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Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley
1797-1851

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        Mary Shelley seemed destined for literary greatness.  She was the daughter of the radical feminist, Mary Wollstonecraft, and the political philosopher, William Goodwin.  Unfortunately, Mary Wollstonecraft died only 10 days after giving birth to Mary, and William remarried to a woman who Marry never liked.  Her intensity of dislike toward her stepmother only intensified her idolization of her birth mother and father. 
        She started writing at a very early age.  She also grew up in a very literary world.  By the age of nine she had already heard Coleridge recite "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner," which he enjoyed doing, and she had heard Thomas De Quincy express his theories on the occult.  Not the average education for a nine year old girl. 
    While staying in Scotland with friends of the family, Mary met the poet Percy Shelley. Shelley was a disciple of Mary's father's ideas.  They originally met in 1812, and then they re-met in May of 1814.  During this time a relationship had developed between 17 year old Mary and the already married, father of two, Percy.  Never the less, in July Mary and Percy ran off together to the European continent.  They lived together for two years before getting officially married, which was made possible by Harriet's, Percy's wife, suicide.  In 1822, Percy Shelley drowned to death leaving Mary a widow at 24, who had already lost three of her four children. 
        Mary struggled to support herself and her child.  Besides Frankenstein, she wrote travel books and four other novels, biographical sketches, and notes on her husbands poems that scholars still appreciate today. 

How did Shelley come up with such a gruesome tale?

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        Shelley explains the circumstances behind her writing Frankenstein in the preface to the novel.  She and Percy were touring Switzerland with Lord Byron during the summer of 1816.  It was a remarkably rainy and wet summer, and the three were confined inside for days at a time.  To pass the time they often read German ghost stories to one another.  On one of these nights, Byron suggested a writing competition to see who could write the scariest story.  Mary was the only one to complete hers. 
        She says that several days had past and still she had no inspiration.  The story actually was inspired by a nightmare she had after discussing the experiments of Erasmus Darwin to animate lifeless matter.

Background Information on the Creation of Frankenstein

From: http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/shelleybio.html#_frankenstein

In the 1831 edition of Frankenstein Mary Shelley 's introduction explains how she, "then a young girl, came to think of and to dilate upon so very hideous an idea." On a rainy evening in June 1816, they all gathered at the fireside to read aloud Fantasmagoriana, ou Recueil d'histoires d'apparitions de spectres, revenants, fantômes, etc. (1812), a French translation of a German book of ghost stories. At Byron's suggestion, they each agreed to write a horror story. The next day Byron read the beginning of his tale, Shelley "commenced one founded on the experiences of his early life," and Polidori had "some terrible idea about a skull-headed lady who was so punished for peeping through a key-hole." Mary wanted to think of a story "which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awake thrilling horror--one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart." The others dropped their stories, but kept asking Mary: "Have you thought of a story?" to which she had to reply with "a mortifying negative." Finally, one night, after a discussion among Byron, Polidori, and Percy Shelley concerning galvanism and Erasmus Darwin's success in causing a piece of a vermicello to move voluntarily, she fell into a reverie of waking dream where she saw "the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together." She felt the terror for the artist who endeavored "to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world" by giving the "spark of life" to a "hideous corpse." Next morning, after the poets went off sailing, she started work on what was to become chapter 4 of Frankenstein, which begins, "It was on a dreary night of November...."

