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* Quotes
* Literary Devices - how do these add meaning to the idea that you're developing
* Authorial purpose/intent
* Embedded values - connection to context
* Multiple examples - show breadth across the text and reference evolution of the idea                          (NO IDEA IS STATIC!)
* Consistent thread to the topic
* Broader thematic links
* 1% - think out of the box
* Adjectives before character references

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Walton is gay

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Frankenstein Part 3: Enlightenment Vs. Romanticism

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Justine means  just, righteous, and in terms of society in the 1800's it an be said that she acts accordingly however she doesn't receive justice  

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Justine means  just, righteous, and in terms of society in the 1800's it an be said that she acts accordingly however she doesn't receive justice  

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magaret means pearl or cluster of blossoms. 

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magaret means pearl or cluster of blossoms. 

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Henry means hero, but is not like this in the story. 

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Henry means hero, but is not like this in the story. 

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Elizabeth means oath of God. She is described as a "celestial" figure in the book. This is a good link.

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Victor could be linked Victory, as  Victor's hubris, is his downfall.
- Additionally, hubris has been linked to the defiance of God, in reference to Greek God's. This is a parallel to Victor's rejection of the natural creation of life.

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Safie, could be a reference to 'safety', as Safie is ensured safety, love, and acceptance from the DeLacey family, whereas the Creature is forced to observe from a distance and then rejected.

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The name 'Justine' has been noted as alluding to the idea of Justice. What other possible examples of nomenclature referencing characteristics can you think of?

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Frankenstein's abandonment, turned the once 'benevolent' creature, into a 'fiend'. 

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Everyone's got a friend like this...

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Paradise Lost is a retelling of the biblical story of genesis, featuring the casting out of satan from heaven and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden.

The epigraph “Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay. To mould me Man, did I solicit thee. From darkness to promote me?” Directly references Paradise Lost, immediately comparing the Creature’s creation to that of Adam’s, and Victor, his creator, to God. When he is created, the creature is naive to his apparent monstrosity, mirroring Adam’s innocence at his creation. However, the care and nurturing that Adam receives from his creator juxtaposes the creature being instantly neglected and abhorred by Frankenstein. Moreover the passage alludes to the Creature’s neglect from his creator and his dissatisfaction.

Paradise Lost is referenced again in the novel when read by creature to acquire language (P.132). The Creature thinks of himself as similar to Adam; he is the first of a new species and longs for acceptance from his creator. Adam’s banishment from the garden of eden can also be seen as synonymous to Victor’s neglect and abandonment of the Creature. The Creature also sees himself as similar to Satan, as he  was neglected by his creator and percieved as evil by all based on his appearance. Furthermore, the Creature rebels against Victor and goes on a spree, murdering Victor's loved ones. However, the Creature’s violent behaviour is inspired by isolation and neglect he has endured from from Victor and other humans. Similarly, Satan rebells as an angle in heaven, and inspires feelings of pity in Paradise Lost.

The Creature words when confronting Victor “I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed” Once again alludes to the comparisons between the Creature to both Adam and the 'Fallen angel' Satan. The Creature thinks of himself as Adam, innocent and wronged, Victor thinks of him as satan, pure evil. However, in Paradise Lost, Satan isn’t embodiment of evil but rather a victim of the tyrannical power of establishment.

Victor’s refusal to make a female creature is parallel to book 10 of Paradise Lost, where Adam indulges in a misogynistic fantasy of a world unpopulated by a second sex.

(You're welcome)

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Context
As Safie learns language of cottage, so does the minster. He learns to read, and since Felix uses 'Ruin son Empires to instruct Safie, he learns a bit of world history in the process. The book offers a bias and cynical view of the worlds people and cultures.
Significance
"Was man indeed at once so powerful, so virtuous, yet so vicious and base. He appeared at one time a mere scion of the evil principle, and at another as all that can be conceived as noble and godlike". The creature's tale follows a basic outline of Volner's original man, he was created, abandoned his creator, brought up alone in a savage and hostile world, arguing knowledge at first from his surroundings.The creature begins to ponder about the nature of his existence and therefore begins to form a self identity. He is also capable of making choices of what he wants.  :)

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Plutarch’s Lives

Context:

Plutarch's lives also known as parallel lives is a series of biographies written by the Ancient Greek poet Plutarch. In contains 23 pairs of biographies, one Roman and one Greek. Plutarch contrasted the lives of a Roman and a Greek statesman. From Plutarch's lives, the creature derived a “high thought” on the human society. The creature was able to understand human nature and the structure of civilisation between individuals.

Reference: Chapter 15, P131-132

Significance in Frankenstein:

Plutarch's 'Lives' is one of the three books the monster picks up in the forest that 🤬 the beginning of his education and acquirement of knowledge.

Plutarch's 'Lives' was a series of biographies of famous men arranged according to their moral virtues to their failings. From this book, the Creature learns about the values that makes a man significant and the honourable qualities that are appreciated and respected by society.

"Plutarch taught me high thoughts; elevated me above the wretched sphere of my own reflections, to admire and love the heroes of past ages.

-The Creature learns about the behaviours of men concerned in "public affairs " and "felt the greatest ardour for virtue rise within me and abhorrence for vice"  - the monster understands about these virtues and of humanity and this is reflected in the later chapters when the Creature tries to uphold these values.

The men mentioned in the book; Numa, Solon, Lycurgus were lawgivers of Sparta and Athens and "peaceable lawgivers"-inspires the Creature to approach the Delacey family to gain acceptance

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“When I run over the frightful catalogue of my sins, I cannot believe that I am the same creature whose thoughts were once filled with sublime and transcendent visions of the beauty and majesty of goodness.”

