Frankenstein context Flashcards
Frankenstein contexts
Myth of Promethus: summary
- prometheus sculpted humans out of mud
- later stole fire for his humans, as he wanted them to be safe and prosperous
- zeus didn’t want the humans to be powerful and punished Prometheus for doing this
the myth of prometheus
How does Prometheus link to Frankenstein?
- linkes to how Frankenstein rebelled against a higher power
- prometheus exhibits care for the humans despite not being biologically related to them
- frankenstein did not show this towards his creation
science of life and death
summary
- victorians fascination with lfe and death
- public concern it was impossible to be sure if a person was truly dead
- French encylopedia distinguished between ‘absolute’ and ‘incomplete’ death
- James Curry physician at Guys hospital and one of mary’s doctors argued the only way to be sure of ‘complete’ death was through recognising putrification (rotting) - creature
- Percey Shelley believed the ‘death’ of son william shelley could be reversed
Paradise Lost
summary
- rewriting of Adam and Eve
- warns against the rebellion of god
- unlike the Bible: does not portray eating the apple as inevitable. IT shows Adam and Eve excercising their FREE WILL. They knew the consequences, but chose to eat the apple anyway.
- eve was punished with pain in childbirth
Angel of the House
summary
-poem romantivcising the role of women in the home
portrays a housewife as angelic, beautiful, and somethign to worship
- written by Coventry Patmore about his love for his wife Emily
- protection of innocence by keeping them in the home
- title became synonymous with the ideal victorian housewide
Vindication of the rights of women
summary
- recognises the redundanbcy of the heroic ideal
- calls for empowerment of women in edcucation, politics, society, and marriage
- by Mary Wollestonecraft (SHELLEYS MOTHER)
Vindication of the rights of women
how does it apply to Frankenstein
- worship of walton, and the creatures initial worship of frankenstein
- ultimately both are made redundany
- links to wollestonecrafts idea of the failed heroic ideal
Romanticism
summary
- shift from super imposed objective rules to the subjectivity of an individuals emotional response
- also importnat is anger + the lack of freedom
- william wordsworth and the idea that truth could be discovered through contemplation of a more emotional response to nature
- embodied in john keats idea that artists should ‘delight in sensation’
- also links to the sublime
the sublime
summary
- excites horror and triggerd by extremes
- Burke ‘delightful horror’
- attraction of grotesquem terrible and uncontrollable
- monster is a creature of the extremes
- frankenstein pursues this
the enlightenment
summary
- rise of the religion in society was being questioned
- speed in developments in maths, chemistry, biology, and engineering
the enlightenment
how can it be applied to frankenstein?
- in frankenstein replacing the female with scientific exploration
- clash between 19th century romanticsim and 18th century scientific development
the gothic
summary
- first novel ‘castle of oranto’ 1764
- terror vs horror
- anticipation of fearful acts (feature in gothic written by wome)
- a result of fearful acts (feature in gothic written by men)
- sub genre of romantcism
the other - concept
summary
- ‘the other’ lacks an essential trait that the group has
- individual perceived by the group as not belonging
- others are othered because they are subjected to the practicises of the in group
- onegation if identity. ‘us’ vs ‘them’
concept ??
the noble savage: summary
- a character uncorrupted by civilisation
- reflects the romantic glorification of savage life, away from society.
- connected to nature and therefore pure
concept
romantic child: summary
- the idea that children are completely pure as they have not learned the rules of society
- children are connected to nature
