Romanticism

1
Romanticism

• Introduction
• Mary Shelley
• Frankenstein

2
Mary Shelley

• August 1797
• Mary Wollenstonecraft (feminist author)
• William Godwin (political philosopher)
• Wollenstonecraft died 11 days after birth
• Godwin remarries Mrs. Clairmont
• Two kids Charles and Claire
• Marys half-sister, Fanny
• Half-brother, William (Godwin Clairemonts
  child)

3
Mary Shelley

• Introduced to many Romantic writers of the time
• Byron, Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley
• Mary and Shelley fell in love
• She was 17
• He was married
• Not considered uncommon

4
Mary Shelley

• Loses first child
• 2 children
• Fanny and Shelleys first wife kill themselves
• Loses 3rd child and first son, William
• Relate to horror of creation giving birth

5
Mary Shelley

• Percy dies in boating accident, drowns
• She was 25 and lives till 54
• Never remarries

6
The Birth of Frankenstein

• Staying near Geneva with Percy
• Bad weather, so would make up stories
• She thought of the story one night in bed
• Published as an anonymous author
• Thought to maybe be Percy Shelley
• When I placed my head upon my pillow, I did not
  sleep, nor could I be said to think. . . . I
  saw--with shut eyes, but acute mental vision--I
  saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling
  beside the thing he had put together. I saw the
  hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and
  then, on the working of some powerful engine,
  show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy,
  half-vital motion. Frightful must it be for
  supremely frightful would be the effect of any
  human endeavor to mock the stupendous Creator of
  the world.

7
Gothic Tale

• Sense of remoteness and indefiniteness
• Create ghastly, eerie atmosphere
• Super-sensitive monster cant function in
  normal world
• Psychic communication
• Returning to life after death

8
Romanticism

• Setting and Time
• Set in far off, foreign countries, remote
• Unknown areas differ from what reader knows
• Exotic so readers can focus on unusual themes
  and ideas
• Not mundane aspects of reality

9
Romanticism

• Characterization and Verisimilitude
• Did not create visible or believable characters
• Not always apparent throughout the story

10
Romanticism

• Subject Matter
• Emphasizes bizarre and unusual- unexpected
• Choose subjects that wouldnt be encountered in
  everyday life
• Unexpected events and actions

11
Romanticism

• People interested in the creation and nature of
  man
• Romantic protagonist
• Against societys beliefs and views
• Industrial revolution, political revolutions
• Often seen as a villain ignoring what is
  considered the norm
• Encompasses the unconscious conflicts within the
  protagonists mind

12
Romanticism

• Focus on the supernatural or fiction
• Shelleys monster is a creation of science and
  material existence
• Actually lives, breathes, and has feelings and
  emotions

13
Prometheus

• The Modern Day Prometheus
• Greek mythology
• Prometheus stole fire from the Gods
• Punishment chained to a rock, where an eagle
  plucked at his liver every day
• Prometheus sought fire to better man
• To make tools and warm hearts
• Same as Frankenstein
• "benevolent intentions, and thirsted for the
  moment when I should put them in practice."

14
Structure

• Frame Story
• Outside story letters from Robert Walton to his
  sister
• Tells her what Victor Frankenstein has told him
• Inside Story
• What Frankensteins story is
• Narrator switches
• Walton
• Frankenstein
• Monster

15
Themes

• Human accountability
• Human relationships
• Social alienation
• The nature of life itself

16
Terminology

• Alchemy
• Methods for changing baser metals into gold and
  with finding a universal solvent and an elixir of
  life.
• Galvanism
• Electricity as produced by chemical reaction
• Verisimilitude
• the appearance or semblance of truth likelihood
  probability