Introduction to M.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.

Although Frankenstein is a fictional story, I think in many ways it is representative of Mary Shelley personal views in her everyday life. Mary Shelley was raised by her father after her mother passed and because of that they always had a rocky relationship even after her father remarried. Mary fell in love with one of her father’s political followers, Percy Shelley and they got married although her father did not approve of their relationship because of the age difference. Throughout their relationship, they faced many obstacles that made it hard for their relationship to work, but it did. This aspect of her relationship is show through Elizabeth in the novel because it shows how hard women will work to make a relationship work even when

John Locke is one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers and is famously known for asserting that all humans have natural rights. He also believed that humans are born with clean slates, and that the environment humans grow in, especially at a young age, has massive influences on aspects of their personalities, ideals, and motivations. Shelley was most definitely influenced by this claim when writing Frankenstein. As the reader, we can see the monster that Victor Frankenstein creates grow up alone, without guidance, and be formed by the experiences it is put through while trying to survive. Its emotions and beliefs throughout the book were merely a result of its experiences as it encounters the harsh reality of the world. Mary

Human Nature can be defined as “the ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that are common to most people”. Many people are attracted to compassion and sympathy through the love of a person whom cares very deeply about them. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the three main characters Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein and Frankenstein (The Monster) are shown throughout the story, longing and in search for a companion. Throughout the story, the characters struggle with the battle of wanting either sympathy or compassion from a person or both. Mary Shelley shows the true indication of Human Nature by showing the importance of sympathy and compassion through the main character’s desires and pain.

Frankenstein is a gothic horror novel that was written by Mary Shelly and was published in 1818, when gothic aesthetic, romanticism and science were beginning to spike in western culture. The novel follows the story of Victor Frankenstein in creating a monster which causes destruction around him, as Victor had ambition and thirst to reveal the secrets of nature. The novel could be viewed as a warning to the readers and audience about having a greed for knowledge and power. Mary Shelley explores the idea of having obtained too much knowledge and curiosity and playing god which involves consequences and dangers that come with it throughout the text. It also compares the human development of emotions and has

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) wrote the novel, Frankenstein, in her late teens to her early twenties. It was her most famous work and was published in early 1818 it was to become the most famous Gothic Horror story ever written. Shelley lived in a time where the field of science progressed immensely. Science, because of its links to the supernatural, then became part of the emergence of Gothic Horror as a genre. Since then it has been frequently used in Gothic Horror when using the connection to the unexplained and supernatural. In Gothic Horror the unexplained is built in with emotion. The emotion brings a bit of realism to the story; otherwise it would sound to far-fetched. Also the introduction of emotions makes the novel

Mary Shelley was a woman of substantial creativity. The story “Frankenstein” was the breakthrough novel of how she felt. She was only nineteen years old and had just given birth six months prior to the novel and 3 months post the novel. Her thought process of creation then furthered because she had created life herself. Although Mary Shelley became very familiar with the parenting lifestyle, creating the monster of Frankenstein was an outlook on the intimidation, resentfulness, and disgust she felt for her own life.

Author Mary Shelley was born August 30th, 1797 to philosopher and writer William Godwin and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary’s mother passed away early in Shelley’s life and wasn’t a prominent figure. Her father remarried another woman named Mary Jane Clairmont. Shelley and her stepmother rarely got along so a female role model was not something Shelley received in her early years. Clairmont refused to send Shelley to be educated at a school but has no hesitation when sending her own daughter. Even without a formal education Shelley would still attempt to seek knowledge through books and would often daydream to escape the everyday struggles of her life at home. She also took up writing as an activity in which to

When she went to bed that night, and laid her head on her pillow, she could not sleep. “I saw – with shut eyes but acute mental vision – I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together” (Mary W. Shelley, 104). Mary wrote that she wound announce that she had thought of a story in the morning. In the same year that Mary visited Switzerland, her half-sister and Percy’s first wife both committed suicide. In 1818 Mary published Frankenstein as an anonymous author. In 1819 Percy Florence was their only living child. Mary’s husband drowned while out sailing in 1822. Even though her marriage was filled with heartache and cheating, she still mourned Percy’s death. Mary devoted herself to caring for her father in his old age and educating Percy Florence. In 1839 and 1840 Mary edited her late husband’s works. It took many years for her father-in-law to allow her to publish Percy’s edited work because he did not approve of Percy’s lifestyle. In 1840, 1842 and 1843, Mary and her son traveled to Germany and Italy. Mary Shelley died on February 1, 1851, at St. Peter’s Church in Bournemouth, United Kingdom. Her father and mother are buried there. She was laid to rest by them and with the cremated remains of her husband’s heart. I think if her father, mother and step-mother were alive to see her accomplishments, they would be proud and surprised at what she

After working for many months Victor is finally able to create a living creature out of a corpse. Ironically, Victor is not happy about his creation, instead he gets horrified of the monster that he has created. Thus Victor is shocked and abandons his own creation leaving him to suffer on Earth where he is not

Over the course of Victor’s life time, he loses everyone he loves and cares about because of his creation. Victor decides to track down the monster, which leaves clues leading to the North Pole. Victor runs into a ship captain and tells him the story. As they both continue to look, Victor becomes very sick and eventually dies. One night the ship captain, Robert Walton, hears noises from the room where Victor’s body lays. When he walks in, he sees the monster weeping over the body. The monster tells Mr. Walton how regretful he is and that he has nothing to do now and his life was over. After that he ran off into the cold, darkness and was never heard from again. The puzzle of the story is what was going through Victor’s head through all

Even though it is mysterious and cannot be fathomed, just like Romanticism, the mystery in Gothic Literature is horrific, while in Romanticism it is beautiful. Gothic fiction relates to prudishness (especially in the Victorian era) as it focuses on taboo subjects, such as: sex, vice, and murder. Therefore, it is, to great extent, going beyond peoples emotional limitations. To add to that, the typical feature of Gothic Literature would be expressing nature in the threat of monsters, ghosts, or in other words, supernatural forces conflicting with humanity. On the whole, a great representation of these gothic and romantic influences would be the novel Frankenstein (or The Modern Prometheus) by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, which was published in 1818 and written during the Romantic Period.

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.