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This image depicts the burning of beautiful red rose.
- Fire as recurring motif in death scene
- Rose represents beauty
- Fire = destruction
- Rose is element of nature, one that nurtures the creature whilst simultaneously destroying Victor
- Thorns represent Victor's vices

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In this image, we see a single duck sitting on a lone ledge in the pouring rain.  The duck's loneliness reflects the Creature's own isolated state. Beauty is seen through the smooth body of the duck, the body of the duck hunched in an almost 'half heart' body shape portraying the need to be completed by a companion. The hunched over head in the rain also represents sadness, despair and gloom, as is seen in the 'wretch' that is the Creature.  Truth is seen in the rawness, and open emotion of this poor, helpless creature.

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The Conversation: Two centuries on, Frankenstein is the perfect metaphor for the Anthropocene 

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The Conversation: Two centuries on, Frankenstein is the perfect metaphor for the Anthropocene 

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According to popular understanding, New Year's Day 2018 belongs to the 68 years since the dawn of the Anthropocene Epoch - where human activity has so dramatically altered the Earth that natural phenomenon is now human phenomenon. Science fiction and fact, indeed all fiction and fact, are persistently mediated by humans. The effects of this blurring show that the role of fictional art (art that is fantasy) is as impactful as ever - perhaps more so, due to its ability to remind us that humans are capable of so much, but are less attentive to our culpability.

Humans now set the trajectory for the current epoch, yet we have little idea how that trajectory will look. We are active, able, creative agents in the world - the makers of the world. And we remain absolutely without a clue as to why we are, or what we are. Whether religious, secular or ecologically concerned, we are still chaotic accidents of organisms who ask the same questions as in other epochs and are responded to with the same resounding silence: why are we here? What are we? What is our purpose?

Increasingly, the value of humans is being questioned in the Anthropocene Epoch - an era which seems to threaten disaster as much it promises longer and better life. Two centuries ago one of the earliest examples of science fiction appeared on New Year's Day that also asked these questions. Mary Shelley - a political radical, the daughter of the world's most famous feminist and the wife of an infamous atheist - published Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus.

Even in the title we see that Shelley understood the persistence of the above questions that each age jealously feels belongs only to their particular existential crisis.

In Shelley's frontpiece quote from Milton's Paradise Lost, where Adam laments being created, Shelley immediately reminds us that there is a persistent tension in all tales of human existence between a creator who has the ability, but perhaps not the wisdom, to be accountable and responsible for their acts of creation - and a subject who knows not what to do with the life and knowledge they have been given without their consent or request.

Shelley invoked a monster filled with pathos, humble curiosity and ultimately despair - and a creator whose hubris elucidated him as lacking in empathy, megalomaniacal and whose pride was more important than its effect on other living beings.

While one could say the same of every age, the Anthropocene Epoch seems to be performing Shelley's tale on a global scale - where a single monster is now many species of non-human, or minorities and oppressed humans. The creator, meanwhile, is governments, nation-driven patriots and multinational companies, much like Shelley's overweening creator, Dr Frankenstein.

Horror made flesh

Shelley's Frankenstein legacy has a surprisingly unique offshoot. It spawned, due to the creative genius of the famed make-up artist Jack Pierce, a reimagining of a literary character so different from the original that it has entirely replaced it to become a concrete icon of horror - the monster as incarnated by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein (1931) and the more faithful (to the book at least) adaptation, The Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

By not known - Image source: http://www.lagorgona.es

While the book had already inspired one of the earliest horror cinema adaptations (the 1910 Charles Ogle film), James Whale's 1931 film for Universal Pictures was the point which reversed the monster with the creator as the most important locus of the story, so turning it from tale to myth. The shift from focus on the God complex of Frankenstein to the wretched existence of the unloved monster marks a moment of humble self-reflection for audiences who identify more with a pieced together, almost mute, bumbling mass of flesh who simply seeks a "friend", than with the irresponsibly power-mad scientist.

Perhaps reflecting humans' focus from their maker (whatever that may be) to themselves, the spectacle of Karloff - placed gnarled, deformed and doubtful of the relevance of his existence after the first world war and heralding the imminent concerns of Sartre's existentialism - is life meaningful? Are we hear for a reason? Do these questions matter? - evoked the dread and ugliness of a meaningless existence at the intersection of biology and technology made flesh.

Cinematically we have not seen a return to the Gothic Shelley adaptation. Recent versions seem twee compared to Hammer's 1950-70s viscerality - and the sci-fi robot or genetic creation has overtaken Victorian aesthetics. Sleeker, stronger creations of more metal and less flesh allay our horror at simply being a cluster of mortal cells.

While vampires, werewolves and even zombies are sparkly, sexy and utterly hygienic, it has been a while since we have had a truly corporeally flawed yet articulate monster whose body as a patchwork reminds us of the patchwork of identities and ideologies we are.

Empathy with the monster may be an ideal means of navigating this age. We must embrace difference and vulnerability and reflect on the Frankensteinian powers we exert at the expense of others. We should focus not on why we are here, but how we can be here more creatively, more accountably - as part of a world which, in a way, is its own kind of sewn-together organism of multiple different parts without reason or meaning.

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Two centuries on, Frankenstein is the perfect metaphor for the Anthropocene era

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According to popular understanding, New Year's Day 2018 belongs to the 68 years since the dawn of the Anthropocene Epoch - where human activity has so dramatically altered the Earth that natural phenomenon is now human phenomenon. Science fiction and fact, indeed all fiction and fact, are persistently mediated by humans.

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17 vintage and modern Frankenstein covers

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17 vintage and modern Frankenstein covers

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Call for entries: HOW Logo Design Awards
The last Friday in October is known to some as Frankenstein Friday-a chance to celebrate Mary Shelley's creation, as well as Dr. Frankenstein's. A favorite among horror enthusiasts, Frankenstein was originally published in 1818. In its nearly 200 years of life, the work has seen its fair share of adaptations, from plays to movies and comics to graphic novels. Take a journey through time with these 17 cover designs for the classic novel.

