By Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Mary Wollstonecraft ShelleyMary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Early feministConcerned with women’s

dependency on men, inferior educations,

inability to work, unable to speak minds

Mary WollstonecraftMary Wollstonecraft

William GodwinWilliam Godwin

Philosophical Anarchism Government = Corrupting force

Perpetuates ignoranceRendered powerless by the

gradual spread of knowledge.

•1797 Born in London to influential parents

•Mother died ten days later •Father had great expectations for Mary•Lived exciting but sorrowful childhood

•Propensity for Depression

Her Life Her Life before Shelleybefore Shelley

Percy ShelleyPercy Shelley

•Ran away with Percy at age of 16•Moved to Lake Geneva, Switzerland

•Shelley’s wife drowns herself; •Shelley marries Mary

•1816-Writes and publishes Frankenstein•Pregnant 7 times, only one child survives

•1822-Shelley is drowned in a boating accident

Her Life Her Life with Shelleywith Shelley

Geneva, SwitzerlandGeneva, Switzerland

University College, OxfordUniversity College, Oxford

•Worked in Paris as a journalist•Surrounded by literary figures

•Felt punished by society•Invalid at age 48

•1851-Died of brain tumor

Her Life Her Life after Shelleyafter Shelley

•Translated from the Latin, “life’s appearance”

•Use real places and real things•Leave out scientific details

to make book seem plausible

VerisimilitudeVerisimilitude

Mary Shelley

Shelley uses a framed narrative; Shelley uses a framed narrative; Story within a storyStory within a story

Walton FrankensteinCreation

•Ignorance is bliss/ Dangerous Knowledge•Monstrous side of Man/Injustice towards Outsiders

•Loneliness/ Need for Companionship•Scientific & Medical Ethics

•Nature vs. Nurture•Feminism/Marriage/Gender

•Sublime Nature-Influence of Nature on Man

MajorMajor Themes

Late 18th, early 19th centuries•Emphasis on individual, subjective, irrational, imaginative

•Appreciation of nature•Preoccupation with the hero•Importance of self-reflection

•Macabre, mysterious, fantastic, or violent incidents•Atmosphere of irrational violence or decay

•Settings-castles, monasteries, trapdoors, dungeons•Medieval themes

Romanticism and the GothicRomanticism and the Gothic

PrometheusPrometheus

Titan in Greek mythology “the one who thinks in advance”

He symbolizes belief in humanity even against

divine decree; Prometheus symbolizes the

creative thinker’s stubborn refusal to yield to fate.

Prometheus created man out of clay, outwitting Zeus for the benefit of mortals,

which lead Zeus to withhold from them the gift of fire. Prometheus stole it from the heavens

and brought it to man creating civilization. Consequently, Zeus sent Pandora as a punishment

for mortals. Prometheus was bound to a rock in the Caucasus, where his liver was torn from

his body by an eagle- only to grow back every day,

until Hercules killed the bird with an arrow.

without ice

Without IceWithout Ice

Water routes through the Arctic Archipelago, N Canada, & along the northern coast of Alaska between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Even though the explorers of the 16th century demonstrated that the American continents were a true barrier to a short route to East Asia,

there still remained hope that a natural passage would be found leading directly through the barrier. The search for the Northwest Passage

continued even though at that time such a route had no commercial value. Proof of the existence of the passage in the mid-1800s only revealed how

difficult its transit would be, and it was not until the early 20th century that the first transit was accomplished.

The Northwest PassageThe Northwest Passage