Analysing Frankenstein
Themes/ concepts:
· playing God; creation belongs in the hands of God not man
· science as Savior
· prophetic statement against the pride that accompanies technological and scientific knowledge
· science as a replacement for spirituality
· the problem is not with science but with the character of those who wield it; ie. atomic power – can be used for either good or evil – rests upon the assumption that we have at our disposal the critical sensibility to know which is which
· science as the panacea for all evil, regardless of the evil it brings with it
· creation or birthing of new life minus woman
· ambition and the emotional cost it exacts – not criticizing ambition but the misapplication of it
· judgment based on externals; inability of society to accept those who are different, regardless of their inner beauty
· virtue of friendship
· lack of love between parent and child/creator and creature
· overreaching –the superman who breaks through normal human limitations to defy the rules of society and infringe upon the realm of God; F – compares himself to Satan – like Satan, though regretting the result of his effort is not ashamed of having made the effort in the first place
· inevitability of atoning for one’s sins and the kind of suffering that atonement entails – one must always pay for one’s cruelty and pay w/the one thing that one holds most dear (first seen in Justine’s history)
· what are the checks and balances of “creating” in isolation, w/o a moral motivation or a community of support?
· dangerous knowledge – pursuit of knowledge without regard for consequences
· sublime nature – a source of unrestrained emotional experience for the individual initially offers the character the possibility of spiritual renewal
· seemingly godless universe where science and technology have gone awry
· the darkness of man in a fallen sate, separated from God and seeking communion and understanding
· the power to inspire love for the untouchable; teaches us how fallen we are and how we must love one another, despite all our sins and crimes in order to live through the world and maintain the humanity which the monster could not only not find in himself, but which he smothered in those around him with their fear and violence
· isolation – Victor’s – a moral isolation chosen by him b/c of his obsession; creatures b/c of his hideousness
Style/Form:
· Epistolary – story written in the form of letters, or letters with journals
· Frame story
· Gothic novel – grotesque, mysterious and remote settings which evoke fear; eerie atmosphere; reliance on fantastic and supernatural (often overrides inconsistencies within the details of the plot); overcoming the limits of mortality; a movement away from classical order and toward imagination and feeling, a development that ran parallel to the romantic period
· Romantic work
· precursor of science fiction –
1) must be based on valid scientific research,
2) gives a persuasive prediction of what science might achieve in the future, and
3) offers a humanistic critique of the benefits and dangers of this scientific research
· argument against the romanticism of her idealistic husband
Structural analysis:
· Letters from Robert to Margaret (probably added later at Percy’s insistence)
· Frankenstein tells his version of the story (1 – 10)
· The creature tells his story (11 – 16)
· Frankenstein continues his story (17 – 24)
· Letters from Robert to Margaret
Allusions:
· Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” – Robert promises not to kill any albatross – inferring that doing so would have grave consequences; like the ancient mariner, Robert begins as an inexperienced sailor but ends up a wiser man; the lonely wanderer would appeal to the lonely creature; F –has a deadly weight handing round his neck – he desires to create – not relate to others
· Milton’s Paradise Lost – a touchstone for the creature to try to understand his identity; he compares himself to both Adam and Satan – both human and demonic; creature is between to realms; creature confused as to whether he is Adam – destined ultimately for eternal grace, or Satan – doomed to eternal darkness; theme of creation; the reproaches made by the creature also echo those made by Satan in PL
· Biblical – theme of the outcast and the story of creaion; creature is bitter and dejected after being turned away from civilization; Adam caused his own fate – creature didn’t have the choice
Symbols (objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts):
· fire – creature sets fire to the cottage – unleashing the fire w/in - fire of malignancy; dangerous weapon – spreads quickly and is uncontrollable; creature in a combustible state; good and bad
· light – symbolizes knowledge, discovery, and enlightenment; illuminates, clarifies; it is essential for seeing and seeing is the way to knowledge; it can also blind; warm and ignite a dangerous flame
· marriage – inclusion in society
· blasted tree – split down the middle, severed from its roots and unable to register sensations – what Frankenstein has become as opposed to a whole tree – a living organism that branches and spreads itself widely
Key words/influences:
· Frankenstein means literally the stone of the Franks – castle erected for the Baron Von Frankenstein in Germany
· Darwin – biologist – grandfather of Darwin; considered the finest doctor of his time in England; produced many inventions; influential in literary circles
· galvanism – the re-animating of a corpse from electricity; Luigi Galvani – argued that electricity was the life force and conducted experiments with electricity through dead animals; nephew performed electric experiment on body of recently hanged criminal (dead only one hour at 30 degrees F – body twitched, muscles moved
· Romanticism - primacy of feeling, importance of nature – seeking solace in nature; the individual and his quest, the supernatural and the exotic, solitude; importance of friendships – Victor and Robert, Victor and Henry; opposite nature of love – Elizabeth and Victor; fascination with death; plight of innocent with an system of injustice; belief in man’s basic goodness; reaction to Enlightenment; inspired by the revolutions in American and France; championed progressive causes; intensity and imagination – key words
· Paracelsus, Agrippa, and Albertus Magnus – natural scientists who were not well regarded; alchemists – who wanted to produce gold from metals
· doppleganger – mirror image of self; Creature and creator are different sides of the same human personality – F – represents the feelings and creature – the intellect – they are the antithesis of each other; device used in Gothic literature; F becomes the monster he created – each driven by revenge and remorse; F – is the mind and emotions turned in upon themselves, and his creature is the mind and emotions turned imaginatively outwards, seeking a greater humanization through a confrontation of other selves; Walton and F – both sin against the moral and social order; both begin pursuit with benevolent intentions (which become misguided pride – a selfish pursuit aimed at self-glory because it evades the fulfillment of higher duties toward the social community , the brotherhood of man which forms the highest good), each discovers his error in assuming that knowledge is a higher good than love or sympathy;
· foil – someone whose traits or actions contrast with, and thereby highlight those of another character – Walton to Victor – Walton is either not obsessive enough to risk almost certain death or not courageous enough to allow his passion to drive him
· Shelley’s dream 12 days after first baby’s death (2/1815) – Dream that my little baby came to lie again – that it had only been cold and that we rubbed it before the fire and it lived?
