Konrad Dippel, Who?

Before Percy and Mary and John and George eloped that fateful trip to Lake Geneva, (which you can read about in my post earlier this month) it is believed that Frankenstein, the science fiction bestseller of centuries to come, had already been brewing in Mary Shelly, nee Wollstonecraft's head. 

Johann Konrad Dippel

In Gary Dexter's post about Mary Shelly's original ideas of Frankenstein, a name Konrad Dippel was mentioned. Johann Konrad Dippel, German Pietist theologian, physician, alchemist, and, altogether an odd fella who got charged of tomb robbery. He was known for doing eccentric experiments with animal parts in his estate, which was named, wait for it, CASTLE FRANKENSTEIN! Percy and Mary Shelly took a trip across Europe before they officially became a couple, during which they took in a glimpse of a half ruined Castle Frankenstein, destroyed due to Dippel's failed attempts in creating elixir of life, an occupation and a lifelong pursuit picked up by most alchemists at the time.

Konrad Dippel (1673-1734), also known as Dippel Franckensteina (Dippel of Frankenstein), who in the early eighteenth century had conducted experiments on animal bones and had been expelled from Strasbourg University after an accusation of grave-robbing. Dippel was an alchemist, and had produced an Arcanum chymicum (a secret substance, possibly an 'elixir of life') which he offered to the Landgrave of Hesse in return for being restored to his family estates. As it happened, the Shelley party met three students from the University of Strasbourg around the date of the mooring near Gernsheim, and it is possible that the castle, and its legend, came up as a topic of conversation.

----from Gary Dexer's How Frankenstein Got Its Name

Now, we can almost make the statement that Victor Frankenstein is based on Johann Konrad Dippel, the alchemist who got on an air of mysteriousness and wickedness because a lack of understanding of science back in early 18th century. In 19th century when Mary Shelly wrote the story, the whole thing was still shocking to the public and was automatically conceived as a creation of fantasy. Indeed the idea of the creation of life dazzles us, and an early understanding of electricity and evolution made it possible for the story to come into being. Mary, for one, was surely fascinated by the life of Dippel. With her youthful curiosity and boundless imagination, we now have the wealth of an iconoclastic piece of literature.

Frankenstein Castle

Dexter's blog, which I found extremely interesting, is devoted to providing background information on how books got their names.