SUPERNATURAL STORIES
CREATED DURING
THE SUMMER OF 1816
Percy Bysshe Shelley
and the Revisions
made to"Frankenstein"
Revisions
Charles E. Robinson "The Frankenstein Notebooks"
Despite Byron suggesting they all compete and submit their own ghost stories, there appears to be no historical record or documentation of the story Percy Shelley wrote for the contest. So, instead we will look at the minor and major revisions he made to his wife's novel. Minor revisions include adding more detailed descriptions, however, the more major revisions include making the monster more human. For instance, Mary Shelley imagined the "fangs of the monster" were gripping Victor's neck, while Percy edited this to make it "fingers" instead of "fangs." In doing so, it significantly changes the way the reader views the monster. Percy Shelley also included implications that suggested that society had created the monster, Percy Shelley also had included scientific, and theoretical commentary due to his close relationship he had with his physician, William Lawrence. This relationship influenced Percy Shelley's own personal beliefs, and consequently affected the revisions he made to his wifes text.
Evidence of these revisions can be found in Charles E. Robinson's book, "The Original Frankenstein," which looks directly at the earliest surviving draft of the text. In doing so, Robinson bases his argument off of the differences in Mary and Percy Shelley's handwriting and argues that his contributions are about 5,000 out of 72,000 words, a considerable amount of editing. Robinson looks at the differences in voice, style, and their differences in thematics, and points out that while Mary's voice is more colloquial and fast-paced, Percy's is much less direct and consequently, is more descriptive. Robinson seems to suggest that perhaps Percy should be credited as the primary author of this text, however, it is clear that in current pop culture, his viewpoint is much less accepted by literary scholars.
This video not only focuses on the life of Mary Shelley and the differences between the two versions, but also offers insight to the revisions and influence Percy Shelley made to the text.