Three Key Points from Marilyn Butler's Essay on Frankenstein

• The newsworthiness of Frankenstein resulted in the subjection of both author and text to outside pressures that had little to do with the aesthetics of the book, leading historians to believe that perhaps Shelley didn't wish to change the book.
• The novel ironically illustrates a very basic observation about parenting -- the medical mishaps to which the process of birth is subject to. Since Victor cannot accept his child, the monster turns on his own parent.
• For the later edition of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley adds a more remorseful and religious aspect to Victor Frankenstein, making it easier to sympathize with him. She also removed the interfamilial marriage aspect, in an attempt to silence the concerns of genetic problems.