Jean-Léon Huens; Corgi Books, 1960s

Jean-Leéon Huens (1921-1982) was a Belgian artist who started his career as a children's book illustrator. He later went on to create the covers for a weekly comics magazine called Tintin. By the mid 1960s, his art had spread worldwide, and he was creating for Reader's Digest and The Saturday Evening Post.

Uncredited; Airmont Books Classic Series, 1963

Did you notice Frankenstein's Monster hiding in the dark sky?

Mara McAfee; Pocket Books, 1976

Mara McAfee (1929-1984) wore many hats. She was an actress, a dancer, an illustrator and an American Pop artist. Her works often featured contemporary subjects and was usually satirical in nature (see: " A Banana In The Ear ").

Frank Mactey;Grosset & Dunlap, 1931

Mary Shelley's story was brought back into the limelight in the '30s after James Whale's Frankenstein film debut in 1931. Publisher Grosset & Dunlap took advantage of the film's success and released Photoplay Editions of the novel that featured scenes from the movies. The first Photoplay edition (pictured here) was bound in red cloth with black lettering.

Nino Cabré; Grosset & Dunlap, 1932

In 1932 and after the success of the Photoplay editions, Nino Cambré (1909-1993) created the Illustrated edition of Frankenstein for Grosset & Dunlap.

Joaquín Pertierra; French Gothic Dolphin Publisher*, circa 1960s

Joaquín Pertierra is truly an enigma. I spent several hours trying to find more information about Pertierra and Le Roman Gothique, but all I could find were a few blogs sharing the artist's work with little description. Who is Joaquín?

Ladybird Books LTD, 1984

Cover design for Frankenstein First Edition Ladybird Book from the Horror Classic Series.

Bernie Wrightson; Éditions Albin Michel, 1984

Bernie Wrightson is famous for his gruesome stories (see: Swamp Thing). In 1984, he provided nearly 50 drawings for the Albin Michel edition of Frankenstein. The illustrations are so detailed that they almost look like old-fashioned engravings.

Maciej Ratajski; 2010

Maciej Ratajski is a Polish-born designer and contemporary artist.

Roberto Lanznaster is an illustrator and senior designer based in Jaraguá do Sul, Brazil.

Nick Fairbank is a graphic designer based in Brugge, Belgium. You can see his entire series for the Recovering the Classics Project here.

Mike Young; Personal Project, 2010

Designer Mike Young recreated four classic horror/science fiction book covers as a personal project. See all of the results on his website.

Pol Alert; Shillington Education Typography Design, 2015

Pol Alert's Frankenstein cover was featured on Shillington's page showcasing portfolio projects from six campuses around the world.
It might sound odd, but avoiding PowerPoint could be hurting your business. Find out how to use it to your advantage today.

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17 Vintage & Modern Frankenstein Cover Designs

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Call for entries: HOW Logo Design Awards The last Friday in October is known to some as Frankenstein Friday-a chance to celebrate Mary Shelley's creation, as well as Dr. Frankenstein's. A favorite among horror enthusiasts, Frankenstein was originally published in 1818.

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A monstrous volcanic eruption gave life to Frankenstein's monster

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A monstrous volcanic eruption gave life to Frankenstein's monster

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On this day in 1818, the novel "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus", by 21-year-old author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, was published. Frankenstein is often considered the world's first science fiction novel, as it mixes elements of Victorian ghost stories with elements of modern technology, chemistry and biology. According to Shelley she crated the story behind a scientist creating a living creature from a dead body's parts during a weekend with friends in Geneva, in 1816. She describes the weather at the time as a "wet, ungenial summer, continuous rainfall kept us inside the house." Bored, the friends worked on creepy stories, reflecting the gloomy atmosphere surrounding them, but only Shelley completed hers.

The year 1816 is today famous as the year without a summer. All over Europe cool temperatures, rainfall and even snow destroyed the crops on the fields. Especially in mountainous area, like Switzerland, the weather was to cool and wet and widespread starvation followed. Contemporary sources describe how farmers eat grass and cook the flesh of mice to survive. The winter 1816-17 was hard and long. The snow was sometimes strangely colored, in Hungary brown and in Italy reddish or yellow. In summer 1817 due the previous crop failures, there were not enough seeds for the fields. Another year of hunger came and went by. Only in 1818 the weather stabilized and harvests were sufficient to meet the demand.

The cool weather bringing havoc to Europe and giving birth to Frankenstein was caused by one of the largest volcanic eruption in recent history. In 1812 a mountain on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia, awoke from a 5,000 years long slumber. For months clouds of vapor were noted above the trembling Tambora, then, April 5, 1815, it exploded.

Famous Victorian geologist Charles Lyell describes the eruption in great detail in his "Principles of Geology", published in 1850:

"Island of Sumbawa, 1815. - In April, 1815, one of the most frightful eruptions recorded in history occurred in the province of Tomboro, in the island of Sumbawa, about 200 miles from the eastern extremity of Java.

The sound of the explosions was heard in Sumatra, at the distance of 970 geographical miles in a direct line; and at Ternate, in an opposite direction, at the distance of 720 miles.

Out of a population of 12,000, in the province of Tomboro, only twenty-six individuals survived. Violent whirlwinds carried up men, horses, cattle, and whatever else came within their influence, into the air; tore up the largest trees by the roots, and covered the whole sea with floating timber. Great tracts of land were covered by lava, several streams of which, issuing from the crater of the Tomboro mountain, reached the sea...[] On the side of Java the ashes were carried to the distance of 300 miles, and 217 towards Celebes, in sufficient quantity to darken the air."

