Frankenstein

or The Modern Prometheus

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Frankenstein?

Why is there such controversy over cloning?

What is man’s biggest fear?

Mary Shelley (1797-1851)

Born: Somers Town, England

Parents: feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and philosopher William Godwin.

Mom had an affair with a military captain which resulted in her first child, Fanny.  Soldier abandoned them. Mom attempted suicide.  Later met Godwin, had an affair.  Got pregnant again (w/ Mary) and they married to legitimate both kids

Wollstonecraft dies as the result of Mary's birth. Mary is then raised by her resentful father and an evil stepmother

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 as rights in society as men.

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

a lot of famous writers traced through their house-friends of her father (Percy Shelley, Coleridge, Charles Lamb)

When she was 9, she and her stepsister hid under a sofa to hear Samuel Taylor Coleridge recite “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, a poem which influenced her when writing Frankenstein

Dad remarries, Mary Jane Clairmont—mean woman

       -Clairmont tried to train Mary in the “womanly arts” but all Mary would do was read and write

  In her young teens Clairmont sends Mary

to live at Ramsgate with a Miss Petman.  While there took some time off to travel to Scotland with a friend of the family

 

-Returned home, a woman.  Became close with her father who she regularly talked Philosophy with.

 

-While spending time at home Mary is reintroduced to Percy Bysshe Shelley (a friend/follower of her father).  Percy is married, but they still fall in love (similar intellects) 

-Father is outraged, but Shelley and Mary eventually run away together with the help of Fanny (Mary 16, Percy 21)

-Life is tough for Mary & Percy.  Short on $-living in London

-Percy’s wife, Harriet, bares him a belated son

-Percy’s friend falls in love with Mary

-Mary gets pregnant-has a daughter, who dies

-Fanny commits suicide

-Both are able to write and live as they please

On a visit in Switzerland with PBS, Lord Byron, his mistress and his doctor, Polidori, she was challenged to write a “ghost” 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.

Frankenstein is the only story of the four that was ever published as a novel.

Polidori wrote "The Vampyre," which is considered the first modern vampire story. The story was first published in the April 1819 issue of New Monthly Magazine, mistakenly under the name of Lord Byron.

In November, Harriet drowns herself: Percy and Mary marry in December 1816.

Young Mary Shelley, at age 17, miscarried her first baby. She later wrote in a letter to friend Leigh Hunt.... "I dreamt that my little baby came to life again...that it had only been cold, and that we rubbed it before the fire, and it lived. Awake and find no baby. I think about the little thing all day. Not in good spirits."

The last years of married life are filled with disaster for Mary. Her half sister dies as does another of her children. Mary becomes depressed, a tendency she probably inherited from her mother. She is only partly relieved by the birth of Percy, their only surviving child.

Mary and Percy eventually move to Italy where Percy drowns during a sailing trip in 1822. Mary is determined to keep the memory of her late husband alive. She publishes several editions of Percy's writings and adds notes and prefaces to them.

Lord Byron found Percy's body washed up on the shore of an Italian beach. Due to plague restrictions, the body must be burned on the beach. Percy's heart, however, refused to burn. Byron gave Mary the heart, and she kept it wrapped up in a copy of a poem Percy had written upon the death of his friend, John Keats.

Mary continued to write her own novels, the most famous one being The Last Man (1826). This book deals with human isolation just as her earlier novel Frankenstein did. She writes numerous short stories and contributes biographical and critical studies to the Cabinet Cyclopædia.

The last years of her life were spent in the company of her son and two good friends. She tried very hard to free herself from the strains put on her by being the daughter and wife of such well-known people.

Mary Shelley died in 1851 at the age of fifty-three of a brain tumor.

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

reference to anything specific to pinpoint the date. It is set in the latter 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

RomanticismDefinition: A movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that marked the reaction in literature, philosophy, art, religion, and politics to the formalism of the preceding (Neoclassic) period. The Neoclassic period valued reason, formal rules, and demanded order in beauty.

Visual Arts: Examples

Neoclassical ArtRomantic Art

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

Characteristics of Romantic Period Concerned with common people Favored democracy Desired radical change Nature should be untamed

RomanticismCharacteristics:The predominance of imagination over reason and formal rules Primitivism Love of nature An interest in the past Mysticism

Individualism Idealization of rural life Enthusiasm for the wild, irregular, or grotesque in

nature Enthusiasm for the uncivilized or “natural” Interest in human rights Sentimentality Melancholy Interest in the gothic

Supernatural And Gothic Literary Themes

Supernatural motifs appear throughout literature but are most prominent in the literary genre labeled "Gothic," which 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." Frankenstein belongs specifically to the Gothic genre.

