In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or the Modern
Prometheus, Victor Frankenstein leaves his home to attend school. He begins
by listening to lectures of different professors with ideas that are diametrically
opposed to one another. One of Victor's favorite instructors is Waldman, who opens a new
world of thought to Victor, however in retrospect, Victor recalls that these lectures
set him on his path to self-destruction.
Victor studies a
great many subjects, including philosophy. Ultimately, he begins to study death as it
relates to life and the animation of flesh. He visits charnel-houses, where the dead are
kept, and even graveyards. However, to achieve his purpose, he must conduct his
experiences with the utmost secrecy: playing "God" is not a welcomed activity at the
university.
Victor sets up a laboratory of sorts. He lives
in a house, and on the top floor of that house, in what he describes as a chamber or a
"cell," he keeps his "workshop of filthy creation" which is carefully separated from the
rest of the house. It is in this place that he brings the fruits of his labors in
gathering materials for his experiments: bones, flesh and body
parts.
Also in his work
area:
I
collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into
the lifeless thing that lay at my
feet.
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