The Tambora erupted with a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 7, 100 times more powerful as Mount St. Helens in 1980 and four times as powerful as the famous eruption of Krakatoa. During the four months long eruption the volcano send two million tons of rocks, volcanic ash and sulfur compounds into the higher layers of the atmosphere. There the dispersed particles adsorbed and reduced the solar radiation on earth's surface and influenced worldwide weather patterns for years to come. According to estimates, in Indonesia 80,000 people were killed by direct of indirect effects of the eruption, like the volcanic ash suffocating the crops on the fields and poisoning the water. In Europe 100,000 to 200,000 people might have died as the result of the tumultuous weather following the eruption of Tambora. It seems fitting that this monstrous eruption inspired the myth of an uncontrollable monster.

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A Monstrous Volcanic Eruption Gave Life To Frankenstein's Monster

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On this day in 1818, the novel "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus", by 21-year-old author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, was published. Frankenstein is often considered the world's first science fiction novel, as it mixes elements of Victorian ghost stories with elements of modern technology, chemistry and biology.

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Visiting the house where Frankenstein was written

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Visiting the house where Frankenstein was written

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professor alice roberts visits the house where frankenstein was born

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Professor Alice Roberts visits the house where Frankenstein was born, BBC Arts - BBC Arts

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Taken from the 2014 series The Secret Life of Books.

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The term "Promethean" denotes creativity, rebellion and expansion of the mind in the spirit of the wiley Titan. In Greek mythology, Prometheus assumes an important position as not only the creator of humans but the figure who allowed humans to progress. With fire, humans could expand their abilities and extend their influence. To an ancient Greek culture that valued knowledge and innovation, Prometheus therefore became a figure who symbolized humans' capacity for greatness. Learn more about ancient Greek society and culture here and here.

But Prometheus is an attractive idea far beyond the classical age - Prometheus appears across music, poetry, and pop culture. This piece considers the role of Prometheus in literature. You can click here for information on depiction of Prometheus in painting.

For the Romantics, Prometheus was especially appealing as a renegade figure who sacrificed himself for the sake of expanding all minds. You can learn more about the Romantics and Prometheus here. Two famous examples of Romantic poetry that speculate on the plight of Prometheus are Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound" and Lord Byron's "Prometheus".

The story of Prometheus follows a pattern about the evolution of human progress that is echoed in many other world mythologies. These tales often involve a trickster figure who acts as a mediator between divine and mortal, ultimately stealing fire from the Gods and thus unlocking the secret of human advancement. See this wikipedia entry on a range of myths about the theft of fire from across the globe. And on the international stage today, a symbol of Prometheus' rebellion still burns brightly: The Olympic Flame, which burns for the duration of the games.

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The myth of Prometheus - Iseult Gillespie

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Before the creation of humanity, the Greek gods won a great battle against a race of giants called the Titans. Most Titans were destroyed or driven to the eternal hell of Tartarus. But the Titan Prometheus, whose name means foresight, persuaded his brother Epimetheus to fight with him on the side of the Gods.

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The story of Mary Shelley and the birth of the modern Prometheus:

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It was a dark and stormy night in June, when Lord Byron issued a famous writing challenge, during the summer of 1816. Paradoxical when you consider 1816 is known as the Year Without A Summer. An anomaly caused by the massive eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia the year before, causing massive climate change across the world. The sun obscured and darkened, the weather dismal, damp and depressing. The perfect gloomy, doomy setting, for the telling of bleaker, Gothic tales of the macabre and the fantastic supernatural.

But the sequence of events which led to the writing challenge really begins in 1814. Mary Godwin - the 16-year-old daughter of William Godwin, novelist, political philosopher and the first modern proponent of anarchism, and Mary Wollstonecraft, writer and amongst the earliest advocates of women's rights - reciprocates the advances of, and falls in love with, one of her father's political followers, the already-married Percy Bysshe Shelley, amongst the major English Romantic poets, and considered by many to be one of the finest lyric poets. They elope, accompanied by Mary's half-sister Claire Clairmont, and travel across France and Switzerland. The couple would soon return to England, only to face ostracisation and a life of debt. In the meanwhile, having seen her half-sister with a poet and jealous, Claire decides that she wants to have a dalliance with a Romantic poet of her own, and so begins a liaison with one who 'woke up and found himself famous', George Gordon Byron, or Lord Byron.

Lord Byron - apart from being 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' - was also a celebrity, but all his love affairs and escapades would soon land him in debt. In 1816, the year without a summer, with ever-increasing debts and in the midst of scandals, Lord Byron would leave England - for ever as it turned out - leaving behind his wife and infant daughter, Augusta (who would grow up to be the famed Lady Ada Lovelace, the first 'computer programmer'). Accompanied by his personal physician, John William Polidori, Lord Byron would travel through Belgium and finally reach Switzerland in May.

Persuaded by, and chiefly due to the fact that, Claire Clairmont was possibly pregnant with Byron's child - Percy Shelley, still married to another, and Mary Godwin - though she called herself 'Mrs. Shelley', would as plan to spend the summer in Switzerland with Lord Byron, and on reaching Lake Geneva would take up residence in a small house. Lord Byron and John Polidori arrived not much later, with Byron renting out a neighbouring mansion that John Milton was once supposed to have lived in, the Villa Diodati, which would serve as the venue for the conception of path breaking, genre-creating stories.

The weather was unseasonably cold and stormy, and Mary Shelley would later write, '...it proved a wet, ungenial summer, and incessant rain often confined us for days to the house'. So it came to be that the rains would kept them all indoors for days, during which time they would discuss matters both literary, and 'scientific'. They would discuss how Luigi Galvani had made dead frogs' legs twitch by the application of an electric current. They spoke of the theories of Erasmus Darwin (Charles Darwin's grandfather) which speculated that electricity might be used to bring inanimate objects to life. All of which would take root firmly in the 18-year-old Mary Shelley's mind. "Many and long were the conversations between Lord Byron and Shelley, to which I was a devout but nearly silent listener", Mary would write later. Joining them was John Polidori's whose medical knowledge helped bring a balance to the wild and speculative possibilities that the two poets discussed.

