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Emergence of the Secondary: How Primary Figures Lose Control and Focus in Literature and History Analyzing ’s Frankenstein As A Historical-Political Commentary Harleen Karir & Brandon LuShing, Townsend Harris High School Class of 2017

The Questions… The Answers… What is Frankenstein?? 1. Does Mary Shelley’s political commentary 1. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein provides a historical commentary to the . The primary-secondary character relationship A novel written by Mary Shelley, it speaks on the journey of parallel Victor and the monster? with Victor and the monster alludes to two political figures of the French Revolution. Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist hungry for discovery. 2. How did history affect the relationships in 2. Shelley’s experiences with European affairs, the time period she lived in, and the influence of romantic, gothic, and horror themes in With his interest in science, he creates a being horrendous to Mary’s Frankenstein? Frankenstein, Shelley attempts to link the two political figures with Victor and the monster. the eye. This monster, ostracized from society and from 3. How successful was she in this allusion? 3. Napoleon Bonaparte was a French political leader during the French Revolution. A militaristic mastermind, his legacy might not have Victor, attempts to grab the attention of Victor. The monster 4. Is the secondary character important? been pronounced as it is without the aid and disservice of Louis-Nicolas Davout, former of . desires the creation of a female monster to accompany him. 4. The barbaric and monstrous campaign of the French Revolution during the travels of Shelley reveals how this time period, the horrors of At first Victor reluctantly agrees, but then revokes that warfare, and the complex relationship of Napoleon and Davout seeped into the foundation of Frankenstein, especially with the vicious agreement. The monster begins to hunt down Victor’s loved of the creation and the murders of Victor’s closest relations. ones, in which Victor vows revenge on the monster. Although unsuccessful in catching the monster, as the monster sees the The French Revolution. N.d. The death of Victor, he solemnly agrees to his own death and French Revolution Timeline. Web. 17 isolation in the North Pole. May 2017. . Shelley’s World As She Wrote Frankenstein: • “Percy Shelley [...] was heir to a baronetcy through his father and enjoyed both an affluent childhood and the role of favored child. His ways were lofty, creative and mischievous, Direct Political Commentary via Victor and Monster: traits often expressed in his youth with scientific dabbling and later with ideas on social “Mary Shelley also masterfully constructs the monster to represent the lower class and Frankenstein to revision and political protest. Percy was taken with Godwin's liberal social ideas and sought represent political officials and those of a higher status. As stated in the article, (R)Evolutionary Images in him out at age 19” (Badalamenti 422). Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein by Chikage Tanabe, the monster’s continuous rebellion against Frankenstein • “Both of Mary Shelley's natural parents were distinguished authors. William Godwin was “…reminds us of the basic concept of the French Revolution, that is, the rebellion against the (a father noted for his work "Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Morals and figure)…” (51). Happiness," a work considered radical at that time. Her mother was noted as the author of Frankenstein’s creation did not start out in total opposition to his father, however. The - The Monster as depicted in Frankenstein "A Vindication of the Rights of Women", an early feminist work. Mary Shelley was deeply Frankenstein. N.d. Web. 17 May 2017. monster believed that Frankenstein owed him certain rights and privileges; this was his . her few means of knowing her natural mother” (Badalamenti 421). he tasked Frankenstein with the creation of a being like himself, so that he could have a

