FRANKENSTEIN AS GOTHIC NOVEL
-GOTHIC: OF THE GOTHS (ie. Visigoths)
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
-1660 THROUGH 18TH CENTURY:
AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
-WORLD CAN BE CONTROLLED THROUGH REASON
THEREFORE: PROGRESS
TRUTH
SOCIAL
PERFECTION
-SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
-ARCHITECTURAL REVOLUTION
-OPTIMISM AND RATIONALITY
PROBLEMS: POVERTY AND CRIME
FRENCH REVOLUTION (1789)
EUROPEAN WARS
DOMESTIC RIOTS
REACTIONS AGAINST ENLIGHTENMENT
-MELANCHOLY (NEO-GOTHIC)
-ROMANTICISM
ROMANTICISM:
1) behind earthly phenom. = higher truth
2) less spoiled a thing is, the more true
3) art allows us to reach our higher selves
4) to grasp truth requires a great imagination
-therefore the artist is different, great, solitary
SOLITARY, SENSITIVE ARTIST
+ MELANCHOLY REJECTION OF ENLIGHTENMENT = GOTHIC
-Horace Walpole, Castle of Ortranto (1764)
-William Beckford, Vathek (1786),
-Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)
-Matthew Lewis, The Monk (1795)
-Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)
CONCERNS OF EARLY GOTHIC:
-RUIN AND DECAY
-physical corruption, political anarchy,
apocalypse
-PAIN AND DESIRE (non-rational emotions)
-THAT WHICH LOGIC CAN=T EXPLAIN
-supernatural, uncanny
-REVERSAL OF NATURAL ORDER
-TRANSGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR
-HELPLESSNESS
-surrender of self
-DREW ON EARLIER ART
-Senecan and Renaissance Revenge tragedy
-Medieval Catholic visual art & iconography
-Fairy tales and superstitions
-ANYTHING THAT THREATENS REASON
MARY SHELLEY: b. 1797 d. 1851
-PARENTS: WILLIAM GODWIN
politician and novelist
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
Feminist pamphleteer
-1814: ELOPES WITH PERCY
SHELLEY
-1816, VISIT LORD BYRON AT
VILLA DIODATI
-GHOST STORY CONTEST
1817 FRANKENSTEIN
PUBLISHED ANON.
1822 PERCY SHELLEY DROWNS
-SUBTITLE: THE MODERN
PROMETHEUS
-PROMETHEUS BOUND,
AESCHYLUS
-MYTH: PROMETHEUS BROUGHT
FIRE TO MAN- TORTURED FOREVER
-APROMETHEUS PLASTICATOR,@ ROMAN MYTH - GOD WHO FASHIONED MAN OUT OF CLAY
-CHRISTIAN REWRITING:
CREATIVE POWER OF GOD
-SHELLEY POEM, APROMETHEUS UNBOUND@
(1818)
-A TRIUMPHANT, POSITIVE
READING - ARTIST AS PROMETHEUS
-MARY SHELLEY CHALLENGES
OPTIMISM OF A) ARTISTS
B) SCIENTISTS
-RECENT SCIENCE: GALVANISM
-NEW THEORIES ABOUT ORIGIN OF
LIFE: ERASMUS DARWIN
-FORM:
1) LETTERS
-EPISTOLARY
-ACT AS A FRAME
-SET UP LEVEL OF
INTERPRETATION
2) VICTOR=S ACCOUNT
-1ST PERSON
NARRATIVE
-THEREFORE SUBJECTIVE,
SUSPECT
-RECORDED BY WALTON
-THEREFORE DOUBLY MEDIATED
-RELIABILITY OF NARRATIVE
DETERMINED BY NARRATOR
-ROBERT WALTON: EXPLORER
-SEARCH FOR POLE AND PASSAGE
-ROMANTIC OPTIMISM (p. 6-7)
-DRIVEN, BUT UNDIRECTED (p.
2-3)
-WALTON IS SOLITARY, ISOLATED
(p. 4) - A RECURRING IDEA IN THE PLAY
-THRILLED BY ARRIVAL OF
VICTOR (11-12)
-PATHETIC??
-NO; UNIVERSAL
-EVEN MONSTER IS ISOLATED
-SOLUTION?
