Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Mary Shelley 1797 1851

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley 1797 -1851

• Poetry should begin as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. ” William Wordsworth

“The artist’s feeling is his law. ” --Casper David Friedrich Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog 1818

Intellectual Movements The Enlightenment Romanticism • 18 th century (1700’s) • Diderot, Voltaire, Kant, Rousseau • Focused on the use of reason and rationality, questioning of dogma, empiricism, scientific rigor, and freedom based on the idea of man as a rational being. • 1790 -1850 • Byron, Keats, Coleridge, Shelley, Hawthorne, Poe, Dickinson, Whitman, Irving • A reaction to the Industrial Revolution and Enlightenment ideals.

Romanticism • Believed emotion to be a source of aesthetic expression • Placed importance on the sublimity and beauty of nature • Looked to the past, especially medievalism and the chivalric romance • Admired the solitary genius, placing prime importance on original creation from one’s own imagination following no prior rules or structures.

William Godwin (1756 -1836) Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 -1797)

Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin • Mary W. was an early feminist who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women and considered women’s lack of political power and narrow role as wives and mothers to be slavery. • She had an illegitimate child with Gilbert Imlay before meeting William Godwin.

Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin • William Godwin was a radical political philosopher, a proponent of anarchism, and a critic of contemporary social structures, including marriage. • He married Mary W. after she conceived Mary S.

Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin • Mary W. died only 10 days after Mary S. was born. • Mary S. very often hung out by her grave. That’s where her relationship with Percy began. • William published a very honest biography about Mary W. that included her many affairs, illegitimate child, and suicide attempts. • He was surprised when people were shocked and considered the biography to be heartless.

Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin • William raised Mary and her half-sister Fanny very lovingly. • He remarried (another Mary) with her own two children. • He educated Mary to a greater degree than most girls at the time and immersed her in the intellectual ideas of his circle.

Mary Shelley 1797 -1851 Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 -1822

Percy Bysshe Mary Shelley 1797 Shelley 1792 -1822 -1851 Claire Clairmont, Mary’s stepsister

Lord Byron, poet and friend Claire Claremont, Mary’s step. Percy Bysshe sister Shelley 1792 -1822 Claire Clairmont, Mary’s step. Mary Shelley 1797 sister -1851

Mary Shelley • 1797 -1851 Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin • At age 16, 1814, began a relationship with Percy Bysshe Shelley…who had a pregnant wife and child. • Mary and Percy ran off together and married two years later…three weeks after Percy’s wife Harriet committed suicide.

Mary Shelley • Much of their life was spent travelling throughout Europe with other poets and writers, especially the poet Lord Byron, and with Mary’s step-sister Claire, who conceived a child with Byron. • Percy continued to have affairs throughout their marriage, probably also with Claire. • Mary claims to have agreed that marriage was oppressive and unnecessary…maybe.

Mary Shelley • Mary gave birth to four children with Percy, three of whom died as infants or toddlers. • Her only surviving son was Percy Florence Shelley.

Mary Shelley • Percy died in a boating accident on July 8, 1822. • Mary spent much of her life publishing his works and trying to publish his life story. • She supported herself with her own writing.

Gothic Literature

Gothic Literature • First Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole • His aim was to find a middle ground between a medieval romance, which he found too fanciful, and a “modern” (contemporary) novel, which he found to be too confined to strict realism.

Gothic Literature • The name comes from its similarities to Gothic architecture—unrestrained with grotesque ornamentation putting humans in conflict with supernatural forces. • These traits show an ambition to transcend human limitations and reach the divine. • Also a fascination with the mysterious infinite of the universe, including the terror that goes along with it.

Lord Byron: source of the term Byronic hero. “A man proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on his brow and misery in his heart, a scorner of his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep and strong affection. ” --Lord Macaulay

Motifs, Techniques, and Allusions • • • Solitary genius Byronic hero Satanic hero Faust Frame or spiral narrative Nature as a mirror, character, or force The conflict of logic and emotion Doppelganger Paradise Lost Prometheus

Galvanism • Using an electrical current to make the muscles of a dead creature contract

Monsters

Monster Etymology • Originally abnormal or abnormally large animals were considered portents—monsters, signs. • 12 th century monster = a repulsive character or object of dread; an abomination • 14 th century monster = something malformed • 1550 monster = a person of inhuman cruelty or wickedness

21 st Century Monster • What would be the worst monster for our day and age? • Draw the creature, including details that reveal what is monstrous about this creature for our world. • Label the details to explain why this thing is a modern-day monster.