Paul Mallinckrodt English 1500-004 The Spirit of Travel was Female In Great Britain, from the 1300’s through the 19th century, travel writing became popular in the same way that Internet media has taken off in the technological era, as the product of interactive and exploratory forms of leisure. The collections of text that stem from English Travelers have had a lasting influence on the development of writing in the English language. These influences are everywhere, look no further than the nearest book store or online search engine. This being so, it is important to recognize a main driving force behind “travel” that is observable through two of the most famous works considered as British travel writing. Using examples from Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Knights Tale” and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein I will argue in this essay that the most prominent themes evident in travel writing do not come exclusively from the male protagonists of these works, but primarily from the connection to the female characters, which best represent the connection between travel and travel writing. Between the two works important themes such as empathy, beauty, creation and freedom are represented as characteristically female. First, in order to explain the ideas embedded in “The Knights Tale” it is necessary to understand the Emotions that Palamon and Artica, the two protagonists this story, are subjected to throughout their adventure. While the plot follows the two knights and their feelings towards their lady Emily, it should be noted that even before their capture, the two were subject to another force that is represented as specifically female in this story. This is the idea of empathy or pity. “Have mercy on our woe and our distress! On us poor women, in your nobleness of heart, let but one drop of pity fall! (Chaucer, 24)” Pity, as shown here is the first of the major themes that are demonstrated through the use of female characters. These demonstrations go on to parallel the worlds of these literary works, and the physical world that inspired them. Though not particularly important until long after Chaucer, pity connects traveling and travel writing as it is complementary to the change associated with the public view of nature, which came about as a result the industrial revolution which occurred in London. During Chaucer’s time in the 1300’s empathy and travel was more connected to a religious outlook than an environmental concern. The next important comparison of this story to represent an idea cherished by travel writing and characterized as female is shown in Lady Emily and her relationship with Palamon and Arcita. In this story, the two knights come to love Emily as they observe her. They see her beauty and her apparent kindness, but more important than these, almost expected characteristics, is that Emily represents the concept of freedom. Since these two knights are in jail, they are tormented by the limits in their freedom to pursue Emily. During an argument Arcita says to Palamon, “What’s more, you are not likely, all your life, to win her favor, any more than I; for as you yourself know to certainly, both you and I have been condemned to prison for ever; and for us there’s no escaping. (Chaucer, 30)” Pointing out that both of them are unable to act on their desires. The freedom That Emily embodies is not only the freedom from prison, or in the case of Arcita, exile, but freedom from their constant longing. It is not until each knight obtains a chance of bridging this dissonance that the energy is provided that leads Arcita and Palamon in their travels towards their final standoff. This relationship is very similar to the effect that the countryside had on British travelers. Writing on things they experienced in nature was a way of connecting them to the feeling of freedom in a time period of human history when natural things began disappearing from the increasingly urban setting. For the entirety of the 400 year gap between Shelly and Chaucer much of Great Britain was still being experienced and described through stories. Chaucer based his collection of stories on actual traveling that was occurring annually across the kingdom and Mary Shelly wrote her three part novel as an extension of a story that was told around a campfire in the Alps. In both cases the themes represented in travel writings are authentically drawn in almost the same manner. But whatever the similarities between Chaucer and Shelly, the way in which the spirit of travel is tied to the female characters differs from work to work. In this story told by Mary Shelly, the themes which drive the movement of Victor Frankenstein are not so directly embodied in female characters as in “the knight’s tale”, but rather are self perpetuated, yet necessarily inspired by specific female figures. Obviously, the theme of creation is central to Victor’s entire journey. It is, after all, Victor’s monster that causes him to end in the Arctic Circle. But before the idea of creating perfection became a possibility for victor, he first had to observe what he considered perfection in nature as a child in his cousin Elizabeth. “While I admired her understanding and fancy, I loved to tend on her, as I should on a favourite animal; and I never saw so much grace of person and mind united to so little pretension. (Shelly, 66)” It is this admiration for natural Beauty carried throughout the rest of the novel that sets the standard for the being which Frankenstein brings into existence. The fact that he went to attempt and fail to recreate is not yet relevant, because none less victor had intended beauty on par with what he saw in Elizabeth. If you consider the environment in place of Elizabeth, this relationship between victor and his cousin is analogous to the purely ascetic value hikers or travelers attain from being in the presence of the outdoors. Undoubtedly this was a part of the creative process of our authors, and is foundational to their travel writing. The second theme which carries a strong female influence in Frankenstein comes after Victor’s experience with beauty, when he takes it upon himself to create a human. Originally, he constructs his creature as a reflection of something naturally beautiful. After the resulting catastrophe, a shift occurs and the theme of creation emanates less from Frankenstein himself, and more from the demands of Victor’s Monster. After experiencing the world, Victor’s creation pictures an ideal female and demands the creation of a companion. “You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of sympathies necessary for my being. (Shelly, 168)” This is the central female which influences the theme of creation in the later parts of this novel. The struggle she influences is between Victor’s fear of creating another life and call by Victor’s monster for Frankenstein to follow through with his agreement to do so. The desire to recreate the perfect grace and harmony of nature is not however, a monstrous idea. In fact it is quite common. As part of picturesque travel, a specific discipline of travel writing, the whole purpose of interacting with nature is to capture the most admired parts. I believe the exaggerations made by Shelly were mostly for good story telling, but they do bring to mind a limit for what could be considering over-attempting to creating nature. So of the feelings which inspired travelers in England to go and experience and write, Pity or empathy, freedom, natural grace, and the desire to create, are the most prominent. All of which bear heavy feminine connotations as they are displayed in Frankenstein and “The knights Tale.” Of course these themes are not contained to the works of Geoffrey Chaucer or Mary Shelly, these are just two of the most exemplary figures whose impact on travel writing can be seen anywhere from pop culture entertainment to the academic classroom. The feminine connotations associated with these themes through the use of female characters is, in my opinion a form of stereotyping, that helps the reader drawn internal connections between the inspired work they are reading and the ultimate inspiration, often referred to as “Mother Earth.” Citation Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. New York, NY: Oxford University Press Inc. Print. Shelly, Mary. Frankenstein. Buffalo, NY: Broadview Press Ltd. Print