Gothic Literature

Introduction to Mary Shelley and Frankenstein

Origin

• Developed in the late eighteenth-century and is devoted primarily to stories of horror, the fantastic, and the “darker” supernatural forces.

• The English Gothic novel originated with the publication of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1765), which Walpole called a “Gothic story”.

Background

• The word “Gothic” derives from “Goth,” the name of one of the barbaric Germanic tribes that invaded the Roman Empire.

• Gothic literature derives its name from its similarities to the Gothic medieval cathedrals, which featured majestic, unrestrained architectural style with often savage or grotesque ornamentation.

Style

• Gothic literature focuses on humanity’s fascination with the grotesque, the unknown, and the frightening.

• The Gothic creates horror by portraying human individuals in confrontation with the overwhelming, mysterious, terrifying forces found in the cosmos and within themselves.

• Gothic literatures showcases the dilemma of duality – humans are divided in the conflict between opposing forces in the world and themselves.

Themes

• Human nature’s depravity

• Struggle between good and evil in the human soul

• Existence of unexplainable elements in humanity and the cosmos

Setting

• A castle, ruined or intact, haunted or not;• Ruined buildings which are sinister or which

arouse a pleasing melancholy;• Dungeons, underground passages, crypts, and

catacombs;• Labyrinth, dark corridors, and winding stairs;• Shadows, a beam of moonlight in the

blackness, a flickering candle;• Extreme landscapes, like rugged mountains,

thick forests, icy wastes, and extreme weather.

Motifs

• A motif is a repeated theme, image, or literary device.– Forbidden knowledge or power–Monster/satanic hero/fallen man–Multiple narrative/spiral narrative– Dreams/visions– Signs/Omens

Romanticism

• Artistic, literary, and intellectual movement.

• 18th to mid-19th century.

• During the Renaissance.

• People thought that people who lived during the Middle Ages were much happier than people who lived in their own time.

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Fighting Temerarie

Characteristics of Romanticism

• Interest in the common man and childhood

• Strong emotions, senses, and feelings

• Love of nature• Celebration of the

individual• Interested in the

supernatural, mythical, gothic, and exotic

• Attracted to rebellion• Emphasis on

introspectionThomas Cole – A Wild Scene

Mary Shelley

• Born in London August 30, 1797; Died February 1, 1851, at age 54 from a brain tumor.

• Assumed to be the 1st feminist author.

• Parents were thinkers, movers, and surrounded her with the greatest minds of the time.

Biography Continued

• At 16 she ran away with Percy Bysshe Shelley, a poet, who was already married.

• She wrote Frankenstein when she was 18.• Around that time, Percy’s wife committed

suicide, so Mary and Percy “reluctantly” married.• They moved to Italy to escape public scrutiny.• Two of their three children died in Italy.• When Mary was 24, Percy drowned. She never

remarried, despite numerous offers. She said she wanted her last child to keep his father’s name.

Origin of Frankenstein

• Vacationed with husband, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and Jane Claiment one summer on Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

• Unseasonably cold; for entertainment they would tell ghost stories.

• On June 15, 1816, they challenged each other with who could write the most terrifying story.

Frankenstein

• Frankenstein is based on life experiences, dreams, scientific research, and experiments of the time period.

• Scientists in the 1800’s were obsessed with bring the dead back to life.

• Shelley was fascinated with this idea and stayed current with the news.

Frankenstein

• Suffered nightmares in 1815 after her daughter died two weeks after birth.

• Repeatedly dreamed she brought her baby back to life by massaging her next to a warm fire.

• One June 15, 1816, she dreamed of “a pale student of unhallowed arts creates a living being from dead parts.” - Frankenstein

Frankenstein

• Shelley was the only one of the four to complete her tale of terror.

• Frankenstein was published in 1818, when she was 21.

• Though she wrote other works, none lived up to the popularity of her first.