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Frankenstein RevisionGothic
» Horror: fear from physical shock – ‘Watery eyes almost the same colour as the dun white
sockets in which they were set’
» Terror: fear from uncertain or obscure – ‘frightful dreams’, ‘he might have spoken, but I
did not hear; ne hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, nut I escaped’
» Sublime: sense of awe at something much bigger than ourselves that we cannot
understand fully – ‘A serene sky and verdant fields filled me with ecstasy’, ‘A cold wind
played on my cheeks which braced my nerves and filled me with delight’
» Obscurity: both physical and mental, things not properly seen or understood - ‘The for an
instant everything seemed of a pitchy darkness’
» The Uncanny – unsettling experience over something that is strange, eerie or mysterious
-‘dull yellow eyes’
» Taboos: Cultural, moral or religious rules which are under pressure, challenging limits and
norm- ‘the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body’
» Doppelganger: double, mirror image or alto ego of a character – both called ‘wretch’,
‘creature’. Later in the novel, the loss of control of the creation mirrors Victor’s loss of
control of himself.
Elements of Romanticism:
» ‘Romantic’ writers interested in the concept of ‘self’ as distinct from society indulging a
sense of individuality. Walton is physically isolated on a ship in the Artic carrying notions
of discovery and adventure whereas Frankenstein mentally alienates himself to
concentrate on his work as well as physically distancing himself at the University of
Ingolstadt. Can be seen as the less healthy version. Walton longs for companionship, ‘I
greatly need a friend who would have sense not to despise me as a romantic’.
Context
Mother died in childbirth
Marxist criticism: Frankenstein= elite but negative portrayal, creation = lower class,
mistreatment by society leads to desire for radicalism/reform
Shelley’s parents argued for social justice, human rights and equality, against repression.
Godwin believed, believed that institutions such as law, government, marriage and
property were unnecessary and the causes of corrupt relations between people.
Development of man shown through Creation. ‘Man is naturally good, loving justice and
order, that there is absolutely no original perversity in the human heart, and that the
first movements of nature are always right’
Period before Romanticism, seen as The Enlightenment, saw nature as
something to be dominated.
, Literature in the 18th Century was shaped by values and characteristics of
neoclassicism(the revival of a classical style or treatment in art, literature, architecture, or
music): emotional restraint, order, logic, technical precision, balance, an emphasis of
form over content, clarity, dignity, it sought to appeal to the intellect rather than the
emotions and was considered with more importance than imagination?
Writers who were considered ‘romantic’ were very interested in the concept of ‘self’ as
distinct from society, sense of individuality exaggerated by alienation.
Some of the main characteristics of Romanticism include: idealism, celebration, nature-
worship, fascination with the medieval, the Gothic, the foreign, the exotic and
supernatural, indulgence in physical passion and sensation for their own sakes,
revolution with individuals rebelling against the established social and political
structures of the day.
Questions were raised about the elusive boundary between life and death, during the
1790s an Italian physician named Luigi Galvani performed one of the first experiments
with nerve impulses through electrical charges, making a frog’s muscle twitch by jolting
them with a spark from an electrostatic machine.
Edmund Burke, ‘The passion caused by the great and sublime in nature… is
Astonishment; and astonishment is that state of the soul, in which all its motions are
suspended, with some degree of horror’
1802, Humphry Davy, ‘Science has… Bestowed upon [man] powers which may be
called almost creative; which have enabled him to change and modify the beings
surrounding him, and by experiments to interrogate nature with power’
Historical Context
The Creature – Represents or rather can symbolize the French revolution as both the
monster and the revolution started out surrounded by hope and optimism and ended in
destruction and despair.
Characters
Victor Frankenstein
‘Divine wanderer’ – elevated by the pursuit of knowledge
Victor changes over the course of the novel from an innocent youth fascinated
by the prospects of science into a disillusioned, guilt-ridden man determined to
destroy the fruits of his arrogant scientific endeavor.
Whether as a result of his desire to attain the godlike power of creating new life
or his avoidance of the public arenas in which science is usually conducted,
Victor is doomed by a lack of humanness.
He cuts himself off from the world and eventually commits himself entirely to an
animalistic obsession with revenging himself upon the monster.
The Creature
THE CREATURE IS SYMBOLIC OF THE CRUELTY AND INTOLERANCE OF HUMANITY!
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