Paralleling mythology

Romanticism often uses mythological references, using figures directly and inventing new ones to appear in the traditional stories. Parallels to both the Christian and Greek mythological stories of creation place it alongside revisionist Romantic fiction. This is to show alternative sequences of events and new potentials, that opposing the traditional ideology of 'destiny', fate can be altered. In consequence, Frankenstein's emotive statement that 'nothing can alter my destiny' is questioned.

'Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction'(P.43)

In mythology, Prometheus, the intelligent supporter of mankind, has fire taken from Earth as a punishment for being cheeky to Jupiter. He then outwits Jupiter again by stealing it back. As a second punishment Jupiter makes a clay woman, Pandora, with a box of catastrophe to marry Prometheus, but does not succeed as Prometheus' brother marries her and unleashes catastrophe. Prometheus' final punishmemt is being tied to a mountaintop for eternity and having his liver pecked out by vultures.

Frankenstein, subtitled 'The Modern Prometheus', illustrates a huge feeling of necessity to use his intelligence to aid humanity. The first irritation to nature, connoting Jupiter, could be his continuous probing into science and the second, the attempt to steal the vital fire of life. The punishment for Dr. Frankenstein could be Elizabeth, whose catastrophe was causing his mother's death by passing her illness, which spurred on the nightmare about Elizabeth turning into his dead mother. Alternatively, the monster could be the catastrophe because he was the direct consequence of creating artificial life.

The final punishment is, connoting the mountaintop, a life of isolation ending finally at the remote North Pole. The monster burns himself there, which relates to the stolen fire. Frankenstein lives as a solitary being weighed down by the guilt of his actions, which relates to the albatross in Coleridge's 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner', to which there are many explicit references.

adjectives used in setting

At Lausanne, Victor 'contemplated the lake: the waters were palcid: all around was calm; and snowy mountains, 'the palaces of nature', were not changed'. firstly Victor does not appear to be truly comfortable as he considers his surroundings, we know that he fears the monster is close yet when he carries on contemplating the surroundings he becomes relaxed seeing it as a more 'heavenly scene', 'the palaces of nature'. in true gothic style darkness came with night and Victor falls back into his state of fear 'the picture appeared a vast and dim scene of evil'.
The effects on Victors mind are triggered by light and dark in this scene reflecting back to Bookbird's insight into dualism. like our past experience in To the Ligthhouse teh light-dark atmosphere across the sea and the families life. Victors inability to see the calmness of the mountains makes him feel the 'impenetrable darkness'.
Shelly relies on the stereotypical view that dark is evil - hell and light is good - heaven, this stereotypical view is what gothic literature relies on.

Apart vs together

"The boo from which Felix instructed Safie was Volney's Ruins of Empires."
In 1791 Volney wrote Les Ruines, ou méditations sur les révolutions des empires, an essay on history and philosophy, containing a vision which predicts the final union of all religions by the recognition of the common truth underlying them all.

By contrast, in Paradise Lost, the other instruction on religious philosophy for Frankenstein, not even two elements of the same religion are able to coexist.

Parallels between Frank and his monster

As well as foreshadowing the reactions to the monster, this observation of Walton's also establishes the first of many parallels between Frankenstein and the monster. The two are inextricably linked as creator and creation and, despite their subsequent relationship as 'enemies', their similarities are clearly identifiable (as set up in this passage).

Evidently, they share a loneliness that seems inescapable - Frankenstein struggles to make friends, having long been absorbed in and obsessed by his work, and the monster (obviously) is universally rejected and outcasted. It is interesting that the two exacerbate one other's feelings of isolation. Frankenstein is the first person to reject the monster, thus building the foundations for his future as a complete outsider, and the monster gradually eradicates the few companions Frankenstein has in the world, killing his dearest family and friends.

