Shelley's Frankenstein

Shelley's Frankenstein

Context

In the summer of 1816, a young and well - educated woman travelled from England to the Swiss Alps with her lover. An unseasonable rain kept them trapped inside their lodgings, where they entertained themselves by reading ghost stories. At the urging of renowned poet Lord Byron, a friend and neighbour of them, they set their own pens to paper, competing to see who could write the best ghost story. The young woman, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, took the prize, having composed a story creepy enough, not only to take its place alongside the old German tales that she and her Alpine companions had been reading, but also to become a bestseller in her time and a Gothic classic that still resonates with readers almost two centuries later. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born on August 30, 1797, in London, of prime literary stock. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was the author of "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman", a feminist tract encouraging women to think and act for themselves. Wollstonecraft died giving birth to Mary, leaving her daughter in the care of her husband, William Godwin, a member of a circle of radical thinkers in England that counted Thomas Paine and William Blake among its ranks. Mary's upbringing in this rarefied atmosphere exposed her at an early age to cutting - edge ideas and it forged useful connections for her to such notables as Lord Byron. Another of the literary types that Mary met as a teenager was Percy Bysshe Shelley, a dashing young poet. Sparks flew and, in , they ran away together for a tour of France, Switzerland, and Germany (Mary escaped from her family and Percy from his wife). At first blissful, their affair soon came under strain. Percy's relationship with Mary waxed and waned with the demands of his wife, Harriet; meanwhile, Mary busied herself with another man. Despite these distractions, the relationship endured and was eventually formalized under scandalous circumstances: Harriet, pregnant with Percy's child, drowned herself in London in November of ; Mary and Percy were married weeks later. The union between Mary and Percy was not only romantic, but also literary. Percy edited Mary's manuscript for "Frankenstein", and is commonly supposed to have written the preface under her name. "Frankenstein" was published on January , and became an immediate bestseller. Unfortunately for Mary, this success was a single bright spot amid a series of tragedies. From to , three of her four children died in infancy; in , Percy drowned off the shore of Tuscany, leaving Mary a widow and single mother. Mary turned to her husband's poetry and prose, editing and publishing his "Posthumous Poems" in and his "Poetical Works and Letters" in . She spent the rest of her time on her own writing, publishing "Valperga" in , "The Last Man" in , "The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck" in , "Lodore" in , and "Falkner" in . A serious illness plagued Mary and she died in London in February  .

Plot

"Frankenstein", set in Europe in the 1790's, begins with the letters of Captain Robert Walton to his sister. These letters form the framework for the story in which Walton tells his sister the story of Victor Frankenstein and his monster as Frankenstein told it to him. Walton set out to explore the North Pole. The ship got trapped in frozen water and the crew, watching around them, saw a giant man in the distance on a dogsled. Hours later, they found Frankenstein and his dogsled near the ship, so they brought the sick man aboard. As he recovered, Frankenstein told Walton his story so that Walton would learn the price of pursuing glory at any cost. Frankenstein grew up in a perfectly loving and gentle Swiss family with an especially close tie to his adopted cousin, Elizabeth, and his dear friend Henry Clerval. As a young boy, Frankenstein became obsessed with studying outdated theories about what gives humans their life spark. In college at Ingolstadt, he created his own "Perfect" human from scavenged body parts, but, once it lived, the creature was hideous. Frankenstein was disgusted by its ugliness, so he ran away from it. Henry Clerval came to Ingolstadt to study with Frankenstein, but he ended up nursing him after his exhausting and secret efforts to create a perfect human life. While Frankenstein recovered from his illness over many months and then studied languages with Clerval at the college, the monster wandered around looking for friendship. After several harsh encounters with humans, the monster became afraid of them and he spent a long time living near a cottage and observing the family who lived there. Through these observations he became educated and he realized that he was very different from the humans he watched. Out of loneliness, the monster sought the friendship of this family, but they were afraid of him and this rejection made him seek vengeance against his creator. He went to Geneva and he met a little boy in the woods. The monster hoped to kidnap him and keep him as a companion, but the boy was Frankenstein's younger brother, so the monster killed him to get back at his creator. Then the monster planted the necklace he removed from the child's body on a beautiful girl who was later executed for the crime. When Frankenstein learned of his brother's death, he went back to Geneva to be with his family. In the woods where his young brother was murdered, Frankenstein saw the monster and he knew that he was William's murderer. Frankenstein was ravaged by his grief and guilt for creating the monster who wreaked so much destruction and he went into the mountains alone to find peace. Instead of peace, Frankenstein was approached by the monster who then demanded him to create a female monster to be his companion. Frankenstein, fearing for his family, agreed to and he went to England to do his work. Clerval accompanied Frankenstein, but they separated in Scotland and Frankenstein began his work. When it was almost finished, he changed his mind because he didn't want to be responsible for the carnage another monster could create, so he destroyed the project. The monster vowed revenge on Frankenstein's upcoming wedding night. Before Frankenstein could return home, the monster murdered Clerval. Once home, Frankenstein married his cousin Elizabeth right away and he prepared for his death, but the monster killed Elizabeth and the grief of her death killed Frankenstein's father. After that, Frankenstein vowed to pursue the monster and destroy him. That's how Frankenstein ended up near the North Pole where Walton's ship was trapped. A few days after, Frankenstein finished his story and Walton and his crew decided to turn back and go home. Before they left, Frankenstein died and the monster appeared in his room. Walton heard the monster's explanation for his vengeance as well as his remorse before he left the ship and travelled toward the Pole to destroy himself so that none would ever know of his existence.