companion. The monster believed that he had a right to rebel, only after Frankenstein failed Napoleon Bonaparte. N.d. Bayern. BR. Web. 17 his duties (Scribano 2-4). May 2017. -Considered to be one of the best of Napoleon's , Louis-Nicolas Davout was born in a rented farmhouse into a noble but very poor family. -Poor Corsican noble by birth, Napoleon Bonaparte grew up in until his family obtained a scholarship for him to study at the school at Brienne in France, and he left for there at age nine. THE SOURCES… Badalamenti, Anthony F. “Why Did Mary Shelley Write Frankenstein?” Journal of Religion and Health, -The stylistic distance between Frankenstein and the is even more How Shelley Created Her Characters & Success vol. 45, no. 3, 2006, pp. 419–439., www.jstor.org/stable/27512949. Gallaher, John G. “The Iron Marshal: A Biography of Louis N. Davout” (London: Greenhill Books, graphically illustrated when we turn to writings dealing directly with the of Allusions: 2000). “Most of France, however, lay in ruins: "Nothing could be more entire", Duncan, Greg. "Frankenstein: The Historical Context." Frankenstein Commentary. N.p., n.d. Revolution in France. If the characterization of Victor Frankenstein owes Web. 02 Apr. 2017. . she cries at the depredations of the Cossacs [sic], "than the ruin which "English History Timeline - 1500 to present." English History Timeline - 1500 to present. N.p., much to Godwin's utopian writings and to the body of literature that grew n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017. these barbarians had spread as they advanced; perhaps they remembered . up in response to him, Frankenstein's Monster, in contrast, rises from the and the destruction of the Russian villages; but we were now in Hale, Jessica. "Constructing Connectedness: , Sexuality and Race in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein." Constructing Connectedness: Gender, Sexuality and Race in Mary France, and the distress of the inhabitants, whose houses had been burned, Shelley’s Frankenstein. The UCI Undergraduate Research Journal , n.d. Web. 2 Apr. 2017. body of writings on the French Revolution. . their cattle killed, and all their wealth destroyed, has given a sting to my Levine, George. “‘Frankenstein’ and the Tradition of Realism.” NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, vol. - Mary Shelley's reading was by no means confined to the philosophical tradition of her father. The detestation of " (Shelley 1991: 19). These scenes are largely repeated 7, no. 1, 1973, pp. 14–30., www.jstor.org/stable/1345050. monster is, however, simply pleading against the injustice of man and his institutions, and for what Markham, J. David. Napoleon For Dummies. Hoboken: Wiley Publishing, Inc, 2005. as they journey through France and there is little relief until the frontier Michie, Elsie B. "Frankenstein and Marx's Theories of Alienated Labor." Frankenstein and each nineteenth-century fictional orphan wants-new parents, someone to love and rely on, justice, a Marx's Theories of Alienated Labor. University of Pennsylvania, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017. with is crossed” (Phillips 64). . place in which to define himself and be happy. "Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous." The Paulson, Ronald. “Gothic Fiction and the French Revolution.” ELH, vol. 48, no. 3, 1981, pp. “The monster's behavior, together with his ability to withstand 532–554., www.jstor.org/stable/2872912. point is a political one, of course, and much of the monster's experience exemplifies the view that Phillips, Bill. “Frankenstein and Mary Shelley's ‘Wet Ungenial Summer.’” Atlantis, vol. 28, no. 2, evil enters man's spirit as a result of the injustice of other men (though this is a circular and unbelievable hardship and deprivation, clearly sets him apart 2006, pp. 59–68., www.jstor.org/stable/41055247. Randel, Fred “The Political Geography of Horror in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” ELH, Vol 70 No inconclusive argument). Man is born naturally good, and there is every evidence that the monster's from humanity. His indifference towards his victims, at least 2 (Summer,2003) pp.465-491 http://l-adam-mekler.com/randel_political_geography.pdf heart is in the right place…” (Levine 23-24). Scribano, Francesca. “Frankenstein and the French Revolution.” Augustana College, 2015. until the final chapter, is the indifference of a force of nature, http://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=honrstudent Sterrenburg, Lee. "Mary Shelley's Monster: Politics and Psyche in Frankenstein." "Politics and capable neither of remorse, nor of rational justification…” Psyche in Frankenstein". University of Pennsylvania, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017. . (Phillips 67). Vlasopolos, Anca. “Frankenstein's Hidden Skeleton: The Psycho-Politics of Oppression (Le Squelette Caché De Frankenstein: La Psycho-Politique De Poppression).” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 10, no. 2, 1983, pp. 125–136., www.jstor.org/stable/4239544.