At night, the interiors lit by dim candles, the four read tales of horror from Fantasmagoriana, a French anthology of German ghost stories. Byron read from Christabel, the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem in which Geraldine's character appears as a woman, but is in fact a Lamia, a serpent-like creature considered in Greek myth to be a child-devouring, night-haunting demon. The stage was set.

"'We will each write a ghost story,' said Lord Byron", Mary Shelly would writer later when speaking about the writing challenge, and having accepted the challenge busied herself with trying to think up a story, 'one which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature, and awaken thrilling horror - one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart'. Polidori, she recalls, had some terrible idea about a skull-headed lady. But at least Polidori came up with one. Mary Shelly couldn't. Percy Shelley speedily relinquished his uncongenial task.

Lord Byron began writing a tale, which he would leave unfinished, called 'Fragment of a Novel', a proto-vampire story. The theme and story of which John Polidori would expand upon, and write the novella for he is famous - The Vampyre, with the protagonist Lord Ruthven, the aristocratic British nobleman and vampire, modelled on Lord Byron himself. As the progenitor of the vampire sub-genre of horror/fantasy fiction, The Vampyre would influence - in the years to come - a book called Dracula by Irish author Abraham Stoker.

In the meanwhile at the Villa Diodati, the night, on which the challenge was issued, passed. As did the next day. 'Have you thought of a story?' Mary Shelley was asked each morning, and each morning was forced to reply in the negative. The conversations though continued though through the day and well the night, about the creation of life, galvanism and re-animating corpses.

Mary Shelly recounts her nightmare, or rather her waking dream as she called it, in her introduction to the first edition to credit her as the author (the 1818 edition being published anonymously), the 1831 edition of ' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus ', for that is the book's full title:
'Night waned upon this talk, and even the witching hour had gone by before we retired to rest. When I placed my head on my pillow I did not sleep, nor could I be said to think. My imagination, unbidden, possessed and guided me....I saw - with shut eyes, but acute mental vision... the pale student of the 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...to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world. His success would terrify the artist; he would rush away from his odious handy work, horror-stricken.... that this thing, which had received such imperfect animation, would subside into dead matter; and he might sleep in the belief that the silence of the grave would quench for ever the transient existence of the hideous corpse which he had looked upon as the cradle of life.'
And so was born Frankenstein the book, and the most famous of all literary monsters, Frankenstein's monster. And the rest as they say is history.

In her conclusion to her introduction to the 1831 edition, from which I have drawn her recollections from, Mary Shelly writes, "I bid my hideous progeny go forth and prosper". And how it has done so! In less than two months, Frankenstein will be 200 years old, but having lost none of the charm, with an influence that refuses to ever wane. So, in time for the bicentennial of a book that the Grand Master of science fiction, Brian Aldiss called the first science fiction novel - a book that has made generations of people think about science and its moral consequences, of the complex relationship between the creator and the creation - may I suggest a re-read of this classic.

What better way to celebrate a book, than to read it?

And speaking of celebrations, it's time to announce the winner of the contest announced in last week's edition of New World's Weekly. The question was, 'Name at least one Indian SF work you will be reading in 2037.' And winning a copy of Samit Basu's metahuman duology - Turbulence and Resistance - is Saaransh Mishra for his "Will Androids respect National Anthem?", a phildickian Indian SF book that he hopes to read twenty years hence. Congratulations Saraansh! Get in touch with us with your mailing address and other details, and get ready to enjoy these two great books.

On that happy and winning note, I sign off for this week. Do keep the comments, criticisms and suggestions coming in. You can tweet to us with the hashtag #NWWonFD or leave a comment below. I hope to see back here again next weekend, for yet another edition of New Worlds Weekly.

Live long and prosper!
Lead image by American artist Rodger Pister (https://rodgerpister.deviantart.com/)
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Her hideous progeny: The story of Mary Shelley and the birth of the modern Prometheus | FactorDaily

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It was a dark and stormy night in June, when Lord Byron issued a famous writing challenge, during the summer of 1816. Paradoxical when you consider 1816 is known as the Year Without A Summer. An anomaly caused by the massive eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia the year before, causing massive climate change across the world.

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Victor has a horrifying dream the foreshadows the death of Elizabeth. The ominous dream serves as a presage of the monster’s savage homicide of Elizabeth. Eventually, this portentous dream becomes reality as a consequence of Victor’s reluctance to accept the proposal of the creature. "saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking... I embraced her, but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they begin livid with the hue of death" (35)

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by me (Roshana)

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Similarities:

Both are foreign; Safie (Wisdom) is Felix’s ‘sweet Arabian’, while the creature is ‘a wretched creature’ - just as Safie is ‘unacquainted with the language of the country and utterly ignorant of the customs of the world’, the creature is equally alone in the world after Frankenstein’s rejection. Creature is nameless.

Gives creature hope that he may be accepted into the De Laceys, as he hopes that this compassion may be extended to him - ‘ The mild exhortation of the old man, and the lively conversation of Felix were not for me.’

As such, both are not fluent in English, and learn from Volney’s Ruins of Empires to ‘(improve) rapidly in the knowledge of language’.

Share the same ardent desire to learn; just as the creature wishes to acquire man’s knowledge, Safie’s mother ‘taught her to aspire to higher powers of intellect’.

Share the same empathetic nature; the creature ‘(weeps) with Safie over the hapless fate of the original inhabitants’ of America.

Just as ‘the father of Safie had been the cause of their ruin’, the father of the creature, Frankenstein, is responsible for their respective ruins.

Differences:

While the creature is described by Frankenstein as a ‘demoniacal corpse’ - ‘ a thing even Dante could not have conceived’, Safie is physically beautiful - ‘a countenance of angelic beauty and expression’. This shows the privilege of beauty.

