riassunto e appunti lezione vita e opere Mary Shelley + approfondimento, Schemi e mappe concettuali di Inglese

Scarica riassunto e appunti lezione vita e opere Mary Shelley + approfondimento e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Mary Shelley She was born in London in 1797, she was the daughter of philosopher William Godwin and the famed feminist Mary Wallstonecraft. She had no formal education but she red widely in her father’s library. In 1814 she eloped with the married poet and in 1816 she spent the summer in Switzerland with Percy Shelley and Lord Byron and in this situation she conceived the idea for Frankenstein in a ghost-story competition. Percy Shelley’s wife committed suicide, Mary and Percy married in December 1816. In 1851 Mary Shelley died in London at age 53. Frankenstein’s plot The plot of the novel is very simple: Victor Frankenstein, a Swiss scientist, manages to create a human being by joining parts selected from corpses. 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 Seville. The events of the story happen all over Europe, from Genève to the Alps, to France, England and Scotland, as well as the university at Ingolstadt. The most important setting is the North Pole, where Walton and his shipmates are stuck by the ice and where Frankenstein is found following his creation. This setting is used to show these two characters’ states of mind as being depressed, empty and lonely. Furthermore, the creation’ s birthplace is next to Frankenstein’s university; thus, this foreshadows the fact that Victor’s creation has also the mind of a scholar. Frankenstein Frankenstein oversteps human limits in his search for creation of human life. His action upset the equilibrium of nature. Balance is only restored through death of the inventor and his creature. The monster’s horrible appearance leads to fear and social rejection. Social prejudice towards what is different provokes the monster’s anger and thirst for revenge. The monstrosity lies in Victor Frankenstein’s insane scientific ambitio. The evil part is presented by the figure of the monster could scare us but Dr Frankenstein and the monster are two aspect of the same being. They represent the good and the evil side of man This theme will be dealt with again by writers such as Stevenson or Oscar Wilde. “The creation of the monster”  Scientific novel  dark side of progress  Travel novel  Swift  Epistolary novel  Richardson  Ghotic novel  gloomy atmosphere, supernatural characters and events, sublime nature, suspense Themes:  Modern Prometheus  ambition, desire ti exceed the limits of the nature  Dark side of progress  The theme of the double  good vs evil  Prejudice  rejection out of outward appearance Romanticism The word “romantic” derives from the term “romance” a country novel in vernacular French.  something stravagant and emotion created by that In the first half of the 17th century meaning extravagant, unreal, used to describe picturesque landscapes and the emotions they created Romanticism features:  Focus of individual  Feelings, passions, emotions  What makes him/her unique  How man is in her/him without the influence of society  Emphasis on originality and expression of the interior world of the poet  Nature: source of inspiration, living force, expression of God  reflection of the divine  Correspondences between nature and man’s feelings  Emphasis on the power of imagination The romantic poet express their ability in very different way, especially when they describe the natural’s power because the looking of the nature starts different emotions. The poet is the only one man who can fell something about nature  the poet used that place like place of consolation Complete rejection of rationalism and realism:  Rejection of materialism  Detachment from the dehumanisation of civilized society  Praise of the “natural state of man” visible in childhood and spoiled through adulthood  More sensitive man and with higher degree of imagination, the only able to grasp the meaning of life and the messages nature gives, a sage and a prophet Importance of vocabulary, figure of speech of sound “sinestesia” Two generation of romantic poetry: the first one Blake, Wordworth and Coleridge, the second one with Shelley and Byron. William Wordworth 1770-1850 Belongs the Lake poets (north-west)  he was graduated at Cambridge He was enthusiast of the ideal of the French revolution, had a breakdown following its failure He went to live with his sister Dorothy in Dorset in contact with nature, far to cities, not urbanised place in England Lyrical Ballads= manifesto of the English romantic poetry, first collection in 1798, The object of poetry will be “incidents and situation from common life”  rural life The language will be that of rustic people  it is more comprehensible less artificial Language originally eas created to refer to common objects  bucolic place Language originally was crated to refer to common objects The poeti is “a man speaking to man”, a man endowed with more sensibility, able to grasp deeper meanings and teach them to ordinary people. Enterpreat reality in a deeper way.