'Frankenstein is full of ideas and warnings which are relevant to a modern audience.' -Discuss the enduring appeal of the novel.

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PRE-1914 PROSE ENGLISH COURSEWORK

FRANKENSTEIN

'Frankenstein is full of ideas and warnings which are relevant to a modern audience.'

-Discuss the enduring appeal of the novel.

Introduction:

Despite being over a century old, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has continued to hold public interest for nearly two hundred years. The novel was published 1818 and is one of the most acclaimed gothic stories in the history of literature. It has remained a firm favourite with audiences of the past and present, and has been adapted and re-told many times through various different kinds of media, for example; radio programmes, theatre, art, children's comic books and cartoons, television and film versions.

Shelley, daughter of one of the first feminist thinkers of the age, Mary Wollstonecraft, came from a well educated background, of the artistic and intellectual elite of the time. However, she grew up in most unusual circumstances; her parents never married (which was frowned upon) and she herself went on to have children (out of wedlock) with the famous English poet Percy Shelley.

The idea for Frankenstein developed when Lord Byron, Shelley, Mary came together in the summer of 1816 in Geneva. On a fateful day, they were confined indoors due to rain. Byron came up with the idea that each of them should write a ghost story to pass time. It is thought she took many ideas from Percy Shelley's 'Prometheus Unbound' and most of Frankenstein became based on the limitations of being a human being.

Mary Shelley alone succeeded in creating a story that would later become one of the most famous of all time. In the preface to Frankenstein, Mary Shelley states that the book was conceived in a dream in which she saw a "pale student of unhallowed arts putting together the hideous phantasm of a man." She writes, "the idea so possessed my mind that a thrill of fear ran through me, and I wished to exchange the ghastly image of my fancy for the 'realities around'." She realized that what terrified her would also terrify others, and so she formulated her story.

Frankenstein has prevailed for many different reasons including some of the following;

* It is interesting and has been very well written.

* It is a provocative gothic novel with an appeal of mystery.

* It raises all sorts of (moral) issues throughout- some that have been explored in the text are still relevant to today's world (prejudice, parenting, morality, and scientific advances.)

There is no doubt that many factors influenced and inspired Shelley to write Frankenstein; we know that she had learned about various philosophical and scientific doctrines. Galvanism (the re-animating of a corpse) was a popular topic of discussion and interest at her time, and it seems this was an important influence for Frankenstein. However, her personal experiences seem to have also influenced her; her mother died just ten days after Mary had been born, and her half-sister committed later committed suicide. Shortly after this Percy Shelley's wife, Harriet also committed suicide. An effort was made to resuscitate her, although she died later. The next year she had a premature baby girl, Clara, who died at four weeks old- she was haunted by a recurring dream about her dead baby, where Clara was revived and brought back from the dead.

The popularity and enduring appeal of the novel

There are many reasons as to why Frankenstein remains so popular today. The way in which it has been written is different to any novel ever written, and the mysterious gothic style in which it has been written only adds to it's enduring appeal.

The novel opens in epistolary form- and does not involve Frankenstein himself at all to begin with. This unusual opening is surprising for us as readers as it is not what we expect of Frankenstein as a gothic novel. This unexpected opening 'grabs' us, drawing us into the story itself, whilst setting the scene.

The reader is introduced after all the main events have taken place, where Victor is pursuing the monster to the North Pole in search of retribution for the murders of his loved ones at the hands of the monster. (The fact that all the main events have taken place becomes clear to the reader later, when Victor is rescued by Captain Walton and is telling his story.)

Frankenstein begins being told in letters between an explorer named Captain R. Walton, corresponding to his sister Margaret Saville whilst on a voyage of discovery in the North Pole. (The story opens with the narrative catching up to the time of Walton's fourth letter to his sister) Walton tells the remainder of his story in another series of letters to his sister. Although we can tell from the letters to begin with that Captain Walton is not involved, it later becomes clear to the reader that he, Victor and the monster are in the same area, and that their paths will no doubt cross sooner or later, which builds tension and adds excitement to the story.
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The content of Chapter 4 builds on the excitement already there, thrilling the reader with gothic account-like descriptions from Victor himself about how obsession was born and grew to almost soul-consuming proportions.

The chapter opens with Victor talking of his fascination with the structure of the human form, and life in particular. He turns his attention to life in particular and questions whether it is true that only God can bring life into the world

...'Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed?'

Intrigued, Victor studies the concept of life and death, ...

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