Frankenstein can be read through just about any lens you want, from feminist (no women, no morals) to a critique of capitalism (the industrial age has gone too far and flouts the laws of nature) and, especially with the 1818 edition, it can be read through a biographical lens. I went into this as clueless as I could but it was not hard to see the anger and loneliness of the Creature as an abandoned child that Mary likely felt herself to be. It's so fascinating to see that this early sci-fi does what some of the best modern sci-fi does by reflecting back the worst aspects of its contemporary society by asking what really makes a monster?

I have so many swirling thoughts about this, so I will do my best to record them here but I may come back to edit/add. I read and recommend the 2018 Penguin edition (featuring the 1818 text) since the introduction is quite good and it comes with a selection of related writing (including some from Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Mary Shelley's personal correspondence).