In the "Introduction" of the 1831, Mary Shelley reminds that she had the original idea for her novel after having listen to her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron talking about the experiments of Erasmus Darwin (The grandfather of the well - known Charles Darwin) to animate the inorganic matter and also about the possibility that Galvanism could give back life to a corpse. In the mind of the young Mary, the prevision and the dream of a new science becomes an horrible and anguished nightmare. The biologic and loving process of the creation of life becomes to her an abnormal and gelid industrial mechanics: the manufactured article has an adult and gigantic body and his construction - creation is a union of pieces. But, in this case, the organs of the mechanism are human, and the creature who is born is a monster, built and thrown away like a bad - made product, a "Bad thing". The male utopia of being able to create everything, also the human beings, typical of the period of the Industrial Revolution, becomes the female nightmare of such an experiment, and Mary says: "I have found it! What terrified me will terrify others; .". But there isn't only one point of view in which the novel is written. Even thought its horrid origin is in this visionary anticipation of the result of a manufacture of the life like the one planned by the modern Prometheus, the nightmare is not only the frightening image of the new creature: to the horrified look of the scientist, who is ready to close himself into a deep sleep of removal, Mary set against the eyes of the creature, which were soggy, yellow and lifeless, and now are "Full of questions": and this is the sense of the quotation from Milton's "Paradise Lost", "Did I request thee, Maker from my clay To mould Me man? Did I solicit thee From darkness to promote me?". The creature, usually known for its monstrosity and its crimes, doesn't whine like a beast, but it speaks, it discusses and it tells its story: it asks not to be seen with horror, but to be listened and loved. In Mary Shelley's imagination, the monster is a rational creature.

So, in Shelley's novel we can find two types of nightmare. The first nightmare come from the fear of the new scientific discoveries: if men, like Victor, are leaded in their search of new inventions by uncontrolled passions, instincts and the will of become superior than God by controlling everything in the world, and even by the will of create themselves life with the support of science, they will be damned forever, because they go against the laws of Nature. And this is what happens to Victor: he is damned and persecuted by his creation because he cannot control it. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, men are fascinated by the power of science, but they also have fear of this power because they know that it can become dangerous if they don't limit it.

The second nightmare is connected to the first. In a century in which the new sciences are also creating a new type of society, a society which is becoming the "Mass society", men have fear to become isolated from this society and to be considered "Outsiders" because of their thoughts, their aspect or their social position; so they have to comply with the new type of men proposed by the new culture.

We can say that Frankenstein's Monster represents, in an allegorical way, both these nightmares: he represents the immense power of science which turns against men, but he also represents the loneliness of the modern man, who is rejected by other men if he cannot adapt himself to their idea of man. In fact, the monster is seen as a menace just because of its aspect, even thought it wants to be good and help men: so, the society (Represented by Victor, who wants to be completely accepted and honoured by it) is the responsible of its evil actions, because it makes the monster become cruel by isolating him (This correlates to Rousseau's idea that humans are intrinsically pure and innocent in the state of nature, but become corrupted by aristocratic society's commonly feigned personal interactions and masked personalities).

There's also a third type of nightmare, which comes from the previous two. It must be noted that the creature was not born evil, but only wanted to be loved by its creator, by other humans, and to love a sentient creature like itself. It was mankind who taught it evil: Victor rejected it and the creature's poor treatment by villagers taught it how to be evil. In this reading, the creature represents the natural fears of bringing a new innocent life into the world and raising it properly so that it does not become a monster.

