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.

Reading Journal - Act V.

Act V – Scene I:

·         Lady Macbeth – wash your hands – guilt

·         The guilt has driven her to insanity.

·         Is Lady Macbeth sleep walking? And is she really being visited by Banquo?

·         She has followed her husband into insanity.

·         Lady Macbeth is vulnerable – Macbeth has killed children, therefore if Lady Macbeth has had children and lost them, does she empathise with Macduff’s grief?

·         A woman and family have been killed; Lady Macbeth is now hiding behind her gender at the start of the play, now however she is scared because a woman has died at the hands of Macbeth. The possibility that she could die as well has entered her mind.

·         She questions her character and personality.

·         Another role reversal of Macbeth and his wife.

·         Guilt, remorse, blood and dreams.

·         Macbeth and Lady Macbeth – they fluctuate, one is weak, while the other is storng.

·         Lady Macbeth gains femininity

Act V – Scene II:

·         The Scottish lords discussing  the situation call Macbeth the “tyrant,”

·         The lords also talk about the need for Birnan Wood. 

Act V – scene III:

·         Macbeth boasts proudly that he has nothing to fear from the English - “none of woman born” – gender roles are once again included in the conversation, and the weakness/innocence of women.

·         The doctor tells the king that Lady Macbeth is kept from rest by “thick-coming fancies,” and Macbeth orders him to cure her of her delusions – he’s making the decisions with force, showing that he is string.

·         The audience see Macbeth as how he is describes at the beginning of the play by the Captain, Courageous, strong and a great warrior.

Act V – Scene IV:

·         There is an essence of fear and anxiety in the atmosphere because the men are about to go to war.

·         The men decide that each soldier should cut down a bough of the forest and carry it in front of him as they march to the castle, thereby disguising how many men they have.

Act V – Scene V:

·         “Life is but a walking shadow” – epiphany, futile, philosophic, lack of emotion, apathetic.

·         Logical and practical.

·         Macbeth’s preparing for battle – “beat them backward home” links to Macbeth at the beginning of the play.

·         Lady Macbeth’s death is announced – does he still need her?

·         2 people as one, psychological?

·         Nihilistic – nothing matters to Macbeth anymore.

·         Emotionally numb

·         Existentialist – only you can give it meaning, a focus on one’s self.

·         Macbeth has lost the one person who keeps him strong – companionship.

·         Macbeth manic depressive? – building up?

·         “it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” – questioning superstition and the validity of the witches.

·         He feels he is being used by and toyed with by the witches, he doesn’t see the point.

·         Revelation signifies his fall.

·         Rejection of religion? Denying faith and the afterlife.

·         “Equivocation” – links to the porter – “ringing an alarum bell” – he knows he is going to hell.

·         “There is nor flying hence nor tarrying here” and “I’gin to be aweary of the sun” – don’t play with fire or the supernatural.

·         The gothic is subversively conservative, in making people obey the rules.

·         Non-Christian play, temptation?  

·         Like to Macbeth = blasphemy, the audience admire him – he gets what he wants, and does whatever it takes.

·         We see Macbeth as the tragic hero that we are denied by the witches at the end.

·         He has a bleak epiphany.