FREE ESSAY ON MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN

MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN

Unbelievably Mary Shelley wrote the novel Frankenstein
at the age of eighteen. This great work captures the imaginations of its
readers. Frankenstein remains one of the greatest examples of Gothic
literature. Unlike other Gothic novels of the time, however, Frankenstein also
includes elements of Romantic writing, and therefore cannot be classified as
soley Gothic. 
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English novelist. The daughter
of the British philosopher William Godwin and the British author and
feminist Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Born in London in 1797, Mary was
privately educated. She met the young poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in May
1814, and two months later she left England with him. When Shelley's first
wife died in December 1816, he married Mary. Mary's first and most
important work, the novel Frankenstein, was begun on Lake Geneva in the
summer of 1816 as her contribution to a ghost-story competition. A
remarkable accomplishment for such a young writer, Frankenstein was a
success. No other work by Mary Shelley achieved the popularity or
excellence of this first work, although she wrote four other novels, books of
travel sketches, and miscellaneous tales. In 1818 the Shelley's left England
for Italy, where they stayed until Shelley's death. Only one of Mary's and
Percy's children survived, Percy Florence, and in 1823 Mary returned to
England with him and concentrated on his education and welfare. The image
of Mary Shelley presented by the biographers suggests an intensely private,
imaginatively exuberant, yet also emotionally withdrawn figure, whose
political melancholy and strong religious faith are intriguingly at odds with
the optimistic rationalism of her famous parents, and her poet husband's
atheistic radicalism.
The story of Frankenstein begins in the polar ice of the Arctic Circle.
The ship of an English explorer, Walton, is trapped in the ice and is unable
to travel. During the day the men on board spotted a sledge, driven by a
huge man and drawn by dogs followed by Victor Frankenstein, a man in
very poor condition. Walton nursed him back to health as the stranger told
Walton his story. 
Victor Frankenstein was born in Geneva and at an early age showed
promise in the natural sciences. Victor was sent to a university when he
grew older, and that's where he stumbled on to the secret of creating life.
With great brilliance Victor created an eight-foot monster and gave him life
through electricity.
Once Victor had realized what he had done he panicked and left the
creature. When the creature wondered into the city everyone he met
screamed and ran away. Finally the creature found a place to live in a
cottage outside the city. Through observation of the family in the cottage the
monster began to learn the ways of man. In doing so the monster longed for
friendship, but everyone he encountered was repulsed by him. This
repulsion caused the monster to become bitter and angry towards men. The
monster's anger caused him to murder William, Victor's brother. The
monster makes a horrible demand on Victor, to create a companion to give
the monster love and friendship. Victor did not go through with the demand,
and for punishment the monster kills Clerval, Victor's friend and Elizabeth,
Victor's wife. Victor vows that he will chase the monster until the
monster's death. 
Victor died in the frozen North, and the monster disappeares into the
ice field.
As the before mentioned events show the Gothic novel was a late
eighteenth-century revival of the tale of terror. One of the earliest and
best-known Gothic novels was Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto , a
scary story about a castle terrorized by a giant. Another contributor to
Gothicism is Clara Reeve who wrote The Old English Barron , which she
considered to be an improvement on Walpole's novel. Then came
Frankenstein. 
The first Gothic characteristic of Frankenstein is evident in its
grotesque elements. To create life Victor had to use the bodies of dead
humans. At night Victor would secretly steal the bodies from their resting
place and take them to his chamber. Victor would take the body part from
the deceased that he needed and would cut it off. He would then attach the
part to his creation, the monster. The description of the monster at its
moment of coming alive is hideous :
His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and
arteries beneath; his hair was of lustrous black and flowing, 
his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but those luxuriances only
formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes and 
straight black lips. 
The monster's yellow skin, watery eyes, and black lips help add terror to
the story and are examples of grotesque elements.
Another characteristic of the Gothic novel in Frankenstein is the
mystery. In the book Mary Shelly never tells the reader how Frankenstein is
really created. We know that Victor used the limbs of dead bodies to create
the body of the monster, but we never found out how the monster was
brought to life. It is also a mystery that the monster was able to follow
Victor everywhere he went. How did the monster know that Victor was
going back to his home in England, and how would the monster be able to
travel the great distance? These are elements of mystery that can't be
answered.
A characteristic that is in many Gothic novels is the desolate
environment. As you remember the story of Frankenstein begins and ends in
the arctic ice. In the beginning of the story, Walloon's ship is surrounded by
ice and can't move. The crew is trapped for many days. Victor is confined to
a desolate place when he is trying to carry out his experiment. Victor restricts
himself inside his laboratory that contains human body parts. At the end of
the story Victor dies in the freezing and depressing location of the arctic. The
monster also is part of a desolate environment. While the monster is learning
the ways of humans he is confined to the small enclosure of a cottage, and is
only able to leave the cottage at night.
The story of Frankenstein also makes use of fear. Once Victor put life
into the monster no one knows what's going to happen. Fear wasn't really an
element of the story though, until the monster murders William. If the monster
is brutal enough to murder a child then he is capable of doing anything. Fear
is an element all the way through the book after William's death. 
Mary Shelley is a great example of a writer who is the product of the
Romantic era. This movement began in Germany with writers such as
Goethe, who created the Romantic concept of Faust, yet the movement
dominated the Western literature for many years. Since Mary Shelley was so
familiar with the great writers of the Romantic era, it is easy to see that her
work would reflect the trend. 
The major characteristic of Romanticism that Mary Shelley uses is the
examination of senses and inner feelings. In the beginning of the story Victor
contemplates his experiment:
...soon my mind was filled with one thought, one 
conception, one purpose. So much has been done, 
exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein,- more, far more, will I
achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will
pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold
to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.
Throughout the book Victor examines his feelings about the monster he
created. The monster also examines his feelings and senses through the book.
The creature explains:
A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw,
smelt, heard, and felt at the same time; and it was indeed,
a long time before I learned to distinguish between the
operations of my various senses. 
At the time of the monster's creation it had only basic emotions and feelings.
He gradually learned senses, like temperature through playing with fire.
Through great effort the monster was able to learn intelligent matters, such as
reading and writing. Almost every scene in Frankenstein deals with some
aspect of emotion. The adoption of underprivileged children, the death of
William, and the devotion of Victor and Elizabeth are examples of scenes
dominated by emotions. 
Clearly you can see that Mary Shelley was successful in creating a
Gothic novel that includes elements of Romanticism.