In Mary Shelley's book Frankenstein, Shelley outlines the socio-economic issues of her time period as theorized by Karl Marx in his Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844. Marx believes that alienation of workers is rooted in the capitalistic system. He writes that alienation occurs because of a worker's lack of ability to express himself under the control of the bourgeoisie, the capitalist class that owns the means of production. Viewing Frankenstein through a Marxist lens, it becomes clear that Victor's shortcomings are due to his work on the monster. The industrial revolution, which was at its height while Shelley was writing, greatly expanded the gap between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, or the working class. "These working conditions, low wages, and increasing cost of living were only a part of the evils facing the proletariat" (Montag 368 as quoted in White 29). This gap gave the bourgeoisie an increasing amount of control over the proletariats. Shelley scrutinizes the bourgeoisie's alienation of the proletariats through her portrayal of Victor's work to create the monster. .
The theory of alienation, as described by Karl Marx's Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, is the separation of things that naturally belong to each other. Marx delineates this theory in four main points. First is the alienation of worker from his work. For example, this would involve a factory worker separating cotton for clothing but the owners of the factory gaining the profit from the sale of the product. Marx's second point is the alienation of the worker from working, meaning the worker gains no satisfaction from his work. An example of this is the same factory worker gaining no satisfaction from the monotonous task of separating the cotton day in and day out. Marx's third form of alienation is the worker's alienation from his species' being, or human nature. This involves a worker becoming driven to focus on a single task so much so, that the practical and emotional well being involved with the variety of life is denied.
