Frankeenstein Flashcards
What is an epistolary novel?
In addition to being a frame story, Frankenstein is also an epistolary novel. An epistolary novel is a story written as a series of documents, usually letters (epistles). However, diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents can also be used. The word epistolary is derived from Latin from the Greek word ἐπιστολή [epistolē], meaning ‘a letter.’
Mary Shelley uses the epistolary form in Frankenstein as a framing device. The story is told through the letters of a sea captain and scientific explorer trying to reach the North Pole. He encounters Victor Frankenstein and records his narrative and confessions.
What is a frame story?
A frame story is a literary technique that is often described as “a story within a story.” Usually, there is an introductory or main narrative, which sets up the second or additional narratives. The frame story leads readers from a first story into another one or more stories within it.
Frankenstein actually has multiple framed narratives. First, Robert Walton writes letters to his sister relating the story told to him by Victor Frankenstein; then, Victor Frankenstein’s story contains the creature’s story; in turn, the creature’s story holds the story of a family he has lived with.
Who wrote Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus ?
21-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in March 11, 1818 in Geneva.
Who wrote this?
Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould Me man?
Did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me?
John Milton, Paradise Lost (X.743–5)
Who was Prometheus?
The Modern Prometheus is Frankenstein’s original subtitle, although some modern editions drop this subtitle, and mention it only in prefatory remarks. Prometheus, in Greek mythology, was the Titan who created humankind on Zeus’s orders. Prometheus created a being in the image of the gods that could have a spirit breathed into it. Eventually, Prometheus is punished . Prometheus represents human striving, especially for scientific knowledge, coupled with the risk of unintended and unfortunate consequences.
The poet Byron was attracted to the play Prometheus Bound by the Greek writer Aeschylus, and Percy Shelley would eventually write Prometheus Unbound (1820). The term “Modern Prometheus” was originally created by the philosopher Immanuel Kant, referring to Benjamin Franklin and his experiments with electricity.
Where does it come the name Victor in Frankenstein’s First Name?
One interpretation of the name ‘Victor’ comes again from Paradise Lost. Milton refers to God as “the Victor” several times in this work. Obviously, Victor plays God by creating life in the story. In addition to this, Shelley’s portrayal of the monster owes much to the character of Satan in Paradise Lost. The monster says, after reading the epic poem, that he empathizes with Satan’s role. There are also many similarities between Victor and Percy Shelley, Mary’s husband. Victor was one of Percy Shelley’s pen names, shown in the collection of poetry he wrote with his sister Elizabeth, Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire.
