Scarica Appunti in lingua inglese FRANKENSTEIN e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! MARY SHELLEY The daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, both believers in the Enlightened power of reason. She developed to France with the Romantic poet Percy B. Shelley. The writing of Frankenstein took place at Villa Diodati, on the banks of Lake Geneva. FRANKENSTEIN The plot The plot of the novel is very simple: Victor Frankenstein, a Swiss scientist, who want to create a human being by joining parts selected from corps. Despite careful preparation, the result of the experiment is ugly and revolting. The monster becomes a murderer and in the end he destroys his creator. The story is not told chronologically and is introduced to us through a series of letters written by Walton, a young explorer on a voyage of expedition to the North Pole, to his sister Margaret Walton Saville. The setting The events of the story happen all over Europe from Geneva to the Alps, to France, England, Scotland. The most important setting is the North Pole mirrors Frankenstein’s and the monster’s states of mind. The creation’s birthplace is next to Frankenstein’s university at Ingolstadt. The influences Mary Shelley dedicated Frankenstein to Godwin and used many of the ideas held by her parents, including social justice and education. She clearly sympathises with the monster but is afraid of the consequences of his actions. In this, there is tension between fear of revolution and interest in the revolutionary ideas, two attitudes which were characteristic of English intellectuals in the years between 1789 and 1832. Furthermore, Percy Shelley and Mary were interested in science, and particularly chemistry, so that by the times he wrote Frankenstein, she was aware of the latest scientific theories and experiments in the fields of chemistry, evolutionism and electricity. In fact, Frankenstein tries to create a human being through the use of electricity and chemistry without respecting the rules of nature as far a creation and life are concerned. The monster can be considered a man in a primitive state, not influenced by civilisation; he, however, rapidly discovers the limitations both of the state of nature and of civilisation. The influence of the philosopher Locke can be seen in the description of the monster’s self-awareness and his education by experience. Another important influence was the work of the Romantic poets in general; the most meaningful element Mary Shelley derived from Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the fact that both Coleridge’s ballad and Shelley’s novel are tales of a crime against nature: Frankenstein’s creation of the monster and the Mariner’s shooting of the Albatross. The myth of Prometheus is also important. Prometheus, in Greek mythology, was a giant who stole the fire from the gods in order to give it to men. In so doing, he challenged the divine authority and freed men from gods’ power. He is a clear example of an overreacher, just like Dr Frankenstein, who takes his place alongside Marlowe’sFaustus and Milton’s Satan. Narrators Thus the whole novel has Walton’s sister as the receiver, but presents three different points of view. The form of the novel is epistolary; perhaps the writer wanted to disguise her own voice as a woman by hiding behind three male narrators.