They are both culpable for their loneliness and their enemity is caused by their blame of one other for their misfortunes. For this reason, the parallels drawn between them, even at this early stage before we've met the monster, highlight the dualistic nature of their relationship - they are bound together inextricably but they strive to destroy one other.

Dualism and Conflict - Conflict between classicism and romanticism

It seems that all major movements in literature are rejections of what came before and Romanticism is no different. Romanticism is a rejection of "classical values" and Frankenstein shows the conflict between the two.

Classicism came out of the "Enlightenment period" which valued "reason" as the primary basis of authority. The reason it's called "classical" is that the writers tended to emulate the rational philosophers of Ancient Greece.

Romantic elements:
Nature, Wilderness

Classical elements:
Cities, particularly academic ones
(Oxford, London, Ingolstad)
Science

There exists, in Frankenstein, a dualism between science and nature which can be seen as an example of the conflict between rationalism and romanticism in the artistic world at this time. In every circumstance, however, nature wins -

Frankenstein does not manage to defy death - his creation overpowers him, both creator and created end up dead and Walton sees Frankenstein as a sum of body parts which parallels what has come before.

Walton does not manage to overcome the Pole

Even the monster, who is male counterpart to the overwhelmingingly female representation of Nature, has his own little battle versus nature. Logically, he should fit in fine with the De Lacey family, but his appearance outweighs his mind in how the De Laceys see him.

If you want a Wuthering Heights link, Lockwood is "rational" and Heathcliff is "romantic"

Gender Roles in Frankenstein.

Look first at the male roles in the novel. The protagonist and the antagonist (Frankenstein and his monster) are both male. The influence of two male professors and his father, shape Frankenstein's early academic life and the role of Henry Clerval is a dominant one. In every layer there is a dominant male character. The novel begins with Robert Walton's journey, his expedition to the North Pole, (which in itself is a very masculine trait, the idea of conquering unknown lands). This is interesting, as although Mary Shelley is a female author, her life was indeed dominated by male roles. Her successful father and husband, clearly affected her early and later life. She dedicated this novel to William Godwin, her father. Shelley also lost her mother, only 10 days after her birth and so the lack of a maternal figure in her life could be responsible for her focus on masculinity in her novel.

Women in 'Frankenstein' take the subservient, supportive role. Walton's sister Margaret who is established through epistolary communication, serves only to encourage, advise and worry about her adventurous brother. The reader is given no insight in Margaret's own life. Elizabeth is another example of how femininity is portrayed in this novel. She is in my eyes a very feeble character, and has little influence over her brother/fiancee's actions. Even the monster's threat on Victor's wedding night cannot stop him from creating a female equal for the monster. And he destroys his second creation, despite knowing the danger he has put Elizabeth in.

The creation of a female 'monster' is in itself, perhaps a metaphor for Mary Shelley's view on the role of women. I think despite the subservient women in the novel, there is an underlying theme that men, need women to spur them on, to love and care for them. The lonely void in the monster's life can, he feels, be filled by a female companion.

animal points

the monster is described by Frankentein as:

• more hideous than belongs to humanity
• the wretch
• the filthy daemon
• the devil
• the animal
• a creature
• the monster
• the fiend

yet Justine sees herself with similar images

• 'i almost began to think that i was the monster that he said i was'
• a creature capable of a crime which none but the devil himself could have perpetrated

Frankentein also sees himself reanacting animalistic actions

• i gnashed my teeth and ground them together, uttering a groan

the monster sees himself with such aspects aswell

• thy creature (adressing Frankentein)
• my wretchedness
• deliver them from an evil (he sees himself as an evil)
• i am rather the fallen angel
• i crept from my kennel
• my nocturnal rambles

all these characters see others with animalistic aspects.

the monster sees Agatha as a 'fair creature', 'young creature'

he sees both Agatha and Felix as 'two excellent creatures', 'lovely creatures'

The significance of desolate landscapes

Shelley's use of barren landscapes such as the Swiss mountains, the Orkney Isles, the open sea and the icy desert of the North Pole could represent nature's rejection of Frankenstein for cruelly violating the miracle of creation.

