Presentation Frankenstein

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MARY SHELLEY'S "FRANKENSTEIN"

Mary Shelley

• Mary Godwin was born on August 30, 1797, in London.
• Her parents were William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft.
• In 1814, Mary met Percy Bysshe Shelley.
• They flee to France and Switzerland, but had to return back in England.
• In the summer of 1816 Mary and Percy Shelley came back to Switzerland with Claire, Mary’s stepsister, and Lord Byron.
• They rented a country house on Lake Geneva (near Villa Diodati).

The idea...

• One rainy day the group of friends (also with Doctor Polidori) decided to read ghost stories.

• The men's long conversations about the principles of life, galvanism and the possibility of assembling a creature from the remains of other dead creatures led Mary to have a nightmare that scares her (about a scientist and his living creation).
• In 1818, Mary published “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus”.
• In 1822 her husband drowned during a storm.
• She died in 1851.

The Gothic novel

3.Intense emotions

1.Dark and mysterious atmosphere

like fear, terror, and anxiety + psychological turmoil

Castles, abbeys, and old mansions (often shrouded in gloom or fog).

2.Supernatural or inexplicable events

4.Romantic subplots

tragic love affairs or mysterious love interests

Ghosts, curses, or unexplained occurrences

The Gothic novel

7.Morality, Sin, and Redemption

5.Depiction of...

The sublime nature and the grotesque, scary and monstrous aspects of life

Tied to metaphysical dilemmas

6. Women's role

Vulnerable and virtuous female characters, often subjected to malevolent forces (reflecting gender roles)

Plot

• The protagonist is a brilliant Swiss scientist, Victor Frankenstein.
• The Creature has a monstrous and scary appearance, but has human feelings.
• The creature is rejected by society.
• For revenge, Frankenstein will arrive in the Arctic to kill him.
• He meets Captain Walton (we know the story through his letters).

The Monster's description

• Frankenstein's monster is described as a 8-foot-tall (2.4 m), with translucent yellowish skin pulled over the body ("barely disguised the workings of the vessels and muscles underneath"), glowing eyes, flowing black hair, black lips, and white teeth.

• A picture of the creature appeared in the 1831 edition.
• Throughout the 19th century, the monster's image remained variable.

Adaptations of the monster in other medias

Robert de Niro's monster (1994)

Aaron Eckhart's monster (2014)

Boris Karloff's monster (1937)

Why Prometheus?

• “The Modern Prometheus” draws a parallel to the mythological figure of Prometheus, known for stealing the fire from the Gods.
• Zeus, to punish him, chained him to a rock where every day, a vulture came to eat his liver.
• Frankenstein mirrors Prometheus: he goes beyond human limits...

Central themes

• Duality:

- Victor Frankenstein and the Monster are doubles, (perseverance, ambition...). The creation of the monster is similar to the creation of the man by God ("Genesis"); - Walton is also Frankenstein's double, who has the desire to surpass human limits (solitary nature, obsessed with their quest...).

• Social inequity towards "the different":

initially good and benevolent, the monster trasforms into an outcast and murderer.

Philosophical influences

- “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel T. Coleridge: the mariner commits a crime against nature when he kills an albatross, and so Frankenstein. - The theory of the “Noble Savage" of Jean Jacques Rousseau: the monster is a primitive man, close to nature and innocent; he becomes evil when he comes in touch with society.

Style

The novel is in the form of an epistolary, and the letters are written by Walton to his sister. There are other two narrators: Doctor Victor Frankenstein and the Monster himself. So Captain Walton's letters contain: - The narrative related by Victor Frankenstein to Captain Walton; - The Creature's story; - What Walton experiences.

THE END