Biography And Background Of Mary Shelley 's ' Frankenstein '

"A Hermit is simply a person to whom society has failed to adjust itself." (Will Cuppy). In the gothic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley we follow the life of Victor Frankenstein in 18th century Germany. Shelley displays a recurring theme of isolation and how it drives once good people to do terrible things. If civilization does not adjust itself to a creature of any kind they will be forced into isolation and ultimately self destruction.

Every work is a product of its time. Indeed, we see that in Frankenstein, like in the world which produced its author, race, or the outward appearances on which that construct is based, determines much of the treatment received by those at all levels of its hierarchy. Within the work, Mary Shelley, its author, not only presents a racialized view of its characters, but further establishes and enforces the racial hierarchy present and known to her in her own world. For the few non-European characters, their appearance, and thus their standing in its related hierarchy, defines their entrances into the narrative. For the Creature, this occurs on the ices of the Artic, when, “atop a low carriage, fixed on a sledge and drawn by dogs, pass on towards the north, at the distance of half a mile;” Walton and his men perceived, “a being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature.” (Shelley 13) Shelley clarifies, even this early in her novel, the race of its principal Other as soon after the intrepid adventurers rescue its namesake, Victor Frankenstein, who, Shelley clarifies, “was not, as the other traveller seemed to be, a savage inhabitant of some undiscovered island, but an European.” (Shelley 14) Later, closer examination of the Creature reveals a visage and figure of near unimaginable disfigurement, with a “shrivelled complexion,” and yellow skin which “scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath.” (Shelley 35) This could be contrasted directly

Shelley addresses romantic conventions in Victor to convey his loss of identity. Victor is impatient and restless when constructing the creation, so much, that he does not think about it’s future repercussions. One of the great paradoxes that Shelley’s novel depicts is giving the monster more human attributes than to it’s creator [p. 6 - Interpretations]. This is true as the monster seeks an emotional bond, but Victor is terrified of it’s existence. The monster later reveals, “I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurred at and kicked and trampled on [Shelley, p. 224].” Victor’s lack of compassion is rooted from the inability to cope with his reality. He distances himself from others and is induced with fainting spells [Shelley, p. 59]. From this, the nameless creature exemplifies Victor’s attempt to abandon his creation to escape his responsibilities. His creation is described as, ‘wretched devil’ and ‘abhorred monster,’ eliciting that the unobtainable, pitied identity [Shelley, p. 102]. The act of not naming the creature reveals Victor as hateful, and unnaturally disconnected to his own created victim.

In Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, she shows that good people can turn evil, but are not born this way. Humans being rude and isolating someone can make a person go insane and do things they are not proud of. Shelley shows this through the creature that Frankenstein creates and gives examples showing his evilness, but also shows that the creature tries to explain many times that he wants a friend and cannot find one because of his appearance and why he does things that are not of good character through the eyes of human beings.

Quote: He stated “I was seized by remorse and the sense of guilt, which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures such as no language can describe…..I shunned the face of man; all sound of joy or complacency was torture to me; solitude was my only consolation–deep, dark, deathlike solitude.”(Page 88).

In Forbidden Knowledge by Roger Shattuck, Mary Shelley's background is discussed further. She was swept off her feet by Percy Shelley at the age of seventeen. Without being married she lived in an irregular household of men who were intent upon achieving glory through their genius. Lord Byron was one such individual. "Surrounded by illegitimate births and infant deaths, they subsisted on high ideals to remake the world through liberation and revolution" (Shattuck 84). It was the hollowness and vanity of these high ideals that Mary Godwin was reacting to when she wrote Frankenstein.

Knowledge can cause a numerous amount of problems for those who choose to pursue it. That is if they decide to traverse on the more taboo sides of the sciences instead of staying inside the societal norms that have been set up. This is one of the more prevalent themes in Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein. Among the themes of loneliness and revenge you have the one out standing theme of knowledge being dangerous. The pursuit of knowledge has caused some of the greatest horrors in the world of man and this is an evident theme in Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein.

