FRANKENSTEIN
or the modern Prometeus
by Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley’s life
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1797: She was born from writers William
Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft
1814: She met and then ran away with poet
Percy Shelley
1816: She married Percy Shelley
1818: They moved to Italy
1822: Percy downed and she was forced to
go back to England with her 2-year old son
1851: She died of a brain tumor
Mary Shelley’s
literary production
She was influenced by:
-
Her Husband:
“My husband was, from the first, very anxious
that I should prove myself worthy of my
parentage, and enrol myself on the page of fame.
He was forever inciting me to obtain literary
reputation.”
-
Her father, who encouraged her to learn
to write
Sir Timothy, her father-in-law, who
encouraged her to write nor on her
husband nor on her self
Short stories
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1820s-1830s
21
She wrote short stories for
gift books or annuals.
Her stories are set in
places or times far
removed from her
contemporary age. For
example Greece or the
Reign of Henry IV of
France
Travelogues
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1817
Title “History of a Six Weeks’
Tour” + 2 letters by each
Mary and Percy, based on
their visit to Geneve
Theme of youthful love
Political idealism that makes
the Travelogues
philosophical and reformist
rather than conventional
Biographies
•
•
Of notable Italian,
Spanish,
Portuguese and
French men and few
women
Themes of
Domesticity, Family,
Romance and
Sympathy
Novels
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A Novel is ‘a fictitious narrative presenting a picture of real life’
Novels with autobiographical elements:
Mathilda, published in 1820
Novels with about gender:
- Feminine affection and compassion
- Education and social role of women
- She dissects a patriarchal that separated the
sexes and pressured women into dependence on men
Lodore, published in 1835
It follows the fortunes of the wife, Cornelia, and daughter, Ethel, of the title character,
who is killed in a duel, leaving a trail of legal, financial, and familial obstacles for the two
"heroines" to negotiate.
Historical
context
-
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Frankenstein is a
gothic novel
It is influenced by
the concept of
sublime
developed by
Edmund Burke
Medieval theme of
surpassing the
limits imposed
Frankenstein’s plot
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The story is narrated through letters that Robert
Walpole writes to his sister
Victor Frankenstein is a brilliant chemistry student that
wants to create life from inanimate matter
Ha assemblea parts of dead bodies and creates the
creature which has great intelligence but also a
disgusting appearance
The creature is lonely and miserable and becomes an
homicidal force that takes revenge on Victor,
especially after he refused to create a bride for him
The creature kills his brother, a friend of his, and
Elizabeth, Victor’s bride
The doctor follows him to the arctic to kill the very
thing he created
Frankenstein’s
characters
-
Victor Frankenstein
The Monster
Robert Walton
Elizabeth Lavenza
De Lacey
Victor Frankenstein
-
He has a thirst of knowledge
and ambition.
He is prejudiced
At the end he resembles the
monster
The Monster
-
He has a great intelligence, but a
horrible appearance
He is isolated and therefore
becomes a homicidal force
He wants revenge against his
creator
Frankenstein’s
themes
-
Family, Society, Isolation
Ambition and Fallibility
Romanticism and Nature
Revenge
Prejudice
Family, Society, Isolation
Ambition and Fallibility
Romanticism and Nature
Prejudice
Creation of
Frankenstein
It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an
anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might
infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning;
the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the
glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed
hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs. How can I describe my emotions at this
catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had
endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful.
Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath;
his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances
only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour
as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.
Creation of
Frankenstein
Frankenstein
and the De
Lacey family
THE END