Oscar Wilde, the author of The Picture of Dorian Gray, was mainly influenced by the psychological development in the nineteenth century. Until the 1880’s, psychology was widely regarded as a branch of philosophy, before it developed as an independent scientific discipline. Psychology borders on various other fields including neuroscience and artificial intelligence; factors of which Mary Shelley also bases her writing upon. The progress of psychology, and most prominently Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis would have been a huge influence on Wilde’s writing. Oscar Wilde’s tutor, Reverend JP Mahaffy, was a huge inspiration to him, along with his parents who were noted authors. The imprisonment of Wilde had a huge affect on his writing and could possibly have led him to develop the sinister character of Dorian Gray.
Victor Frankenstein could be described as too impatient, ambitious and self-centred to accept the slow pace of science and evolution, which could explain his despair before the creation of the monster. By using chemicals to put together his creature, he short-circuits the natural cycle required for the creation of new life, and the result of his experiment is, in effect, an evolutionary step backwards.
The Modern Prometheus, as Frankenstein is sometimes referred, originates from the Latin Prometheus, who makes an unnatural man from clay and water to directly repel against the laws of nature. The figure of Prometheus was the subject of a poem published by Lord Byron in 1816 who explored and harnessed the secrets of nature. Shelley immensely uses the theme of Prometheus throughout Frankenstein, and Victor’s creation of the monster is almost identical to that. These two aspects of the Prometheus story, creation and transgression, complicate the image of the scientist represented by Victor Frankenstein.
Victor Frankenstein could be compared with Dr Faustus, a man who desires to know the secrets of the universe, and sells his soul to Satan. He becomes power-hungry but does not know how to handle the power. The Faust legend raises the question of eternal damnation due to the unpardonable sin of despair. Victor relinquishes his family for the pursuit of secret knowledge, and, working in isolation, creates a creature that he abandons. This can also be compared to Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray. Wilde was very familiar with the Faust legend through popular culture and so incorporated its themes into his writing. Lord Henry can be associated with the devil, or at least the devil’s advocate, and Dorian Gray the innocent, unwitting, insecure boy who has his flaws manipulated by Lord Henry. He persuades naïve Dorian, to exchange his soul for eternal youth which in turn leads him to become greedy and out of control.
Mary Shelley was reading the book Emile previous to writing Frankenstein. The novel argues that mans nature is harmless, but is made evil by society’s perception. The monster, although visually distorted and horrendous, was not born a bad person. A parent’s, or creator’s job is to support and care for their creation, which Victor failed to do. Inspiration for this storyline may have originated from Mary’s home life. Both Percy’s and her father simultaneously disowned them for falling in love with one another, similar to Victor and the monster, on their departure she began to write Frankenstein.
The theme of the ‘monster in man’ is very apparent in both Frankenstein and The Picture of Dorian Gray. In Shelley’s novel, the monster is used as a symbol for our own inner ugliness. Although it appears to be the cause of fear and prejudice, it could stand for a hideous and violent reaction to something unknown and different. This is similarly obvious in Wilde’s Dorian Gray, as Dorian is an envied, beautiful man, but on discovery that he will one day lose his assets and look ‘different’, his personality significantly alters and he transforms into a monster.
Another theme that is present in both novels is that of discovery. Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein and the monster all begin by expressing their desires to discover. The monster has humble aims to discover motives, but the others have lofty ambitions and are prepared to sacrifice human relationships to fulfil them. Dorian Gray’s only motive is to sustain his youth, but by doing this embarks on an incredible journey which enables him to discover himself, and release the monstrous characteristics he possess inside him.
Chapter five of Frankenstein is possibly the principle climax of the book; the monster, after long anticipation, is finally created. Written in first person narrative, as is the rest of the book, the tone of the narrative alters from storytelling about Victor’s idyllic childhood, to darkness, guilt and despair. Shelley uses pathetic fallocy to highlight the weather’s importance within this scene and Victor’s use of lightning to create the ‘monster’. Personification is also used to describe the sky; it leads the reader to believe that it is desolate, austere and bleak. Unlike scene one when Victor spoke of his blissful childhood and how he owed his happiness in life to his parents, he now fails to recognise that he should care for his creation and act as a parent figure. Shelley’s use of irony is very noticeable in this chapter. It could be compared to Wilde’s character of Dorian Gray. Dorian is a respectable, beautiful young man, but is easily corrupted by Lord Henry. It’s almost as if he did create Dorian, but he only formed the corrupt side of his personality, and encouraged him to pursue evil. Although Victor did not promote the monster towards pursuing evil, dismissing it and cutting it off from support and comfort led him to commit awful crimes.
The language and style in Frankenstein is in contrast to The Picture of Dorian Gray. There are many key images within Frankenstein, one of these being the recurrent use of hand gestures. Characters in the play hold their hands over their faces when confronted with the monster; this could suggest Victor’s denial of his responsibilities of his self-denial of his own monstrosity. An outstretched hand has the potential to symbolise the longing for human contact. This technique is often used in conjunction with the monster which represents his loneliness and need for support from humans.
The structure of Shelley’s novel is very simplistic. Events are written logically, and although not in chronological order, they are easy to follow and straight forward to read. This emphasises her scientific mind, she writes almost following a formula. Flashbacks are used to portray the influence the past has on the present, which proves very effective. The story is written in Chinese-box narration, each story is enfolded within another story. The letters are very important in Frankenstein as it makes the storyline reasonable apparent before it begins; it sets the scene and introduces the gothic themes and tension. Wilde’s novel is reasonably different. Although events are in sequential order, clever limericks are used frequently throughout which could be seen to deter the reader away from the plot. There is a set of notes as the preface of The Picture of Dorian Gray, the most important reading ‘There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book; they are either written well, or written badly.’ Oscar Wilde was wildly criticised for his writing and critics openly mocked his work, calling it immoral. The set of notes before the book begins could have been written purely for their behalf, to take a stand, and prove them wrong.
In conclusion, the nineteenth century had an unbelievable affect on the writing of Mary Shelley and similarly Oscar Wilde. The progressions in science and in psychology were tremendous and although influences were found elsewhere for the authors, the most prominent were the developments and advancements of their societies.
Jaidee Spear
