Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley’s "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus"

(Spiazzi, Tavella, Only Connect, Module D, Bologna, Zanichelli, 2000, pp. D46-D47)

The plot of the novel is very simple: Frankenstein, a Swiss scientist, manages to create a human being, who, despite careful preparation for the experiment, turns out to be ugly and revolting; the Monster becomes a murderer and in the end he destroys his creator. The story is not told chronologically and is introduced to us by a series of letters written by Walton, an explorer, to his sister.

In the introduction to her best known work, Mary Shelley gives her own account of Frankenstein’s origin. It seems that a number of things, like the reading of ghost stories, speculation about the reanimation of corpses or the creation of life, her anxieties about her role as a mother, and the memories of her sense of guilt and loss at the death of her own mother came together at that point in her life, creating the waking dream or nightmare that so terrified her.

Influences on Frankenstein

Mary Shelley dedicated Frankenstein to Godwin and used many of the ideas held by her parents. They had both shown a passionate interest in a number of aspects of human society, which are dealt with in Frankenstein, including property, social justice and education. Mary Shelley clearly sympathizes with the monster but is afraid of the consequences of his actions. In this there is tension between fear of revolution and interest in the revolutionary ideas, two attitudes which were characteristic of English intellectuals in the years between 1789 and 1832. Even the influence of Shelley was important. As an idealistic young Romantic poet, he interested the young Mary Godwin from the beginning; as a disciple of Godwin, he ensured that Mary remained in contact with radical ideas. He and Mary read a lot together and were interested in science, and particularly chemistry, so that by the time she wrote Frankenstein Mary Shelley was aware of the latest scientific theories and experiments of the day. She had read works by Humphry Davy (1778- 1829) on chemistry, Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of Charles – the famous evolutionist – on evolutionary principles, and Luigi Galvani (1737- 1789) on electricity. These sources provided contrasting scientific attitudes important to Mary Shelley’s conception of science in Frankenstein, whose protagonist is the first embodiment of the theme of science and responsibility to mankind. In fact, instead of respecting the evolutionary principles described by Darwin, Frankenstein interferes in the evolutionary process by trying to create a human being through the use of electricity and chemistry. The influences of Rousseau (1712 - 1778) and Locke can also be felt in this novel. The monster can be considered Rousseau’s natural man, that is a man in a primitive state, not influenced by civilisation; he, however, rapidly discovers the limitations both of the state of nature and of civilisation. The influence of Locke can be seen in the description of the monster’s self-awareness and his education. Obviously, the ghost stories read at Villa Diodati provided an immediate stimulus even if Frankenstein differs from the Gothic tradition, since it is not set in a dark castle and does not deal with supernatural events.

Another important influence was the work of the Romantic poets in general; Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a constant presence in the novel and it is linked both to Walton, the narrator in the first part of the novel, and Frankenstein; in fact the poem is a story of a physical and psychological journey but also a tale of a crime against nature. Furthermore Frankenstein holds Walton’s attention with his story as powerfully as the Mariner held the wedding guest’s. Even the atmophere of Erankenstein reminds the reader of the haunted atmosphere of Coleridge’s poem. The myth of Prometheus is also important: Frankenstein is a clear example of an overreacher. He takes his place alongside Marlowe’s Faustus and Milton’s Satan, for they all seek for unforbidden knowledge.

Narrative structure

This novel is told by different narrators.

l. at first, Walton informs his sister, whose initials are the same as those of Mary Shelley, M.S., that is Margaret Saville;

2. then Frankenstein informs Walton, who informs his sister;

3. finally the monster informs Frankenstein, who informs Walton, who informs his sister. Thus the entire novel has Walton’s sister as receiver, but presents three different points of view.

Narration of Walton to his sister

Narration of Frankenstein to Walton

Narration of monster to Frankenstein

The form of this novel is epistolary; perhaps the writer wanted to disguise her own voice as a woman by hiding behind three male narrators.

Characters

There are few characters in this novel and the most important are the three narrators. Walton, who is a double of Frankenstein, manifesting the same ambition, is characterised by Romantic elements, such as Nature seen as the embodiment of God, the longing for the North and travel towards the unknown, the wish for loneliness and pride in being different. He tries to go beyond human limits (Prometheus myth) and he is punished in the end, as are all overreachers: his punishment is the imprisonment of his ship in the ice and the rebellion of the crew. Frankenstein and the monster are complementary: they both suffer from a sense of alienation and isolation, both begin with a desire to be good but become obsessed with hate and revenge. The third part of the novel has the monster as protagonist. He is an intelligent being; he senses things before he thinks about them and his natural sensibility is hurt by the repulsion and terror he produces both in his creator and in everyone else because of his being a deviation from the rule, a deviation from the forces of good. He makes several attempts to communicate with people but when he is rejected, he becomes an outcast, a murderer and a rebel against every human being.

Themes

The main themes of the novel are:

forbidden knowledge, which is present throughout;
the overreacher, in the characters of Walton and Doctor Frankenstein, since they both try to overcome human limits;
the double: Doctor Frankenstein and the monster are two aspects of the same being, anticipating the double identity of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson ;
usurping the female role, since the creation of human beings becomes possible without the participation of women;
penetrating Nature’s secrets, which is related to the theme of the overreacher;
social injustice;
education and experience, represented by the monster’s intellectual and emotional development.

On the screen

Frankenstein’s striking originality is also responsible for its success on the screen; the first of a long series of films was produced by the American Edison Studios in 1910. The monster in this first film portrayal was a ragged figure whose attire was meant to suggest a mouldering shroud. It was given life chemically rather than electrically, and at the finale, conveniently, it simply melted away. A new Frankenstein lumbered onto the screen in 1931, in the James Whale production. Whatever its flaws in script and logic, the direction, cinematography, and especially the performance of Boris Karloff as the shambling, inarticulate monster came together to create a huge box-office success and set a pattern for the mad-scientist movie for decades to come. The most recent version is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) directed by Kenneth Branagh.