It's been many years since I last read this, so when the opportunity to reread the 1818 edition (which I am told was softened for later printings, I took it. 
 In all honesty, there is little I can add to the many analyses of this book that have been composed over the years. So I will just mention a few things that struck me on this re-reading. 
 Henry Clerval wrote script form crossover fanfiction as a youth. And Victor Frankenstein performed in these plays. 
 Also, Victor was set on the path to his obsession with creating life partially by his father calling his reading material "trash" and dismissing it out of hand, rather than explaining why the book was outdated and misleading. 
 Victor is apparently an all-round awesome dude other than two important things. Captain Watson's descriptions of Frankenstein are fawning, and Victor's college professors were highly favorable in their opinions of the young man. 
 Those two important things are: 1) Abandoning his child just because it was ugly beyond the capacity of humans to describe. Not cool, Victor. Much of the tragedy of the novel could have been avoided if you'd been a proper parent. 
 2) Not telling anyone what he'd done or how it might affect people until far too late for it to do any good. And once Victor learns that bullets work just fine against the creature, Victor has no good excuse for not arming every member of his family, all the servants, and making sure the police have orders to shoot on sight. 
 And then there is Victor's son. M. Frankenstein (who never graduated college and thus did not get a doctorate) is deliberately vague about the creation process, except that it involves electricity somehow, and all the necessary apparatus can be packed in a steamer trunk to replicate the process in an abandoned shack in the Orkney Islands. So the big awakening scene is a couple of paragraphs, tops. 
 Yes, the creature is murderous. But it feels bad about being murderous, and every human it kills is specifically because of its feud with Victor, being that man's relatives or friends. Reading its tale, it's hard not to be sympathetic to the big fellow. However, cool motive, still murder. 
 Just Gothic novels things: The family the creature randomly decides to live next to has an elaborate backstory that could easily be its own novel. In that book, their interaction with the creature would be merely one exciting chapter. Warning: period religious prejudice, 
 While I can completely sympathize with the creature's desire for a mate, it's not healthy to expect a woman to fix all your emotional needs. Victor is alas correct to worry that the combined creatures might prove a menace. (He also seems sure they would be able to reproduce.) 
 This book does remain one of the classics, and is well worth reading for those interested in the history of horror and science fiction.