Frankenstein context

scientific revolution/enlightenment

• Shelley debates scientific advancements

• Luigi Galvani: Galvanism (re-animating dead tissue using electricity) and Giovanni Aldini (public demonstrations of galvinism) - inspired Victor’s experiments and discovery

• Alchemy vs modern science: Victor’s transition from outdated alchemists to modern chemistry - mirrors society’s shift from spiritual morality towards unchecked scientific ambition

• Victor embodies the enlightenment ideals of power of human reason to understand and control the world

• Victor’s creation attempt reflects the anxieties that science allows humans to ‘play god’ by creating and controlling life - disastrous consequences serves a warning about ethical implications of experimentation without consideration of its moral consequences

• novel suggests that scientific knowledge must be tempered with responsibility and humility

• industrial rev: novel reflects fears about the dehumanising effects of industrialisation and the unnatural power that humans were gaining over nature

• Victor’s creation is an allegory for the creation of machines - powerful and potentially uncontrollable forces that threaten humanity

Romantic movement

• Romantic movement and nature’s sublimity: possesses spiritual authority over artificial human ambition - Victor’s physical/mental decay is mirrored by desolate, harsh natural landscapes and nature acts as a restorative force for the creature

• epistolary frame (narrative through documents/letters and narratives within each other) - Walton’s expedition reflects Romantic obsession with the sublime, unknown and limits of human endurance (he learns from Victor)

• Romantic movement arose as a reaction against the rationality of enlightenment

• Victor has an obsessive desire to control nature through science

• novel warns against the hubristic belief that science can conquer nature - this overreach leads to disastrous consequences

politics and rebellion

• french revolution: novel acts as a warning against the dangers of revolution

• Shelley’s parents were heavily invested in revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality

• monster’s trajectory from tabula rasa innocence to destructive force mirrors how oppressed/rejected individuals can turn to rebellion when mistreated by society

• french revolution raised questions about the nature of power, authority, and the rights of individuals - discussed in novel

• creature’s desire for equality echoes the revolutionary ideals of liberty, fraternity and equality

• creature’s violent rebellion suggests the potential danger of uncontrolled danger and anger

• industrialisation: monster is a representation of working classes whose displacement caused by unchecked industrial forces caused social friction and violence - Shelley critiques the way society judges individuals based on superficial qualities (e.g. appearance and status)

philosophy of education and society

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau: philosophy that humans are inherently good but corrupted by society - influences creature’s initial gentleness and desire for connection which is ruined by society’s rejection and prejudices

• Tabula Rasa (John Locke): creature’s development represents the ‘blank slate’ theory - learned through sensory experiences, language and observation of human bonds

• subtitle “the modern Prometheus”: Greek mythology of Prometheus who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity (like Victor who makes discoveries against nature and gives them to humanity in the form of the monster) - acts as a cautionary allegory for mankind’s hubris when playing god

biography and family

• Shelley’s mother died shortly after giving birth - intense personal trauma directly influences absence of mothers, parental abandonment and consequences of flawed creation

• “Year without a summer”: written during Shelley’s trip with other Romantic poets where they had a ghost story competition - gloomy, isolated and stormy weather during is reflected in novel (arctic and creation chapter) ]

• father believed in the power of reason and mother advocated for the rights of women - novel is an engagement with these ideas (exploration of parental responsibility and consequences of abandoning duties)

gothic tradition

• gothic literature: features dark/mysterious settings, supernatural elements, and exploration of human psychology/fear - features in novel through isolated/gloomy settings (arctic, mountains, laboratory), the creature, and a sense of horror/dread that permeates the narrative

• sublime: feature of both gothic and Romantic literature - nature is a reminder of humanity’s insignificance in the face of nature’s force (Victor’s downfall is partly due to his failure to respect the sublime power of nature - attempts to control it through science)

role of women

• roles were limited - novel reflects the broader limitations of being largely passive and suffering due to the action of men

• novel critiques marginalisation of women by showing the dangers of a world dominated by male ambition and power - may be questioning patriarchal society with mother’s feminist ideas