Encouraged by Percy, Mary developed the little ghost story into a novel, which she finished in May of 1817 at Marlow and published in March 1818. To those who have not read the book, the name Frankenstein is often associated with the monster rather than its creator. The mistake is perhaps not altogether erroneous, for as many critics point out the creature and his maker are doubles of one another, or doppelgängers. Their relationship is similar to that between the head and the heart, or the intellect and the emotion. The conception of the divided self--the idea that the civilized man or woman contains within a monstrous, destructive force--emerges as the creature echoes both Frankenstein's and narrator Robert Walton's loneliness: all three wish for a friend or companion. Frankenstein and his monster alternately pursue and flee from one another. Like fragments of a mind in conflict with itself, they represent polar opposites which are not reconciled, and which destroy each other at the end. For example, the creature enacts the repressed desires of its maker, alleviating Victor Frankenstein's fear of sexuality by murdering his bride, Elizabeth Lavenza, on their wedding night. Identities merge, as Frankenstein frequently takes responsibility for the creature's action: for instance, after the deaths of the children William and Justine, both of which were caused by the creature, Frankenstein admits they were "the first hapless victims to [his] unhallowed arts."

In a recent reading of Frankenstein , Mellor demonstrates a link between events, dates, and names in the novel and those in Mary Shelley 's life. Mellor argues that the novel is born out of a "doubled fear, the fear of a woman that she may not be able to bear a healthy normal child and the fear of a putative author that she may not be able to write.... the book is her created self as well as her child." Dated 11 December 17--to 12 September 17--, the letters that form the narration of the novel--from Walton to his sister Margaret Walton Saville (whose initials are those of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley )--are written during a period similar in duration to Mary Shelley 's third pregnancy, during which she wrote Frankenstein. Mellor discovered that the day and date on which Walton first sees the creature, Monday, 31 July, had coincided in 1797, the year in which Mary Shelley was born. This fact and other internal evidence led Mellor to conclude that the novel ends on 12 September 1797, two days after Mary Wollstonecraft's death: " Mary Shelley thus symbolically fused her book's beginning and ending with her own--Victor Frankenstein's death, the Monster's promised suicide, and her mother's death from puerperal fever can all be seen as the consequence of the same creation, the birth of Mary Godwin the author."

The theme of creation is highlighted by the many references to Paradise Lost (1667), John Milton's epic rendition of the biblical story of Genesis, which becomes an important intertext of the novel. "Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay / To mould me man? Did I solicit thee / From darkness to promote me?--," from book 10, is quoted as the epigraph, and Milton's poem is one of the books the creature reads. The monster is caught between the states of innocence and evil: like Adam he is "apparently united by no link to any other being in existence," but as an outcast and wretch he often considers "Satan as the fitter emblem" of his condition. Victor Frankenstein, too, is at once God, as he is the monster's creator, but also like Adam, an innocent child, and like Satan, the rebellious overreacher and vengeful fiend. Throughout the novel there is a strong sense of an Edenic world lost through Frankenstein's single-minded thirst for knowledge.

Frankenstein is also cast as a Promethean figure, striving against human limitations to bring light and benefit to mankind. While he advises Walton to "Seek happiness in tranquillity and avoid ambition," he nevertheless invites his listeners to share in the grandeur of his dreams, to glory in his ability to create a sublime facsimile of the human self. Frankenstein's fall, after all, results not from his creative enterprise, but from his failure and inability to give love to his creature. Indeed, another central concern of the novel is the conflict of individual desire against that of familial and social responsibility. George Levine writes: "Frankenstein spells out both the horror of going ahead and the emptiness of return. In particular, it spells out the price of heroism." Unlike her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, and unlike the Romantic poets generally, Shelley advocates self-denial and social harmony over self-assertion, confrontation, and the individualistic, imaginative act. In her novel she shows that Frankenstein's quest is an act of selfish obsession, one that destroys his domestic relationships. He is contrasted with the mariner Robert Walton, whose concern for others ultimately wins over his ambition to reach the "region of beauty and light."

Finally, the use of the nightmarish murders, the demonlike monster, the terror of the unknown, and the destruction of the idyllic life in nature by a dark, ambiguous force places Frankenstein in the tradition of the Gothic novel. Like other Gothic authors, Shelley situates good and evil as a psychological battle within human nature. Both Frankenstein and the creature initially have "benevolent" feelings and intentions, but eventually both become obsessed with ideas of destruction and revenge. Shelley's novel successfully manipulates the conventions of the genre, replacing the stock Gothic villain with morally ambiguous characters who reflect the depth and complexities of the human psyche.

