Frankenstein Notes

When was Mary Shelly born?

August 30, 1797

Where was Mary Shelly born?

London, England

Mary Shelly’s Father

William Godwin, a philosopher and writer

Mary Shelly’s Mother

Mary Wollenstonecraft Godwin, wrote Vindication of the rights of Women (one of the first works of feminist philosophy)

When did Mary Wollenstonecraft die

11 days after Mary Shelly was born

Who taught Mary Shelly

her father

Who did Mary get with at 17

Percy Bysshe Shelly

When and where did Mary Shelly write Frankenstein?

summer of 1816 in Switzerland

Motive for writing Frankenstein

Mary, Percy, Lord Byron, and other poets went to the Swiss Alps and held a scary story writing competition

What was happening at the time that influenced Mary?

scientists and physicians of her time explored life and death through experiments with lower organisms

What were the three literary influences of Frankenstein?

Greek myth of prometheus, poem “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, and “Paradise Lost” by John Milton

What is the structure of Frankenstein

3 intertwined stories/narrators

Who is telling the whole story

Captain Robert Walton receives all the information and sends letters home to his sister Margaret

Frankenstein is both a ____

frame story and an epistolary novel

Frame story

a story within a story

Epistolary novel

a work of fiction written in the form of letters or other documents

What does Walton want to discover in the first letter

a new passage to the North Pole and discover the secret of the magnetic field

What is Walton in letter 2

a lonely boy who wishes for a man to accompany him. This establishes the idea of the horror of isolation

What happens in letter 3

Walton is blinded by ambition and believes that he can finish his journey

What does Walton find in letter 4

a savage aka Frankenstein

What does Frankenstein warn Walton about in letter 4

ambition and the power of knowledge

Does Walton listen to Frankenstein in letter 4

No, he is stubborn and believes that his efforts will be worth it

What is the parallel situation between Walton and Frankenstein

each has a solitary nature, feels largely self-educated, is obsessed with their ‘quest’ and suffers from hubris

when does the creature’s story begin

chapter 11

what is the creature compared to

satan, the fallen angel

Key Ideas

Knowledge, education, parenthood/family

Caroline Beaufort

Victor’s mother

Elizabeth Lavenza

Victor’s adopted sister and later his wife

Justine Moritz

Victor’s adopted sister who is accused and executed for the death of William

Agatha DeLacy

daughter of the elder, blind Mr. Delacey, sister of Felix Delacey

Safie

betrothed to Felix, an output of learning for the creature

Margaret Saville

Sister to Walton and recipient of his letters

What role do women play within Frankenstein

a submissive role, serve as a utilitarian function such as care takers

Examples of Women being submissive etc.

when creating the creature, the role of women as a reproducer is annihilated.

refuses to create a female possibly because he realizes that there is no need

Agatha, although not on purpose, teaches the creature, showing the kindness and gentleness that women possess

what did Frankenstein say about Elizabeth

“I looked upon Elizabeth as mine-mine to protect, love, and cherish. All praises bestowed on her I received as made to a possession of my own.”

What genres are present in Frankenstein

Romantic and Gothic

Romantic genre

emphasizes the individual and irrational (emotion over reason). explores the emotional directness of personal experience

How is Frankenstein a romantic novel

shows that through nature rather than man, the growth of the individual mind is stimulated

Gothic genre

emphasizes the supernatural with reason. pairs terror with pleasure and death with romance

How is Frankenstein a gothic novel

emphasizes psychological terror, mysteries of life, death/murder

Where did the story start

Geneva, Switzerland

Where does Frankenstein go to school

Ingolstadt, Germany

where does Frankenstein try to make the female monster

a remote island in Orkney