Setting: Late
eighteenth century Locale: Geneva, Switzerland; Ingolstadt, Germany; Scotland; Arctic
Ocean Keywords: Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft; Frankenstein;
science fiction; treatment of nature; treatment of fear; Romanticism;
treatment of monsters; Biblical allusion; Gothic novel;
relationship to science; creation; sources in classical myth
This novel's full title is Frankenstein;
or the Modern Prometheus
Victor Frankenstein, while a student
at the university in Ingolstadt, Germany, becomes obsessed with his ambition
to create life as an addition to scientific knowledge. His success leads to
the making of a monster the sight of whom fills him with "breathless horror
and disgust". Throughout the rest of the novel Frankenstein is haunted by
the specter of what he has accomplished while the monster tries to make a
place for himself in a cruel world. When Frankenstein refuses to create
a mate for him, the monster embarks on a rampage of revenge. After Frankenstein
is deprived of all whom he loved, he hunts the monster to the icy desolation
of the Arctic to destroy that which he has wrought. Victor tells his story
of horror and terror to Robert Walton, the captain of the ship which rescues
him in the Arctic. Frankenstein's ensuing death and the monster's grief inspired
vow to destroy himself bring this gothic novel to a close.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Mary Shelley was born August
30, 1797 in London, England to social philosopher William Godwin and feminist
Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary's mother died ten days after her birth, and she was
raised, along with her half-sister Fanny Imlay (Mary Wollstonecraft's
illegitimate daughter), by her father. William Godwin has been portrayed as a
repressive patriarch with a rigid belief in his own rightness. When Mary ran off
at sixteen with the then married poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, her father stopped
talking to her but continued to accept money from Percy Shelley. Mary came
from a family of social radicals and entered a circle of social radicals. Thus
she began a relationship with a married man at a time when such a union was a
definite social impropriety. She and Shelley were married two years later
after Shelley's wife committed suicide. Together they had three children,
only one of whom reached adulthood. Mary wrote her most famous work, Frankenstein, when she was only nineteen years
old. The novel was the result of a dream she had after a challenge that
she, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and a doctor friend of theirs each write a ghost
story. Only Mary complied and the result was Frankenstein. After
Percy Shelley was killed in a boating accident in 1822, Mary made a living by
writing critical essays, several other novels, and a travel book and editing and
publishing her husband's poems. She died in London on February 1, 1851.
CHARACTERS
Victor Frankenstein - the science student who creates the monster or
demon
The Monster - Frankenstein's creation
Robert Walton - an explorer and captain of a ship on an expedition to
the Arctic
Elizabeth Lavenza - Victor's fiance; adopted by Victor's parents and
raised Elizabeth as his sister
Henry Clerval - friend of Victor
The DeLacey Family - the French family the monster observes from his
hiding place
Librarian talk . . . About Getting Started!
As you begin,
narrow your topic to a size that you can manage. Consider keywords
that will help you find the information you need. These can be names of people,
literary works, events, or broader identifying terms. Use these keywords
for locating information in the library catalog, electronic databases, and
on the internet.
POSSIBLE THEMES
Physical
deformity
Ambition
Injustice
Parental love
and responsibility
Science and
ethics
Revenge
Social
responsibility
Good versus
evil
Obsessive
behavior
Horror and
terror
Artificial
life
Parental neglect
Librarian Talk . . .About Books!
Apply online for a
library card.
Use your card to:
1) Place a Hold on a book and have it sent to the library
closest to you
2) Access journal and reference databases from home,
and
3) Access e-Books from NetLibrary.
PN 761 .N5, vols. 14, 59 - Nineteenth
Century Literature Criticism - NCLC contains excerpts from
essays in books and journals. Helpful for 1) selecting a topic 2)
finding full text of scholarly articles in the library either from the
excerpts or the "Further Reading" section.
PN 523 .W67, vol 5 - World Literature Criticism - A broad
selection of the best criticism of works by major writers.
PN 3385 .N68, vol. 1 - Novels for Students- Biographical,
critical, historical and plot information about works of fiction.
PS374 .S35 S36 1982- Science Fiction Writers - Critical
studies of the major sci-fi authors from the early 19th century to
the present.
Circulating books -
PS 147 .R87 To Write Like a Woman Essays on feminism
and science fiction,with a chapter on Mary Shelley.
PR5397 .F73 F68Frankenstein ed. by
Harold Bloom. The novel and critical essays.
PR 830.S35A58
1995
AnticipationsEssays on early science fiction and its
precursors.
PN 3433.5 .A45 Science Fiction Before 1900 The evolution
of science fiction literature.