Early in the novel, Frankenstein often appreciates the beauty of nature, as according to Walton 'no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature'(p.30), implying that taking this beauty from him was a punishment. Shelley's preoccupation with wastelands pre-empts the imagery used in the Modernist movement to symbolise man's destruction of nature by writers such as TS Eliot and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Linking to Flodge's blog, Frankenstein is rejected by the 'feminine' mother nature and refuses to create a female companion for the monster in fear that they would reproduce a race that hated him. His lack of typically female characteristics such as care, empathy and foresight prevent him from nurturing a happy being and therefore cause the destruction of his monster, his family and ultimately himself. Through this, Shelley questions the idealism of men's supposedly 'divine' creative powers such as the ideals of the Romantic movement to 'reform the world'(introduction xxiv).

At the beginning of his life, the monster finds himself in an Eden-like garden. However, he is then banished for entering the De Lacey household which is referred to as a 'Pandaemonium'(p.108) with connotations of Pandora's box and the forbidden apple. Like Frankenstein, the monster's obsession with the family became unhealthy and resulted in a murder. To end another person's life prematurely is meddling with mortality in a way as corrupt as Frankenstein's will to unaturally create life. In consequence the monster is banished from the lush, fertile forest to the bare mountains to live a harsh and isolated existence in a place void of life.

contrasts between nurture and isolation

I also think Mary Shelley wished to emphasise on the contrast between the nurture and comfort of the home and the isolation and in fact discomfort of the 'unknown'. Frankenstein spends time talking about the happiness of his childhood- his loving mother and the beauty of Elizabeth: 'no human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself'. (p39) Even Walton, despite being on an unknown journey of discovery, still has a sense of belonging to someone by writing to his sister in his letters anc requesting to be remembered to his 'English friends'. By comparing the loving surroundings Frankenstein finds himself in when he returns home to his father and Elizabeth, to the isolation and emptiness during his making of the monster, Shelley emphasises to the reader the horrific consequences and effects of isolation. This point is given further importance as Walton, in his letters very early on in the novel, emphasises on his own lonliness and need of companionship. Already the reader is aware the the impact of isolation from nuture and love, for any being regardless of age or appearence, will be catastrophic and negative.

I also thought it was interesting how Frankenstein seems to stress the point that his interest in making the monster may have been ultimately his father's fault. When Frankenstein communicates his interest in Cornelius Agrippa (p40) to his father, his father replies: 'my dear Victor, do not waste your time upon this; it is sad trash'. Frankenstein then goes on to say:'if, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded.......I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside and have contented my imagination.' He states(p41) 'It is even possible that the train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led to my ruin.' By illustrating this point to the readers, Shelley is making a number of important statements. Firstly she is beginning the pattern of Frankenstein never actually taking full responsibility for his actions. Secondly she is emphasising the idea that it is the smallest of actions, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, that can change your life or those around you forever. At the beginning of the novel, Frankenstein states: 'nothing can alter my destiny'(p31), yet throughout the novel we see the many choices available to him that may have altered his eventual course. In addition to this, the idea of early experience, actions of parents and responsibility of those who have people to take care of is also given attention. If what Frankenstein is saying is true, that his father has partake in his creation of the monster, then Shelley could be suggesting the impact of childhood on a being. (I seem to have gone off the point of travel and location) However I do think the fact that Shelley parallells the idea of home and domesticity of Frankenstein's own childhood with that of the De Lacy family, just as she reflects Walton's misery in having no companion: 'I bitterly feel the want of a friend' (p19) with the monster's isolation and desire for female companionship: 'we shall be monsters......but on that account we shall be more attached to one another'. With these parallels, Shelley is implying that isolation is a universal, as well as being a fundamental, concept.