Like Gothic architecture, Gothic literature focuses on humanity’s fascination with the grotesque, the unknown, and the frightening, inexplicable aspects of the universe and the human soul. The Gothic "relates the individual to the infinite universe" (Varma 16) and creates horror by portraying human individuals in confrontation with the overwhelming, mysterious, terrifying forces found in the cosmos and within themselves. Gothic literature pictures the human condition as an ambiguous mixture of good and evil powers that cannot be understood completely by human reason.

Thus, the Gothic perspective conceives of the human condition as a paradox, a dilemma of duality—humans are divided in the conflict between opposing forces in the world and in themselves.

The Gothic themes of human nature’s depravity, the struggle between good and evil in the human soul, and the existence of unexplainable elements in humanity and the cosmos, are prominent themes in Frankenstein.

Style: Gothic Novel Frankenstein is generally categorized as a Gothic

novel, a genre of fiction that uses gloomy settings and supernatural events to create and 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 drives them to make their decisions.

Supernatural/Gothic Literary Motifs

A motif is a repeated theme, image, or literary device. Look for these

common supernatural/Gothic motifs

in Frankenstein.

The Double or Doppelganger (German for "double-goer"):

Defined by Federick S. Frank as "a second self or alternate identity, sometimes, but not always, a physical twin. The Doppelganger in demonic form can be a reciprocal or lower bestial self or a Mr. Hyde. Gothic doppelgangers often haunt and threaten the rational psyche of the victim to whom they become attached" (435).

The double motif involves a comparison or contrast between two characters or sets of characters within a work to represent opposing forces in human nature.

The double motif suggests that humans are burdened with a dual nature, a soul forever divided.

Double characters are often paired in common relationships, such as twins, siblings, husband/wife, parent/child, hero/villain, creator/creature, etc.

Forbidden Knowledge or Power/ Faust Motif:

Forbidden Knowledge or Power/ Faust Motif:

Forbidden knowledge/power is often the Gothic protagonist’s goal. The Gothic "hero" questions the universe’s ambiguous nature and tries to comprehend and control those supernatural powers that mortals cannot understand. He tries to overcome human limitations and make himself into a "god." This ambition usually leads to the hero’s "fall" or destruction; however, Gothic tales of ambition sometimes paradoxically evoke our admiration because they picture individuals with the courage to defy fate and cosmic forces in an attempt to transcend the mundane to the eternal and sublime.

Monster/Satanic Hero/Fallen Man:

The courageous search for forbidden knowledge or power always leads the hero to a fall, a corruption, or destruc- tion, such as Satan’s or Adam’s fall. Consequently, the hero in Gothic literature is often a "villain." The hero is isolated from others by his fall and either becomes a monster or confronts a monster who is his double. He becomes a "Satanic hero" if, like Satan, he has courageously defied the rules of God’s universe and has tried to transform himself into a god. Note: the mad scientist, who tries to transcend human limitations through science, is a type of Satanic hero that is popular in Gothic literature (examples include Dr. Jekyll and Frankenstein).

Multiple Narrative/Spiral Narrative Method:

The story is frequently told through a series of secret manuscripts or multiple tales, each revealing a deeper secret, so the narrative gradually spirals inward toward the hidden truth. The narrator is often a first-person narrator compelled to tell the story to a fascinated or captive listener (representing the captivating power of forbidden knowledge). By revealing to us their own souls’ secrets, these narrators reveal the secrets of humankind’s soul.

Dreams/Visions:

Terrible truths are often revealed to characters through dreams or visions. The hidden knowledge of the universe and of human nature emerges through dreams because, when the person sleeps, reason sleeps, and the supernatural, unreasonable world can break through. Dreams in Gothic literature express the dark, unconscious depths of the psyche that are repressed by reason— truths that are too terrible to be comprehended by the conscious mind.

Signs/Omens:

Reveal the intervention of cosmic forces and often represent psychological or spiritual conflict (e.g., flashes of lightning and violent storms might parallel some turmoil within a character’s mind).

