Mary Shelley’s
FRANKENSTEIN
The original title was
Frankenstein or the Modern
Prometheus.
Prometheus was a mythological Titan
stole fire from Zeus to help
the mortals on earth. Zeus punished
him by bounding him to a rock where
during the day an eagle ate his liver
which grew back at night. Man was
punished by making a man marrying
Pandora who opened her vase
dispersing all evils on earth.
Another version of this myth
is that Prometheus actually
created a human being by breathing life
into a clay body.
1945
The author, Mary Shelley, was
born Mary Wollstonecraft in
London in 1797 and died in
1851 at the age of 54 from a
brain tumor.
M. Shelley was 19 years old
when she wrote this Gothic
novel in 1816. At the time she
was married to a poet, Percy
Shelley, who helped her with
its editing process.
1931
She wrote the novel one
summer during a
vacation at Lake
Geneva in Switzerland
with her husband and
some friends.
The weather was
unseasonably cold. For
entertainment, Mary
Shelley, her husband
(poet) Percy Bysshe
Shelley, (poet) Lord
Byron, and Jane
Clairmont would sit
around reading ghost
stories.
1931
On June 15th
1816, a challenge
was issued among
the four of them to
see who could
write the most
terrifying ghost
story.
Mary Shelley
based her story on
her life
experiences, her
dreams, and
scientific research
and experiments of
that time period.
1931
Mary Shelley had previously
suffered with nightmares in
1815 after her daughter died two
weeks after birth.
Repeatedly Mary dreamt her
baby was just cold, and that she
herself brought her daughter
back to life after massaging the
infant’s lifeless body while
sitting next to a warm fire.
1931
On June 15th 1816, Mary
experienced a different nightmare
in which she dreamt, “a pale
student of ‘unhallowed*
arts’who created a living being
from dead parts.” (Frankenstein
p.x)
*unhallowed: against what is considered
holy and sacred; immoral and unethical
according to social standards
1931
That dream was the basis for her
gothic story. Ironically, Mary Shelley
was the only one out of the group to
finish her tale of terror.
Mary Shelley’s gothic novel was
published in 1818 when she was just
21. She went on to publish other
works, but none of them ever
matched the popularity of
FRANKENSTEIN.
1931
Mary Shelley’s novel was not based
on her dreams alone. In the early
1800’s, scientists were obsessed by
finding a way to bring the dead back to
life. Mary found this idea fascinating
and kept current with all new science
experiments taking place during her
time.
Luigi Galvani, for example, was one scientist
that believed that “electricity” was the life
force for living beings.
Galvani took dead animals and shock
their bodies with high currents of
electricity. The corpse would jolt when
shocked with electrical currents.
Galvani’s nephew, Giovanni Aldini,
took the experiment one step further.
In London, on January 17th 1803, he
publicly performed this experiment on
the corpse of a human being, a
prisoner that had been executed by
hanging.
Giovanni attached live wires to the
corpse: 120 plates of zinc and 120
plates of copper.
Giovanni reported, “the jaw began to
quiver, the adjoining muscles were
horribly contorted, and the left eye
actually opened.”
(Frankenstein, p. xx)
The muscles of the corpse were shocked to such a
degree that the corpse appeared “animated” to the
public.
With Frankenstein, the sci-fi (science fiction) era began.
The novel contains the 3 elements essential for all
science fiction works: 1. it’s based on valid scientific
research; 2. it gives a persuasive prediction of what
science might achieve in the future; 3. it offers a
humanistic critique of the benefits and dangers of
either the achievement or scientific thought.
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley
Romantic Movement: (1770-1870)
This movement is not about “romance or love”
but about disillusioned liberals who were tired
of the common people being oppressed by tyrant
rulers. This time period happens simultaneously
with revolutions around the world: the
American R. 1776, the French R. 1789, the
French Reign of Terror 1793, Napoleon is
crowned Emperor--1804.
Nature imagery is a key element in Romantic
literature because human tyranny could not
control nature. For the Romantics, nature
represented peace and they believed that all
emotional healing came from nature.
Nature imagery is abundant in Frankenstein.
Gothic Literature is an offshoot of Romantic
literature. “Along with nature having the power
of healing, Gothic writers gave nature the power
of destruction. Many storms arise in the book,
including the storms in the night the creature
comes to life.
The most common feature of Gothic literature is
the indication of mood through the weather.
When bad things are going to happen in a Gothic
novel, the reader knows it because there is
inevitably a storm outside.
1997
In addition, Gothic literature is “a style of
fiction, especially in the late 18th
century and early 19th century, with
historical and picturesque settings, an
atmosphere of mystery, gloom and
terror, supernatural or psychological
plot elements, with violent, gruesome
deaths.”
The setting is usually in medieval castles
built in the Gothic of architecture—
with secret passageways, dungeons,
and towers.
The Novel Frankenstein: A Brief Background
• Frankenstein novel was written by the
British novelist Mary Shelley. This novel
is an early example of science fiction
works.
• Dr Frankenstein wanted to answer the
question of life and death.
• Dr Frankenstein succeeded to create a
‘creature’ from different dead bodies
through Galvanism techniques.
• The end of his dream is that he left him
lost without a guide, education, or
caress from his ‘birth ‘ until his death .
• As a result, Dr Frankenstein met a
miserable end because of the monster.
www.physics.arizona.edu
The Use of Dead Bodies for Experimentation
• Dr Frankenstein used dead bodies to
create the ‘monster’.
• He used the most advanced technology
during the Industrial Revolution which is
Galvanism.
• Galvanism is” The science of electrifying
dead bodies” to reanimate them.
Science for science
• Dr Frankenstein has no clear purposes
for conducting his experiments.
Example :the first impression when the
creature became alive.
• Science without values can destroy
humanity. Example: “William, Justine,
and Henry, all died by my hands” not
by technology
• Technology can go out of control.
Science and Imagination
“”The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but
imagination”
Albert Einstein
•Cloning
•Genetic Engineering
•Playing God
•2 years of solitude exiled in his lab
•The absolute in science
Influences:
from Prometheus to Frankenstein
• The myth of Prometheus  Frankenstein
is an example of ouster.
• Rousseau  The Monster is a noble savage.
• Locke  The Monster’s self-awareness and
education.
Influences:
from Prometheus to Frankenstein
• Gothic stories read by Mary and Percy B. Shelley.
• S. T. Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner  Both the novel
and the poem are stories of a crime against nature due to an excessive
ambition.
Narrative structure: an epistolary novel
Walton’s narration to his sister Margaret Walton Saville
(chapters 1-10)
Frankenstein’s narration to Walton
(chapters 11-17)
The Monster’s narration to Frankenstein
(chapters 18-24)
Main characters: Captain Walton,
Dr. Frankenstein, Frankenstein
• Both Captain Walton and Doctor Frankenstein
tried to go beyond human limits.
• The Monster is complementary to his creator:
they both suffer from isolation and they both
begin with a desire to be good.
Conclusion
The importance of this controversial work is that
it was written at the heart of Industrial Revolution
.
Mary Shelley portrayed the negative relationship
the humanity may have with technology.
She raised some ethical questions regarding this
relationship.
Finally, how many Frankensteins do we have
now?!