Frankenstein

FRANKENSTEIN

MARY SHELLEY

th

GOTHIC – The Gothic is a category developed in the 18 century. It comes from ‘Goths’, the name of the

population who invaded Europe during the Roman Empire. This name means something which was

barbaric, abnormal and medieval. During this period there was an interest in the supernatural, in the primal

(close to nature), and in the constitutive of one’s culture. It was considered a period of chivalry, romantic

values and romance in the sense of mystery and romantic, passionate loves. This interest was a product of

the Industrial Revolution and there was an ambivalence over questions of elitism and Catholicism.

Sometimes, the authors of Gothic novels belonged to aristocracy and they liked the Middle Ages because of

the importance that their class had; even if they knew the problems of that period.

The Gothic taste started as a movement in architecture of cathedrals and castles. There was the Gothic’s

revival and people started building structures in the Gothic’s style. For example, Horace Walpole, the first

Gothic author, bought a house in Strawberry Hill (1749), making it an exotic and strange place. Another

example was Castle Goring the Shelleys’ ancestral home, built in 1797 by Percy Bysshe Shelley’s

grandfather.

THE GOTHIC NOVEL – The first Gothic novel was ‘The Castle of Otranto’ by Horace Walpole (1764). It was

criticized because it did not follow the ideas of the Enlightenment. The story is set in Otranto and the main

action takes place in the Castle. Walpole tells that the story is true, that he found it in an old, abandoned

manuscript and that it is full of supernatural and mysterious elements, like ghosts. ‘The Castle of Otranto’

inspired many novels, like ‘Vathek’ by William Beckford (1786). It is set in the East and it has a set of

different imaginaries. Ann Radcliffe wrote ‘The Mysteries of Udolpho’ (1794) and ‘The Italian’ (1797), which

are set in Italy and they are characterised by mystery, a villain, and a heroine. At the end of her novels, the

supernatural is always explained scientifically. She also made a distinction between horror, something

which blocks the imagination, and terror, a fear that excites the imagination and that is creative. ‘The

Monk’ by Matthew Lewis is an example of terror because it is full of scary scenes, in an excessive

accumulation. Jane Austen, in ‘Northanger Abbey’, parodies the Gothic: the heroine interprets reality as she

was in a Gothic novel, because she grew up reading Gothic stories. William Godwin, Mary Shelley’s father,

wrote the Gothic novel ‘Caleb William’ (1794), a mystery novel, which certainly inspired his daughter.

Horace Walpole was the son of the British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole, so he belonged to the élite.

He told the source of ‘The Castle of Otranto’ to a friend in a letter in 1765. Walpole got his idea from a

dream, something which is a constitutive of the Gothic genre. He challenged tradition and he wanted to

write something new, which could communicate the emotions he felt.

The year 1816, in Geneva, was called ‘the year without a summer’. The sun could not shine bright during

summer and this weather spoiled the holidays of a group of young English people in Switzerland. They were

spending their holidays in Villa Diodati, which had been built by a distant relative of Milton’s friend Charles

Diodati. This group was formed by Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, Godwin, John

Polidori and Claire Clairmont. They were all authors and poets and they spent their days reading German

ghost stories translated in French. They decided to hold a competition on who could write the best horror

story. The only two who effectively wrote something were Polidori, who wrote ‘The Vampire’, and Mary

Shelley, who wrote short stories that later would become ‘Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus’.

Lord Byron was the most prestigious and scandalous author of the time. He was an aristocrat who had

many romantic affairs. Byron created a persona for himself; he was a good poet even if he had an

ambiguous personality. He created the byronic hero, a man of mystery who rebels against society and laws,

with a magnetic personality, who is both the object of attraction and who causes harm wherever he goes.

Both Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley died very young.

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT – Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was Mary Shelley’s mother. She was an

author, a philosopher and a feminist. Her best work was ‘A Vindication of the Rights of

Woman’ (1792), where she stated that women should be treated as equals to men.

Mary addressed to other women saying that they should have the same education as

men, because they were as good as them. Men wanted them childish and ignorant,

imprisoned in a cage. She questioned the values of marriage, something made by the

patriarchal system to control women. Mary Wollstonecraft was the object of many

attacks at that time. Some of her works are ‘Thoughts on the Education of Daughters’, ‘Mary, a Fiction’ and

‘A Vindication of the Rights of Men, in a Letter to the Right Honourable Edmund Burke’. Burke did not

shared the values of the French Revolution. She went to live in France to experience what was going on

there. Mary had relationships with the painter Henry Fuseli, the American adventurer Gilbert Imlay, and

William Godwin (Mary Shelley’s father), who she married for legal reason. She died ten days after giving

birth to Mary Shelley.

