Frankenstein Alison Aitken 2012 Mary Shelley Born 1797 Died 1851 Wrote Frankenstein 1816 Published 1818 Image source httpalextrenowethcomwpcontentuploads201010maryshelley1jpg ID: 363412
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Slide1
The Context of Frankenstein
Alison Aitken, 2012Slide2
Mary Shelley
Born 1797
Died 1851
Wrote Frankenstein 1816Published 1818
Image source: http://alextrenoweth.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/mary-shelley1.jpg
Slide3
Mary Shelley’s Parents
Mary Shelley described (accurately) that she was the “daughter of two persons of distinguished literary celebrity”
Two of the most radical writers/thinkers of the previous generation
Mother: Mary
WollestonecraftFather: William GodwinSlide4
Shelley’s mother Mary Wollstonecraft
W
rote
The Vindication of the Rights of Women
Early feminist piece
“I do not wish [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.”
“Make women rational creatures, and free citizens, and they will quickly become good wives; — that is, if men do not neglect the duties of husbands and fathers.”
Died 11 days after Mary Shelley’s birth.
Had an illegitimate child
Believed in sexual freedom of women
Image source:
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/resources/images/1071170/?type=display
Slide5
Mary Shelley’s Father William Godwin
Wrote
An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793)
A leader in
radical
intellectual circles
Believed in human perfectibility and enlightenment
Believed that governments, marriage, property monopoly and monarchy restrained the progress of humankind
Image source:
http://www.utilitarian.net/godwin.jpg
Slide6
William Godwin – cont’d
After Mary Wollstonecraft’s death, Godwin raised Mary Shelley and her half-sister.
Despite his alleged coldness, he surrounded his children with:
Extensive library
Intellectual conversationsCreative intellectualsSlide7
The Enlightenment – The Age of Reason
Human perfectibility
“The proper employment of
reason
will result in the full achievement of human potential." ProgressScientific and mathematical discoveries The innate goodness of man – “benevolent heart”
Logic
Reason
Research and science over God and churchSlide8
The Enlightenment – The Age of Reason
Scientific
method
Rationality
DiscoveryAstronomyDarwin’s Theory of EvolutionOrderConcern for peaceBeginnings of
Industrialisation
Measurement
Interest in the past, antiquity
World was expanding – geographical discoveries (EG. Australia!)
Growth of international trade
Imperialism
Colonisation
Published media =
Masses interested in science, alchemy, philosophy, natural history…Slide9
Romanticism
Began in 18
th
centuryResponse to the “reason” of The
Enlightenment. A movement in literature and other artsArt (not science or reason) as way to inner truths of life, one’s soulNature as “sublime”
Hatred of industrialisation
Response to rationalism of the
Enlightenment
Strong emotion as authentic source of aesthetic experience
Intuition, imagination, feeling
Listen:
Tintern
Abbey -
http
://
downloads.bbc.co.uk/arts/romantics/audio/mp3/wordsworth_tintern_abbey.mp3
Slide10
Galvanism
Luigi Galvani
Italian physicist/physician
Late 18th century
Discovered that an electrical current applied to a dead frog’s leg caused it to twitchCaused others to theorise that enough current (either by electrical current or chemical reaction) to the brain might “re-animate” a human corpse
Image sourced 19/01/12 at
http
://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%
D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB:Luigi_galvani.jpg
Slide11
Shelley Surrounded by Creative Intellectuals of the Time
William Wordsworth &
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Poets who began the Romantic movement)
William Hazlitt (Major Essayist in English Literature)Mary Shelley heard their conversations!
Images sourced from: 1)
http://www.searchbeat.com/bookshop/index.php?psps_search=William+Wordsworth
2)
http://www.english.ucla.edu/faculty/fburwick/bibweb.html
3)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:William_Hazlitt_self-portrait_(1802).jpg
Slide12
The French Revolution
Radical social and political upheaval
Aim: end to aristocracy and monarchy
Liberty, Fraternity, Equality!At first - English and others looked to the French model for inspiration, but later, as the horror took shape, became fearful of similar chaosSlide13
Gothic Fiction
Popular art form – Late 18
th
centurySettings: castles, dungeons, secret passages
Omens, phenomena, portents, dreams, visionsSupernatural elements – ghosts, hauntingsHigh emotions – often overwroughtMystery, doom, gloomy, forebodingMetonymy (something standing for something else) of horror – wind, rain
Panic, threatening atmosphere, terror,
Sentimental narration
Breathless, heart pounding
Female heroine, without male protector – oppressed or lonely
Heroine often threatened by powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male to do something they don’t want to (reflects patriarchal context, women without power)
Footsteps approaching, groaning, maniacal laughter, thunder, lightning, ruins, howling winds etc..
Info sourced
on 19/01/12 from
http://
www.virtualsalt.com/gothic.htm
To read
The Castle of
Otronto
, the “first” Gothic novel, click here.