This epistolary novel begins with letters written from Robert Walton to his sister. The point of these letters is to set up the pretense that this is a true story. This is a very popular technique at the time this novel was written.

In the letters, the story of Captain Walton unfolds. Eventually winding up in the Arctic circle and picks up Victor Frankenstein who relates his story to Captain Walton. The main part of the novel is this story, now no longer in letter form, but as Victor relates it.

The Novel

Structure and Point of View

Epistolary – carried by letters

Frame Story

Frankenstein She did not put her name on the novel

when it was published in 1818. Many assumed it had been

written by her husband. She attached her name to the

novel in the 1831 edition.

The complete title of this book is Frankenstein or a Modern Prometheus.

Byron, who was with Shelley when she began to write this novel, wrote a poem titled "Prometheus" that she would have been familiar with and inspired by

The story of Prometheus goes as follows:

. . . or a Modern Prometheus

Prometheus was one of the titans that sided with Zeus and the gods against Cronus and the titans. Later, after the gods ruled and mankind was created, Prometheus desired to give mankind a gift of fire. Zeus forbade it since man would misuse it to make weapons and such and since if man had fire, they would not be as reliant on the gods. Prometheus stole some from Mt. Olympus and gave it to man. As a result, man was punished by Zeus giving them woman (horrors upon horrors!) and Prometheus was chained to a rock where an eagle (or vulture in some myths) eats his liver out everyday. Since he is immortal, it grows back only to be eaten again the next day. Hercules later rescued Prometheus (but nobody rescued man!).

Just as Prometheus went too far to give mankind the mysteries of the gods, Victor goes too far in discovering the mysteries of God by trying to defy death and learn how to create life.

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; only results in violence when he is repeatedly rejected

The monster in Frankenstein is a flesh golem.

Definition of a golem: The word golem is used in the Bible to refer to an

embryonic or incomplete substance: Psalm 139:16 uses the word "gal'mi", meaning "my unshaped form. Similarly, Golems are used today primarily in metaphor either as brainless lunks or as entities serving man under controlled conditions but enemies in others. Similarly, it is a Yiddish slang insult for someone who is clumsy or slow.

The Legend of the Golem

Having a golem servant was seen as the ultimate symbol of wisdom and holiness, and there are many tales of golems connected to prominent rabbis throughout the Middle Ages

The existence of a golem is in most stories portrayed as a mixed blessing. Although not overly intelligent, a golem can be made to perform simple tasks over and over. The problem is one of control or getting it to stop, bearing a resemblance to the story of the broomstick in The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Major Characters Henry Clerval – Victor’s childhood friend; true

romantic, wants to leave mark on the world, but never loses sight of “the moral relations of things

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

Robert Walton – Arctic explorer who’s obsessed with gaining knowledge and fame; rescues Victor in the Arctic; through letters to his sister, Mrs. Margaret Saville, he relates how he met Frankenstein and the fantastic story Frankenstein tells him

Characters in Frankenstein (Secondary Characters)

Justine Moritz. Justine is employed in the Frankenstein hosehold. She cares for the dying Mrs. Frankenstein and is greatly loved by the family.

Agatha, Felix, and Mr. De Lacey. Mr. De Lacey is the blind father of Agatha and Felix, the young people who live in the cottage near the place where the monster hides.

Safie. Safie is a young Turkish or Arabian woman who flees her father to marry Felix.

Characters in Frankenstein (Minor Characters)

Mrs. Margaret Saville. Walton’s married sister, Mrs. Saville, is the specified audience of the story.

Alphonso Frankenstein. Victor’s father, Alphonso, unkonwingly encourages his son;s studies b a passing remark. Alphonso worries about Victor when their correspondence is infrequent.

Ernest Frankenstein. Victor’s younger brother does not share Victor’s passion for scientific study.

William Frankenstein. William is the youngest of the Frankenstein children.

Characters in Frankenstein (Minor Characters)

Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein. The daughter of Alphonso’s good friend, Caroline marries Alphonso after her father’s death. Mindful of her own poverty-stricken past, she adopts Elizabeth Lavenza from the poor family who has been raising her.

Professors Krempe and Waldman. These two scholars influence Frankenstein’s work at the university at Ingolstadt.

Mr. Kirwin. He is the magistrate in the village in Ireland where Frankenstein is accused of murder.

Daniel Nugent. He is one of the witnesses against Frankenstein.

