a03 frankenstein Flashcards
(18 cards)
Literary Context
- Gothic Literature
Dark, eerie settings, the supernatural, madness, and transgression.
Features isolation, doppelgängers (Victor/Creature), and psychological horror.
Shelley plays with Gothic tropes but adds emotional depth and philosophy.
Romanticism
Emphasizes emotion, nature, individualism, and imagination.
The Creature’s sensitivity and love for nature = Romantic ideal.
Victor is a warning about the dangers of unchecked ambition and rejecting emotion.
Science Fiction (Proto-Sci-Fi)
One of the first sci-fi novels.
Explores consequences of man playing God, artificial life, and ethical boundaries of science.
The Epistolary Form
Story framed through letters (Robert Walton).
Multiple layers of narrative: Walton → Victor → Creature → Victor → Walton.
Raises questions about truth, bias, and narrative reliability.
Paradise Lost (John Milton)
Creature reads Paradise Lost and sees himself as both Adam (created) and Satan (rejected).
Themes: rebellion, fall from grace, creator vs. creation.
Quote: “I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel.”
Prometheus Myth
Frankenstein’s subtitle is “The Modern Prometheus.”
Prometheus stole fire from the gods to give to humans → punished.
Victor “steals” the secret of life → punished by losing all he loves.
Themes: overreaching ambition, suffering, rebellion.
The Age of Enlightenment
Emphasis on reason, rationality, and scientific progress.
Victor is a product of Enlightenment ideals, but the novel critiques them.
Galvanism
The idea of reanimating dead tissue with electricity.
Inspired by Luigi Galvani’s experiments.
Shelley’s contemporaries believed electricity might bring life.
Vitalism vs. Materialism
Vitalism: Life = special vital force (soul).
Materialism: Life = biological processes.
Novel explores tension between spiritual and scientific explanations of life.
Mary Shelley’s Parents
Mother: Mary Wollstonecraft – feminist, wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
Father: William Godwin – radical political philosopher.
Themes of social justice, education, and female oppression influence Shelley.
Loss and Grief
Lost her mother, husband, and three children.
Themes of death, grief, and the desire to overcome mortality run through the novel.
The ‘Haunted Summer’ (1816)
Wrote Frankenstein during a trip to Lake Geneva with Byron, Percy Shelley, and Polidori.
Famous ghost story competition.
Dark atmosphere and discussions of life, science, and mortality inspired the novel.
Class and Poverty
De Lacey family and the Creature’s rejection highlight inequality.
The poor suffer while the elite (like Victor) are protected.
Role of Women
Women are passive, idealized, or victimized (Elizabeth, Justine, Safie).
Reflects 19th-century gender norms, but may also subtly critique them.
The Enlightenment vs. Romanticism
Enlightenment = logic, science, control.
Romanticism = nature, emotion, the sublime.
Shelley shows Enlightenment unchecked can become monstrous.
The Sublime (Burke)
Awe mixed with terror, especially in nature.
Both Victor and the Creature find emotional intensity in the natural world.
Tabula Rasa (John Locke)
“Blank slate” theory – humans are shaped by experience.
The Creature starts innocent and becomes violent due to rejection and abuse.
Responsibility of the Creator
Novel questions the moral duties of a creator (parent, scientist, God).
Victor fails to guide or care for his creation.
Raises questions about modern scientific ethics (still relevant today).
