Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll

Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde The Gothic Novel

Romantic u Romantic elements – Existentialism – reason to exist – Childhood/innocence – Stopping/reflecting – enjoying life – Byronic hero – mysterious, nameless guilt

Gothic u Gothic elements – – – – – Weather – wind, clouds, fog, thunder, lighting Supernatural Lots of emotion – fear, terror, sorrow, guilt Ancient tales Mysterious/unknown places Women in distress Monotony of gloom and horror – footsteps, wind, hard rain Houses beyond repair Late night aspect Gigantic, enormous, large

Frankenstein u Written by Mary Shelley in 1816 u Subtitled “The Modern Prometheus” u Criticism that she didn’t/couldn’t write such a horrifying ghost story u Monster = Victor’s feelings externalized u A doppelganger – double/second self

Frankenstein u Romantic – nature aspect, monster and feels safe in nature, Victor returns to nature, both feel isolated u Gothic – cold, fog, ice, isolation – The summer Frankenstein is written is the coldest recorded

Mary Shelley u 1797 – born daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, both prominent writers u 1814 – Mary meets Percy Bysshe Shelly, they leave for France u 1816 – Mary gives birth to William, begins writing Frankenstein as a novella, encouraged by Percy to create novel

Frame Tale u More engaging, listener embodies reader, makes it seem more realistic u Wraps ordinary story in “ghost” story u Makes story more credible, believable, verisimilitude u Provides didactic function – instruction and entertainment u Universalizes story

Correlation to Birth/Gestation u Confinement – laying in for birth u Novel took 9 months to write, takes place over 9 months (pages of novel) u “Dilation” of novel – dilation of cervix during birth u Mary had four miscarriages before 25 which almost killed her

Themes and Allusions u The dangerous pursuit of knowledge – Prometheus (gives fire to man, painful – liver pecked out daily) – Adam and Eve - eat and suffer the consequences (childbirth) – Paradise Lost – “And now with the world before me” – Plato’s Symposium – “we are unfashioned creatures” u Globular man, split

Motifs and Symbols u Lack of mothers u Meaning of names u Lightning/storm (weather) u Texts/books u Fire u Nature

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886 u Significance of names u – Jekyll = “I kill” – Hyde = hiding Jekyll says he can “be rid of Hyde” whenever he wants u Tragic flaw – Jekyll lets Hyde continue to take over u Will uses word “disappearance” to describe Jekyll going away u

Unreliable Narrator u Utterson – Narrates novella, receive all info through him – Trusted with secrets and wills – Reader does not get details because Utterson does not know everything – Inquisitive (plays Sherlock)

Themes and Symbols u Doppelganger – Jekyll and Hyde u Symbols – night, houses, documents, cane u Themes – duality of man, consequences of the pursuit of knowledge