1. The Context of Frankenstein
Alison Aitken, 2012

2. Mary Shelley Born 1797 Died 1851 Wrote Frankenstein 1816
Published 1818
Image source:

3. Mary Shelley’s Parents
Mary Shelley described (accurately) that she was the “daughter of two persons of distinguished literary celebrity”
Two of the most radical writers/thinkers of the previous generation
Mother: Mary Wollestonecraft
Father: William Godwin

4. Shelley’s mother Mary Wollstonecraft
Wrote The Vindication of the Rights of Women
Early feminist piece
“I do not wish [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.”
“Make women rational creatures, and free citizens, and they will quickly become good wives; — that is, if men do not neglect the duties of husbands and fathers.”
Died 11 days after Mary Shelley’s birth.
Had an illegitimate child
Believed in sexual freedom of women
Image source:

5. Mary Shelley’s Father William Godwin
Wrote An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793)
A leader in radical intellectual circles
Believed in human perfectibility and enlightenment
Believed that governments, marriage, property monopoly and monarchy restrained the progress of humankind
Image source:

6. William Godwin – cont’d
After Mary Wollstonecraft’s death, Godwin raised Mary Shelley and her half-sister.
Despite his alleged coldness, he surrounded his children with:
Extensive library
Intellectual conversations
Creative intellectuals

7. The Enlightenment – The Age of Reason
Human perfectibility
“The proper employment of reason will result in the full achievement of human potential."
Progress
Scientific and mathematical discoveries
The innate goodness of man – “benevolent heart”
Logic
Reason
Research and science over God and church

8. The Enlightenment – The Age of Reason
Scientific method
Rationality
Discovery
Astronomy
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
Order
Concern for peace
Beginnings of Industrialisation
Measurement
Interest in the past, antiquity
World was expanding – geographical discoveries (EG. Australia!)
Growth of international trade
Imperialism
Colonisation
Published media =
Masses interested in science, alchemy, philosophy, natural history…

9. Romanticism Began in 18th century
Response to the “reason” of The Enlightenment.
A movement in literature and other arts
Art (not science or reason) as way to inner truths of life, one’s soul
Nature as “sublime”
Hatred of industrialisation
Response to rationalism of the Enlightenment
Strong emotion as authentic source of aesthetic experience
Intuition, imagination, feeling
Listen: Tintern Abbey -

10. Galvanism Luigi Galvani Italian physicist/physician Late 18th century
Discovered that an electrical current applied to a dead frog’s leg caused it to twitch
Caused others to theorise that enough current (either by electrical current or chemical reaction) to the brain might “re-animate” a human corpse
Image sourced 19/01/12 at

11. Shelley Surrounded by Creative Intellectuals of the Time
William Wordsworth & Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Poets who began the Romantic movement)
William Hazlitt (Major Essayist in English Literature)
Mary Shelley heard their conversations!
Images sourced from: 1) 2) 3)

12. The French Revolution Radical social and political upheaval
Aim: end to aristocracy and monarchy
Liberty, Fraternity, Equality!
At first - English and others looked to the French model for inspiration, but later, as the horror took shape, became fearful of similar chaos

13. Gothic Fiction Popular art form – Late 18th century
Settings: castles, dungeons, secret passages
Omens, phenomena, portents, dreams, visions
Supernatural elements – ghosts, hauntings
High emotions – often overwrought
Mystery, doom, gloomy, foreboding
Metonymy (something standing for something else) of horror – wind, rain
Panic, threatening atmosphere, terror,
Sentimental narration
Breathless, heart pounding
Female heroine, without male protector – oppressed or lonely
Heroine often threatened by powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male to do something they don’t want to (reflects patriarchal context, women without power)
Footsteps approaching, groaning, maniacal laughter, thunder, lightning, ruins, howling winds etc..
Info sourced on 19/01/12 from
To read The Castle of Otronto, the “first” Gothic novel, click here.