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Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus - PDF
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Added on 2021-05-31
Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus - PDF
Added on 2021-05-31
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Running head: FRANKENSTEINMary Shelly’s FRANKENSTEINName of the StudentName of the UniversityAuthor Note
1FrankensteinFrankenstein or The Modern Prometheus was a novel written by Mary Shelly, anEnglish writer. The novel was first published on 1818, when she was 20 years old. The storyis about a young scientist name Victor Frankenstein who develops a technology of bringingthe dead back to life. He experiments this technology on an executed convict to create agrotesque looking sapient being (Shelly). Before she wrote the book, she travelled acrossEurope during 1814 to Germany, along river Rhine, and stopped at Gernsheim, where anancient folklore of an Alchemist who performed strange experiments was commonly heard.She then travelled to Geneva in Switzerland, where a significant part of her story unravels(Turner). Her companions, Percy Shelly (who was also her lover and soon to be husband) andLord Byron were also enthusiast in occult themes like Galvanization (Mason). The idea forwriting the book came to Mary Shelly after the three engaged in a challenge to write the besthorror story, after which Mary came up with the story of a scientist crated life and was laterhorrified by his creation, which later became the story of Frankenstein (Hogle).There were different factors that inspired Mary Shelly to write Frankenstein. Herinterests, and her travels as well as her personal life and relations profoundly affected her wayof thinking. One of the biggest factors that influenced her to write the story was a challengeproposed by Lord Byron. Between Mary, Percy and himself, to write the best horror story,during a trip to Geneva. The trio was stuck in the cold weather, where they entertainedthemselves with German horror stories. This led to Mary Shelly to conjure the story ofFrankenstein (Hogle). Mary Shelly suffered terrible losses of her loved ones throughout herlife. She lost her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft when she was an infant, after which she wascared by her father. Mary also lost her firstborn child after a premature delivery. Her HalfSister killed herself, as did her lover’s wife. Mary Shelly also lost three more children andalso her Husband, Percy Shelly by the time she was 24 years of age (Judge). These tragediesmade her preoccupied with death, and with the fascination with technologies that can bring
2Frankensteinthe dead back to life. It can also be speculated that the gothic stories spreading across Europeat that time, as well as their fascination with those stories was another significant influence(Blumberg).The novel was also written after a decade of the abolition of slavery in Great Britain,which spilled a public fear of what the newly emancipated people can do to their societies,might have also influenced the story of Victor Frankenstein’s monster (Willis). It is importantto note that the monster depicted in the story did not start as a violent being, but as themonster faced continued rejection from the human societies, it became saddened, and thenviolent and led to its final destruction (Britton). During an age, that saw rapid technologicaladvancements of a booming industrial age, the story cautioned against humanity’s hubris toplay the part of God (Peters). It can be imagined how the combined fear of the immensepower of technology, a fear of change, and experiencing deaths of people close to her couldhave inspired her to write the story of Frankenstein.Frankenstein has elements of both Gothic novels as well as elements from theRomantic Movement and is an early example of a science fiction story (Roberts; Naimi).According to some critiques, Frankenstein can be considered as the first science fiction novel,as the protagonist uses science in a deliberate manner to attain certain outcome, throughexperiments in laboratories (Roberts). The novel was also influenced by Paradise Lost byJohn Milton and The Rime of an Ancient Mariner by Tylor Coleridge (Lande; Lau).Additionally, being a student herself, the book of the famous chemist, Humphrey Davy titledElements of Chemical Philosophy, which stated that science has given powers to humanitywhich has enabled him to be creators and also given the ability to change the creates aroundhim (Holmes). This could have given Mary Shelly the idea of creating life through a scienceexperiments. The story of an inventor named Frankenstein who created machines was also
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