Transcript Frankenstein

FRANKENSTEIN
By Mary Shelley
MARY SHELLEY
• Born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin:
August 30,1797- February 1, 1851
(both in London, England)
• Mother, Mary Wollstonecraft
(feminist, writer, and political
activist), died 11 days after Mary’s
birth
• Raised by father, William Godwin
(political liberal activist) who
encouraged her writing and provided
an informal yet excellent education
MARY SHELLEY (CONT.)
MARY SHELLEY (CONT.)
• Ran away with poet and political activist (follower of
Godwin) Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1814 and married in 1816
• Percy encouraged Mary’s writing
• Mary Shelley was instrumental in the publishing of Percy’s
poetry and supported publication even after his death in
1822
• Never remarried
• Widely travelled
• Step brother-in-law was the poet, Lord Byron
• Wrote letters, essays, short stories, novels, and travelogue
• Famous only for her connection to Percy and Frankenstein:
or, The Modern Prometheus until the 1980s
FRANKENSTEIN IN POP CULTURE
OUR FOCUS
• Is knowledge power?
• What responsibility do we have with
our own knowledge?
• How is knowledge dangerous?
• How does nature play into knowledge?
PROMETHEUS
• In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan, gods who
ruled the earth in a golden age. He and his brother,
Epimetheus, were tasked with creating humans from clay
and fire. Prometheus betrays those of his kind and
shares the secret of fire with men, allowing humankind to
make great strides of progress. Because of his betrayal,
he was said to have quarreled greatly with Zeus and was
punished, but escaped ultimate punishment because of
rescue by Hercules. In Greek mythology, he is credited
with the creation of humankind.
ROMANTICISM
• Appreciation of common man
• Interest in the past, the “gothic,” the supernatural, the mystical,
and the exotic
• Respect and reverence of nature (country life over urban
settings)
• Imagination and emotion are more important than logical
considerations
• Attracted to rebellion and revolution (human rights, individuality,
freedom from oppression)
• Emphasis on introspection, psychology, melancholy, and
sadness
GOTHIC FICTION (OR GOTHIC HORROR)
• Terror (not just the physical, but also psychological)
• Concerned with the supernatural
• Common elements include death, decay, madness,
secrets, big scary castles, dopplegangers, etc.
• Combined elements of Romanticism
• Stock characters include tyrants, villains, bandits,
maniacs, persecuted maidens, femmes fatales,
madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves,
monsters, demons, dragons, angels, fallen angels,
ghosts, perambulating skeletons, and the Devil himself.
EPISTOLARY FICTION
• Fiction in which the story is told through a series of
documents:
• Journal/diary entries
• Letters
• Emails
• Examples: Dracula by Bram Stoker, Bridget Jones’
Diary by Helen Fielding, Carrie by Stephen King, Diary
by Chuck Palahniuk
THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER
•
Written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and published in 1797
•
Famous Quotes:
“Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.”
“Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide wide sea!
And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony.
“The many men, so beautiful!
And they all dead did lie:
And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.”