Britain was in the middle of
the Industrial Revolution when Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. New
technologies, such as the mechanization of spinning and weaving and improvements
in the modes of transportation, led to a shift in the country from being a
largely agricultural and commercial society to being the world's first
industrial nation. This transformation fomented economic and political
upheaval. Agitation for more rights for workers and women had its onset in this
period. The agrarian Old Guard struggled to maintain its influence while
new fortunes were being made in the textile industry. There was a rapid
growth in population. The number of people in Britain doubled between the
first ever census in 1801 and the census of 1851. The most popular
journalist of the day, William Cobbett, spoke out for the workers and attacked
landowners and political corruption. The Romantic poets revolted against
the formality of neo-classicism and advocated a return to nature and a world of
imagination and unconscious feelings. All of society was influenced by the
NapoleonicWars and the ideas of the French Revolution.
The debate between scientific discoveries and traditional religious and
metaphysical thought was starting to take shape, and the ethics of how far man
should pursue his desire for knowledge was beginning to be a topic of discussion
- a topic still in debate today.
BOOKS TO EXPLAIN THE TIMES
REF PN 50.L574, vol. 1
-Literature and Its Times
- the historical events which influenced authors writing major
literary works.
PR 457 .R4568 - Romantic Women Writers - Writings
about British women writers during the romantic era.
PR 830 .T3 - The Female Gothic- Essays on women
writers of the gothic novel with a piece on Mary Shelley
Q125 .B947 - The Day the Universe Changed- An explanation of the advances in science
and knowledge that changed the way man perceived the world in which he lived.
Q125 .B97 - Origins of Modern Science - A
collection of lectures that discuss, among other things, the Scientific
Revolution
Q125 .R7426 - Science: Its History and Development Among the
World's Cultures- A history of science with chapters on the
17th, 18th, and 19th centuries
Librarian Talk . . . About Finding
Journal and Newspaper Articles!
Electronic
databases are purchased by the libraries for your research use. To find articles
in newspapers and journals, letters, reference books, illustrations, photographs
and more, use your updated library card to login to the following databases.
If you find an interesting article that is not full-text, please give the
correct bibliographic information to our Reference Librarians and they
will see that you get the article. They will need full bibliographic information
- and your name and address. Send your phone number as well, so they can contact
you if they need to. There is some overlap of articles in the following databases.
However, we encourage you to use more than one. All are excellent sources
for this topic.
Search or browse the complete back issues for journals in literature,
economics, history, social sciences, science and mathematics. The most current
issue available is determined by publisher agreements and varies.
Scholarly journal articles, many full text. Also articles in
reference books. The best search to find critical articles is the title
search. Type in Frankenstein and
select "all words entered" before clicking the Search button. This
search will also find literary criticism in the MLA International Bibliography, the oldest and most
authoritative index to scholarly literary journals. Many of the
scholarly journal articles or critical essays in the MLA index are not full
text, but they can be found in other databases, in journals in the library, or
on microfiche in the library. Ask the Reference Librarians if you need
help with the microfiche reader/printer.
This full-text multi-discipline database includes articles on
literature. Limit your search to Scholarly Journals, including Peer
reviewed. A suggested search is Frankenstein and Shelley.
Note: To access these databases from off campus, students may
login with the barcode number from their library card using the links above.
Librarian Talk . . . About the Internet!
The Internet will be a wonderful source
of original documents. Browse the sites we have suggested below. Remember, you do want to find
reputable sites. Look at:
Accuracy - The information should be researched and
show proof that it has been.
Source - Who wrote the information? Look at the domain. .edu .gov. org .net are valid research sources.
Authority - What are the author's credentials? (Don't quote from another college freshman's paper.)
Coverage - Does the page have the information you need
for your research?
Objectivity - If a work is biased, use it - just make
sure your professor knows YOU know. And offer both sides of issues, where
applicable.
UNACCEPTABLE SOURCE EXAMPLE: http://www.rit.edu/~nrcgsh/bx/bx04b.html - This appears to be part of a book, and the information is probably
excellent. But there is nothing we can see that tells you title, author, dates,
publisher or any of the other needed information. As it stands, it
should not be used in an academic research paper.
Lone Star College-Kingwood Library
For more background on Mary Shelley and Frankenstein, view
Mary
Shelley's Frankenstein: Prometheus Unbound by Sue Goodwin (approx. 4
min 58 sec; requires QuickTime. Note: this
may take a few minutes to load.)
Learn to search NetLibrary for literary
critcism!
Librarian Talk . . . About Finding
Journal and Newspaper Articles!