13. Victorian literature, Shelley, Wilde

During his cremation she stole his charred heart and kept it in a box till she died of illness

she edited some of his work and published it

She spent the rest of her life on her own writing

She lived in period of romanticism and industrial revolution

“Frankenstein:”

• 1st science fiction

• Gothic literature, exotic location

• Romantic hero – outsider

• Melodrama

• Supernatural

• Frankenstein tells the story of gifted scientist Victor Frankenstein who succeeds in giving life to a being of his own creation. However, this is not the perfect specimen he imagines that it will be, but rather a hideous creature who is rejected by Victor and mankind in general.

• Narrative structure:

  • Omniscient narrator – all knowing, knows everything and knows what’s going on in somebody’s head, knows the past and the future

  • Robert Walton – he captains a North Pole-bound ship that gets trapped between sheets of ice, his crew pick up Victor Frankenstein (weak and tired from a long chase after the monster) and Walton listens to his story → Walton retells the story in the letters ↓

  • Epistolary = story formed from letters to Walton’s sister

• Question: how a person turns up? Environment or is it in his blood? Nature (genetics) x nurture (upbringing)

• STORY:

  • Victor first describes his early life in Geneva. His blissful childhood with his adopted sister Elizabeth and his friend Henry. He then went to university of Ingolstadt to study natural philosophy and chemistry. He then desires to discover the secret of life – he then is convinced he found it. He then collects body parts and creates a monster that brings to life with electricity. But he fears it, so he runs to Henry, where he gets fever.

  • Victor wants to run back to Geneva, but before his exit he gets a letter that his youngest brother was killed. Victor thinks that the monster did it, but a gentle girl, adopted by Frankenstein’s family, is framed and executed. Victor hates the monster for bringing to death two innocent people and he feels guilty.

  • Victor goes to mountains to ease his grief. He meets with the monster, that confess to the murder and begs for understanding – he did it for revenge on Victor, his cruel creator. He wants him to create him a mate, so he doesn’t feel lonely in a world where everyone hates him.

  • Victor then agrees and starts to create a second monster. He then gets cold feet and dump the unfinished body into lake. The monster promises revenge on Victor’s wedding night.

  • Victor ends up in a prison for murder of Henry – when he sees the body, he knows the monster killed him. But he is kept in prison.

  • After being released, he marries Elizabeth, who is then killed on the wedding night. Victor’s father then dies of grief. Victor vows to devote the rest of his life to finding the monster and exacting his revenge.

  • Victor tracks the monster and end up at the ship of Walton, who starts to retell Victor’s story in the letters to Walton’s sister.

  • Victor dies, Walton then coming back from his mission seeks the grave and finds the monster weeping and suffering. The monster then departs for the northernmost ice to die.