A Word to the Wise from Frankenstein's Grandfather

Creator confronts his creature in 1931.

By Dan Hagen

The English journalist, political philosopher and novelist William Godwin’s “Caleb Williams,” one of the earliest novels (1794), is cited as a precursor to the detective story.

In his “Detective Fiction, Charles J. Rzepka wrote, “Godwin intended to show how, given the current political situation, absolute power corrupts both those who exercise it and those upon whom it is exercised, turning the former into outright bullies or conscience-tormented hypocrites and the latter into obsequious toadies or celebrity-obsessed curiosity-seekers.” 

And this astute observation came from William Godwin, who was Frankenstein’s grandfather, no less.
Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose, eh?