Marry Shelley, Romanticism, Gothic Horror

Question 1

Gothic vs Vampire Archetype

Answer 1

Gothic: dark scenery, melodramatic, dread, mystery, supernatural, well-known historical events, adventure+travel
Vampire: made by Lord Byron (Marry Shelley friend), in eastern Europe, first person to disguise a vampire as a human

Question 2

9 big bad things that happened to Mary Shelley?

Answer 2

1: 1797, Her mother dies 10 days after giving birth
2: 1814, elopes while pregnant with Percy Shelley
3. 1815, loses first daugter because she was born premature
4: 1816, half-sister commits suicide by overdosage
5: 1816, Percy Shelley’s ex-wife (Harriet) kills herself by drowning
6: 1818 Marry’s second daughter dies and 1819 son dies of malaria
7: Husband dies at 29 at sea
8: Almost dies after a miscarriage
9: Good friend Lord Byron dies

Question 3

What literary distinctions does Shelley hold?

Answer 3

Youngest person to appear in the Observer’s Best 100 Novels in English

Question 4

Who was her mother? Why was she famous?

Answer 4

Marry Wollstoncraft
writer of the Vindication of the Rights of Women (1798, published after she died) demanded equal rights to vote for women, workers, middle class

Question 5

Who was her father? Why was he famous?

Answer 5

William Godwin
he was a journalist, political philosopher, ahead of his time, anarchist, radical thinker, atheist

Question 6

What was life like for Mary growing up

Answer 6

Surrounded by writers, philosophers and told to always pursue true love, around lots of radicals

Question 7

How did Mary and Percy meet?

Answer 7

Percy came over to Mary’s house often with his wife and Mary and Percy fell in love

Question 8

What is the reaction to Mary eloping with Percy?

Answer 8

Even though Mary’s parents were all about following your true love, Mary’s father refused to talk to her for 5 years after she eloped with Henry

Question 9

What sparked the idea for Frankenstein?

Answer 9

Writing scary stories on a rainy day in Geneva, Mary couldn’t think of one good enough, but then she imagined someones abandoned creation coming back to haunt them, so she wrote it down and Percy convinced her to make it into a full story

Question 10

How was the book received?

Answer 10

The book never went out of print
Admires: Mary as romantic heroine, book was romantic work
Critics: book was blasphemous, immoral

Question 11

When and how did Mary Shelley die?

Answer 11

Died in 1851 of a brain tumor, last 10 years of her life were plagued by symptoms (migranes, seizures)

Question 12

What years are known as the Romantic period?

Answer 12

1750-1850

Question 13

How is the Romantic Period defined? (What did it do)

Answer 13

Movement that transformed the arts, for people that aren’t just the upperclass (Opera, ballets, poetry, music, books)

Question 14

What was the Enlightenment known for?

Answer 14

Age of reason, science, truth through rational thought.
Only applied to elite/educated, not for common man

Question 15

What characterizes the Romantic Period?

Answer 15

Interest in common man/child: natural goodness that gets tainted by society
Strong senses, emotions, and feelings: knowledge is gained by gut feeling, not deduction
Awe of Nature: can’t conquer natural world, respect/awe
Celebration of the individual: elevated achievements of hero, individual outcast
Important of imagination: Just think and imagine, imagination as critical authority

Question 16

What four parts make up a Romantic novel?

Answer 16

Setting: Foreign, unknown, extremes of nature, remote, in the past
Characters: Emerge where ever needed, unrealistic, more women and children
Hero/Heroine: Isolated, tormented (physically/emotionally)
Subject Matter: strange, extremes of nature, not everyday life

Question 17

How does the Gothic Novel differ from the Romantic Novel?

Answer 17

The traditional elements: decaying mansions, ghosts, trap doors, castles, screams in the night