LITERATURA INGLESA II: ILUSTRACIÓN, ROMANTICISMO Y ÉPOCA

VICTORIANA

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION AIMED AT GUIDING THE READING OF MARY

SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN

Dr. Antonio Ballesteros González

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1st ed. 1818, 2nd ed. 1831) is considered the most relevant
paradigm of the initial and original phase of Gothic novels beginning with Horace
Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764) and, arguably, ending up with Charles
Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer (1820) and/ or James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs
and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824). Furthermore, Frankenstein has been
termed, properly speaking, ‘the first science-fiction narrative’. The topics that follow are
aimed at guiding your reading of Frankenstein. Some of them include key words or
brief reflections, provided as clues for your personal or collective analysis, given that
they can be openly discussed in the forum of Unit 3 of this subject. Take into account
that, of course, some topics overlap. Try to substantiate your answers with examples
taken from the book.

1. Comment on the mythical background of Frankenstein. Take into

consideration that the complete title of the novel is Frankenstein, or the
Modern Prometheus. Why? Which other classical myths underlie the plot of
the book? Why and how has become Frankenstein’s monster (do not mix
him up with Victor, his creator!) an icon of popular culture and a modern
myth?

Think about names like Narcissus or the ‘Ultima Thule’ (a fantastic and idyllic
land devoid of ice in the middle of the North Pole). Notice that the myth of
Frankenstein is unique in that: a) it presents creation without female or divine
intervention; and b) it is not the direct product of folklore or communal rituals.

2. Discuss the narrative structure of Frankenstein. How and by whom is the

novel narrated? Whom is the strange plot addressed to? What could this
possibly mean?

The structure of Mary Shelley’s book is the model for many Victorian and
Modernist narratives, mostly containing or dealing with Gothic features (as is
the case of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness). Think about the terms ‘Chinese
boxes’ and ‘Russian dolls’. Why does Mary Shelley use this kind of structure?

3. Identify the most relevant Gothic features of Frankenstein. Why was

Shelley’s novel considered a horror narrative when it was first published?
Do you consider it to be so? Why?

4. Compare and contrast the main and the secondary characters in

Frankenstein. How does the novel represent duality in this respect?

5. Discuss the various meanings of monstrosity in the novel.

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6. Notice that the monster is never given a name by Victor Frankenstein! He is
otherwise termed with degrading epithets like ‘monster’ (27 times), ‘fiend’
(25), ‘daemon’ (18), ‘creature’ (16), ‘wretch’ (15), ‘devil’ (8), ‘being’ (4),
‘vampire’ (1), and ‘ogre’ (1). What are the implications of this fact?

7. Compare and contrast male and female elements in Frankenstein. What are
the most significant implications of the text when we read it —as we
should— ‘with gender on the agenda’?

8. Examine and discuss the critique of science in Frankenstein.

9. Discuss the role of Nature in Frankenstein. How does landscape help to

create a singular atmosphere in the reader’s mind?

10. Is Frankenstein’s monster the epitome of Rousseau’s ‘bon sauvage’?

Discuss the behaviour of the creature from a moral point of view.

11. Discuss the social and political implications of Frankenstein.

Do not forget the great influence of the French Revolution on Mary Shelley’s
novel!

12. Discuss Frankenstein as an intertextual novel, a text that recurrently speaks

about other literary works. What do the books that the monster reads
contribute to his education and behaviour? Describe the monster’s peculiar
educative process. Is he the product of a defective education? Why?

Remember the books that the creature finds in the forest and take into
consideration that, of course, Mary Shelley does not select them by chance:
-The Viscount of Volney’s Ruins (a historical compendium based on a very
Romantic theme: that of the decay of past civilizations).
-Goethe’s Werther (dealing with the emphasis on private sentiment).
-Plutarch’s Lives (a profound examination of public virtue and vice).
-Milton’s Paradise Lost (a literary mirror for the monster. You will discover
much evidence of this in the text).

The creature reads other significant texts: the Abbé Barruel’s The History of
Jacobinism (dealing with the political implications of the French Revolution)…
and Victor’s journal, where he learns about his own creation.

13. Discuss the philosophical background of the novel’s plot.

John Locke (An Essay Concerning Human Understanding) can be of

extraordinary importance here.

14. Explain the most relevant symbols in the narrative.

For instance, you can pay special attention to the contrast between ice and fire in
the book.

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 15. Compare and contrast Mary Shelley’s narrative with any of the filmed
versions of it that you may have seen. How are they similar? How are they
different? What do these similarities and differences imply from an
ideological viewpoint?

FURTHER READING:

BALDICK, Chris (1987). In Frankenstein’s Shadow. Myth, Monstrosity and

Nineteenth-Century Writing. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

BALLESTEROS GONZÁLEZ, Antonio (1998). Narciso y el doble en la literatura

fantástica victoriana. Cuenca: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Castilla-
La Mancha.

— y CAPORALE, Silvia (eds.) (1999). “Introducción” a Frankenstein de Mary Shelley.

Salamanca: Ediciones Colegio de España (Colección Almar-Anglística).

BOTTING, Fred (1991). Making Monstrous: Frankenstein, Criticism, Theory.

Manchester: Manchester University Press.

LEVINE, George & KNOEPFLMACHER, U. (eds.) (1979). The Endurance of

Frankenstein. Berkeley: University of California Press.

MELLOR, Anne K. (1989). Mary Shelley: Her Life. Her Fiction. Her Monsters.
London: Routledge.

SUNSTEIN, Emily (1989). Mary Shelley: Romance and Reality. Boston: Little, Brown
& Co.