Mary Shelley and her novel, Frankenstein
Mary Shelley, wife of Percy Shelley, became a highly respected household name after she wrote and published her famous novel, Frankenstein, during The Romantic Period. Mary Shelley indirectly reflects her backstory and The Romantic Period through Frankenstein, and even impacts The Romantic Period through her novel. Evidence of both the reflection of The Romantic Period and Ms. Shelley’s impact on it are found in her background, the time period itself (as well as modern times) and in Frankenstein. Mary Shelley was born on August 30, 1797, and died on February 1, 1851 (Biography.com Editors). She grew up in London, England, but spent two years in Scotland with her father's acquaintance and his
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One of these events was hating her home life because she felt her step-mother resented her and her father's relationship; which in her eyes, led to her being excluded from getting a formal education when her stepsister was getting one (Biography.com Editors). This resulted in Mary staying in Scotland for two whole years with her father's acquaintance and his family, and then later fleeing England with Percy (Biography.com Editors) (Cliffsnotes Editors). The other very important event that affected Mary's life, but especially Frankenstein, was the loss of a child before writing her famous novel (Biography.com Editors) (Cliffsnotes Editors). It's very clear that in Ms. Shelley's book, Dr. Frankenstein is trying to resurrect someone from the dead; having knowledge on Mary's background actually leads many people to believe that this idea of resurrection is coming from her wanting to bring back the only child she had ever birthed (Biography.com Editors)(Cliffsnotes Editors). Mary fits in very naturally with the ideals of The Romantic Period; Frankenstein, her most famous novel, clearly reflects this. In Frankenstein, the creature is rejected from society because of his grotesque appearance, lack of manners, and lack of intelligence. The creature being rejected by society shows that as a romantic, Mary Shelley viewed the society in which she lived as close-minded and judgmental (Cliffsnotes Editors). Mary Shelley significantly contributed to The Romantic
Later, following the suicides of both Mary’s older sister and Percy’s wife, the couple wedded. Mary sank into depression following the death of three of her children and tolerating an unfaithful
The suffering and loss she endured is reflected in Frankenstein when the main character, Victor, is left alone to suffer through the loss of his loved ones. This theme of loss is a main component of Frankenstein and this mirrors events in Mary’s life that were caused by gender inequality and female oppression. Mary was a woman and these events are very traumatic and influential for women. Mary Shelley was also a victim of the repression of female texts, she even “published anonymously…to keep her identity hidden” (313). This is a main reason why female characters do not play a large role in the story.
Mary Shelley, with her brilliant tale of mankind's obsession with two opposing forces: creation and science, continues to draw readers with Frankenstein's many meanings and effect on society. Frankenstein has had a major influence across literature and pop culture and was one of the major contributors to a completely new genre of horror. Frankenstein is most famous for being arguably considered the first fully-realized science fiction novel. In Frankenstein, some of the main concepts behind the literary movement of Romanticism can be found. Mary Shelley was a colleague of many Romantic poets such as her husband Percy Shelley, and their friends William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge, even though the themes within Frankenstein are darker
Born on the 30th of August 1797, Mary Shelley’s Mother died 11 days after birth. At 16 years of age Shelley was married to Percy Bysshe Shelley, a romantic poet, who was a follower of Mary’s philosophical father. In the summer of 1816, Mary and Percy visited the poet, Lord Byron, in Lake Geneva, Switzerland, where the idea of Frankenstein was conceived. During her stay at Byron’s villa, Shelley and other house guests was challenged by the poet to write a horror story, after reading one
“But Sorrow Only Increased with Knowledge:” A Critique on Romantic Ideals in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Much evidences show that the novel is based on Mary’s life. This counterargument does not convert the novel to an autobiography; however, they show that her book is based on her personal experiences and fears. Victor’s motivation for resuscitation is comparable to Mary’s desires to bring her children back to life; these desires are clearly shown by comments of the literature critic Katherine Morales, “After having read about Mary’s life, it is very easy to deduce that the life resuscitation topic in Frankenstein was influenced by Mary’s deep wish to bring her loved ones back to life” (110). Additionally, Victor unscrupulous investigations mimic Percy’s life events as a university student; in 1811, the Oxford University expelled Percy when he denied being the author of a paper called Necessity of
The romantic period was characterized by a marked withdraw from the techniques of the literary period and ideas, that introduced more rational and scientific in nature. Romantic poetry and prose, by contrast, was intended to express a new and visionary relationship to the imagination (Fitch). The romantic poets were always seeking a way to capture and represent the sublime moment and experience (Fitch), the more personal experience, the better. In many romantic poems the authors and their writing are identical. This is one of the ways Shelly embraces the literary period and at the same time matches the specific romantic ideal. She takes Frankenstein and describes him not by her personal experience or in her own voice, but yet she still is still characterizing a single quest to achieve the sublime. Victor Frankenstein’s quest was to make a creature out of raw