Due to this difference in appearance, although they both wish to learn the English language, Safie is guided by the De Laceys while the creature is com`pletely alone in his literary undertaking.

Whilst the ‘arrival of the Arabian now infused new life into (Felix’s) soul’, the arrival of the creature anywhere results in him being perceived by society as ‘a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned’.

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The young lovers Werther, and Lotte are unable to pursuit their desires due to her marriage to an older man. When she marries the older man, Werther commits 🤬 due to his utter misery from her rejection.

humiliation of rejection - sadness of rejection

committed 🤬 to escape the pain

parallels between the young boy named Werther and the creature- they both yearn love and companionship, however are isolated by society and their desires are left unrequited. the characters act purely by potent emotions of misery, anger and loneliness - the creature mercilessly killing in to order to pursuit vengeance on his creator who failed his parental duties,   and Werther committing 🤬 to escape his unsurmountable misery

this story exposed the creature to the world around him, and the pains associated with rejection by people whom he loves.

Exhibits the insurmountable pain and misery preluded by isolation and abandonment

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So I guess he can just do Y12 next year, right?

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This was the Grade 2 reader brought home by my son today

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Describe the De Lacey family and their treatment of each other and Safie.

The De Lacey family are described as villagers who possess “gentle manners” and live rather modestly in a German village. Their treatment of each other is seen to be benevolent and generous, as at times the children are seen to go hungry so that their (blind) father may eat. They also generously accept Safie into their cottage; provide for her a home and family; despite the possibility that they could’ve been spiteful towards her due to her and her family’s role in the expelment of the Delacy’s from Paris. However, they are shown to have some morosity in their ways as the creature does see them crying at times; later the reader infers that this is due to their fall from nobility to banished villagers. Nonetheless, they remain placid and kind towards each other, their “gentle manners” and “benevolent smiles” being of great contrast to the “barbourous villagers” mentioned by the creature earlier in his narrative.

What do the De Laceys symbolise/ represent in the novel?

Humanity’s ability to be kind and generous, as despite their financial difficulties the family still practically adopts Safie into their family, patiently teaches her their language and provides her with food. Old Delacy represents the possibility of humanity to not judge on the basis of aesthetic, as he does not prejudge the creature on his visage since he is unable to see. The children also exemplify benevolence and sacrifice by going hungry so that their father may eat. Thus, they ultimately symbolise the hope in humanity, as they are the first and only people in the creature’s narrative to even express kindness and sympathy (even if it is not towards him). However, they do to some extent symbolises how far embedded certain materialistic values are in society; as they still can’t look past the monster’s visage. It is only the blind who senses the creature’s true nature and is thus able to look past appearances. Furthermore, The Delacy’s (unknowingly) assist the creature in acquiring knowledge through their books and lessons given to Safie, as well as their treatment of each other and discussions. This improving the creature’s academic mind, but also assists him in distinguishing between good and bad; teaches him ethics and society values.

How do they treat the creature when they meet him?

Old man treats him with kindness and respect for a stranger, initially has the assumption that the creature is benevolent and is willing to accept his explanation that he is “a traveller in want of a little rest”. However, the children react with fear, shock and anger; they see something of a grotesque nature at the feet of their father and make a similar assumption that many others have: that the creature has foul intent. This causes the creature’s benevolent actions to be immeadiately perceived as having a malicious intention. The children end up being so terrified by the creature’s appearance in their home, that they flee their cottage and village. This is a pivitol point in the novel, as since the creature has built up this idea of the family being the epitomy of human kindness, their rejection is even more impactful and significant. If even the most benevolent forces of humanity who have also experienced rejection in their lives, reject the creature: who won't reject him?

REJECTION:

pg140 = revenge first time; conscious decision to be malicious

Fire = destruction, a weapon, representation of rage/ rather than spark of inspiration (natural force), fire is originally able to warm and nurure the creature.

What is Shelley’s message?

That humanity can be kind, but only when they are willing or able to be blind to what appearances may suggest.

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What could go wrong?

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Paradise Lost:

The creature read Paradise Lost as a 'True history. Compares himself to Adam and Satan.

‘I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel’. 'The bitter gall of envy rose within me'. The creature likens himself to Adam the first human created in the bible, but also speaks of him as a ‘fallen angel’, much like Satan in Paradise Lost.

‘Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay to mould me Man, did I solicit thee from darkness to promote me?’ - Adam (paradise lost) - Adam is lamenting his fate as one who was unwillingly brought into this world by a higher power and then abandoned. Likewise, the creature is saying he did not ask to be created, and wants to know why he was created to live such a wretched existence.

Volume of Plutarch's Lives:

Taught the creature 'high thoughts; he elevated me above the wretched sphere of my own reflections, to admire and love the heroes of past ages'

Sorrows of Werter:

Taught the Creature 'despondency and gloom'

Of all these texts, Paradise Lost impacts the creature the most.

"Increase of knowledge only discovered to me, more clearly, what a wretched outcast I was' - Creature

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Character questions: isolation/rejection of Walton, Frankenstein and creature 

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Character questions: isolation/rejection of Walton, Frankenstein and creature 

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Summary:

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a poem about the experiences of a sailor who has returned from a long sea voyage. Despite the initial good fortune, the ship is driven south by a storm and reaches the Antarctic waters where an Albatross appears and leads them out of the ice. The mariner however shoots the bird and therefore faces the consequences.  The Mariner does not truly for guilty for the act that he has committed. The ship that had initially been led out of icy regions is not sent into uncharted water. The crew blames the mariner for this becoming and forces the albatross to be hung around his neck as a burden and a symbol of remembrance. The mariner is approached by Death and an Angel of Life who loved the Albatross.  A die was rolled between them which Death had wins the lives of the crew members. All of the crew die but the mariner survives alone in repentance for his crime. He devotes the rest of his life to warn people about the dangers of sinning, using his own life as a cautionary tale. The themes of sin and repentance are reflected in Shelley's "Frankenstein"

Context:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is referenced in letter 2 by  Walton as he compares himself to the sailor, reassuring his sister that he will use caution and prudence, simultaneously exclaiming his ambitions and passions.

