Frankenstein Context

Frankenstein context

Shelley’s life

Mary Shelley (born 1797) was the only daughter of radical William Godwin and pioneering feminist Mary Wollstonecraft

Mother died 10 days after Shelley’s birth
1816 – Mary’s premature daughter dies soon after birth

1816/17 – Gave birth to son, William, and daughter, Clara, who both were dead by 1819

1822 – Mary miscarried and almost died from blood loss

1822 – Percy Shelley dies in a boating accident

Percy Shelley was one of the leading Romantic poets who abandoned his pregnant wife to run off with sixteen year-old Mary

Frankenstein’s publication

1818 - Frankenstein originally published anonymously

1831 – Revised edition published with Mary Shelley’s Author’s Introduction

Revised edition changed the text to make Victor more sympathetic, changed Elizabeth from Victor’s actual cousin and made her more angelic

Introduction changed to encourage readers to view Victor’s crime as a crime against God – possibly indicates a shift from Shelley’s free-thinking 1818 self and more conservative views in 1831

The Gothic genre

Gothic literature emerged in reaction to the Enlightenment (rejection of superstition, emergence of science and reason)

Gothic is often depicted as being on the flip side of realism – the blend of the two in Frankenstein can be viewed in the oppositions in the narrative e.g. between Frankenstein and his monster (David Punter)

Often terror romances with mysterious castles and threatening aristocratic villains

Evil is usually located in an external source e.g. ghosts and demons – Frankenstein goes against this by focusing on the evil within

Key features of the Gothic include the emphasis on fear and terror, the presence of the supernatural, the placement of events within a distant time and an unfamiliar and mysterious setting, and the use of highly stereotyped characters

Haunted castle is replaced with haunted individual in Frankenstein and marks emergence of the double as a key Gothic trope – the embodiment of an irreparable division in the human psyche (such as in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)

The monstrous ‘Other’ in the Gothic (e.g. the monster) embodies both a dreadful yet simultaneously compelling freedom from rules and restraints as boundaries are crossed and monstrous desires unleashed

However, the monster is eventually expelled and the systems of repression and restraint are reinstated as social and psychic stability win over

Frankenstein strays from the Gothic theme as there is nothing supernatural – everything is secular and material in the world she creates

Shelley introduces the Gothic theme in the Introduction where she declares her desire to “curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart”

In reading Frankenstein as a Gothic novel, Victor’s actions can be seen as ‘unnatural ‘ – he breaks the laws of nature, crosses forbidden boundaries and unleashes disruption and destruction on society

Victor’s act usurps the natural functions of both God and women and the creation blurs the boundaries between life and death

The monster can be seen as Victor’s doppelganger, acting out his forbidden desires and expressing the darker side of his psyche

The Romantic Movement

The link with the Romantic Movement seems inevitable as Mary’s father, William Godwin, had a notable impact on many of the English Romantic poets and is mentioned frequently in their writings. Her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, was one of the key Romantic poets and Mary was frequently in the company of such other notable Romantics as Lord Byron.

While the influence of Romanticism on Mary Shelley is undeniable, it is nevertheless not quite so easy to decide what stand she is taking on the Romantic concerns that pervade Frankenstein

Romanticism is as difficult to define as the Gothic; indeed, we now generally speak of Romanticisms to suggest the complexity of the phenomenon

Walton’s language frequently echoes that of the Romantic poets – “Inspired by this wind of promise, my day dreams become more fervent and vivid”

“These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to conquer all fear of danger or death”