Alchemy Medieval “science” and philosophy Convert base metals into gold Seen as a universal cure for disease Means of prolonging life

Agrippa was the scientist Victor studied before the university. This was his first introduction into science. Just who was this man?

He was:

*a magician *soldier*occult writer *astrologer

*alchemist *legal expert

*early feminist *physician

*theologian

Where have you heard his name?

Cornelius AgrippaSeptember 14th, 1486 - February 18th, 1535

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

Motifs Parent-child conflicts Sympathy

1. Ignorance is Bliss - The quote at the beginning from chapter four illustrates this perfectly. This theme is a warning to avoid going too far with science. There are some mysteries that mankind was not meant to understand.

Themes

2. Human Injustice Toward Outsiders - The monster is an outsider to all humankind. The old blind man is an outsider because of his age and blindness. Justine is an outsider because of her being adopted. Victor is an outsider because he alone has the knowledge of what he has done and the existence of the monster.

3. The Treatment of Women - Victor doesn't mistreat women, but he does portray an 1800s view of male superiority. The monster, on the other hand, does not have the upbringing like Victor's, therefore, his idea of the equality of women is different.

4. Nature vs. the Unnatural - With the industrial revolution taking place, many Victorian novels expressed fear and distrust of the newer technology and leaps in science. This book expresses those fears through several scenes.

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’s not physically attractive

Symbols White/light= knowledge Water = knowledge Ice = danger Lightning = nature’s power Nature = acceptance, nuturing, calm Mountains= sublime in nature

AntithesisContrasts of ideas, characters, themes, settings or moods

Allusion 2 poems are alluded to in the novel: 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

Volney's Ruins of Empires:

This is the book that Felix uses to instruct Safie. While doing so, the monster learns world history. The book has a future prediction in it that all religions will eventually become one after mankind realizes the single truth that they all share.

Literary Allusions

Johann Wolfgang von Geothe's Sorrows Werther:This was one of the books the monster found in a satchel while out in the woods that the monster reads to learn more about mankind. Young men began to dress like the character and there was even the first reported cases of copycat suicides as young men tried to imitate the suicide of young Werther. Werther was in love with a woman who was engaged and could not love him back.

Literary Allusion 2

Plutarch's Parallel Lives:

Another book found in the satchel. This one gives history through the lives of Greek and Roman heroes. None of these heroes are female, but this is one of the best sources for information on the life of women in the ancient world.

Literary Allusion 3

John Milton's Paradise Lost:

Much more popular than its sequel, Paradise Regained, this epic is about the fall of Satan and the subsequent fall of man. In it, Satan has cool quotes like, "Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven." This book was also found in the satchel.

More about this book:

Literary Allusion 4

Did I request thee, Maker, from my clayTo mould me man? Did I solicit theeFrom darkness to promote me?

John Milton's Paradise Lost & the beginning of the 1818 version of Frankenstein

The monster reads a copy of Paradise Lost, which stirs him. The monster compares his situation to that of Adam. Unlike the first man who had "come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature," Frankenstein's creature is hideously formed. Unlike Adam, the monster is abandoned by Victor Frankenstein and finds himself "wretched, helpless, and alone."

Monster vs. Adam

The monster can also be compared to Satan since both were created to be beautiful and neither directly attacks their creator, but rather, the ones most dear to their creator.

Monster vs. Satan

Victor can be compared to Adam since both achieved their downfall via searching for knowledge that they should not have.

In Paradise Lost Satan's sin is pride. Victor is motivated by his pride to be the best and to hide his actions, even to the expense of Justine's death.

Victor vs. Adam/Satan

Just as in Percy's "Ozymandius" and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has an inside/outside narrator. The whole story is Robert Walton's retelling of what Victor tells him. In some cases the monster is telling Victor who is in turn retelling it to Walton who in turn retells it to us. Now we have no reason to really doubt Walton. We can, however, build a case to scrutinize what Victor is telling. We can also analyze the truthfulness of the monster's story. Did the monster really try to save the girl from drowning, or is he lying in order to make himself look better?

The Unreliable Narrator

An unreliable narrator cannot be fully trusted either because they do not understand what they are narrating (as in Flowers for Algernon and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) or they may simply be lying to the reader to suit their needs. Many people question the story of the monster (and for that matter, Van Helsing in Dracula).

Surveying the Text How is the text organized? How long is each chapter? What did the publishers and author

include before the actual novel? After the end of the novel?