 

Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus?

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Myth of Prometheus

Prometheus was a Titan from Greek myth, born from the union of the Titan Iapetus and the Nymph Asia.  He was one of four children born to the pair. The siblings of Prometheus included  his twin brother Epimetheus , Menoetius,  and Atlas, all of them Titans. The name Prometheus means “foresight,” and his  twin brother's name Epimetheus means “hindsight.”

Their father, Iapetus led the revolt against the Gods.  His children Menoetius and Atlas joined with him, while his other two sons, Prometheus and Epimetheus sided with the Gods. Menoetius was killed during the revolt and Atlas was given the weight of the world to bear for his actions during the revolt.

Prometheus and Epimetheus journeyed from Mt. Olympus to Earth and visited the Greek province of Boitia   where they made clay figures. Athena took the figures and breathed life into them.  The clay figures that Prometheus had created became Man and honored him. The figures that his brother Epimetheus created became the beasts, which turned and attacked him.

Zeus was angered by the brothers’ actions of creating people and animals, and  he forbade the pair from teaching Man the ways of civilization, Athena chose to cross  her father Zeus and taught Prometheus so that he might teach Man.

Zeus was angered by the actions of Man and Prometheus.  He forbade the Gods to give fire to Man. Prometheus was upset with Zeus' proclamation and was determined to bring fire to Man, but Zeus had guarded the entrance to Olympus. Athena told Prometheus about an unguarded back entrance to Olympus where he would be able to enter with ease.  Prometheus wanted Man to have all the benefits and progress that fire would bring.

Prometheus covertly entered Olympus at night through the back entrance that Athena had told him about. He made his way to the Chariot of the Sun and lit a torch from the fires that burned there.   He  touched the torch to coal, then extinguished the torch.  Prometheus then carried the still hot coals down the mountain in a pithy fennel stalk to prevent anyone from discovering the fiery coals. Upon reaching the lands of Men, Prometheus gave  them the coals, breaking Zeus' order by giving fire to Man.  In some versions of this myth, Athena did not breathe life into Prometheus’ clay figures to make the people.  Instead, the myth explains that Prometheus needed the energy of the fire to give the clay figures the “spark of life.”

Zeus was extremely angered by Prometheus' actions since he had not wanted fire to be given to Man. Zeus set out to make a trap for Prometheus. Zeus gathered the gifts of the Gods and created Pandora and her box.  Into the box he placed all the horrors of the world. Pandora was sent to Prometheus as a gift from Zeus himself.
Prometheus (with his foresight) saw the curse that Pandora and her box carried. He refused the gift, giving it instead to his brother Epimetheus who opened the box and released the chained horrors upon the world.

Zeus was upset at having his plan thwarted.  Prometheus had refused a direct “gift” from the chief God, after all.  At Zeus order Prometheus was chained to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains where his torture was to be carried out. Every day a great Eagle would come to Prometheus and eat his liver, leaving only at nightfall when the liver would begin to grow back once more.  At daybreak, the eagle would return to the chained Prometheus and again attack his body, eating his liver.  The daily ritual would repeat itself into eternity…or so it seemed.  

Zeus offered to free Prometheus -(who still had the gift of foresight) if he would tell the secret of the prophecy that told of the dethroning of Zeus one day.  Prometheus refused. The mother of Prometheus, the Nymph Asia, also had the gift of foresight.  Her son’s continuing torture plagued her, so she finally went to Zeus and told him the secret of the prophecy. The prophecy explained that the offspring of Zeus and the Nymph Clymene would one day rise up and destroy Zeus and Gods.

Zeus sent Heracles to free Prometheus from the rock once he learned the revelation of the prophecy.  He still required that Prometheus be bound to a rock for the rest of eternity. A link of the chain he had been bound with was set with a chip of the rock.  Prometheus was required to carry it with him always. Men on Earth also created rings with stones and gems set into them to commiserate with him and to honor Prometheus for the actions he had taken on their behalf.




