《科學怪人》描述天才科學家Victor Frankenstein透過實驗賦予死屍生命。他以為自己成功創造了完美的作品，但事實上卻是個醜陋的怪物。找不到容身之處的怪物決定對Victor和人類展開殘暴的復仇。 《科學怪人》自1818年首度出版以來受到的評價兩極。但在20世紀中期後廣受好評，除了被認為是有史以來第一部科幻小說外，也被視為浪漫主義文學中非常重要的作品，對於現代各個創作領域有深厚的影響。 “I read [Frankenstein] in one sitting, and by the end of it, I was weeping. It was my Road to Damascus. It illuminated the reason I loved monsters, my kinship with them, and showed me how deep, how life-changing, a monster parable could be―how it could function as art and how it could reach across distance and time and become a palliative to solitude and pain. … The exquisite Via Crucis [Shelley] crafted for her creature speaks to all outsiders and will continue to do so for centuries to come.” ― Guillermo del Toro