"the land of mist and snow'; but I shall 🤬 no albatross, therefore do not be alarmed for my safety, or if I should come back to you as warn and woeful as the 'Ancient Mariner'?

Significance:
Walton's blind ambition and failure to consider the possible consequences of his actions resulted in poor decisions. Similar to the ancient mariner, Walton disregards nature as he insists the ship remains stuck in the polar ice due to his obsession of reaching the north pole and becomes powerless to restore them to safety . He imperils his crew who trusted and relied on him, leading them to danger and as a consequence he suffers from serious consequences, he suffers from mutiny.

Frankenstein acts as a shadow of the ancient mariner. In the story of the ancient mariner, the mariner eventually realises the consequences of his crime as does Frankenstein regretting the creation of the monster.

Frankenstein acknowledges his mistakes and as he encounters Robert Walton and recognizes the same ambition in him, he recounts his own experiences in hopes that Walton will repeat the same mistakes as he did, alluding to the mariner's attempts for redemption.

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Make some links!

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The creature establishes himself as a 'benevolent and good' being, placing the audience in a sympathetic mindset in his initial naivety.

In an attempt to evoke a empathetic response from Frankenstein, the creature describes his 'cold', 'half-frightened' and desolate birth.

His respect and awe of nature is evident in his perception of the 'radiant form' of the moon, as nature 'enlightens his path' to compensate for the lack of parental support.

Appealing to the readers' natural maternal instinct, Shelley portrays

the creature as an innocent child, finding 'delight at the warmth' experienced from fire.

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Walton’s childhood - Education neglected but he was fond of reading and his father dying wish and demand was that he could not become a seafarer. What he had read as a child sparked his ambition.

Walton and companionship - Quotes he has no friends. Wants someone to live through his happiness and lows with him. Thinks fondly of his master but doesn’t become friends with them. He’s particular with who he is friends with. Immediate attraction to Frankenstein. Isolated by circumstance but also self-imposed, but he chooses not to be friends with them. Picks Frankenstein. Likes Frankenstein talking about succeed. Drawn to his appreciation of nature and his eloquence. Page 31: Walton’s description of Frankenstein vs Page 59: Frankenstein’s description of the Creature.

Walton vs Creature - Walton embodies many emotions like the Creature. Really empathetic. Walton is isolated because he travels to the North Pole, but the Creature is isolated on an individual level. The Creature is more directly isolated because he is the only one in the world like him.

Walton vs Ancient Mariner - Both travelling to the North Pole. Ancient Mariner ruined the crew’s chances of survival by killing the albatross that was leading them. Supernatural took control of the trip.

Similar because they’re both on the same journey but the difference is that Walton turns around and keeps his crew alive.

Creature’s pleas for companionship - Frankenstein is at first moved by the Creature’s plea for a mate. He empathises with the position of the Creature before reasoning with himself why he shouldn’t and so refuses. This angers the Creature even more, as his hopes were raised only to be shattered. This is preceded by the passage of the Creature murdering William and seeing Justine’s beauty.

Cause of Creature’s isolation - “shunned and hated by mankind.” Page 147. Prejudice based on his appearance and differences. Society’s prejudices. Inexperience in society, no chance to be accepted in the first place. His life is vacant.

Consequences of Creature’s isolation - “I am malicious because I am miserable” Page 147. His growing evil and contempt. His increase in knowledge proved to him the prejudice of society and the reasons of his isolation. Also gained his intelligence through isolation

Similarities between Walton, Creature and Frankenstein - They all go through periods of isolation and loneliness. They all educated themselves through books. They all crave companionship. All rely on companionship for sanity and for functioning.

Why does Frankenstein isolate himself - His ambition leads him to go to university and work hard on his ambitions. His mother had just died so he becomes very reserved and very focused on his goal to bring inanimate objects to life.

Consequences of Frankenstein’s isolation - Gets very sick when Henry comes to visit. Isolation leads to the Creature, thinks irrationally because of his isolation from those who can give him direction. Becomes overly insane and involved. His family become very worried about his lack of communication with them and sends him letters.

Identify the connection that exists between Frankenstein and Walton in relation to isolation - Both isolate themselves for the purpose of achieving their ambitions. Both very Romantically driven, with the belief that nature is beautiful and their goal is to overcome nature.

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An interesting and unique observation about 'Frankenstein'.

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Q: Why is Frankenstein such good fun?
A: Because he soon has you in stitches!

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Q: What does Frankenstein’s monster call a screwdriver?

A: Daddy!

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* A famous poem from the Romantic period
* Extended motif
* What is the Albatross a symbol of?
* When do allusions to the poem appear in the story?

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Q: What do you call a clever monster? A: Frank Einstein

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Q: What do you call a clever monster? A: Frank Einstein

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Frankenstein's lack of paternal instinct is evident in his desire to have his creation "trampled to dust", instead of creating a nurturing environment for him to thrive in.

The creature is "miserable beyond all living things", due to his creator abandoning his duty to nurture his creation.

Before hearing the creature's account, Frankenstein is "impelled by all the feelings which can arm one being against the existence of another".

Shelley conveys the message of John Locke's tabula rasa in "misery [making the creature] a fiend".

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Walton is aware of his character flaws; in that he is too ardent, too impatient, which causes him to make headstrong pursuits and decisions without enough thought and consideration.Thus, Walton desires a friend to counsel him with advice, but to also provide him with a pull back into reality; “I desire a man who would sympathise with me; whose eyes would reply to mine” and who possesses a “gentle, courageous, cultivated, capacious mind”.