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"Elements of the Gothic Novel," by Robert Harris

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Elements of the Gothic Novel Robert Harris
Version Date: October 13, 2010
The Gothic novel was invented almost single-highhandedly by Horace Walpole, whose The Castle of Otranto (1764) contains essentially all the elements that constitute the genre. Walpole's novel was imitated not only in the eighteenth century and not only in the novel form, but it has influenced the novel, the short story, poetry, and even film making up to the present day.

Gothic elements include the following:
1. Setting in a castle. The action takes place in and around an old castle, sometimes seemingly abandoned, sometimes occupied. The castle often contains secret passages, trap doors, secret rooms, dark or hidden staircases, and possibly ruined sections. The castle may be near or connected to caves, which lend their own haunting flavor with their branching, claustrophobia, and mystery. (Translated into modern film making, the setting might be in an old house or mansion--or even a new house--where unusual camera angles, sustained close ups during movement, and darkness or shadows create the same sense of claustrophobia and entrapment.)

2. An atmosphere of mystery and suspense. The work is pervaded by a threatening feeling, a fear enhanced by the unknown. Often the plot itself is built around a mystery, such as unknown parentage, a disappearance, or some other inexplicable event. Elements 3, 4, and 5 below contribute to this atmosphere. (Again, in modern film making, the inexplicable events are often murders.)

3. An ancient prophecy is connected with the castle or its inhabitants (either former or present). The prophecy is usually obscure, partial, or confusing. "What could it mean?" In more watered down modern examples, this may amount to merely a legend: "It's said that the ghost of old man Krebs still wanders these halls."

4. Omens, portents, visions. A character may have a disturbing dream vision, or some phenomenon may be seen as a portent of coming events. For example, if the statue of the lord of the manor falls over, it may portend his death. In modern fiction, a character might see something (a shadowy figure stabbing another shadowy figure) and think that it was a dream. This might be thought of as an "imitation vision."

5. Supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events. Dramatic, amazing events occur, such as ghosts or giants walking, or inanimate objects (such as a suit of armor or painting) coming to life. In some works, the events are ultimately given a natural explanation, while in others the events are truly supernatural.

6. High, even overwrought emotion. The narration may be highly sentimental, and the characters are often overcome by anger, sorrow, surprise, and especially, terror. Characters suffer from raw nerves and a feeling of impending doom. Crying and emotional speeches are frequent. Breathlessness and panic are common. In the filmed Gothic, screaming is common.

7. Women in distress. As an appeal to the pathos and sympathy of the reader, the female characters often face events that leave them fainting, terrified, screaming, and/or sobbing. A lonely, pensive, and oppressed heroine is often the central figure of the novel, so her sufferings are even more pronounced and the focus of attention. The women suffer all the more because they are often abandoned, left alone (either on purpose or by accident), and have no protector at times.

8. Women threatened by a powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male. One or more male characters has the power, as king, lord of the manor, father, or guardian, to demand that one or more of the female characters do something intolerable. The woman may be commanded to marry someone she does not love (it may even be the powerful male himself), or commit a crime.
9. The metonymy of gloom and horror. Metonymy is a subtype of metaphor, in which something (like rain) is used to stand for something else (like sorrow). For example, the film industry likes to use metonymy as a quick shorthand, so we often notice that it is raining in funeral scenes. Note that the following metonymies for "doom and gloom" all suggest some element of mystery, danger, or the supernatural (wind, especially howling rain, especially blowing

doors grating on rusty hinges

sighs, moans, howls, eerie sounds

footsteps approaching

clanking chains

lights in abandoned rooms

gusts of wind blowing out lights

characters trapped in a room

doors suddenly slamming shut

ruins of buildings

baying of distant dogs (or wolves?)

thunder and lightning

crazed laughter



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