Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein : Frankenstein Belongs in the Canon Marsha Law, M. S. Ed. CORE Academy, June 2015
“I think most readers will agree that Frankenstein really is a good novel, both scary and thoughtful.” Stephen King
How did it all begin? Born August 30, (Bennett, 1998) Parents, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, were viewed as philosophers and novelists. (Bennett, 1998) Wollstonecraft dies of puerperal fever. (Bennett, 1998) Godwin remarries. (Gilbert and Gubar, 2007) Scotland. (Gilbert and Gubar, 2007)
Educates herself by reading. Meets Percy Shelly, poet and future husband, on a trip to visit her father in London. Death of first daughter after birth at 17 years old. Her “preoccupation with death and resurrection prefigures some of the central concerns of Frankenstein” Journal entries indicate dreams of her baby coming back to life. In Scotland… Gilbert and Gubar (2007)
Frankenstein is “perhaps the most memorable and influential science fiction fantasy ever published in English” (493). Gilbert and Gubar, 2007
Other Influences on Shelly’s Life Education— Godwin’s Early Influence Shakespeare— Plays and Wollstonecraft
Each monster has multiplied, “continually being re-produced in criticism, in stage productions, and in various film versions” (27). These monsters also achieved an afterlife beyond that of their initial creators, experiencing “a new existence beyond the horizon of their original inception” (28). Sawyer, 2007
Frankenstein’s Clones 1943
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Universal Studios was “kept alive, actually, by the horror films—notably the Frankensteins. They would have been broke without those pictures” (197), yet, they received little critical acclaim while generating a great income (197–198). Hitchcock, 2007
Children’s Books robot-zombie-frankenstein Illustrated- Classics-Shelley/dp/ /b/michael-burgan/frankenstein.htm
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Political & Military Drawings Hitler is portrayed as Dr. Frankenstein being attacked by his own monster. Hitchcock, 2007 World War II produced “its own Frankensteins […] clownish reflections of real-life horror” (193). Hitchcock, 2007 Thousands of the “Armed Services Edition” were shipped over seas and read by soldiers for inspiration. Hitchcock,
“As part of the famous ghost-story contest that took place in Switzerland in the summer of 1816 […] Frankenstein was the most prodigious result.” Stephen C. Behrendt
Final Arguments Three complex texts by Shelly (1818, 1823, and 1831), and many translations with early and late prefaces Blend of the Gothic and the Godwinian psychological, sociopolitical novel with Mary Shelley’s own particular Romanticist sensibility Many possible readings such as Gothic, political, biographical, religious, psychological, anti-male feminist, anti-Godwin and anti-Shelley Although different, the three texts reflect Mary Shelley’s consistent, larger metaphoric questions of the exercise of power and responsibility, personal and societal (30). Bennett, 1998
Works Cited Barns & Noble Editors. March 31, :48 p.m. Behrendt, Stephen C., ed. Approaches to Teaching Shelley’s Frankenstein. The Modern Language Association of America: New York, Print. Bennett, Betty, T. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: An Introduction. The Johns HopkinsUniversity Press: Baltimore & London, Print. Gilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar. The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women: The Traditions in English. 3 rd ed. Vol. 1. W. W. Norton & Company: New York and London, Print. Hitchcock, Susan, T. Frankenstein: A Cultural History. W. W. Norton & Company: New York and London, Print. King, Stephen. Introduction to the Marvel Edition of Frankenstein. MaryWollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein: A Marvel Illustrated Novel. The Marvel Comic Group: New York, Print. Sawyer, Robert. “Mary Shelley and Shakespeare: Monstrous Creations”. South Atlantic Review. South Atlantic Modern Language Association. Vol. 72, No. 2 (Spring 2007), Retrieved