In the 19th century, while England’s wealthy ate in decadence before the rest of the famine infested country, Mary Shelley published Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus which gave form to her literary genius. In this gothic-romantic tale, a man must redeem himself, suffer through hunger, and fight despair as he hunts for his monster. Hunger and despair—both necessary consequences for redemption when mere mortals like Victor Frankenstein strive to be God. To achieve this purification, England believed in fasting and denial to pleasurable food and instead relied on spiritual fulfillment—so Victor must do the same on his journey to slay the beast. Mary Shelley uses hunger, coarse food, and self-restraint to mirror purification to a higher state
