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Frankenstein
We will be starting Frankenstein tomorrow (September 3).
*Fun Fact: Frankenstein is not the Monster, Victor Frankenstein is the name of the doctor who created the Monster.
Frankenstein was written in 1818 (just after the American Revolution, which is wild to think about) by Mary Shelley. As you can guess, anyone who could write something like Frankenstein was a deeply troubled soul. Let’s start with Shelley’s parents, Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin. Wollstonecraft has often been crowned as the first feminist *yikes* and William Godwin was equally as radical, being a huge proponent of moral and sexual revolution. Wollstonecraft died eleven days after the birth of Mary and Mary was left to her father and two half sisters.
You’ll recall Godwin was a radical and was, therefore, used to having passionate young men dote after and study under him. But one (married) man took a special interest in Godwin’s work, becoming a patron and eventually leaving his pregnant wife to move in with Godwin’s family. This man was Percy Bysshe Shelley and as you may have guessed from the surname, he eventually became romantically involved with Mary. Mary and her younger sister, Claire, left home with Shelley, causing their father’s turmoil and Shelley’s wife to commit suicide. Rather ironic that Godwin was upset by his daughter’s… sexual and moral behavior. Hm. Just goes to show, we are all catechizing our children.
In 1816, Mary birthed a daughter who died days later. Claire, Mary, and Percy joined poet Lord Byron and it was during their time together that Mary wrote Frankenstein. It was also during this time that Mary’s other sister, Fanny, committed suicide. In 1818 Frankenstein was published, anonymously.
Over the next few years, Mary and Percy lost two more children and Mary was widowed at 24 when Percy died at sea. Mary wrote three other books which were not published until after her death (brain cancer) at the age of 53.
So, as we can see, Mary had a sunny life and was all around a solid lady. *Sarcasm*
This week let’s try to make it through the introduction, preface, and Letters 1-4. If that’s too much, we’ll slow down for next week. I have the Canon Classics version of this book so I’ll be dropping great questions and insights from the author of the Worldview Guide, Jake McAtee. The above information on Mary’s life was also gathered from the Worldview Guide.
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6 Replies
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Yay!! I’m so excited!!
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I wanted to give a quick summary of our first section of reading. Hope you all are enjoying!
Robert Walton is a young explorer, setting out for the North Pole. He is writing a series of letters to his sister, in which he recounts that he and his crew saw The Monster (appearing to be a large man) trekking across the ice. He then rescues Victor Frankenstein from near death and brings him aboard the ship. Upon hearing Walton’s ambitions, Frankenstein becomes emotional and decides to tell Walton his story, so Walton can avoid the same fate as Frankenstein.
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For next week we will read chapters 1-5 😊 Chapter 1 is beautiful and such a juxtaposition for the rest of the book. Despite Frankenstein’s seemingly perfect upbringing, you can catch snippets of parents letting their child fully indulge in every whim and how that could lead to problems in adulthood.
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Let’s wrap up the book in the next two weeks! Our next book will be The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien, so grab your copy if you don’t already have one 😊
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It’s funny how Frankenstein immediately knows what he did what wrong. As soon as the monster draws his first breath, Frankenstein feels the weight of guilt. There is quite the speculation as to whether Mary or Percy wrote Frankenstein. Some people use this moment to prove Mary wrote the book. Had Percy written the book, his “creator of life” would have been proud of his creation and he would not seen the error of his ways. That’s how Percy lived his life, arrogantly thinking his ideas were superior. Mary, however, questioned her way of life and wasn’t completely sure her parents and husband had it right. So, Frankenstein’s ability to realize the error of his ways may lend some credibility to Mary being the true author of the book.
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I find Frankenstein’s reaction to the monster interesting. He immediately knows he has done wrong and his answer is not to try to fix the problem. Frankenstein’s reaction to his sin is to run, abdicate all responsibility. And then notice what happens. The monster goes on a murder rampage, killing the people Frankenstein loves most. I saw this as a huge parallel to the fatherlessness of our country. When a father abdicates his responsibility to provide for his family and raise his children, what will be the result?
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