Frankenstein - Chapters I - VIII

From the beginning of the novel, I personally disliked Victor Frankenstein, and feel that he is an unreliable character who is narcissistic in his interpretations of life. The novel commences with a description of Frankenstein's childhood, who he grew up with and how his parental figures met. It is told that he travelled a lot around Europe, before settling in Geneva - which parallels the life of the creator of this distinguished novel, Mary Shelly. Chapter II divulges in Victor's relationship with his adopted sister Elizabeth - whom he calls 'Cousin'. The narrator describes her as a “Calmer and more concentrated disposition” to that of Victor. This suggests that she levels out his erratic behaviour and earths him. Continuing, the chapter progresses to describe more of Victor’s young adulthood, and how he becomes infatuated with scientific experiments. Chapter III tells the story of how, at the age of seventeen, Victor was introduced to the University of Ingolstadt – which at the time retained a reputation for Liberal thinkers, and was not the typical upstanding university. After a long goodbye from Victor’s friends and family, Frankenstein arrives at the University eager to learn about authors such as Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Alburtus Magnus, all of which were deemed as “nonsense” by one of his teachers - M. Krempe. Distraught by this, Victor slog’s through the laborious task of meeting and greeting his fellow academics, and eventually becomes a good acquaintance of M. Waldman. His unorthodox views, similar to Victor, spur Frankenstein on to create the Creature. Chapters IV and V tell the story of how the Creature came to life and I feel that these chapters are the most fascinating to study because they allow the reader to see into the mind of a mad scientist who is following his passions and ignoring society’s unwritten conventions, in order to discover something unique to him – in modern terms it would be classes as his ‘guilty pleasure’. These chapters of exploration are comparable to those of Robert Walton at the start of the novel, which is why it could be argued that Walton is a bad narrator – because he permits his own personal life and experiences to influence the novel, and therefore manipulate the outcome. Chapters V, VI and VII divulge into the consequences of creating the Creature and how they affect Frankenstein psychologically and physically because he becomes seriously ill, requiring the help of his long-term friend Henry Clerval. Eventually Victor returns home in good health, to find that the Creature has killed William, his younger brother, and Justine – a local girl with no family to depend upon other than the Frankenstein’s – is being held responsible.

Upon reading these few chapters the reader gets an immediate sense of how mentally unstable Victor becomes. At any sign of the Creature – whether metaphorical, physical or imaginary – Victor becomes even more obsessed than previously thought. Even at the beginning of the novel the reader can see that it is going to end badly for the protagonist because he is too self-absorbed. The moral of the story could be that men should not attempt to play the figure of God or “Play with Fire” because they will be punished. The reason why no one had made scientific discoveries like this before is because people were too afraid of being burdened with guilt if something went wrong.

Frankenstein and Mary Shelly

·         Born in London 1797 named Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin.

·         Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft , was a feminist – but she died 11 days after she was born.

·         Her father was a philosopher

·         She stayed in Scotland, after travelling around, and fell in love with Percy Shelly – who was a poet – and they eloped.

·         Scandal and debt caused them to move to Switzerland – she was only 19 years old at the time.

·         Lord Byron, was their neighbour, to which they had long conversations with.

·         Mary has a vivid nightmare and thus was the creation of Frankenstein.

·         Because it was written by a young woman – it was very shocking and was therefore first published by an anonymous writer.

·         Percy and Mary married in 1816, but unfortunately he drowned.

·         She died in Bournemouth  in 1851.

·         The Preface to Frankenstein was written by Percy Shelly.

·         Because she was bought up to be a liberal thinker, she had the freedom to write.

Frankenstein - Religious and Philosophical Contexts

·         1818 – the country was at the height of the Christian grasp.

·         Christianity thought you had a perfect or painful eternal life

·         Heaven or hell.

·         Emphasis on the soul – it lives on after death.

·         Frankenstein’s creature is made out of dead people, afterlife revoked?

·         Frankenstein is playing God?

·         Does Creature possess a soul, if he’s not born naturally?

·         ‘Origin of Species’ – undermines church philosophy.

·         Society was more liberal – people thought of the church less and science more.

·         Creature struggles with the value of friendship and love – is this an attack on the Christian God? Is the world too immoral to be a perfect creation by a perfect God

·         Superstition – ‘Dracula’, ‘Dr Jekyll’ share elements of the supernatural and fear with Frankenstein.

Frankenstein and Romanticism

·         18^th – 19^th Century – “Valued Imagination and emotion, rather than rationality

·         Pushing boundaries

·         Rebellion against aristocrats

·         Anti-society

·         Music – depressive

·         “rite of Spring” Ballet – caused riots

·         More emotion rather than structure.

·         Literature – Keats, Blake and Coleridge – who worked with Wordsworth - was possibly bipolar?

·         Liberal thinkers, anti-religion

·         Colloquial language

·         Idolises pure nature, hated symmetry and perfection

·         Marginalised sections of society

·         The Voyage of Life – Thomas Crusoe.

Frankenstein and The French Revolution

·         Bankruptcy and huge debt

·         French aid in American Civil War

·         Louis 16^th – taxed the lower class (which was 92% of the total population)

·         Mass discontent led to mass riots and the death of Louis 16^th.

·         Jean-Jacques Rousseau promoted civil liberties.

·         Nationalism came from the French Revolution

·         Rights of Man

·         Class system

·         British Constitution

·         Social Reform

·         Frankenstein came out of unchecked intellectual ambition

·         The French wanted radical change

·         Social, political and religious reforms caused upheaval across Europe

·         Frankenstein is a romantic book caused by disillusionment.

Frankenstein and Science

·         Mary Shelly met Erasmus Darwin

·         What did Shelly know about science?

·         Galvanism is the contraction of a muscle that is stimulated by an electric current.

·         “Spark of being”

·         Critics called Frankenstein a  “negative view of science”

·         Science is a metaphor for irresponsible actions.

·         Political novel over a scientific

·         1931 – 1^st film version – genetics are responsible for personality?

·         ‘normal’ and ‘criminal’ brains

·         Science fiction creator.

Frankenstein - The Letters

-        The letters set up what the novel is about.

-        Similar to Macbeth - Macbeth sends a letter to Lady Macbeth explaining what he's planning to do.

-        Evil forebodings due to exotic place.

-        Pathetic Fallacy?

-        ‘playing’ and ‘delight’ = positive

-        Joy from the unfamiliar

-        Frightening – “rose tinted spectacles” romantic

-        Gothic or Romantic?

-        References to solitude – his internal paradise

-        Juxtaposition of beauty and exploration – prolepsis of Chapter V.

-        “Numb” the mind

-        The soul – a Gothic invention

-        Personal reference and exploration – not scientific

-        A man driven by self interest

-        It breaks boundaries – physically and geographically.

-        Romantic or scientific?

-        Potentially romantic

-        Macbeth and Victor obsessed with knowledge and power

-        Smug – exaggerating – reliable narrator? Arrogant.