WILLIAM GODWIN – William Godwin (1756-1836) was a radical philosopher, anarchist,

journalist and novelist. He wrote ‘Caleb Williams’ and ‘St Leon’. Both Wollstonecraft and

Godwin were radical and involved in the politics of the time. The most famous work by

Godwin is ‘Enquiry Concerning Political Justice’ (1793), a critique of all political institutions

(marriage, monarchy, the Church). In his opinion, there was no need of a violent

revolution and he thought that society would evolve towards democracy through reasonable discussion.

Together with his second wife, he founded The Juvenile Library, the first publishing series for children.

Godwin was one of the first promoters of children literature and he was convinced of the importance of

education. 01.12.2022

Mary Wollstonecraft’s graveyard was an important place for Mary Shelley: she went there very often and

there she met her future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary Shelley was not treated well by her step-

mother, the second wife of William Godwin. Her father sent her to some friends in Scotland, who were

religious dissident people. When Mary came back to England, she met Percy Bysshe Shelley.

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY – Percy Bysshe Shelley was the grandson of Sir Bysshe Shelley, Baronet of Castle

Goring. He belonged to the aristocracy and he was educated in elite institutions, like Eton

and Oxford. Percy was interested in chemistry and the occult and he was vegetarian. He

joined campaigns for better conditions for the Irish, and he believed in free love. Percy

wrote two Gothic novels, ‘Zastrozzi’ and ‘St Irvyne’. He was expelled from Oxford with a

friend, having co-authored a pamphlet, ‘The Necessity of Atheism’ (1811). Percy married

Harried Westbrook and he had two children with her. In 1814, he fell in love with Mary Shelley, even if both

their families did not agree on their relationship. He travelled through France, Germany, and Switzerland. In

1815, there was the birth and premature death of their first daughter. In 1816 their son William was born,

who died in 1819. Percy travelled the continent and when he arrived in Geneva he met Byron, who had a

relationship with Mary’s step-sister Claire. Together they went to Villa Diodati, where they hold the famous

writing competition. When Percy and Mary returned to England in 1816, Fanny Imlay (Mary’s half-sister)

and Harriet (Percy’s ex wife) committed suicide. In 1818 and in 1819, Clara Evelina and William, Mary and

Percy’s children, died. In 1822, Allegra Byron (daughter of Byron and Clair, Mary’s step-sister) and Percy

Bysshe Shelley, aged 29, died. In 1824 Byron died.

During the 1819 writing contest in Switzerland, John Polidori wrote ‘The Vampyre’. It was thought to be

written by Byron, because the character was modelled on his style of writing. At the same time, Mary

Shelley started writing the short stories for ‘Frankenstein’.

EDITIONS OF ‘FRANKENSTEIN’ – ‘Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus’ was first edited in 1818 by the

London printers Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor and Jones. It did not present the name of the author

and it was composed of three volumes. The novel started with a preface written by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

People thought that the entire novel was written by him and for decades they did not think that it was

possible for Mary Shelley to have written the novel, because she was only a 19-year-old girl. Percy was the

editor of Mary’s novel and he inserted some corrections and advice for the text.

Walter Scott, a leading author of the time, made a review on ‘Frankenstein’. He also thought that it was

written by Percy and he remained impressed by it. Scott summarised the plot and he made a long review.

He thought that it was a good work and that the author demonstrated to be an original genius. That was a

new type of novel about science which showed new source of emotion. His review was very influential and

many critics wanted to do their own reviews on the novel.

Another anonymous review, published in ‘The British Critic’, summarised the plot, but it was not a good

one. The author thought that it was not moral and that it did not follow any principle. The horror that

permeated the novel was excessive, it did not follow reason and it was the fruit of a sick brain. The critic

understood that the author of ‘Frankenstein’ was a woman, who had forgotten the gentleness of her sex.

She should have instead thought of something else and everyone needed to forget about this novel.

In 1823, Richard Brinsley Peake made a theatrical adaptation of the novel, called ‘Presumption or the Fate

of Frankenstein’. Because of the success of this play, William Godwin decided to reprint the first edition of

her daughter’s novel, this time making her name appear. In 1831, there was the final edition of

‘Frankenstein’. It was a unique, cheap volume, who helped the novel become a bestseller. The text changed

because of Mary’s revisions, especially in the first two chapters, and it contained two illustrations. In 1821,

‘Frankenstein’ was translated in French; the translator thought that Mary was the niece of William Godwin

and put it in his edition. The reviews on the French translation were very bad. Nevertheless, because of the

outraged reactions on the novel, it became a masterpiece.

PREFACE – In the first