Context

Question 1

Describe the scientific influence on Mary Shelley during the time in which she was writing her novel.

Answer 1

> Humphry Davy:
- exhibited Frankenstein’s hubris, pride and desire to triumph over Nate and God, he believed that he had ‘unparalleled powers’ through science.

> Galvani

• created Galvinism, the process of sending an electrical current though a dead frog- this same process is used in Frankenstein
• the subject of reanimation clearly had an effect on Shelley, we know that she attempted to breathe life into her child who died in infancy.

> James Blundell

• performed the first blood transfusion, Shelley clearly engages in the dialectic of doubles, and one life being used to support another in Frankenstein
• which is felt poignantly in the idea that Frankenstein’s mental and physical health decrease extremely after his creation is brought to life.