Romanticism, the literary movement that began in the late eighteenth century and gained strength during the Industrial revolution, emphasizes emotion, sublimity, and the significance of nature among other things. Writers during this time period wrote literature that was a clear reflection of Romanticism, and one of those authors was Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly. Her novel Frankenstein, which was published in 1818, incorporates different characteristics of Romanticism in many aspects but more directly through the characters. With an analysis of Victor Frankenstein, the monster, and Henry Clerval, it is clear that the characters of Frankenstein epitomize ideologies that were embodied during the Romantic Era including the Byronic hero, and emphasis on nature’s significance.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was published in 1818 and introduced many elements of Romanticism that were presented. Romanticism was a movement that was most popular during the 18th century particularly 1800 to 1850, this movement was an artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe that was characterized by many different elements that will be examine throughout. This movement is a rebellion against social rules and conventions. Romanticism was much different from how we partake it today. One may think that is based around love, kissing, and hugging but it is much more than that. This movement fell right into the area when Mary Shelley was creating her novel so it is obvious that she would jump on the bandwagon due to its popularity. The popularity of it would help her novel become more popular as well as allow for more in depth understanding of the principles she presented in her novel. There are many different romanticism elements in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that are presented while going through the novel. The elements that are most prevalent in the book are celebration of nature, juxtaposition of the beautiful and the gross, and valorization of the struggle of the individual against society. By quick note it is obvious that many of these elements are presented in the novel by anyone that has had the chance to read it. The novel emphasized inspiration, subjectivity, and the importance of the individual. Mary Shelley was brilliant enough to incorporate these
Mary Shelley was a young, well-educated woman from England. She was born on August 30th 1797, in London. Her mother Mary Wollstonecraft, was the author of “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”. She died giving birth to Mary, leaving her daughter in the care of her husband, William Godwin. The atmosphere that Mary Shelley grew up in exposed her to cutting-edge ideas, which are shown all throughout the novel. Mary Shelley’s lover, Percy Shelley was a young poet, and as he was already married, her relationship with him wasn’t the smoothest.
Romantic writer Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein does indeed do a lot more than simply tell story, and in this case, horrify and frighten the reader. Through her careful and deliberate construction of characters as representations of certain dominant beliefs, Shelley supports a value system and way of life that challenges those that prevailed in the late eighteenth century during the ‘Age of Reason’. Thus the novel can be said to be challenging prevailant ideologies, of which the dominant society was constructed, and endorsing many of the alternative views and thoughts of the society. Shelley can be said to be influenced by her mothers early feminist views, her father’s
In the summer of 1816, tensions began to lift long enough for the brilliant Mary to envision the story of Frankenstein. Shelley, Mary, and Claire rented a house in Lake Geneva, close to the Villa Diodati where Lord Byron, Percy's friend, lived. They would all spend nights together discussing topics in literature, philosophy, and science fiction. Reading and telling ghost stories to each other inspired Byron to challenge the members of this intellectual circle to create their own ghost stories. After a heated discussion on galvanism, which is the reanimation of a corpse through electricity, Mary went to sleep, not knowing that she would dream up the creation of Frankenstein. During that dream she had what she called a "waking nightmare." She had a dream that a student created a human being, and woke him up with machinery [5]. The novel will be completed and published in 1818; Mary was nineteen at the time of publication. At such a young age, this was an outstanding feat for a women writer of her time. She also finally married Percy in December of 1816, after Harriet committed suicide. Also during this summer, Mary's half-sister Fanny Imlay commits suicide as well. So it is apparently obvious that the tragic deaths of her relatives and her children had an effect on her
Having lived between 18th and 19th century, author Mary Shelley was greatly influenced by the intellectual movement of Romanticism. Since she was closely associated with many of the great minds of the Romantic Movement such as her husband Percy B. Shelley and Lord Byron, it is natural that her works would reflect the Romantic trends. Many label Shelley¡¯s most famous novel Frankenstein as the first Science Fiction novel in history because its plot contains the process of a scientist named Victor Frankenstein creating a living human being from dead body parts, but that is only a part of the entire novel. At its core, Frankenstein is a product of Romanticism featuring the traits of a Romantic hero on a Romantic quest, the embracement of
In this assessment I will be critically evaluating the use of Romantic forms and themes in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818). The discussion will focus on a radical interpretation of the text; an interpretation that views the novel as a response to the social injustice and cruel treatment of the masses in this period, and the conservative explanation for the text; where the creature personifies the monstrous consequences for attempting to overthrow the capitalist elite. Romanticism, a period from the late 18th Century to the mid-19th Century, is a contradictory movement; a product of middle class elites who are concerned with the struggles of the lower working class. Terry Eagleton states, “committed to an art as an end to itself yet also an instrument of social regeneration… If the movement contains some of the most fervent advocates of the French Revolution, it also contains some of its most rabid antagonists.” It has been argued that the movement is a response to the Dual Revolution (industrial and political), and artists used this period to remember the past, while simultaneously showcase their frustration at the present. Michael Lowy and Robert Sayre (2001) argue that romanticism is “a vast cultural movement of protest against modern industry and capitalist society in the name of pre-modern values”.
A story of mystery, tragedy, and terror, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein continues to captivate millions. She writes the tale of mankind’s obsession of the unknown, pulling readers to Frankenstein’s many lessons. Mary Shelley affects literature with her seemingly paradoxical use of both Romanticism and Gothicism. Shelley takes elements of romanticism, such as heavy use of emotions, innocence, and characters achievements, while also using gothic aspects like death, violence, and dark weather. Weaving the two genres together, Mary Shelley creates a timeless science fiction novel containing characteristics of serenity with a sense of eeriness.