The first nightmare: men have fear of science and knowledge

The novel was conceived and written during an early phase of the Industrial Revolution, at a time of dramatic advances in science and technology. That the creation rebels against its creator can be seen as a warning that the application of science can lead to unintended consequences. The book can be seen as a criticism of scientists who are unconcerned by the potential consequences of their work. Victor was heedless of those dangers, and irresponsible with his invention. Instead of immediately destroying the evil he had created, he was overcome by fear and fell psychologically ill. During Justine's trial for murder, he had the chance to perhaps save the young girl by revealing that a violent man had recently declared a vendetta against him and his loved ones. Instead, Frankenstein indulges in his own self - centred grief. It is noteworthy, however, that Frankenstein, despite his colossal folly at creating his monster, did realize the foolishness of his actions. The scientific world just after the Industrial Revolution was delving into the unknown and limitless possibilities also caused fear and apprehension for many as to the consequences of such horrific possibilities. Victor's reference to himself in the third person illustrates his sense of fatalism: he is driven by his passion, unable to control it. Victor's passion will not be tempered by any consideration of the possible horrific consequences of his search for knowledge. There is a parallel between Walton's spatial explorations and Frankenstein's forays into unknown knowledge, as both men seek to "Pioneer a new way", to make progress beyond established limits. The creation of the monster is a grotesque act, far removed from the triumph of scientific knowledge for which Victor had hoped. But Victor views science as the only true route to new knowledge. When he describes his discovery of the secret of life, he says: "A sudden light broke in upon me, a light so brilliant and wondrous". "What could not be expected in the country of eternal light?": that's what Walton asks, displaying faith and optimism about science. In "Frankenstein", light symbolizes knowledge, discovery, and enlightenment. The natural world is a place of dark secrets, hidden passages and unknown mechanisms; the goal of the scientist is then to reach light. Light reveals, illuminates and clarifies; it is essential for seeing, and seeing is the way to knowledge. However, just as light can illuminate, so it can blind: pleasantly warm at moderate levels, it ignites dangerous flames at higher ones. After his first metaphorical use of light as a symbol of knowledge, Victor retreats into secrecy and warns Walton of "How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge". Thus, light is balanced always by fire (Which is the dangerous and more powerful cousin of light), the promise of new discovery by the danger of unpredictable and perhaps tragic consequences. The monster's first experience with a still - smouldering flame reveals the dual nature of fire: he discovers excitedly that it creates light in the darkness of the night, but he discovers also that it harms him when he touches it. The presence of fire in the text also brings to mind the full title of Shelley's novel, "Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus". The Greek god Prometheus gave the knowledge of fire to humanity and he was then severely punished for it. Victor, attempting to become a modern Prometheus, is certainly punished, but unlike fire, his "Gift" to humanity (The knowledge of the secret of life) remains a secret. The pursuit of knowledge is at the heart of "Frankenstein" as Victor attempts to surge beyond accepted human limits and access the secret of life. Likewise, Robert Walton attempts to surpass previous human explorations by endeavouring to reach the North Pole. This ruthless pursuit of knowledge proves dangerous, as Victor's act of creation eventually results in the destruction of everyone dear to him, and Walton finds himself perilously trapped between sheets of ice. Whereas Victor's obsessive hatred of the monster drives him to his death, Walton ultimately pulls back from his treacherous mission, having learned from Victor's example how destructive the thirst for knowledge can be. Like Victor, the monster comes to regard knowledge as dangerous, as it can have unforeseen and negative consequences. After realizing that he is horribly different from human beings, the monster cries: "Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind, when it has once seized on it, like a lichen on the rock". Knowledge is permanent and irreversible: once gained, it cannot be dispossessed. Just as the monster, a product of knowledge, spins out of Victor's control, so too can knowledge itself, once uncovered, create irreversible harm.

The Modern Prometheus

"The Modern Prometheus" is the novel's subtitle. Prometheus, in some versions of Greek mythology, was the Titan who created mankind. It was also Prometheus who took fire from heaven and gave it to man. Zeus eternally punished Prometheus by fixing him to a rock where each day a predatory bird came to devour his liver, only for the liver to grow again the next day; ready for the bird to come again. Prometheus was also a myth told in Latin, but was a very different story. In this version, Prometheus makes man from clay and water, and this is again a very relevant theme to "Frankenstein" as Victor rebels against the laws of nature and he is punished by his creation. Prometheus' relation to the novel can be interpreted in a number of ways. The Titan in the Greek mythology of Prometheus parallels Victor Frankenstein: Victor's work by creating man by new means reflects the same innovative work of the Titan in creating humans. Victor, in a way, stole the secret of creation from God, just as the Titan stole fire from heaven in order to give it to man. Both the Titan and Victor get punished for their actions. Victor is reprimanded by suffering the loss of those close to him and having the dread of himself getting killed by his creation. In general, for the artists of the Romance Era, Prometheus' gift to man compared with the two great utopian promises of the 18^th century: the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution, containing both great promise and potentially unknown horrors.

