Society and its influences is something that no one can control and can influence people’s lives greatly. This is the case with Mary Shelley and her life as an author of many books, specifically her most famous book, Frankenstein. Frankenstein follows a scientist by the name of Victor Frankenstein who, when taken control by his desire for discovery, creates a life in the form of a terrifying monster. Abandoned by his master and thrown away by society, the monster kills Victor, his family and eventually himself in revenge for his isolation. Shelly’s life was very interesting as she was the daughter of two of the most influential figures in society at the time, Mary Wollstonecraft, author of, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and her father …show more content…
Not only were there a ton of books for Shelley to read but a lot of other authors would drop by to visit her father which made the environment constantly academic. This is also how Shelly met her lover, Percy Shelley who was a romantic poet who often visited Shelley’s father. Due to these conditions Shelley was always learning new things as there were a lot of diverse types of literature she was exposed to and, inadvertently, she was being influenced because of the environment her parents laid out. The monster in Frankenstein also learned about society through literature because of his parent figure. “I can hardly describe to you the effect of these books. They produced in me an infinity of new images and feelings, that sometimes raised me to ecstasy, but more frequently sunk me into the lowest dejection (Shelley 116).” The monster was forced to learn about society and the world through literature because Victor abandoned him. Shelley’s life and career were influenced off the books of her parents, this lifestyle of being self-taught bled onto the story of Frankenstein. Shelley wrote her way of learning into the monster to perhaps describe the feeling of isolation as both lacked some parental figure. The monster was alone in society as he was rejected by everyone and through reading he taught himself on the wonders of human society just as Shelley did. Not only did Shelley learn about society through the foundation her parents built the loss of her mother was very important towards Shelley’s
Knowledge comes from experience. Since birth, Mary Shelley’s Monster from her acclaimed epistolary novel, Frankenstein, has been assaulted by all of the difficulties of life, yet he has faced them completely alone. The Tabula Rasa concept is completely applicable to him. The Monster begins as a child, learning from mimicking and watching others. He then educates himself by reading a few books which help shape his personality and give him an identity. Following Maslow’s hierarchy of needs the Monster searches for and accomplishes the basic human necessities but feels alone, and needs human interaction and companionship. “My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture such as you cannot even imagine,” (Shelley 115). As the book progresses, the Monster ceases to be a one-dimensional and flat watcher of humanity. Through his numerous experiences and education, the monster instead morphs into a participator of humanity with the ability to achieve goals, broaden his personality and create himself an identity.
“I now hasten to the more moving part of my story. I shall relate events that impressed me with feelings which, from what I was, have made me what I am” (Shelley 92). Frankenstein’s Creature presents these lines as it transitions from a being that merely observes its surroundings to something that gains knowledge from the occurrences around it. The Creature learns about humanity from “the perfect forms of [his] cottagers” (90). Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein offers compelling insights into the everlasting nature versus nurture argument. Her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote, “Treat a person ill, and he will become wicked.” Shelley believes that the nurture of someone, or something, in the Creature’s case, forms them into who they become and what actions they take. While this is true for Frankenstein’s Creature, the same cannot be said about Victor Frankenstein.
Shelley suggests that children naturally look up to their parents. Frankenstein followed his father (a scientist) and now the creature follows Frankenstein when wishes to create for his own needs. This is another point by Shelley, that a strong parental figure is important when bringing up children.
Shelley’s mother died eleven days after Mary was born ( Britton 4). Like Mary Shelley, the monster was born motherless, and this deeply affected him. The monster proclaimed, “no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses” (Shelley 86). Just as the monster longed for a family connection, so did Shelley. Barbara D’amato wrote, “The unconscious conflicts and psychic experiences of loss and of longing for connection are captured and revealed in the orphaned character of Mary Shelley’s fictional story, Frankenstein (118). Shelley and the monster also share the struggle of feeling abandoned and hated by their fathers. Shelley’s father abandoned her twice during her life. The first time was when Shelley was a young child. Shelley believed that her stepmother was interfering with Shelley’s and her father’s relationship, and this jealousy caused conflict between the family members. Shelley’s father later sent her to live somewhere else. When Shelley was older, her father disapproved of her decision to elope with Percy Shelley which resulted in him disowning Mary. This abandonment left Shelley with the feeling that there was something terribly wrong with her (D’Amato 126). The monster was also abandoned by Frankenstein, or the man that can be considered his father. The monster explained to Frankenstein why he had become the violent being that he was, when he told Victor, “Believe me Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably alone?” (Shelley
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, there are many themes present. One prominent and reoccurring theme in the novel is isolation and the effect it has on the characters. Through the thoughts and feelings of both Victor and his monster, Frankenstein reveals the negative effects of isolation from society. The negative effects that Victor faces are becoming obsessed with building a monster and becoming sick. The monster faces effects such as confusion about life and his identity, wanting companionship, and wanting to seek revenge on Victor. Victor and the monster are both negatively affected by the isolation they face.
Isolation is often a result of choosing to seek refuge in solitude, however, in many cases, it is a result of brutality from the surrounding environment. In Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel, Frankenstein, a gruesome and painful story serves as a cautionary tale in order to prevent another from a similar downfall. Although Victor Frankenstein is the narrator for the majority of the novel, the audience learns of the destruction that has followed his decisions as well as the forced estrangement upon those he has encountered. In Frankenstein, Shelley uses relatable characters that reflect the harsh superficial aspects of society. Victor’s initial isolation as a child foreshadows the motif of detachment that occurs throughout the novel.
