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Frankenstein

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Frankenstein Which Frankenstein are we studying? Frankenstein, the novel, by Mary Shelley. Frankenstein, the play, by Phillip Pullman. Frankoworm, the children s book. – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Frankenstein


1
Frankenstein
2
Which Frankenstein are we studying?
  • Frankenstein, the novel, by Mary Shelley.
  • Frankenstein, the play, by Phillip
    Pullman.Frankoworm, the childrens book.

3
The Source -
  • Mary Shelley wrote the novel, Frankenstein in
    1818.
  • Phillip Pullman adapted the novel into a play in
    1990.
  • Both texts were written in different times and
    different contexts.

4
Who is Mary Shelley?
  • Born in 1797 to William Godwin and Mary
    Wollstonecraft.
  • Her mother Mary Wollstonecraft was a writer but
    died when Mary was very young.
  • She was an avid reader and scholar and knew
    through her father some of the most important men
    of the time (William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor
    Coleridge)
  • Married (scandal!) Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1816
    and listened intently to his intellectual
    conversations with others

5
Mary Shelley
  • On a visit in Switzerland, with her husband, PBS,
    to Lord Byron, she was challenged to write a
    story. She had heard Byron and Shelley discussing
    the nature of the principle of life and whether
    there was any chance of its ever being
    discovered. From this conversation, she had the
    waking dream which eventually became the novel
    Frankenstein.

6
CONTEXT- What is the social, historical and
cultural context in which Shelley was
writing Frankenstein?
  • No text is written without a PURPOSE or a
    CONTEXT!
  • Mary Shelley grew up in the Romantic era which
    began in the late 1700s.
  • Her purpose of writing Frankenstein was to
    challenge the beliefs of the Age of Enlightenment
    which preceded the Romantic Age.

7
Age of Enlightenment 1650- 1790vs Romantics
1790- 1850
  • The Romantics revolted against the Age of
    Enlightenment around the 1790s and led to the
    French Revolution.
  • The Age of Enlightenment was an elitist cultural
    movement which believed in three things
  • Reason is the source of all knowledge.
  • Scientific experimentation is the key to human
    progress.
  • Intellectual inquiry without belief in religious
    truth.
  • Isaac Newton, John Locke were the intellectuals
    belonging to this Age.

8
The Romantics
  • The Romantics asserted their belief in FREEDOM,
    LIBERTY AND EQUALITY and rebelled against the
    tyranny of the rich over the poor.
  • They rebelled against the supremacy of REASON and
    returned to celebrate PASSION.
  • They revived a fascination and respect of NATURE
    with a desire to IMAGINATIVELY TRANSFORM IT.

9
  • Mary Shelleys Frankenstein deals with these
    issues and tackles questions such as
  • What is the moral responsibility of man towards
    nature as he investigates it scientifically?
  • Can we know everything through reason?
  • What is the difference between human potential
    and human limitation? What happens if we start to
    play God?

10
Elements found in Frankenstein
  • Science fiction
  • Gothic elements
  • Romantic fascination with nature and creation.

11
Major Characters-
  • Victor Frankenstein is the protagonist.
  • He is the product of an idealistic Enlightenment
    education fueled by possibilities of science and
    a desire for acclaim becomes obsessed with
    creating life from spare body parts.

12
Major Characters
  • The Creature - never named is Victors (alter
    ego) Creature rationally analyzes the society
    that rejects him sympathetic character, admires
    people and wants to be a part of human society
    only results in violence when he is repeatedly
    rejected

13
Major Characters
  • Henry Clerval Victors childhood friend true
    romantic, wants to leave mark on the world, but
    never loses sight of the moral relations of
    things
  • Elizabeth adopted as an infant by Victors
    family.
  • Robert Walton Arctic explorer whos obsessed
    with gaining knowledge and fame rescues Victor
    in the Arctic tells the story.

14
What is the difference between a play and
a novel?
  • Use Inspiration to brainstorm some of the
    elements of drama that are similar or different
    to a novel.

15
Style Gothic Novel
  • Frankenstein is generally categorized as a Gothic
    novel, a genre of fiction that uses gloomy
    settings and supernatural events to create and
    atmosphere of mystery and terror.
  • Shelley adds to her development of the plot the
    use of psychological realism, delving into the
    psyches of the characters in and attempt to
    explain why they react as they do and what drives
    them to make their decisions.

16
Themes
  • Consequences of irresponsibility in the pursuit
    of knowledge
  • Consequences of pride
  • Consequences of societys rejection of someone
    who is unattractive
  • Destructive power of revenge
  • Parent-child conflicts
  • Sympathy

17
Other Literary Elements
  • Irony 2 major ironies
  • Creature is more sympathetic, more imaginative
    and more responsible to fellow creatures
  • Creature has many pleasing qualities but is an
    outcast because hes not physically attractive

18
Symbols
  • White/light knowledge
  • Water knowledge
  • Ice danger
  • Lightning natures power
  • Nature acceptance, nuturing, calm
  • Mountains sublime in nature

19
Antithesis-Contrasts of ideas, characters,
themes, settings or moods
  • Masculine/feminine
  • Beautiful/ugly
  • Good/bad
  • Light/dark
  • Heat/cold
  • Victor/creation
  • Passion/reason
  • Natural/unnatural
  • Known/unknown
  • Civilized/savage

20
Allusion
  • Paradise Lost by John Milton story of mans
    fall from innocence to painful knowledge Victor
    can be compared to Adam, Satan, and Eve
  • The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor
    Coleridge, like narrator, tells story as a
    warning and a confession
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