Introducing…
MARY SHELLEY
BIRTH
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Born in London in 1797
Parents: Mary
Wollstonecraft &
William Godwin
Mother died of a fever
soon after the baby was
born.
One half-sister, Fanny (3
years older)
THE PARENTS
Both parents were considered “intellectual rebels” of
their time.
Mary Wollstonecraft
William Godwin
STEPMOTHER TROUBLES
*Resented Mary’s close
relationship with her father.
*Did not encourage Mary’s
education
*Made Mary do household
chores.
*Regularly invaded Mary’s
privacy.
*Kept Mary from spending
time with her dad.
TRIP TO SCOTLAND
*Mary’s dad sent her to stay
with friends in Scotland.
*She experienced two things
there: the love of happy
family and the beautiful
Scottish scenery.
*Both of these elements
played important roles later
when she wrote Frankenstein.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
* Disciple of her father’s philosophical ideas
*Married to Harriet Westbrook Shelley
*Highly educated
*Writer and Poet
*Wealthy
*Idealistic
*Became dissatisfied with his wife
*Mary and Percy declared their love for each
other in June of 1814
RUNAWAY
*Godwin forbade Percy to come to the
house.
*Percy attempted suicide.
*Mary ran away with him to France (her
step-sister Jane came too!).
TRAVEL
• Mary wrote in her journal on 19 December 1822:
"France--Poverty--a few days of solitude & some
uneasiness--A tranquil residence in a beautiful spot-Switzerland--Bath--Marlow--Milan--The Baths of
Lucca--Este--Venice--Rome--Naples--Rome & misery-Leghorn--Florence Pisa--Solitude The Williams--The
Baths--Pisa--These are the heads of chapters--each
containing a tale, romantic beyond romance."
BIRTH, DEATH, MOTHERHOOD
*Mary gave birth to 4 children (only one survived
to adulthood) and had a miscarriage with her 5 th
pregnancy.
*Her half sister Fanny committed suicide.
*Percy’s wife Harriet committed suicide.
BIRTH, DEATH, MOTHERHOOD
On 19 March 1815 she recorded in her
journal: "Dream that my little baby came to
life again--that it had only been cold & that
we rubbed it before the fire & it lived."
THE BIRTH OF FRANKENSTEIN
*Spring of 1816
*Lake Geneva, Switzerland: Lord Byron, her
step sister, Byron’s physician, Percy, and Mary.
*Ghost Stories
*Ch. 5 of the novel –her original short story
*Finished full novel- 1817
*Published 1818
SCIENCE OF
FRANKENSTEIN
*Scientists discovering the potential of electricity.
*Luigi Galvani- experiments with animal tissue
MYTHOLOGY OF FRANKENSTEIN
Original title for Frankenstein:
The Modern Promethus
Promethus- Greek myth; brought fire to man; symbol
of creative striving
Percy Shelley wrote poetic drama – Promethus
Unbound
AFTER FRANKENSTEIN
*Wrote a novella: Mathilda
*Grew apart from Percy.
*1822- Percy dies in a boat accident.
*Wrote more novels and some non-fiction
biographies.
*Published Percy’s poetry with long biographical
notes.
*Supported her father financially.
*Died from a brain tumor in 1851.
ROMANTICISM
ROMANTIC MOVEMENT
•1798-1832
•Post revolutionary period: economic suffering
and social disorder
•Industrial Revolution
•Movement in art and literature was based in part
on the feeling of optimism about human
possibilities that was present in Western culture
after the American and French Revolutions.
CHARACTERISTICS OF
ROMANTICISM
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Innovation
Freedom of thought and expression
Spontaneity
Idealization of Nature (nature poets)
Visionary Imagination (sometimes nightmarish)
CHARACTERISTICS OF
ROMANTICISM
“The Romantic discovers what he hopes are
new values, new experience patterns, and his
impulse is to rebel against any restriction
upon that process of discovery, that quest
for new and higher truth.”
http://theliterarylink.com/prerom.html
FAMOUS ROMANTIC
POETS
William Blake
John Keats
Lord Byron
Percy Shelley
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
William Wordsworth
GOTHIC
Purpose: To evoke terror and show
the dark side of human nature
ELEMENTS OF GOTHIC
LITERATURE
ELEMENTS OF GOTHIC
LITERATURE
• Often set in a medieval society or has medieval elements
(castle)
• Mysterious disappearances
• Horrifying events or the threat of them
• Supernatural occurrences
• Protagonist is solitary, egocentric, and passion-driven
• Heroine with a tendency to faint and a need to be
rescued–frequently
• Nature is used to create mood/atmosphere
NATURE IS USED TO CREATE
MOOD/ATMOSPHERE
• Dungeons, underground passages, crypts, and
catacombs, spooky basements or attics.
• Labyrinths, dark corridors, and winding stairs
• Shadows, a beam of moonlight in the
blackness, a flickering candle, or the only
source of light failing
• Extreme landscapes and extreme weather
OTHER GOTHIC WRITERS
William Godwin
Ann Radcliffe
Horace Walpole
Matthew Gregory Lewis
Clara Reeve