Another illustration of the need of equality can be seen in the Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein in which the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, spends his time in college reviving a corpse. Throughout the novel, the Monster is judged and is awfully mistreated based on his looks. For example, when the Monster tries to attain food by entering a hut, “the children [shriek]…[as] some [villagers] attack [him]” (Shelley 74). Due to the Monster’s appearances, the whole village immediately believes he was evil, which provokes them to attack. This is unfair treatment because the Monster was not even looking for a fight. Hence, this mistreatment validates that there is a need for equality regardless of one’s appearances. Nevertheless the monster

A women who wrote “Frankenstein” named, Mary Shelley, she was born August 30, 1797, in London, England. Mary Shelley came from a rich literary heritage. She was the daughter of William Godwin, a political theorist, novelist, and publisher. Her ideas to write Frankenstein cameon summer of 1816, Mary and his brother Percy visited the poet Lord Byron at his villa beside Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Stormy weather finally forced them going indoors, while the other guests read a volume of ghost stories. So there, Mary's story became Frankenstein when she was only 19 years old.Frankenstein was published in 1818, when Mary was 21, and

Mary Shelley, the author of science-fiction novel Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus, more widely-known as simply Frankenstein, was born in England during 1797, the daughter of a feminist activist and a political writer/philosopher. She began writing Frankenstein at age 18. After being cooped up indoors after year without summer, Mary and her friends decided to have a writing contest to pass the time. Mary struggled to think of a topic to write about, but after having a conversation with her friend about electricity and the possibility of creating life with a spark, she began to write Frankenstein. Although she was 18 when she began writing it, due to personal issues, Frankenstein wasn’t published until two years later, when she was 20.

Description: Has trouble dealing with his emotions- Falls into depression and sadness several times throughout the story.

The women in Frankenstein were pure, lifeless and innocent. Elizabeth stands up for Justine’s innocence but cannot prevent her execution. For both Victor and the monster, woman were the last thing they would ask for help, providing comfort and acceptance. For Victor, Elizabeth takes away his guilty conscience. The monster choses female of his kind to feel his awful existence. Both end up destroying the other’s love interest, making woman’s status from object of desire to object of revenge, which does not give women the opportunity to act on their own.

Giving life to an inanimate or deceased body may sound like an old witch tale or plain nonsense. Through Victor Frankenstein’s struggle to create a “monster,” he revealed something deeper and through curiosity he pushed the limits too far to come back. Some limits are set for a reason, but still the temptation to take one more step remains. Mary Shelley gives the reader an inside look to pertinent and sublime human nature in the novel Frankenstein.

Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, is a novel written by English author Mary Shelley about the struggles of a successful scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who creates a ludicrous but sentimental creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. In this great expedition, Shelley expresses many matters ranging from the emotional makeup of each character and their own unique psychological conditions. This story also conveys, in many ways, how identity is imperative and the significance of each individual’s identity in comparison to the story, which includes Victor’s, the creatures’, and the impactful cottagers’.

Introduction: Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is a book with a deep message that touches to the very heart. This message implies that the reader will not see the story only from the perspective of the narrator but also reveal numerous hidden opinions and form a personal interpretation of the novel. One of its primary statements is that no one is born a monster and a “monster” is created throughout socialization, and the process of socialization starts from the contact with the “creator”. It is Victor Frankenstein that could not take the responsibility for his creature and was not able to take care of his “child”. Pride and vanity were the qualities that directed Victor Frankenstein to his discovery of life: “...So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein-more, far more, will I achieve: treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation”[p.47]. He could not cope with this discovery and simply ignored it. The tragedy of Victor Frankenstein and the tragedy of his creature is the same – it is the tragedy of loneliness and confronting the world, trying to find a place in it and deserve someone’s love. The creature would have never become a monster if it got the love it strived for. Victor Frankenstein would have never converted his creature into a monster if he knew how to love and take responsibility for the ones we bring to this world.