamboyant creator of an artificial man and became one of theatre's longest-lasting cult shows.

  7. Film Young Frankenstein

    Mel Brooks's black-and-white parody affectionately mocked the 1930s Universal films and became a comedy classic.

  8. Art Bernie Wrightson's illustrated Frankenstein

    Wrightson's detailed pen-and-ink drawings, produced over several years, are among the best-known illustrations of the novel.

  9. Stage Frankenstein (National Theatre)

    Danny Boyle's production, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternating the roles of Victor and the Creature, returned the story to the creature's point of view.

  10. In the language Frankenfood

    Coined in the early 1990s for genetically modified food, it shows how the novel became the default warning image for scientific overreach.

Questions and answers about “Frankenstein” in English

Is Frankenstein the monster or the scientist?

Frankenstein is the scientist, Victor Frankenstein. The creature never gets a name in the book; he is called the creature, the monster or the wretch. The mix-up comes from the films, which often called the monster Frankenstein.

Does the monster in the book look like the one in the films?

No. The green skin, flat head and neck bolts come from the 1931 film. In the book he is described as unnaturally tall, with yellow skin and watery eyes, and what horrifies people is how he looks, not a costume.

Can the creature talk in the book?

Yes, and well. He teaches himself to speak and read by listening to a family from hiding, and he gives a long and articulate account of his life. This is one of the biggest differences from the films, where he usually grunts.

Is Frankenstein based on a true story?

No. It came out of a ghost-story challenge among friends in the summer of 1816. Scientific experiments with electricity were a hot topic at the time, which is the background of the book's questions.

Does the book explain how the creature is made?

No. Victor talks about collecting materials and working in secret, but he never gives details of the method on purpose. The book is much more interested in what happens after the creature is alive.

Who is the real monster in Frankenstein?

The book leaves it open, and that is why people argue about it. The creature does terrible things, but they follow rejection and loneliness, and Victor abandons what he made. How the story ends is for you to read.

Is Frankenstein a horror story or science fiction?

It is both, and many call it the first science fiction novel. The mood is gothic and sad rather than frightening: there are a few violent scenes, but much of the book is reflection and argument.

Is the book hard to read in English?

Yes. Most of the words are simple, but the sentences are long and formal, and the 1818 style is far from modern speech. It is a book that rewards slow reading, and many learners start with an adaptation.

Which part do readers give up on?

Most often the opening letters, which are slow and set the stage rather than start the story. Once Victor begins his own account the book picks up, and the creature's chapters in the middle are usually the strongest part.

Do the films keep to the book?

Most do not. They tend to follow the 1931 image of a speechless monster, drop the framing letters, and change the ending. If you know only the films, the book is a different experience.

In brief about “Frankenstein”

17 fields of imprint data and measured text characteristics. All of it checkable.

Original title
Frankenstein
Author
Mary Shelley
First published
1818
Original language
English
Genre
Gothic & mystery · Classics · Science fiction
Mood
Dark
Themes
Science · Ambition · Guilt · Identity
Setting
Geneva and the Swiss Alps, the German university town of Ingolstadt, parts of Britain and Ireland, and the frozen Arctic · The late 1700s (the opening letters are dated "17—")
Distinct words
7,015
Words per sentence
23 words
Level of the original
C2
Versions
C2, C1.2, B1.7
Length of the original
33 ch. · 77,832 words
Reading time
~7 h 10 min
Source text
Standard Ebooks
Rights
CC0 1.0 Universal (Public Domain Dedication)
Download
EPUB

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