Frankenstein is a book written by Mary Shelley in 1818, that is revolved around a under privileged scientist named Victor Frankenstein who manages to create a unnatural human-like being. The story was written when Shelley was in her late teen age years, and was published when she was just twenty years old. Frankenstein is filled with several different elements of the Gothic and Romantic Movement of British literature, and is considered to be one of the earliest forms of science fiction. Frankenstein is a very complicated and complex story that challenges different ethics and morals on the apparent theme of dangerous knowledge. With the mysterious experiment that Dr. Victor Frankenstein conducted, Shelly causes her reader to ultimately ask themselves what price is too high to pay to gain knowledge. It is evident that Shelly allows the reader to sort of “wonder” about the reaction they would take when dealing with a situation such as the one implemented throughout the book.
Many consider Shelley as an early feminist. Certainly her mother’s views on the issue cannot be doubted. In her book “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” Mary Wollstonecraft criticizes society’s treatment of women. Similarly in Frankenstein Shelly, more than simply telling a story, challenges a dominant patriarchal value system. In the novel the women are constructed as victims of male egotism and selfishness. Caroline Beaufort, Victor Frankenstein’s mother, lived in ‘poverty’ due to her father’s ‘abominable pride’ that refused to accept help or charity. Safie, daughter of the Turkish merchant is almost kept from the one she loves by her father’s ‘treachery’. Thus we can see that Shelly presents us with a s...
The idea for the novel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein came to her one night when she was staying in the company of what has been called ‘her male coterie’, including Lord Byron and her husband, Percy Shelley. Mary Shelley’s whole life seems to have been heavily influenced by men. She idolised her father, William Godwyn, and appears to have spent a good part of her life trying very hard to impress both him and her husband. There seems to have been a distinct lack of female influence, her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, having died weeks after her birth, being replaced by a neglectful step-mother. These aspects of her life are perhaps evident in her novel. The characters and plot of Frankenstein were perhaps influenced by Shelley’s conflicting feelings about the predominately masculine circle which surrounded her, and perhaps the many masculine traits that we see in novel were based upon those of the male figures in Shelley’s own life. In this essay I will attempt to show some of these traits.
Although the language throughout the book stays true to its era, many of the ideas and imagery portrayed through it were too chilling to be conceivable in those times. It may have been that because Mary’s mother was the first feminist, Mary felt it was acceptable to ‘rebel’ against society with this terrifying book. It was apparently conceived by a nightmare, and written to win a competition with friends. However, it may have been the rebellious feminist traits in her blood that made her wish for it to be published. Mary Shelley seemed to be quite similar to Frankenstein in many ways.
Mary Shelley, with her brilliant tale of mankind's obsession with two opposing forces: creation and science, continues to draw readers with Frankenstein's many meanings and effect on society. Frankenstein has had a major influence across literature and pop culture and was one of the major contributors to a completely new genre of horror. Frankenstein is most famous for being arguably considered the first fully-realized science fiction novel. In Frankenstein, some of the main concepts behind the literary movement of Romanticism can be found. Mary Shelley was a colleague of many Romantic poets such as her husband Percy Shelley, and their friends William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge, even though the themes within Frankenstein are darker than their brighter subjects and poems. Still, she was very influenced by Romantics and the Romantic Period, and readers can find many examples of Romanticism in this book. Some people actually argue that Frankenstein “initiates a rethinking of romantic rhetoric”1, or is a more cultured novel than the writings of other Romantics. Shelley questions and interacts with the classic Romantic tropes, causing this rethink of a novel that goes deeper into societal history than it appears. For example, the introduction of Gothic ideas to Frankenstein challenges the typical stereotyped assumptions of Romanticism, giving new meaning and context to the novel. Mary Shelley challenges Romanticism by highlighting certain aspects of the movement while questioning and interacting with the Romantic movement through her writing.
Even today, people have a prejudice against someone or something that is abnormal, and these people will act differently towards this abnormality that is put in front of them. In the novel, Shelley seems to suggest a conception of humanity that is deeply influenced by circumstance and personal choice.... ... middle of paper ... ... Shelley foreshadowed the way science could be used to do something that perhaps would not be genetically possible, until today.
Many women like those in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein suffer from inequality and oppression. Many women are treated like property and are deprived of rights that men have. The women are murdered and created in Shelley’s novel to represent how quickly women can be replaced. Women are clearly presented in the novel as classless individuals who are forced to comply as submissive beings living under the wing of man, the dominant leader in Frankenstein society.
Mary Shelley was born in 1797 to Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, two of the greatest liberal thinkers of the time. Her mother died after two weeks of giving birth to her, leaving Shelley feeling both abandoned by and guilty of her mother’s death. Her father was left with the responsibility of raising her; however, he did not fulfill his duties to her as a father. He gave her only a haphazard education, and largely ignored her emotional needs. She met Percy Shelley when she was only fifteen, and when they ran away together two years later, her father disowned her (Duncan, Greg. "Frankenstein: The Historical Context."). Percy was married at the time, but left his first wife when Shelley was pregnant with their first child. His first wife, Harriet, killed herself s...
As a young writer, at just the age of 18 years old, Mary Shelley was able to become a gothic novel specialist. She was able to create a story that has an unbelievable amount of depth behind all of the events that happen between the characters. Her writing stays relevant in today’s society due to her focus on the creation of artificial life. Many of the characters in the novel Frankenstein have a deep love and desire for new discoveries. The characters like Walton, the Creature and Victor have the desire for ambition which they all become overly consumed in their works and end up in destructive situations. In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley is able to develop multiple characters whose ambitions lead to destruction;