FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Godwin Shelley HOME 1 THE

FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Godwin Shelley

HOME 1. THE OVERREACHER 2. THE DOUBLE 3. ROUSSEAU'S IDEA OF "THE GOOD NATURAL MAN" AND SOCIAL CRITICISM 4. SCIENCE AND MORALS 5. NARRATIVE FEATURES 6. CHARACTERS 7. THE SUBLIME 8. THE GOTHIC NOVEL : GENERAL FEATURES 9. MARY SHELLEY 10. FRANKENSTEIN Vs DR JEKYLL & MR. HYDE RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2015 -2016

1. THE OVERREACHER q Victor Frankenstein is defined "The Modern Prometheus" in the subtitle of the novel. As Prometheus defied Zeus stealing the fire from him to bring it back to Mankind, the Swiss scientist protagonist of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel defies any natural law and God himself for his great ambition: to create, not to generate, life. To give life to an inanimate body. q Both Prometheus and Dr. Frankenstein are OVERREACHERS, special types of rebels who: q try to go beyond the limits imposed to Mankind by God or Nature q are moved by a great ambition q are always punished with death (not Prometheus, since he was a Titan, a semi-god) RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2015 -2016 HOME

2. THE DOUBLE q There are two examples of this theme in Mary Shelley's novel. Two characters recognize in an "alter ego" their wrong side, the flaws in their personality: q 1. Captain Walton recognizes in Dr Frankenstein his own great ambition, which might lead him to self exhaustion and death, and decides to stop his exploration of the North Pole, in order to avoid risking his crew's lives and his own. So Dr Frankenstein is an alter ago/ the double to Captain Walton. q 2. Victor Frankenstein recognizes in the horrible creature he has created the embodiment of his own "awful" ambition. This is why he is so terrified by the vision of his "living experiment". HOME RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2015 -2016

3. ROUSSEAU'S IDEA OF "THE GOOD NATURAL MAN" AND SOCIAL CRITICISM HOME q. Mary Shelley was influenced by J. J. Rousseau's ideas. Rousseau believed a human being was born innocent and uncorrupted , then the unjust social system and its prejudices spoilt and corrupted him. q. This is exactly what happens to Frankenstein's creature who was naturally good when he came to life but was then turned into a monster and an evil murderer by the prejudices of all the human beings he met, starting with his creator. q He was rejected and wronged because of his ugly appearance. RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2015 -2016

4. SCIENCE AND MORALS q. Frankenstein is considered the forerunner of the science fiction genre. q. The authoress, fascinated by physiology, chemistry and physics, reflects on the relationship between science and morals something we call bioethics nowadays. q. She wonders what the destiny of someone who overcomes the border might be. HOME RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2015 -2016

5. NARRATIVE FEATURES q Frankenstein has a complex structure. It is an epistolary novel with three different levels of narration, three narrators and different points of view. The technique used is usually called "Chinese boxes". q Unlikely the many Gothic tales written before, the characters in this novel are not flat and there is a certain psychological insight q In addition, unlikely the Gothic tradition , this novel does not tell of supernatural but rather the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein , embodies theme of science and responsibility to mankind. HOME RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2015 -2016

5. 1 NARRATIVE FEATURES q At first Walton informs his sister q Then Frankenstein informs Walton who informs his sister; q Finally the monster informs Frankestein , who informs Walton, who informs his sister. HOME RAFFAELLA MANNORI THE GOTHIC NOVEL RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2015 -2016 2010 -2011 8

6. CHARACTERS q WALTON , who is the double of Dr. Frankenstein as he manifests his ambition, is characterised by Romantic element: q his desire to explore the unknown ( the Noth Pole) ; q Nature seen as the embodiment of God; q His pride of being different. q He tries to go beyond human limits ( Prometheus myth) and, like Prometheus, he is punished with the imprisoment of his ship in the ice and the rebellion of the crew. q FRANKESTEIN and THE MONSTER are complementary: they both suffer from a sense of alienation and isolation , both they begin with a desire to be good but become obsessed with revenge. q FRANKESTEIN may be considered an overeacher who is looking forbidden knowledge. q The third part of the novel has the MONSTER as protagonist. q He is rejected by people because of his ugly aspect and therefore he becomes an outcast , a murderer and a rebel against any human being. HOME RAFFAELLA MANNORI THE GOTHIC NOVEL RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2015 -2016 2010 -2011 9

7. THE ORIGINS OF THE GOTHIC TASTE - A NEW CONCEPTION OF BEAUTY q A new taste for the desolate, the love of ruins, graveyards, ancient castles and abbeys, was part of a revival of interest in a past perceived as contrasting with the present reality. The rediscovery of the art, architecture, legends and popular traditions of the Middle Ages manifested itself in the “Gothic”, which was no longer synonymous with barbarity, but became a facet of exoticism. HOME RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2015 -2016

HOME 7. 1 THE ORIGINS OF THE GOTHIC TASTE - A NEW CONCEPTION OF BEAUTY The new concept of SUBLIME= the beauty was theorised by Edmund BURKE « A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1957) SUBLIME because strongest emotions man stands before aroused by vast & it in fear and natural landscapes amazment , in which are vast, admiration and trepidation desolate, grandiose, powerful, overwhelming FREEDOM the aesthetic categories of ROMANTICISM are based on the idea of freedom as they are subjective , that is to SUBLIME does not depend on the objectivity say they are judged by the individual in of experience ( the accordance wth the emotions they can quality of things arouse in him. themselves) but it exists merely in the mind that contemplates them. The concept of BEAUTY & SUBLIME is a psychological one as it is within the mind of men , in their reactions to the RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2015 -2016 objects.

