Victor Frankenstein spends his youth obsessed with alchemy. As he grows older, he develops an interest in chemistry and electricity.
After his mother dies of scarlet fever, he leaves home to join the University of Ingolstadt.
There, he discovers a new way to create life — bringing to life a grotesque humanoid creature. Horrified by his creation, he flees in terror. When he returns, the creature is gone.
The creature wanders, discovers fire, and learns to avoid humans, who recoil at his appearance.
Observing a family from hiding, he teaches himself to speak and write. But when the family discovers him, it reacts with horror and chases him away.
Later, he saves a young girl from drowning, only to be shot at by her father, who mistakes his rescue for an attack.
Consumed by rage for humanity, the creature returns to Geneva searching for Frankenstein but encounters his younger brother, William, and kills him…
The rest of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Mary Shelley’s 1818 Gothic novel, is well known.
A senior banker recently said to me that the financial industry has created many such creatures.
Obsessed with boosting fee-based income by aggressively selling mutual funds and insurance policies at bank branches, banks played the role of Frankenstein.
By the time they realised their mistake, the damage was done.