27
APPENDICES
1) Background of Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley was the daughter of the revolutionary and underestimated
Mary Wollstonecraft(1759-97) who authored A Vindication of the Rights of
Woman(1792) and who is, by today's critics, regarded as one of the earliest
feminists. She was revolutionary because her book A Vindication argued for
equal opportun cs for all in education, which at this time was dominated by
men. She was underestimated due to the fact that her contemporaries(not all of
course) did not acknowledge her or her ideas.
Horace Walpole actually called her'a hyena n petticoats" (Gilhert and
Gubar, 2000: 31) which was the worst she was called, and many other female
authors were exposed to iisugynist attacks like tial. In 1797, Mary Wollslunecraft
arried William Gudw and on August 30, Mary Godwin was
born. However, Wollstonecraft died only ten days after giving birth, and left
28
A her death, he began to write the story of her life, which was meant as a
celebration and was published in January 1798. Memoirs of the Author of the
Vindication of the Rights of Woman. He had a deep admiration for her political
wisdom and personal courage, but that was not how the readers of this
publication vicwcd hc ccccntrics life. The publication was followed by public
outrage, an outrage focused on her passionate love affairs, the birth of an
illegitimate daughter and suicide attempts(Mellor, 1989: 2).
The consequence of Godwin's puhlicatian was that Wollstonecraft's
reputation and influence as an advocate of women's rights, was undermined for
almost a century. Upper-class women could no longer lean against her feminist
claims because she was simply not respected as a spokeswoman any longer. It
was no longer possible for a respectable English woman to openly associate
herself with Wollstonecraft's feminist views(Mellor, 1989: 3) William
Godwin(1756-1836) was also a prominent literary figure who entertained radical
ideas and his Caleb Williams was greatly accredited. Even though he had a
profound respect for Wollstonecraft's intellect and radical ideas, he did not pass
these ideals on to Mary Shelley after the death of Wollstonecran.
Actually, he fell into the category of tie helpless male' who needed a wife
so that he could focus on rcal life', mcaning anything other than domcstic chorcs
and child-rearing Mary Shelley never felt that Godwin loved her enough, and she
was deeply devoted to him(almost on the verge of an Electra complex as
described in psychoanalysis).
29
A summary of Frankenstein Frankenstein has been assigned to the genres
of Gothic and of science fiction, and it contains clements from both of thcsc
genres. The name Frankenstcin is, unlike common belicf he name of the
protagonist of the story Victor Frankenstein, a young man interested in science
and knowledge The story takes its beginning with a series of letters written by
Captain Robert Walton to his siste Margaret Sav e.
From his letters, the reader is introduced to Victor Frankenstein who
enters the story when Walton and his crew encounter him on their voyage to the
North Pole. The narration now shifts to Victor and thc rcadcr, and Walton, gets
an account of his life and tic circumstanccs hat have brought him in his current
situation. We hear of his early life and family relations before entering the real
story of his creation of a living thing from dead matter. and the horrors it
generated. Victor's rejection of his creation, of his child', is apparently the
reason for the unfortunate and disastrous lur e story takes when Victor's younger
brother is found in thie woods, murdered. Victor, aware that it is his creation tha
is responsible for this death says we nothing and is thus responsible for the
imprisonment and death of an innocent woman, Justine Moritz(a close friend of
the Frankenstein family).
Victor is contacted by the crea re and the narration shifts to the creature's
perspective. This is the most empathic and emotional narrative. and the reader
feels sympathy for the creature as he' unfolds his story of rejection and hatred
inflicted upon him due to his abnormal and monstrous exterior. The reason for
30
in the technical understandings he was created and assembled by dead, human
body parts. He is a product of a scientific experiment, and a the same time, the
other characters refer to him as creature' and'monster', which all point to a
non-human existence.
However. throughout the story he is also referred to as he' (without the
apostrophes), and as it lums uut, fie is e character who proves must hurnan(e). In
this projec he 11 therefore also be referred to as 6he' The creature finds a hiding
place in the woods, away from society, but not entirely excluded from human
existence. He encounters the de Lacey family but he keeps his distance and does
therefore not encounter them in the physical sensc of thc word. He obscrves them
with a kccn intcrcst to lcarn about human nature and the trait that distinguishes
man from animal: sensibility. He learns how to speak and feel. b11t with no
human and emotional interaction, he at last furns to acting in accordance to his
appearance and kills William, Victor's brother.
The creature pleads Victor to make him a mate, Victor agrees and the
narration is once again from Victor's point of view. Victor abandons his promise
of making a female creature because he feels that it would be too dangerous, and
from that moment, the two become each other's mortal enemies Victor devotes
himself to killing the creature, the created kills everybody amiind Victor becaiise
he cannot k his creatar. It is in Victor's pursuit of the creature that the narration
