When Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, she was inspired by a number of factors.
First, she was fascinated by the idea of creating life. In fact, it was this fascination that led her to write Frankenstein in the first place! She was interested in exploring the dark side of human nature, as well as its potential for good. She was inspired by the work of her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley. He had written a poem called “Ozymandias” that intrigued her greatly—it contained a line about how nothing on earth remains unchanged for long, including “the mighty conqueror.” This line inspired Mary’s thinking when she began writing Frankenstein: she wanted to explore how people would react if they found out that someone had created life from dead body parts. Finally, Mary Shelley was influenced by the Gothic genre: this is a form of literature characterized by mystery and horror, which fits perfectly with what we now consider science fiction—a genre in which authors often speculate about what might happen if technology takes us beyond our current capabilities or understanding.
Finally, Mary Shelley was motivated by a desire to warn people about the dangers of science.