The second nightmare: men have fear to be left alone

Another theme of the book is the rejection by society. Throughout the book, the monster is faced with constant threat of rejection and violence. His experience with human beings shows how physical appearance is important to humans and how the first perception will impact human interactions. On multiple occasions, the monster is faced with outright violence, even if his acts are benevolent or even helpful. This is further underlined by the contrast between Victor and the monster: Victor is hailed as a scholar almost everywhere, so it is easy for him to befriend another human being, while the monster is rejected out of hand. Mary Shelley seems to depict the monster in a sorrowful light. The creature has been created out of a selfish act and he is forced to live alone. Victor Frankenstein wants to be famous within his scientific community, but he creates an abomination. His thoughts go against nature, but his greed is too powerful. Also Walton complains that he has no friends with whom to share his triumphs and failures, no sensitive ear to listen to his dreams and ambitions. Walton turns to the stranger as the friend he has always wanted: his search for companionship and his attempt to find it in the stranger parallels the monster's desire for a friend and a mate. This parallel between man and monster suggests that the two may not be as different as they seem. The monster is the tragic figure in Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein": he is left alone by his creator. However, his monstrosity results not only from his grotesque appearance but also from the unnatural manner of his creation, which involves the secretive animation of a mix of stolen body parts and strange chemicals. He is not a product of collaborative scientific effort, but of dark and supernatural workings. The monster, whose solitude stems from being the only creature of his kind in existence and from being shunned by humanity, senses this quality of being different most powerfully. His deformity, his ability to survive extreme conditions and the grotesque circumstances of his creation all serve to mark him as the ultimate outsider. The monster is only the most literal of a number of monstrous entities in the novel, including the knowledge that Victor uses to create him. Victor himself is a kind of monster, as his ambition, secrecy and selfishness alienate him from human society: he, too, is an outsider, as his awful secret separates him from friends, family and the rest of society. Ordinary on the outside, he may be the true monster inside, as he is eventually consumed by an obsessive hatred of his creation. Victor conceives of science as a mystery to be probed: its secrets, once discovered, must be jealously guarded. Victor's entire obsession with creating life is shrouded in secrecy and his obsession with destroying the monster remains equally secret until Walton hears his tale. Victor's studies draw him farther and farther away from those he loves: he conducts his experiments alone, following the example of the ancient alchemists, who jealously guarded their secrets, and rejecting the openness of the new sciences. Victor displays an unhealthy obsession with all of his endeavours and the labour of creating the monster takes its toll on him. It drags him into charnel houses in search of old body parts and, even more important, isolates him from the world of open social institutions. Whereas Victor continues in his secrecy out of shame and guilt, the monster is forced into seclusion by his grotesque appearance. The monster's growing understanding of the social significance of family is connected to his sense of otherness and solitude. The cottagers' devotion to each other underscores Victor's total abandonment of the monster. Ironically, the monster realizes how truly alone he is by observing their kindness, and he also realizes how far from being the recipient of such kindness he is. This lack of interaction with others, in addition to his namelessness, compounds the monster's woeful lack of social identity. Walton serves as the final confessor for both and their tragic relationship becomes immortalized in Walton's letters. In confessing all just before he dies, Victor escapes the stifling secrecy that has ruined his life; likewise, the monster takes advantage of Walton's presence to forge a human connection, hoping desperately that at last someone will understand and empathize with his miserable existence. Having failed to inspire love in Victor, the monster seeks to establish a relationship with his creator that would force his creator to feel his pain. By destroying those people dear to Victor, the monster, acutely aware of the meaningfulness of social interaction, brings Victor closer and closer to the state of solitude that he himself has experienced since being created. At the end of the novel, Victor has assumed the very inhumanity of which he accuses the monster: just as the monster earlier haunts Victor, seeking revenge on him for having destroyed any possibility of a mate for him, Victor now experiences an obsessive need to exact revenge on the monster for murdering his loved ones. Like the monster, he finds himself utterly alone in the world, with nothing but hatred of his nemesis to sustain him. Driven by their hatred, the two monsters, namely Victor and his creation, move farther and farther away from human society and sanity.