Frankenstein

Modern Prometheus

Mary Shelley

Born in 1797 to William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft

Her mother died shortly(10 days?) after Mary was born

Shelley learned about her mother only through writings her mother left behind, including A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) which advocated that women should have the same educational opportunities and rights in society as men.

Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley's father was the writer and political journalist William Godwin, who became famous with his work An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793). Godwin had revolutionary attitudes concerning most social institutions, including marriage.

Mary Shelley

Avid reader and scholar; through her father, knew some of the most important men of the time (William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Mary published her first poem at the age of 10.

After her father remarried…

Young Mary's favorite retreat was Wollstonecraft's grave in the St. Pancras churchyard, where she went to read and write, and eventually, where she met her lover, Percy Shelley (1792–1822).

The Couple…

The Couple…

Mary was sixteen. Percy was twenty-one, married, with two children. Their emotional involvement was so strong that Percy threatened suicide when faced with separation.

In 1814 Percy abandoned his family; the couple renounced their parents, and they fled. They are known to have traveled down the Rhine River.

The summer of 1814 was dark and dreary all over Europe. Mary wrote “Frankenstein” as her entry in a ghost story competition.

Mary Shelley

On a visit in Switzerland with PBS to Lord Byron, she was challenged to write a story. She had heard Byron and Shelley discussing “the nature of the principle of life and whether there was any chance of its ever being discovered.” From this conversation, she had the “waking dream” which eventually became the novel Frankenstein.

About the Novel…

Mary Shelley started to write the book when she was 18.

The book was published in 1818; Mary Godwin Shelley was 21.

Tragedy and Success

Shelley's wife Harriet committed suicide by drowning.

Mary and Percy Shelley’s first child, a daughter, died in Venice, Italy, a few years later.

In HISTORY OF SIX WEEKS TOUR (1817) the couple jointly recorded their life.

Later, they returned to England, and Mary gave birth to a son, William.

Tragedy and Mary Shelley

In 1818 the Shelleys left England for Italy, where they remained until Percy Shelley's death

PBS drowned during a heavy squall on July 28, 1822, in the Bay of Spezia near Livorno.

In 1819 Mary suffered a nervous breakdown after the death of William - he died of malaria at the age of 3. Mary had also lost a daughter the previous year.

Continual Tragedy

In 1822 she had a dangerous miscarriage, and she believed that she would die.

Mary Shelley wrote to her friend Maria Gisborne about this loss and her husband's death, concluding the letter: "Well here is my story - the last story I shall have to tell - all that might have been bright in my life is now despoiled - I shall live to improve myself, to take care of my child, and render myself worthy to join him. Soon my weary pilgrimage will begin - I rest now - but soon I must leave Italy -".

Of their children, only one, Percy Florence, survived infancy.

The Rest of the Story

In 1823 Mary returned with her son to England, determined not to-re-marry.

She devoted herself to his welfare and education and continued her career as a professional writer.

Mary Shelley never remarried She died in 1851.

Works

None of Shelley's novels from this period matched the power of her first legendary achievement.

Her later works include LODORE (1835) and FAULKNER (1937), both romantic works, and unfinished MATHILDE (1819, published 1959), which draws on her relations with Godwin and Shelley.

VALPERGA (1823) is a romance set in the 14th-century, and THE LAST MAN (1826), set in the 21st century republican England, depicts the end of human civilization. Its second part describes the gradual destruction of the human race by plague.

Additional Works

HISTORY OF SIX WEEK'S TOUR, 1817 (with Percy Bysshe Shelley) FRANKENSTEIN; OR THE MODERN PROMETHEUS, 1818 (3 vols.) - Frankenstein: editor: POSTHUMOUS POEMS BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, 1824 THE LAST MAN, 1826 (3 vols.) THE FORTUNES OF PERKIN WARBECK, 1830 (3 vols.) LODORE, 1835 (3 vols.) FALKNER, 1837 (3 vols.) ESSAYS, LETTERS FROM ABROAD, 1840 (ed. by Percy Bysshe Shelley) RAMBLES IN GERMANY AND ITALY IN 1840, 1842 AND 1843, 1844 (2 vols.) THE CHOICE: A POEM ON SHELLEY'S DEATH, 1876 (ed. H. Buxton Forman) TALES AND SHORT STORIES, 1891 (ed. by Richard Garnett) LETTERS, MOSTLY UNPUBLISHED, 1918 (ed. by Henry H. Harper) PROSERPINE AND MIDAS, 1922 (ed. by André Henri Koszul) HARRIET AND MARY, 1944 (ed. by Walter Sidney Scott) LETTERS, 1944 (2 vols., ed. by Frederick L. Jones) SHELLEY'S POSTHUMOUS POEMS, 1969 (ed. by Irving Massey) COLLECTED TALES AND SHORT STORIES, 1976 (ed. by Charles E. Robinson) THE LETTERS OF MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY, 1983 (3 vols., ed. by Betty T. Bennett) JOURNALS OF MARY SHELLEY 1814-1844, 1987 (2 vols., ed. by Paula R. Feldman and Diana Scott-Kilvert) THE MARY SHELLEY READER, 1990 (ed. by Betty T. Bennett and Charles E. Robinson) SELECTED LETTERS OF MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY, 1995

Historical Context Ambiguous Walton’s letters dated “17-” with no

reference to anything specific to pinpoint the date. It is set in the later part of the 18th century, at the

end of the Enlightenment and the beginning of the Romantic period.

