Biography of Mary Shelley # 1797 - 1851 Mary Godwin was born on August 30, 1797 in London to Mary Wollstonecraft (an early feminist writer) and William Godwin (also a writer on social and political issues). Mary’s mother died 11 days after giving birth to her, one of the many deaths that were to affect her life. Her father’s devastation at the death of his wife may have influenced the many deaths related in Frankenstein.

Frankenstein Mary Shelley # We must remember that character creation is a construct; an artefact and central ones do not necessarily represent the author. Characters are either portrayed sympathetically or unsympathetically. The former are called protagonists, heroes or good guys while the latter are antagonists, villains or bad guys. Sometimes main characters are picaresque – likeable but harmless rogues, larrikins or scoundrels –“loveable rogues”. Martin Amis points out that over two millennia humans first told stories of Gods, then Kings, then Epic Heroes, then ordinary people , then anti-heroes, then villains, then demons and finally themselves.

Context and Background # Mary Shelley is writing during the time when the Romantic movement was in full swing. Romanticism rejected the callous rationalism of the AGE OF REASON, just as this group had reacted against the tyranny of Superstition during the AGE OF BELIEF. The swing towards a more humanistic attitude towards fellow mankind and the reverence for the natural over the man made is clearly depicted in Frankenstein.

Evaluations: # Northrope Frye: “a precursor of the existential thriller” **Quarterly Review: Frankenstein **“inculcates no lesson of conduct, manners or morality….it fatigues the feelings without interesting the understanding; it gratuitously harasses the heart and only adds to the store, already too great, of painful sensation…. The reader is left after a struggle between laughter and loathing, in doubt whether the head or the heart of the author is the most diseased”.

Introduction to Frankenstein # Mary Shelley and Percy Shelly were married in 1813, and three years later while living in Geneva with Lord Byron who one night issued a challenge for each of them writing a gothic (ghost) story. Mary claims the inspiration for her story came from a vision she had during a dream. Her story was the only one completed and has become one of the most famous Gothic novels of all time.

Linguistic Techniques # Mary Shelley uses the narrative device of a Ship’s Captain retelling a tale through epistemology (letters to his sister) he has heard from an obsessed distraught Scientist he has rescued from an ice floe in the remote Arctic Ocean. Both men have challenged the frontiers of human knowledge and have suffered for it. Shelley draws a parallel between Walton’s spatial explorations and Frankenstein’s forays into unknown knowledge, as both men seek to “pioneer a new way,” to make progress beyond established limits.

Motifs in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein # What it means to be human. Frankenstein is a gothic horror novel that explores what makes us human. What are the attributes of a human being and how do we become integrated into society. Are we born with human nature or are we conditioned and constructed to value each other. The old nature/nurture argument. When his creation turns against him, who is at fault; the creature or the society that rejects him?

Comparison Frankestein Blade Runner # date: 2021-02-10T22:36:25+11:00 title: “Compariosn Frankenstein & Blade Runner” weight: 15 tags: [] toc: true author: “Charles Klassen” # Frankenstein Mary Shelley - Ridley Scott - Blade Runner Comparative Literature When looking at two or more forms of narratives we need to establish the similarities and differences in a number of areas. All literature has much in common, yet it may differ in outward forms depending on when it was written and the text type or genre used to create meaning.