In addition, the fact that the monster does not mind being 'cut off from all the world' just so long as he has an 'attached' companian suggests that human beings are almost more important than location and nature. The monster is happy to go to the 'vast wilds of south America' as long as he is accompanied by a similar monster. Even the De Lacy family, when they have to leave their home, are still content as they have love and each other.

Each of the locations clearly represent something different to Frankenstein. His home is full of sentimentality and safety. Whereas Ireland, represents the consequences of being an outsider. The less familiar the territory. The role of Boo Radley in Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is an example of the treatment that an 'outsider' can be expected to recieve. This is a theme that arises in The Rover by Aphra Behn (as we have found out girlies). We discover in Frankenstein that a foreigner is often regarded with suspicion and as Victor finds out can become the victim of uncalled for blame. The reader discovers that there truly is 'no place like home'.

Parallels and doubles in Frankenstein

Shelley's use of the motif of the double is a classic feature of Gothic texts. The idea of dualism is a recurrent theme in literature, echoing the perceived division between good and evil. In Judeo-Christian religion, Satan was the fallen angel; once at God's right hand, he was expelled from the kingdom of heaven. Appearance and reality; good and evil; life and death; male and female ... these are some of the dualisms that mark the Gothic text, and Shelley's Frankenstein, in particular.

Walton, like Frankenstein, is ambitious for glory; he embarks on a journey of scientific discovery, and in the process he puts others at risk for the sake of his work; he is isolated from the rest of mankind by his ambition, and he is desperately lonely. The use of Walton's letters as an epistolary outer frame to the embedded narratives of firstly, Frankenstein and then of the monster, enables Walton to observe and reflect on the nature of his guest, and in doing so, he foreshadows the reader's response to the monster later in the novel:

'How can I see so noble a creature destroyed by misery without feeling the most poignant grief? He is so gentle, yet so wise, his mind is so cultivated; and when he speaks, although his words are culled with the choicest art, yet they flow with rapidity and unparalleled eloquence.' (p28-9)

• Explore these ideas in more detail.
• Identify extracts that illustrate the points you make about Shelley's use of parallels, doubles and dualism in the novel.
• Consider the ways in which Shelley draws on myths and other literary texts in her use of these features.

Uncomfortable reading

On the subject of "Unknown" and the fear often associated with it, I think the constant changes in location unsettle the reader in a way that enhances the darkness of the novel in general. Gothic literature is characteristically eerie and often quite scary and the lack of a firm foundation for any of the characters ensures that the reader doesn't become too comfortable.

Furthermore, this absence of "home" for the characters mirrors the central issue of loneliness that unites them despite their clear differences and conflicts. While the monster most explicitly experiences the pain of not belonging, the ever-changing setting implies that, in fact, none of the characters have a secure place of sanctuary - Frankenstein and Walton are essentially 'homeless' too.

Obviously, the nature of the different settings help this too. The North Pole, the mountains etc. are hardly the most hospitable of environments! The novel never instils the reader with feelings of cosiness, comfort and peace, which I think is important because not only does it generally enhance the Gothic atmosphere of the story, it also helps us to empathise with the characters.

The Unknown...a slightly psychoanalytical idea about location?

Just a short blog to explain an idea I had...

Maybe a reason why so many Gothic texts use far away places is that they are exploiting the unknown.

"Fear of the unknown" is a often cited cause of most otherwise irrational phobias.

Mass travel was not around in the time of Shelley. Therefore, even Switzerland may have seen exotic to the average reader.

Walton and Frankenstein are pioneers of the unknown - as Ms Hennessy said, they live up to the creed of star trek to "go where no other has gone before". The reader, too, is on new territory. Hence the amount of description in the book. Maybe we found the obsession with mountains funny because we know full well what mountains look like. But Shelley was writing this book in a different land, knowing full well that many of her readers would not. The reader is exploring a new worlds.

The intention could be that the reader is as gripped by the exploration in Frankenstein as Walton and Frankenstein are gripped by their own quests.