· noble savage/primitivism– creature – tests the world with its natural impulses and unsophisticated reasoning and responds to it with a mixture of bewilderment and dismay; embodiment of a dream; acts with a nostalgic frame of reference in that he combine both intellect and sensibility the supposed reconciliation of innocence; a belief in man’s natural goodness, and in the inevitable corruptions of civilization – ideas which were continued in the Romantic movement
Motifs (recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes):
· passive women – seen in all female characters; esp. seen in Frankenstein’s destruction of the female creature – he ensures her passivity
· abortion
· deaths – they proceed in terms of increasingly important relationship for Victor – child, peer, closest male peer, closer female peer, finally father – the ultimate bond – die in alphabetical order – William-Justine-Henry-Elizabeth-Alphonse
Rejected child:
· Mary watched Baxter family as creature watched DeLacy family
· Shelley identified with the rejected child
· Creature and author lack a mother and have distant fathers
· Creature realizes that he will be alone forever; this pain evokes the anger and desire for revenge that abandonment and isolation can produce
Romanticism critique:
· Shelley questions Romantics desire to transform mortals into godlike creatures; perfect mankind, and locate the divine in the human
· playing God; creation belongs in the hands of God not man
· science as Savior
· prophetic statement against the pride that accompanies technological and scientific knowledge
· science as a replacement for spirituality
· the problem is not with science but with the character of those who wield it; ie. atomic power – can be used for either good or evil – rests upon the assumption that we have at our disposal the critical sensibility to know which is which
· science as the panacea for all evil, regardless of the evil it brings with it
· creation or birthing of new life minus woman
· ambition and the emotional cost it exacts – not criticizing ambition but the misapplication of it
· judgment based on externals; inability of society to accept those who are different, regardless of their inner beauty
· virtue of friendship
· lack of love between parent and child/creator and creature
· overreaching –the superman who breaks through normal human limitations to defy the rules of society and infringe upon the realm of God; F – compares himself to Satan – like Satan, though regretting the result of his effort is not ashamed of having made the effort in the first place
· inevitability of atoning for one’s sins and the kind of suffering that atonement entails – one must always pay for one’s cruelty and pay w/the one thing that one holds most dear (first seen in Justine’s history)
· what are the checks and balances of “creating” in isolation, w/o a moral motivation or a community of support?
