Pre-AP English 10 Mr. Daniels
Born in London as Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin on August 30, 1797 Both mother and father were major literary figures William Godwin radical thinker of literary merits that ranked with Thomas Payne and William Blake Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women; a tract that encouraged women to be free Mother died at Mary s Birth, yet her father still brought her up in a literary radical household
As a teen, Mary meets Percy Shelley, a poet, and falls in love They run away together for a tour of Europe However, Shelley s marriage with his wife put strains on the relationship Harriet, Percy Shelley s wife, who was then pregnant drowns herself in November of 1816 Percy and Mary are married weeks later
Unfortunate Events of Mary Shelley Three of the four children between Percy and Mary die in infancy Percy drowns off in a boating accident off the shore of Tuscany in 1822, leaving Mary as a single mother Mary Shelley writes several works but none are as successful as Frankenstein Mary is ill the last ten years of her life and dies from a possible brain tumor at the age of 53 (1851).
In the summer of 1816, Mary Godwin Shelley, Percy Shelley, their son, Lord Byron, John William Polidori (Byron s physician) and Claire Clairmont stay at Lake Geneva, Switzerland Being a stormy summer, much of the company spent time in the house discussing the experiments of Erasmus Darwin and telling German ghost stories Lord Byron soon suggests that they all write their own supernatural tale Mary Shelley, during a dream, conceives the idea for Frankenstein Starting as a short story, Percy encourages her to continue the tale and expands it to her first novel
Victor Frankenstein protagonist of the story; creates the monster only to recoil in horror over his own creation The Monster Eight foot tall creation that is hideous, though intelligent and sensitive; tries to fit in to society yet too grotesque for society Robert Walton the Arctic explorer that finds Victor Frankenstein close to death; his letters concerning this story open and close the book framing device
Three Narrators First: Walton s letters to Mrs. Saville Second: Victor Frankenstein s story which is retold by Walton in his letters Third: The Monster s experience which is told to Victor and then retold by Walton A story within a story within a story Framing Device A narrative device used to provide setting and exposition for the main narrative of the novel; Robert Walton s letters to Mrs. Saville; provides an objective point-of-view to the complete narrative
The Modern Prometheus relates to the Greek Creation Myth of Prometheus Created man and brought forth light/knowledge to him from the gods However, Prometheus is punished by Zeus for giving this knowledge by continual destruction of his liver Man is also punished by the gods through Pandora and the box Epigraph of Paradise Lost Parallel with the fall of Satan and Adam/Eve; I never asked for you to create me, God!
Knowledge/Exploration as Dangerous Parallels of Walton (reaching the North Pole) and Frankenstein (creating life) prove that exploring beyond the limits can be dangerous The Influence of Mother Nature Characters find emotional peace or chaos within the natural world; both Frankenstein and monster will discover this; Romanticism/Gothic Literature The Real Monster (?) Although there is only one literal monster, a case can be made for Victor in that his hatred for his own monster allows for destruction
Light and Fire Light is usually associated with goodness and knowledge. However, fire is a bit different - a duality in that it provides light/knowledge yet shows that one may be burnt from the knowledge Adam/Eden/God the Creator The Monster is compared to the creation of man (also compared to the Fallen Angel); Victor to the Creator of Man yet Shelley tries to show that both individuals have good and evil within them