Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein An Introduction AP Literature & Composition1.

Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein An Introduction

AP Literature & Composition 1

Mary Shelley• Born to radicals

– Mary Wollstonecraft (MOTHER), feminist writer, A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) which drew attention to women’s second class status

– William Godwin (FATHER), ex-minister, atheist, influential writer (politics, morality); name became associated with truth, justice and liberty

– Both influenced by French Revolution– Both anti-marriage, but did wed when Mary became pregnant– Mother died of septicemia (blood poisoning) after Mary’s birth:

beginning of hardships…• Father remarried• Mary Shelley was emotionally void, but intellectually guided

2AP Literature & Composition

Mary & Percy Shelley• Met in 1814: Mary (16) Percy (31)• Shelley, “Romantic”, attached self to Godwin and his

idealistic political notions• Shelley abandons wife (pregnant) to spend time at

Godwin house, hence spending time with Mary • Eloped in July 1814• 1815 Mary gives birth to 1st baby, but baby dies a few

days after birth…Mary has a dream…– “Dream that my little baby came to life again: that it had

only been cold, and that we rubbed it before the fire and it lived.” –Mary Shelley


Mary & Shelley in Geneva

• Opposite of gloomy London, yet rained much in summer to confine to house

• Ghost story contest (challenge between writers)– Mary, Percy, Lord Byron– Discussion of Darwin’s experiments with

galvanism (uses of electricity)

• Dreamed about monster coming to life


Historical Context

• The French Revolution and the Rise of Industrialism– Early Romantic writers strongly advocated the French

Revolution,– Revolution signaled throwing off of old traditions and

customs of the wealthy classes– Balance of economic power shifted toward the middle

class with the rise of industrialism. – Advanced machinery and technology threatened to

replace workers – England's literary thinkers welcomed revolution because it

represented an opportunity to establish a harmonious social structure.


Science and Technology• Technology/machines replaced workers creating low

wages and poor working conditions• People encouraged to sabotage machines that took

jobs away from workers. • Darwin, scientist who wrote about biological

evolution big influence (people began to question power of God)

• Percy and Mary also attended lecture by Andrew Crosse, scientist whose experiments with electricity– discussed galvanism, or the study of electricity and its

applications.


Arctic Exploration

• The late 1700s also marked the beginnings of a new era of ocean exploration.

• England's Royal Academy, which promoted the first voyage to the South seas, appealed to scientists and travelers alike.

• Explorers wanted to find a trade route through the Arctic to connect the Atlantic and the Pacific.


Romantic Writers

• Began in 18th century• Promote unique individual imagination and

expression• Nature, spirituality and humankind

interrelated


Characteristics of Romantics

• Emphasis on intuition and emotion – rejected rational and intellectual (didactic – for sermons); emotions for art

• Emphasized strange an bizarre – common has no place in art

• Choose subject not encountered in everyday life

• Not always interested in creating viable/ believable characters


Characteristics of Romantics• Setting usually obscure, remote or unknown place

(or foreign country)• Rugged, natural settings provide comfort and visual

appeal• Creation of new/different worlds so readers

concentrate on themes and ideas• Close relationship and concern for poor and less

fortunate• Searched for fundamental knowledge and

consequences of acquiring knowledge• Humans born inherently kindhearted and moral

AP English Literature 11

Gothic Style

• Supernatural forces• Imaginative excess• Delusions• Religious and human evil• Social transgressions• Mental disintegration• Spiritual corruption


Gothic Style – Stock Features• torturous, fragmented

narrative• horrible images and life-

threatening chases• spectres• monsters• demons• corpses• skeletons• evil aristocrats• monks

• nuns• fainting heroines• bandits• scientists• criminals• madmen• monstrous doubles

(dopplegangers) signifying evil and duplicity

• wild landscapes


Reaction to Gothic Style

• Perceived as subversive• Promotes violence and vice, celebrates

criminal behavior• Texts give free reign to selfish ambitions and

desires beyond law and family duty


Gothic Motifs

• images of light and dark• duality of selves (alter ego)• conflicts between reason and passion• supernatural and natural• past and present• sacred and profane


LITERARY TERM – FRAME STORY

• Narrative technique• Main story sets the stage for internal story or

smaller narratives• Within Frankenstein, Robert Walton’s letters

to sister set the stage for Victor Frankenstein’s tale

• Epistolary (adjective) of or relating to a letter : suitable to a letter, written in the form of a series of letters


Theme Topics

• Alienation and Loneliness• Nature vs. Nurture• Appearance vs. Reality• Duty and Responsibility• Justice and Injustice


Sources

• http://www.answers.com/topic/frankenstein-novel-3

• Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Cliff’s Notes• Robinson, Robbie. Lecture Notes • Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York:

Penguin Books USA Inc. 1818, 1992. • www.wikapedia.com


http://www.answers.com/topic/frankenstein-novel-3

http://www.answers.com/topic/frankenstein-novel-3

http://www.wikapedia.com/

Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein An Introduction AP Literature & Composition1.

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