Expert: Mark Smith - 2/21/2010

Question
Comparing Mary Shelley's monster as a metaphor to a person, event, development, or a process  between the times of 1789-1850?   and Napoleon cant be an answer

Answer
Hello Clorissa.
This is more of a literature question rather than history, but I'll give you my opinion anyway. I've always thought it was a story about the relentless progress of science and the dangers therein. At the time of writing vivisection was a major topic and the reanimation of corpses by stimulation with electricity was often a public event with people being invited to watch.
Alternatively we may be reading too much into it, Mary Shelley said she intended it to be simply a horror story with no hidden meaning.
Mark