8. GENERAL FEATURES v THE GOTHIC NOVEL HOME v The adjective “Gothic” had three important connotations: v MEDIEVAL , because it is related tothe architectural style of the Middle Ages v IRREGULAR as opposed to the proportion and order of c. LASSICISSM; v WILD & SUPERNATURAL in the senese of MYSTERIOUS nad FEARFUL v great importance given to terrifying descriptions v ancient settings (i. e. isolated castles, secret rooms, mysterious abbeys) v the choice of Catholic countries as the setting for the most terrible crimes due to the Protestant prejudice against Catholicism v use of supernatural beings (vampires, monster, ghosts) v flat characters (the villain - a terrifying male character, often the victim of his evil impulses ; the sensitive overreactive heroine- the persecuted girl derived from the model of Richardson’s Pamela; the brave sensitive hero) v a new conception of beauty : SUBLIME RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2015 -2016

9. MARY GODWIN SHELLEY q. MARY SHELLEY’s main achievement: FRANKENSTEIN, or the modern Prometheus qepistolary novel quse of multiple narrators (Chinese boxes) qinterest in science qthe overreacher qthe double qsocial injustice q. Rousseau's idea of a "good natural man" RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2015 -2016 HOME

10. FRANKENSTEIN & DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE 1. THE FIGURE OF THE OVERREACHER - The two protagonists are scientists who, led by their great ambition, fulfil their achievement but, thus doing, they overcome the limits and borders imposed to them by ethics, nature or God. v. Their punishment is death by exhaustion in one case, by self-destruction in the other. v. Both are OVERREACHERS, rebels who go beyond the limits imposed to Mankind by God or Nature, who have their prototype in Prometheus, the mythical Titan who defied Zeus stealing the fire from the Olympus. 2. FORBIDDEN SCIENCE - Both Mary Shelley, who is considered a forerunner of science - fiction, and Robert Louis Stevenson reveal deep interest in science in these works and reflect on what is now called bioethics. HOME RAFFAELLA MANNORI THE GOTHIC NOVEL 14 RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2015 -2016 2010 -2011

10. 1 FRANKENSTEIN & DR. JEKILL & MR. HYDE v 3. COMPLEX NARRATIVE STRUCTURE - The two stories are told by different narrators and the reader shares different points of view. Mary Shelley's work is an epistolary novel with three narrating voices, whose narration doesn't follow a chronological sequence. It is also designed as "Chinese boxes" v. Stevenson's "Jekyll and Hyde", too, has a multi - narrational structure: four different narrators and a series of different points of view are proposed to the reader: 80% of the story is told by a third - person external narrator but Enfield's, Lanyon's and Jekyll's contributions are necessary, essential, to the completeness of the puzzle Mr Utterson is trying to re-compose. RAFFAELLA MANNORI THE GOTHIC NOVEL 2010 -2011 HOME 15

HYDE v 4. THE DOUBLE - In Frankenstein we can recognize two examples of these fascinating theme. Captain Walton can be considered Victor Frankenstein's "alter ego", his double, since they manifest the same ambition. Walton and Frankenstein try to go beyond human limits and are punished in the end as are all overreachers: Walton's punishment is the imprisonment in the ice and the rebellion of his crew; Frankenstein's punishment is definite, it is death. v The second example of double is Frankenstein and the creature/monster he created. Why can the latter be considered the alter ego of the first? What does Frankenstein recognize of himself in the wretched creature he brought to life? That monstrous being is the embodiment of his horrible guilty ambition, of his monstrous plan for usurping the female role and defy the basic natural laws of life. v The theme of the double in Stevenson's mystery story is based on the double identity / personality of a single human being. As Henry James said: "It deals with the relation of the baser parts of man to his nobler - of the capacity for evil that exists in the most generous nature. . . " HOME RAFFAELLA MANNORI THE GOTHIC NOVEL RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2015 -2016 2010 -2011 16

10. 2 FRANKENSTEIN & DR. JEKILL & MR. HYDE HOME v 5. GOTHICISM - Gothic elements characterize both novels: • the monster, exoticism, nocturnal gloomy scenes, bloody crimes, fear and terror in FRANKENSTEIN • mysterious, foggy, dark setting, evil crimes, ugly devilish Mr Hyde, fear and terror in JEKYLL AND HYDE v 6. RELATION TO MYTHS OF THE PAST - If Shelley's herself defined her Frankenstein a modern Prometheus, can't respectable Dr Jekyll be considered a modern Faust? v 7. SOCIAL CRITICISM - Though not realistic stories meant to be social novels, they convey the attempts of their authors to criticize contemporary society, both books contain in fact critical messages in that direction. Frankenstein highlights the social injustice which transforms an innocent creature into a murderous monster by marginalizing him for his ugly aspect. v Jekyll and Hyde, instead, attacks the hypocritical duplicity of the respectable Victorian society RAFFAELLA MANNORI THE GOTHIC NOVEL 2010 -2011 17