· dangerous knowledge – pursuit of knowledge without regard for consequences
· sublime nature – a source of unrestrained emotional experience for the individual initially offers the character the possibility of spiritual renewal
· seemingly godless universe where science and technology have gone awry
· the darkness of man in a fallen sate, separated from God and seeking communion and understanding
· the power to inspire love for the untouchable; teaches us how fallen we are and how we must love one another, despite all our sins and crimes in order to live through the world and maintain the humanity which the monster could not only not find in himself, but which he smothered in those around him with their fear and violence
· isolation – Victor’s – a moral isolation chosen by him b/c of his obsession; creatures b/c of his hideousness
Style/Form:
· Epistolary – story written in the form of letters, or letters with journals
· Frame story
· Gothic novel – grotesque, mysterious and remote settings which evoke fear; eerie atmosphere; reliance on fantastic and supernatural (often overrides inconsistencies within the details of the plot); overcoming the limits of mortality; a movement away from classical order and toward imagination and feeling, a development that ran parallel to the romantic period
· Romantic work
· precursor of science fiction –
1) must be based on valid scientific research,
2) gives a persuasive prediction of what science might achieve in the future, and
3) offers a humanistic critique of the benefits and dangers of this scientific research
· argument against the romanticism of her idealistic husband
Structural analysis:
· Letters from Robert to Margaret (probably added later at Percy’s insistence)
· Frankenstein tells his version of the story (1 – 10)
· The creature tells his story (11 – 16)
· Frankenstein continues his story (17 – 24)
· Letters from Robert to Margaret
Allusions:
· Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” – Robert promises not to kill any albatross – inferring that doing so would have grave consequences; like the ancient mariner, Robert begins as an inexperienced sailor but ends up a wiser man; the lonely wanderer would appeal to the lonely creature; F –has a deadly weight handing round his neck – he desires to create – not relate to others
· Milton’s Paradise Lost – a touchstone for the creature to try to understand his identity; he compares himself to both Adam and Satan – both human and demonic; creature is between to realms; creature confused as to whether he is Adam – destined ultimately for eternal grace, or Satan – doomed to eternal darkness; theme of creation; the reproaches made by the creature also echo those made by Satan in PL
· Biblical – theme of the outcast and the story of creaion; creature is bitter and dejected after being turned away from civilization; Adam caused his own fate – creature didn’t have the choice
Symbols (objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts):
· fire – creature sets fire to the cottage – unleashing the fire w/in - fire of malignancy; dangerous weapon – spreads quickly and is uncontrollable; creature in a combustible state; good and bad
· light – symbolizes knowledge, discovery, and enlightenment; illuminates, clarifies; it is essential for seeing and seeing is the way to knowledge; it can also blind; warm and ignite a dangerous flame
· marriage – inclusion in society
· blasted tree – split down the middle, severed from its roots and unable to register sensations – what Frankenstein has become as opposed to a whole tree – a living organism that branches and spreads itself widely
Key words/influences:
· Frankenstein means literally the stone of the Franks – castle erected for the Baron Von Frankenstein in Germany
· Darwin – biologist – grandfather of Darwin; considered the finest doctor of his time in England; produced many inventions; influential in literary circles
· galvanism – the re-animating of a corpse from electricity; Luigi Galvani – argued that electricity was the life force and conducted experiments with electricity through dead animals; nephew performed electric experiment on body of recently hanged criminal (dead only one hour at 30 degrees F – body twitched, muscles moved
· Romanticism - primacy of feeling, importance of nature – seeking solace in nature; the individual and his quest, the supernatural and the exotic, solitude; importance of friendships – Victor and Robert, Victor and Henry; opposite nature of love – Elizabeth and Victor; fascination with death; plight of innocent with an system of injustice; belief in man’s basic goodness; reaction to Enlightenment; inspired by the revolutions in American and France; championed progressive causes; intensity and imagination – key words
· Paracelsus, Agrippa, and Albertus Magnus – natural scientists who were not well regarded; alchemists – who wanted to produce gold from metals
· doppleganger – mirror image of self; Creature and creator are different sides of the same human personality – F – represents the feelings and creature – the intellect – they are the antithesis of each other; device used in Gothic literature; F becomes the monster he created – each driven by revenge and remorse; F – is the mind and emotions turned in upon themselves, and his creature is the mind and emotions turned imaginatively outwards, seeking a greater humanization through a confrontation of other selves; Walton and F – both sin against the moral and social order; both begin pursuit with benevolent intentions (which become misguided pride – a selfish pursuit aimed at self-glory because it evades the fulfillment of higher duties toward the social community , the brotherhood of man which forms the highest good), each discovers his error in assuming that knowledge is a higher good than love or sympathy;
· foil – someone whose traits or actions contrast with, and thereby highlight those of another character – Walton to Victor – Walton is either not obsessive enough to risk almost certain death or not courageous enough to allow his passion to drive him
· Shelley’s dream 12 days after first baby’s death (2/1815) – Dream that my little baby came to lie again – that it had only been cold and that we rubbed it before the fire and it lived?
· noble savage/primitivism– creature – tests the world with its natural impulses and unsophisticated reasoning and responds to it with a mixture of bewilderment and dismay; embodiment of a dream; acts with a nostalgic frame of reference in that he combine both intellect and sensibility the supposed reconciliation of innocence; a belief in man’s natural goodness, and in the inevitable corruptions of civilization – ideas which were continued in the Romantic movement
Motifs (recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes):
· passive women – seen in all female characters; esp. seen in Frankenstein’s destruction of the female creature – he ensures her passivity
· abortion
· deaths – they proceed in terms of increasingly important relationship for Victor – child, peer, closest male peer, closer female peer, finally father – the ultimate bond – die in alphabetical order – William-Justine-Henry-Elizabeth-Alphonse
Rejected child:
· Mary watched Baxter family as creature watched DeLacy family
· Shelley identified with the rejected child
· Creature and author lack a mother and have distant fathers
· Creature realizes that he will be alone forever; this pain evokes the anger and desire for revenge that abandonment and isolation can produce
Romanticism critique:
· Shelley questions Romantics desire to transform mortals into godlike creatures; perfect mankind, and locate the divine in the human