Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus

Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus

A novel that represents this tension to overcome human limits is Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus  written by Mary Shelley.

Author's life and cultural context

Mary Wollstoncraft Shelley lived during the Romantic Age which represents the reaction to the Age of Reason and Classicism. It is characterized by the importance of imagination, fantasy, irrationality, feelings, passion and nature.

Mary Shelley was born in London in 1797. She was influenced both by her father, William Godwin, philosopher and novelists with radical ideas against the power, the Church, the rule; and by her mother who was a famous feminist, and died ten days after her birth. In her childhood she was surrounded by her father's friends who were famous intellectual of the Romanticism. One of these author was Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Percy Bysshe Shelley and his wife joined the Godwin's circle in 1812 and two years after Shelley and Mary eloped to the continent. They married in 1816 after Shelley's wife committed suicide. The couple lived an unconventional life between Italy, England and Switzerland, often joined such friends as John Keats and Lord Byron. She died in London in 1851.

The novel

Frankenstein was conceived in 1816 when the Shelleys were on lake Geneva. They were guests of Lord Byron and they were discussing about ghosts stories.

The plot

The text opened with a series of letters that Walton, a young Englishman on a voyage of expedition to the North Pole, sends his sister Mrs Saville. Walton's ship has been blocked by the ice and it lies in danger of being crushed at any moment. Walton tells his sister of a wondrous encounter he had in that frozen land, with a man called Frankenstein, who told him his story. He came from Geneva, and have grown up happily in a wonderful family. The young man soon developed a great interest in natural science and went to the university of Ingolstadt where he met the professor who was to leave s mark on his life for ever.

Frankenstein studied hard and began making experiments in the hope of being able to generate life. He devoted all his time to his work, forgetting his family. After many efforts he managed to give life to a new being that he had assembled out of limbs organs and tissues taken from dissecting rooms. However he was so horrified by the monstrosity of his creature that he ran away hoping to forget the monster he had created. As a consequence of his terrible experience, he fell hill and was nursed by his friend Clerval. When he finally recovered, some terrible news reached him. His little brother had been murdered. He went home to help his family.

One day, on a trip on the Alps, he met the Creature and realized that he was the murderer of William. The monster stopped him and told him his story: he had always been alone. People refused him with hatred, because of his horrible appearence. He implored Frankenstein to make a female for him that could give him friendship. Frankenstein accepted, but when the monster claimed his companion, the scientist could not bear the thought of starting a new race that could be deadly for humanity. From that moment the Monster became Frankenstein's deadly enemy. Clerval and then Elizabeth, whom Frankenstein had married. So the scientist started to chase the Monster to have revenge. He followed him through many countries and through the North Pole where he met Walton.

In the end of the story he falls ill and is about to die. Before dying, he asks Walton to carry on his revenge, but Walton will not do it and also decides to go back to England when the ice breaks.

Themes

Frankenstein is a particular novel that belongs to the genre of the fantastic, and have some important characteristics in common with the gothic novel. The emphasis of this kind of novel is on the rebellion to human limits. In fact the most important theme of Frankenstein is the overreacher.

-Theme of the overreacher:

The novel is the story of a scientist who defies the laws of nature and God and he is dramatically punished for it.

Frankenstein devotes all his time to work. His dreams of personal omnipotence makes him forget family ties and love. In the end of the story he recognize that any ambition that makes a man forget people's love and the pleasure of ordinary life is bad.

He is not a common scientist. In fact he tries to go beyond the laws of nature, he doesn't want only to investigate them. He reveals : << I confess than neither the structure of the language, nor the code of governments, nor the politics of various states, possessed attraction for me. It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desire to learn >>. However the results of his work is an horrible monster. In fact he says << I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this, I had deprived myself of rest and health. I desire it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation: but now that I had finished, the beauty of that dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my hearth >>.

Because of his ambition, Frankenstein defies the natural order of things: the Creature is not born of a woman but has been assembled with organs and tissues coming from corps. By infusing life into inanimate bodies, he want the rule of God, nature and women. He stole parts of dead bodies to create a new life, his creature punished him, destroying his hole family, because he had challenged God and nature, creators of life. His destined is assigned to him by God, in fact he says to Walton: << You may give up your purpose, but mine is assigned to me by heaven >>. So he becomes the modern Prometheus, in fact Prometheus stole the fire, he was punished by Zeus, he challenged God's law. They both defy the order of earth and heaven.

-Theme of the double:

An important character of the story is Walton. This figure can be read as the double of Frankenstein. In fact Walton has devoted his life to a dream of scientific fame. He wants to explore the polar ice to find a passage to the East that will help traders or to discover something useful to science. As Frankenstein he has left his family and he has no friends on the ship and he involves other human beings to his adventure putting their life on risk. So they are both ambitious and their purpose is to reach knowledge.

However, learning from Frankenstein's experience, Walton accepts to give up his dreams of omnipotence. He decided to come back << ignorant and disappointed >> and he lost his << hopes of utility and glory >>. So, by accepting his sailor's request to return to England, he accepts his human limits.

-Theme of science:

The theme of science is very important from the beginning of the novel. In fact Frankenstein is attracted by the possibility of modern science. Mr Waldman, the professor who change is life tells him: << The modern scientist promised very little, but they have performed miracles. They penetrate into the recess of nature and they shew how she works in her hiding places. They ascent into the heavens; they have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breath. They have acquired almost unlimited powers >>. He convinced Frankenstein to devote his studies to chemistry: << Chemistry is that brunch of natural philosophy in which the greatest improvements have been made >>.

Frankenstein devotes all his life to science because he want to achieve the control of life. So taking into account the conclusion of the story, the novel can be read as a scary foreboding of what scientific or technological research can bring to humanity.

L'uomo dell'età moderna, conduce quindi la sua battaglia contro il limite posto da Dio e dalla natura. Mary Shelley , nel 1816, fa sì che Frankenstein venga punito per questa sua impresa. Il filosofo Nietzsche (1844-1900) di lì a poco proclamerà la morte di Dio, inteso non solo come Dio cristiano, ma come morte del Dio metafisico, e del fondamento di tutti i valori.