Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
- Mary Shelley
Anlagen:
- Daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft (Vindication of the Rights of Women)
- Married to Percy Bysshe Shelley (Romantic poet - Ozymandias)
- Close friend of Lord Byron (Romantic Poet - Don Juan)
- Father was political philosopher William Godwin
- Wrote Frankenstein in 1818, when she was only 18 years old!
- Originally published anonymously
- Characters
- Victor Frankenstein
Anlagen:
- Walton (first narrator)
- William (brother), killed by the creature
- Justine, accused of William's murder
- Elizabeth (adopted sister/fiance)
- Clerval (best friend)
- The Creature
- The De Lacey family
- Safie
- Cultural Influence
Anlagen:
- 1931 Frankenstein, Boris Karloff as the creature
- 1974 Young Frankenstein, developed by Mel Brooks
- 1994: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, directed by Kenneth Branagh
- Themes
- Ambition/ hubris
Anmerkungen:
- Walton's quest for discovery
Frankenstein's desire to create life
Danger of this - the Modern Prometheus...
- Knowledge/ education
Anmerkungen:
- * Victor's study at college and Independent research
* The creature learns from observing the De Lacey family and reading
* Safie learns language from the De Laceys
* Walton's quest of discovery
- Nature vs Society
Anmerkungen:
- Nature is sublime: beautiful and restores health, but also dangerous.
Creature wants to be part of society but it is corrupting and leads to loss of innocence.
- Family
Anmerkungen:
- Family relationships are very important:
* Victor and Elizabeth
* The impact of William's death on Victor
* The effect of seeing the De Lacey family on the Creature
* The Creature's lack of family and desire for a mate
* The narrator, Walton, writes to his dear sister
- Prejudice
Anmerkungen:
- The only person who doesn't judge the creature negatively is the old man De Lacey who is blind so can't see him
- Revenge
Anmerkungen:
- The creature takes revenge on Frankenstein by killing Elizabeth on their wedding night.
- Symbols
- Fire
Anmerkungen:
- The Creature discovers fire: it warms him, but also burns him.
Fire as a source of punishment, e.g. the Creature's description of Hell (influence of Milton's Paradise Lost)
- Subtitle: The Modern Prometheus
Anmerkungen:
- Prometheus: Greek God who stole fire from Mount Olympus and gave to humans-
- Light
Anmerkungen:
- * Symbolises enlightenment
* Walton's quest to the Arctic: "a country of eternal light"
* Victor refers to light when he discovers natural philosophy and when he feels his study is advancing
***Light can be blinding as well as illuminating***
- Structure and Genre
Anlagen:
- Epistolary form (Walton's letters)
Anlagen:
- Gothic
Anlagen:
- Romantic
Anlagen:
- Developed while competing with Byron, Percy Shelley and John Polidori to make a scary horror story at Lake Geneva
- Narrative frame (Victor's story within Walton's, the creature's story within Victor's)