The aim of this essay is to analyse the theme of alienation in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and to present evidence that support the essay's purpose. The essay is divided into four chapters. The first chapter contains an introduction to the history of the gothic novel, and Frankenstein’s place within it, and furthermore it also tells in short the life of Mary Shelley, and the genesis of the novel. The second chapter analyses the theme of alienation in the three main characters of Victor Frankenstein, the monster, and Robert Walton. The third chapter deals with how the author uses a variety of meeting places as a method to demonstrate the character’s alienation. Finally the fourth chapter deals with the issue of borderlines which the theme of alienation also can be linked to. Overall, the analysis shows that the theme of alienation is repeated during the whole novel, and that alienation is the common denominator between the three main characters. It also reveals that the characters in Frankenstein are all victums of alienation and loneliness. Mary Shelley presents society from the viewpoint of the weak and the poor via the monster, and is really questioning what it means to be a human being.