Marica mannino
All about
Frankenstein
START
‘I busied myself to think of a story…One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature, and awaken thrilling horror—one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart."
(From Mary Shelley’s Introduction to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein).
The autor
Mary Shelley (1797–1851) was a major literary figure of the English Romantic period. She explores themes such as social alienation, humanity's overweening ambition, and the ethical consequences of scientific progress. During the summer of 1816, spent at Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva with Percy Shelley and Lord Byron, the group decided to hold a literary challenge by writing ghost stories. Mary, inspired by a nightmare and by scientific discussions about galvanism (the theory that electricity could revive biological tissues) conceived the story of the scientist Victor Frankenstein.
Plot
A young explorer named Robert Walton is on a trip to the North Pole. His ship gets stuck in ice, and they take a sick man aboard. This man is Victor Frankenstein. Victor tells Walton his life story. He was a Swiss scientist who studied things like electricity and chemistry. After a lot of hard work, he managed to create a human being by putting together parts from dead bodies. But when the creature came to life, Victor was horrified by what he had done and abandoned it. This started a series of terrible events. The creature destroyed everything Victor cared about, including his new wife, Elizabeth. In the end, Victor dies on Walton's ship. He wishes he had killed his creation. The monster sees his dead creator and disappears into the Arctic, saying he will kill himself.
Frankenstein is written as an epistolary novel, in the form of letters addressed to Walton's sister.
It is composed by three narrative, with three different narrators and three different point of view
Social prejudices
The Novel also reflects upon the theme of education and social prejudices through the figure of the Monster, depicted as an outcast; he is refused by society beacause he is different.In this there is a link to the tension between the fear of a revolution and an interest in revolutionary ideas
The role of science
Percy and Mary Shelley were particularly fascinated by the experiments with electricity that had been carried out in the 1770s by Luigi Galvani, where he had observed how an electric current made the legs of dead frogs move. The monster is the first literary embodiment of the theme of science and its moral responsibilites and potentially dangerous consequences.
The myth of Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus was a giant who stole fire from the Gods in order to give it to men. In doing so, he challenged divine authority and freed men from the Gods' power. Like Prometheus, Victor Frankenstein tries to push beyond natural limits by creating life.However, such as Prometheus, he suffers deeply: he loses control over his creation and faces tragic consequences. That's why the full title is "Frankenstein;or The modern Prometheus".
Rousseau's "natural man"
Frankenstein's creature is not evil at the beginning,he is like a child:curious,sensitive and capable of kindness.However every time people see him,they react with fear and violence beacause of his appearance. The creature slowly changes,he becomes violent,not because he was born evil,but because he war never loved or accepted. Through this, Mary Shelley suggest that society can shape a person's behaviour.
Shelley uses Gothic elements but also transform them,
- The monster has feelings and intelligence
- It's not clear who the real monster is- the creature,or Victor who abandons him?
- The real "horror" is psychological, the focus is on loneliness,rejection and guilt.The reader feel not only fear, but also sympathy for the creature.
These features make the novel deeper and more modern compared to traditional Gothic stories
Frankenstein
Mar Mar
Created on April 28, 2026
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Transcript
Marica mannino
All about
Frankenstein
START
‘I busied myself to think of a story…One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature, and awaken thrilling horror—one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart."
(From Mary Shelley’s Introduction to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein).
The autor
Mary Shelley (1797–1851) was a major literary figure of the English Romantic period. She explores themes such as social alienation, humanity's overweening ambition, and the ethical consequences of scientific progress. During the summer of 1816, spent at Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva with Percy Shelley and Lord Byron, the group decided to hold a literary challenge by writing ghost stories. Mary, inspired by a nightmare and by scientific discussions about galvanism (the theory that electricity could revive biological tissues) conceived the story of the scientist Victor Frankenstein.
Plot
A young explorer named Robert Walton is on a trip to the North Pole. His ship gets stuck in ice, and they take a sick man aboard. This man is Victor Frankenstein. Victor tells Walton his life story. He was a Swiss scientist who studied things like electricity and chemistry. After a lot of hard work, he managed to create a human being by putting together parts from dead bodies. But when the creature came to life, Victor was horrified by what he had done and abandoned it. This started a series of terrible events. The creature destroyed everything Victor cared about, including his new wife, Elizabeth. In the end, Victor dies on Walton's ship. He wishes he had killed his creation. The monster sees his dead creator and disappears into the Arctic, saying he will kill himself.
Frankenstein is written as an epistolary novel, in the form of letters addressed to Walton's sister.
It is composed by three narrative, with three different narrators and three different point of view
Social prejudices
The Novel also reflects upon the theme of education and social prejudices through the figure of the Monster, depicted as an outcast; he is refused by society beacause he is different.In this there is a link to the tension between the fear of a revolution and an interest in revolutionary ideas
The role of science
Percy and Mary Shelley were particularly fascinated by the experiments with electricity that had been carried out in the 1770s by Luigi Galvani, where he had observed how an electric current made the legs of dead frogs move. The monster is the first literary embodiment of the theme of science and its moral responsibilites and potentially dangerous consequences.
The myth of Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus was a giant who stole fire from the Gods in order to give it to men. In doing so, he challenged divine authority and freed men from the Gods' power. Like Prometheus, Victor Frankenstein tries to push beyond natural limits by creating life.However, such as Prometheus, he suffers deeply: he loses control over his creation and faces tragic consequences. That's why the full title is "Frankenstein;or The modern Prometheus".
Rousseau's "natural man"
Frankenstein's creature is not evil at the beginning,he is like a child:curious,sensitive and capable of kindness.However every time people see him,they react with fear and violence beacause of his appearance. The creature slowly changes,he becomes violent,not because he was born evil,but because he war never loved or accepted. Through this, Mary Shelley suggest that society can shape a person's behaviour.
Shelley uses Gothic elements but also transform them,
These features make the novel deeper and more modern compared to traditional Gothic stories