-DOPPELGANGER (German:
double)
-WALTON
& VICTOR
-VICTOR
& MONSTER
-BACK TO FORM:
-VICTOR=S STORY FRAMED BY WALTON=S LETTERS
-CREATES TEMPORAL CONFUSION
-BOOK
BEGINS AT END OF VICTOR=S STORY
-REVERSE
CHRONOLOGY
- POPULAR WITH GOTHIC WRITERS
-IT=S ANTI-PROGRESS
-MONSTER=S STORY - CENTER OF BOOK
-RECOUNTED BY VICTOR;
RECORDED BY WALTON
-TWO POINTS:
-DOUBLY
DISTANT, MEDIATED
-VICTOR
IS THE VOICE OF MONSTER
CHARACTER
-WALTON: FECKLESS ADVENTURER,
IDEALIST
-VICTOR: PROMINENT SWISS
FAMILY
-UNUSUAL FAMILY RELATIONS
-PASSIONS
VEHEMENT
-DESIRE
TO LEARN
-PHYSICAL
SECRETS (p. 23)
-AALONE@ (p. 30)
-INTELLECTUAL BACKGROUND: ANCIENT WRITERS
ELECTRICITY
(p. 26)
-nb.
DESTRUCTION
-REVELATION: LINKED WITH
DEATH AND CORRUPTION (pp. 36-7)
-RATIONALIZATION pp. 40
-ACREATOR@ =
GOD
-NOVEL=S EPIGRAPH:
MILTON=S PARADISE LOST
-FAVORITE CHARACTER: SATAN,
FALLEN ANGEL
-87: I am the fallen angel
-nb. CONFLICT: ASPIRES TO
GODHOOD; AWORKSHOP OF FILTHY CREATION@ (p. 40-1)
-TWO TESTS OF CHARACTER
1) CREATION
-HORROR
(p. 43)
-DENIAL
(p. 45)
2) TRIAL OF JUSTINE
-VICTOR UNSTABLE?
-PROMISE
TO BUILD MATE (137)
-RENEGES
(145)
-BOUTS
OF DELIRIUM
-CHARACTER ARC?
-AMan, how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom!@
-BUT DECIDES HE=S NOT TO BLAME!
-MONSTER
-TABULA RASA
-THEREFORE NOT FORMED OR
PERVERTED BY SOCIETY
-THEREFORE A SAVAGE OR
A NOBLE SAVAGE
-Jean Jacques ROUSSEAU
(1712-78)
-AMan is born free and everywhere he is in chains@
-ROMANTICS ADOPT: INNATE
HUMAN GOODNESS PERVERTED BY CIVILIZATION
-ASOCIAL CONTRACT@
-SHELLEY COMPLICATES
-MONSTER SPURNED BY SOCIETY
AND VICTOR
-THEREFORE VICIOUS
-BUT FAMILY IN HUT = BEST OF
HUMAN SOCIETY
-ABIRTH@ (90)
-CONFUSION OF SENSES
-DISTINGUISHES SIGHT
-HUNGER, THIRST, COLD, PAIN
-MOON
-BEGINS TO DISTINGUISH
OBJECTS
-THEN, FIRE!
-ENCOUNTER WITH OLD MAN &
VILLAGE (93)
-TO HUT: MODEL FAMILY
PATRIARCH
SOCIAL CONTRACT
-NAMES: Felix - LUCKY, HAPPY
Agatha - GOOD
-CIVILIZATION:
-music,
love, social reality
-speech,
literature
-sex,
writing
-self-knowledge
-WHEN BANISHED: MURDER (131)
-INVERSE OF CREATOR
-SO: DOPPLEGANGER
-VICTOR & MONSTER = ONE
PERSON
-HINTS: VICTOR brought Aback to life@
(11)
-cut off from fellow man
-parallel isolation at end
-NATURE VS. NURTURE
-VICTOR: NATURE
MONSTER
= DEMON
-SUPPORT: APPEARANCE
NEO-PLATONISM
-Elizabeth
(20)
-Waldman
(32)
-Krempe
(31)
-MONSTER: NURTURE
-HARDSHIP
CREATES CRUELTY
-SUPPORT: VERY
LITTLE
-family
in hut contradicts
-ESSENTIALISM
-FINAL ANALYSIS:
-attack on Enlightenment
optimism
-scientist/artist/overachiever
incomplete
-lack of morality
-new anti-hero isolated
-antidote to romance of Satan
-so Walton turns back to
Archangel
-THE CREATURE AS MONSTER:
1. ALTERITY
-artificially created
->tabula rasa=
-corpses pieces
2. TRANSGRESSION
-size
-inhuman strength, endurance
-3. LIMINALITY
-dead and alive
-articulate, sensitive, but brutal
-appears as Byronic poet hero, but hideous
4. MARGINALITY
-remains hidden
-created in >filthy workshop=