Walton is similar to the creature, as they are both lonely and desire ‘the company of man’. They are also both self-educated, ‘now that I am twenty-eight and am in reality more illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen’

The poem of the Ancient Mariner is important to Walton as it inspired his love for exploration. The poem is set in the polar regions where Walton himself has ended up. he says to Margaret Saville
"the land of mist and snow'; but I shall 🤬 no albatross, therefore do not be alarmed for my safety, or if I should come back to you as warn and woeful as the 'Ancient Mariner"
Walton almost fulfils the story of the ancient mariner, as despite saying “but I shall 🤬 no Albatross” he is still willing to go as far as necessary (bringing his crew to the edge of death); therefore, almost killing the hope of his crew which is what the mariner does when he kills the albatross – but when he meets the real mariner he changes his mind. Thus, not having the death of all crew members haunting him like it does Frankenstein.

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There are really two main "dreams" in Mary Shelley's original Frankenstein novel: Victor Frankenstein's daydream about the grand future effects of his creating artifical life and the nightmare into which he falls after he recoils from his finished creature in revulsion and exhaustion.

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Who has a name and more importably, who doesn't?
What terms are used to refer to the creature? When do these change?
What is the significance of the creature having no name? (society, patriarchy, class, identity

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Walton, analogous to Frankenstein, highly values beauty and aesthetic, marvelling the "perpetual splendour " of nature.

Both Frankenstein and Walton aim to "penetrate the secrets of nature" for a selfish and hubristic pursuit, rather than for the progression of humankind.

Walton seeks companionship in someone who is "cultivated, as well as a capacious".

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Frankenstein isolates himself as he:
'ardently desired the acquisition of knowledge'

Frankenstein's thirst for knowledge became both his strength and weakness. Victor was so obsessed with bringing the creature to life he failed to think of the possible consequences.

Frankenstein witnesses the confession and conviction of Justine when he knows he is responsible and she is innocent.
'But i the true murderer'

Both Walton and frankenstein are driven by ambition and isolate themselves as a result
'What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?'

Both the creature and Frankenstein suffer from isolation, due to frankensteins actions

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Frankenstein's abandonment, turned the once 'benevolent' creature, into a 'fiend'. From the moment the creature is brought to life he is  constantly rejected.
'When i looked around i saw and heard of none like me'
'Shall i not then hate them who abhor me?'

'What i then a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled, and all men disowned'
'I was endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; i was not even of the same nature as man'

What is the cause of the creature's isolation?

“I remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night before from the barbarous villagers, and resolved, whatever course of conduct I might hereafter think it right to pursue, that for the present I would remain quietly in my hovel, watching and endeavouring to discover the motives which influenced their actions.”

The gentle manners and beauty of the cottagers greatly endeared them to me; when they were unhappy, I felt depressed; when they rejoiced, I sympathized in their joys. “ àempathy leads him to desire their human connectionàgets his hopes up

“I had first become master of their language, which knowledge might enable me to make them overlook the deformity of my figure, for with this also the contrast perpetually presented to my eyes had made me acquainted.”  Has high hopes because he is naïve and optimistic but is let down and turns cynical later.

List the consequences of the creature's isolation?

“perpetual attention and time explained to me many appearances which were at first enigmatic.”

“…but how was I terrified when I viewed myself in a transparent pool! At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was rejected in the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was called with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification.”  Outward appearanceàdetermines his worthàresult of society’s superficiality

The creatures source of isolation comes from his lack of a name, and this is significant because it likens him to an animal and in society it deprives him from privilege and social standing.

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What are the consequences of loneliness and isolation?

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What are the consequences of loneliness and isolation?

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- "A man would make but a very sorry chemist if he attended to that department of human knowledge alone" - ironic and foreshadows Frankenstein's demise as he arrogantly pursues the singular science.
- Frankenstein is a "petty experimentalist".
- The transference of knowledge between M. Waldman and Frankenstein "decides [his] future destiny' - which exemplifies his strong belief in fate.
- Isolation by choice - evident in his obsession with his "sole occupation".
- The readers may pity Frankenstein's lack of friends, with M. Waldman (a professor) being one of his few "true friends" - this becomes a hypocritical label when Frankenstein places high value in his mentorship whilst simultaneously abandoning his own creation.
- It is important to note the fact that before the commencement of his pursuit in the "unhallowed arts", Frankenstein had not yet paid a visit to his family in Geneva for two years. Consequently, Victor is left lacking emotion and moral support which is reflected in Frankenstein's inability to provide familial instincts.
- In Frankenstein's seclusion, he is cut off from his family, leading to a lack of emotional support, meaning he seeks validation from others to substitute the missing piece in his heart.
THIS IS ONLY FROM FIRST PASSAGE, DO THE REST

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Frankenstein and the French Revolution by Francesca Scribano (Honors Thesis)

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What are some observations that you might make about the poem and its connection to 'Frankenstein'?

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How do the different narrative voices and their stories create and manipulate the reader's perception?

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The creature is not inherently evil - society and his experiences made him that way. Do you agree?

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The whole text!

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Introduction " Frankenstein Study Guide from Crossref-it.info

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This tale of a scientist who creates a being out of the parts of dead bodies and brings it to life has acquired an almost mythical status, providing a terrifying image of terror of a semi-human monster at large in the world. It also sounds a warning about the dangers of scientific experimentation.

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In case you were curious.

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Home → SparkNotes → Poetry Study Guides → Paradise Lost

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What are some comparisons (similarities and differences) that Mary Shelley is inviting the reader to consider?

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What are some comparisons (similarities and differences) that Mary Shelley is inviting the reader to consider?

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The myth of Prometheus - Iseult Gillespie