It critiques the excesses of the Enlightenment and introduces the beliefs of the Romantics.

Reflects a shift in social and political thought – from humans as creatures who use science and reason to shape and control their destiny to humans as creatures who rely on their emotions to determine what is right.

Ideas of the Enlightenment

Scientific observation of the outer world Logic and reason; science and technology Believed in following standards and

traditions Appreciated elegance and refinement Interested in maintaining the aristocracy Sought to follow and validate authority Favored a social hierarchy Nature should be controlled by humans

Important Revolutions

American and French Revolution (call for individual freedom and an overthrow of rigid social hierarchy)

Industrial Revolution – social system challenged by change from agricultural society to industrial one with a large, impoverished and restless working class

Characteristics of Romantic Period

Emphasis on imagination and emotion, individual passion and inspiration

Rejection of formal, upper class works and a preference for writing (poetry) that addresses personal experiences and emotions in simple language

A turn to the past or an inner dream world that is thought to be more picturesque and magical than the current world (industrial age)

Characteristics of Romantic Period

Belief in individual liberty; rebellious attitude against tyranny

Fascination with nature; perception of nature as transformative

Value of the individual

Characteristics of Romantic Period

Concerned with common people Favored democracy Desired radical change Nature should be untamed

Style: Gothic Novel

Frankenstein is generally categorized as a Gothic novel, a genre of fiction that uses gloomy settings and supernatural events to create an atmosphere of mystery and terror.

Shelley adds to her development of the plot the use of psychological realism, delving into the psyches of the characters in an attempt to explain why they react as they do and what motivates their decisions.

The Real Castle…

The Real Frankenstein

Johann Konrad Dippel 1673-1734, German theologian and alchemist, whose interest in alchemy led him to search for the elixir of life.

It is said that he was interested in creating artificial life.

He was also alleged to have practiced grave-robbing.

Dippel was so obsessed that he thought he was on the verge of a scientific breakthrough and would conquer death itself.

Dippel's Oil, a concoction of bones, blood, and other bodily fluids distilled in iron tubes and other alchemical equipment, was intended as the elixir of life.

He offered his formulas to the king in exchange for Castle Frankenstein.

It is said that Dippel signed his name "Frankenstein" after his place of residence.

Structure and Point of View

Epistolary – carried by letters

Frame Story

Major Characters: Victor Frankenstein

Protagonist, product of an idealistic Enlightenment education

Fueled by possibilities of science and a desire for acclaim

Becomes obsessed with creating life from spare body parts. Rational demeanor dissolves and by story’s end, consumed by primitive emotions of fear and hatred.

Major Characters: The Creature

Never named; is Victor’s doppelganger (alter ego)

Creature rationally analyzes the society that rejects him

Sympathetic character, admires people and wants to be a part of human society

Major Characters

Henry Clerval – Victor’s childhood friend; true romantic, wants to leave mark on the world, but never loses sight of what is moral

Elizabeth – adopted as an infant by Victor’s family; marries Victor

Robert Walton – Arctic explorer, obsessed with gaining knowledge and fame; rescues Victor in the Arctic; tells the story

Themes

Consequences of irresponsibility in the pursuit of knowledge

Consequences of pride Consequences of society’s rejection

of someone who is unattractive Destructive power of revenge Parent-child conflicts Sympathy

Other Literary Elements

Irony – 2 major ironies Creature is more sympathetic, more

imaginative, and more responsible to fellow creatures

Creature has many pleasing qualities but is an outcast because he is not physically attractive

Symbols

White/light= knowledge Water = knowledge Ice = danger Lightning = nature’s power Nature = acceptance, nuturing,

calm Mountains= sublime in nature

Antithesis-Contrasts of ideas, characters, themes, settings or moods

Victor/creation Passion/reason Natural/unnatural Known/unknown Civilized/savage

Masculine/feminine Beautiful/ugly Good/bad Light/dark Heat/cold

Allusion

Paradise Lost by John Milton – story of man’s fall from innocence to painful knowledge; Victor can be compared to Adam, Satan, and Eve

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, like narrator, tells story as a warning and a confession

Questions to Consider

Usually in a novel there is a protagonist with whom you might identify. With whom do you identify in this novel?Was Victor a Bad Scientist?Was the Creature a Monster or merely a pitiful Creature?Did you feel compassion for Victor or for the Creature?Why did Victor remain silent when others were threatened or killed?Compare and contrast Victor and the Creature.How does Walton's polar quest help to frame the book?Was Walton's quest similar to Victor's?What light does the biography of Mary Shelley shed on this novel?What was Mary Shelley's hideous progeny? The Creature or the novel?What are some major ways of understanding the Frankenstein story?What can we learn from this book? About science? About human

nature?