Frankenstein
Or
The Modern Prometheus
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
 Born August 30, 1797 in London
 Died February 1, 1851 of brain cancer
 Married poet Percy Shelley in 1816
 Daughter of famous parents
 Father: William Godwin – philosopher and political writer
 Mother: Mary Wollstonecraft – famed feminist and author of
Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)

Mary’s mother died shortly after Mary was born
Shelley’s Stormy Situations
 Father remarried and Mary did not get along with her new stepmother
 1814: Mary began a relationship with poet Percy Shelley. While
he was still married to his first wife, he and (16-year old!) Mary
fled England together. Mary’s step-sister, Jane, went with them.
SCANDAL!!
 Mary’s actions alienated her from her father and he didn’t
speak to for four years. EXILE!
 1815: Mary and Percy struggled financially and lost their first
child. Mary delivered a baby girl who only lived for a few days.
TRAGEDY : (
Shelley’s Stormy Situations

1816: Mary’s half-sister, Fanny, AND Percy’s wife, Harriet committed
suicide (Harriet while pregnant with Percy’s third child!). Mary and Percy
were married in December. : (

1818: Frankenstein was published and was an overwhelming success. Mary
was 20 years old.

Mary and Percy did not have an easy marriage. They suffered from adultery
and heartache. Two more of their children died. : (

1819: Their son, William (“Will-mouse”), died of malaria. Percy Florence,
their only child who survived, was born. : )

1822: Mary miscarried and almost died. Percy Shelley drowned while sailing
with a friend. : (
Romanticism
 1785 – 1830: French Revolution to beginnings of modern
industrialism
 Romantic writers favored the revolution and its changes in
lifestyle and sensibility
 Writers had freedom to turn inward
 Reflect on issues of the heart and imagination
 Natural scenes and rustic, commonplace lifestyles
 Elements of the supernatural
Romanticism
 Mary Shelley combined ethical concerns of her parents
with Romantic sensibilities of Percy Shelley’s poetry
 Father’s concern for the underprivileged
 Percy Shelley’s use imagination, isolation, and nature
 Mary Shelley is unique because of her use of the Gothic
novel
Gothic Novel
 Mysteries in which sinister and sometimes supernatural
events occurred
 Events caused by some evil human action
 Overly dramatic and inflated language
 Fascination with the macabre (disturbing and horrifying)
and superstitions
 Unrealistic settings, away from
everyday life (except Frankenstein)
Frankenstein as a
Gothic Novel
 Frankenstein reflects Shelley’s deepest psychological fears and
insecurities
 Inability to prevent her children’s deaths
 Distressed marriage to a man who showed no remorse for his
daughters’ deaths
 Feelings of inadequacy as a writer
 Deviation in Gothic setting
 Creature wanders breathtaking Alps – he becomes more
humanized
Epistolary Framing Device
 Epistolary novel: A novel told through letters, a
convention of 1800 Romantic literature.
 Framing device: A literary device in which the same
scene, event, or setting is used both at the beginning and
at the end of any literary work. The repeated element
creates a “frame” within which the work develops.
 Frankenstein – Robert Walton writes letters to his sister
describing the story told to him by Victor Frankenstein.
Frankenstein’s story contains the creature’s story.
Who is Frankenstein?
The Modern Prometheus
 Greek mythic figure who stole the secret of fire from the
gods and gave it to humanity
 He received severe punishment for his hubris (excessive
pride or self-confidence)
 Lesser-known myth: Prometheus creates
the human race
How does the novel’s subtitle
foreshadow future
events in Victor’s life?
Paradise Lost
 Quotation from Milton’s Paradise
Lost appears in an epigraph on
the title page
 Examines the fall from grace
in Eden, according to the
Old Testament
If Frankenstein is like
Adam, what is Shelley
trying to say about Victor?
The Danger Zones
 Amoral science
 Unrestrained rationality
 Imperfection of civil
justice
 Superficiality of human
judgment
 Frankenstein is a book about the concurrent limits and
limitlessness of human nature and human knowledge.
Can humans control all consequences of their actions?