British lit ULTIMATE DOC

Neo-classism

1660-1798
It divides in 3 period
- Restoration period
 King beheaded, clear and concise sentences, formal writing, imaginative
- Augustan period
 King George the 1 wanted to be like Augustan (so the period was named
like that), swift, write by the rules of the romans and Greeks,
metaphysical poet
- Age of Johnson (some scholars say there are 4 periods)
 Creation of the dictionary, transition from the romantics
- Ended in 1798
- Beginning of the British middle class (more ppl was literate)
- People were interested in looks more, appearances
- Neo-classical literature is classified as flawed authors
- Conservatism flourished
- Essays, satire, letters, melodramas
- American and French revolution
- Decorum and stability, structure to be upheld

Frankenstein

Mary Shelly
- 1797-1851
- Her mother was the writer of a very feminist book. Her work “A vindication of
the rights of women”
- William Woodsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (inspired her)
- Percy helped her correct the original manuscript of Frankenstein
- 4 of her children died of aids
- Percy drowned, and one of his friends in grief burned the body but his heart was
calcified (stone rock) (his heart was snateched from the funeral pyre by Edward
Trelawny, friend of the poets, who designed the boat that sank)
- Mary’s first work was “Mounseer Nongtonpaw; or the discoveries of john bull
on a trip to Paris” in 1810- a verse poem.
- Mary’s father disapproved of the relations with Percy (he had a pregnant wife)
(he got together with her stepsister, Jane Clairmont)

Poem- Ozymandias
- Greek name for the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II
- Galvanism was popular at that time (electricity used to bring things to life) –
what victor Frankenstein’s attempted in his experimentations

Allusions
 - “The sorrows of young Werther” shelly drew inspiration from that novel
(befriends the other men and the young lady [charlotte], placed in a higher
position in society) this became so popular in the uk, so young men had the
“Werther effect” basically killed themselves for eternal love. Additionally,
served as an inspiration for the Byronic hero
- Themes of extreme passion, turmoil, pursuit of authentic self-expression.
- She drew inspiration from this for the themes of life’s values, contemplations of
suicide, and unrequited love. The purpose is that love cannot be demanded.
- Body snatchers

Plutarch Lives
- Showcase moral lessons
- Themes of leadership, ethics, and human nature
- Collection of biographical essays that pairs stories of notable Greeks and romans
exploring their virtues and contributions.
- Included such as alexander the great and Julius Ceaser.
- The complexity and nuances of this great leader, their humanity

- Transformative experience in Frankenstein, letter of worthen addressed to his

sister

- The monster learns about humanity, and admires human beings

- The juxtaposition that are echoed: Victor and Robert Walston, Victor and the
monster. This highlights morality (in what sense?) and vengeance (how and by
whom is carried forth)

Prometheus
- Shelly sees Prometheus as a cautionary hero. This suggests the damage of
cultural honor
- He is a symbol to catch the powers of nature/ individual acts.
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