Passive Angels and Miserable Devils Mary Shelley´S Frankenstein from a Historical, Political and Gender Perspective
2008:057 BACHELOR THESIS
Passive Angels and Miserable Devils Mary Shelley´s Frankenstein from a Historical, Political and Gender Perspective
Pernilla Fredriksson
Luleå University of Technology Bachelor thesis English Department of Language and Culture
2008:057 - ISSN: 1402-1773 - ISRN: LTU-CUPP--08/057--SE Table of Contents
Introduction ...... 2
Acting a Novel The Life of the Author of Frankenstein ...... 4
My Hideous Phantom The Novel ...... 15
The Angel in the House Male and Female in Frankenstein ...... 23
Conclusion ...... 33
Bibliography ...... 35
Introduction
Frankenstein and his creature are known to most people of our time. Still, not many know that the famous monster and his creator have their origin in a novel written by a young woman in the beginning of the nineteenth century. A challenge to write a ghost story 1 was the beginning of what came to be Mary Shelley’s most famous novel. Frankenstein, Or; The Modern Prometheus was written by a girl in a time when women were not supposed to be political actors. Yet, Mary Shelley filled her novel with political implications and created a story so intriguing it gained mythical status, and became recreated in many forms, in different types of media. Mary lived an unusual life for a woman in the nineteenth century. She was the daughter of the radicals Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, and she married another such; Percy Bysshe Shelley. To write and to promote political views seem to have been a part of her upbringing, and something she continued with throughout her life. When Frankenstein is looked upon with Mary’s background and the political turbulence of the time in mind, the young author’s ability to create such a complex and fascinating novel becomes less surprising. This essay aims to examine if Mary Shelley depicted male and female characters in Frankenstein with a political agenda in mind. The characters will be compared as a means to determine if specific traits can be observed for each respective sex, and their characteristics will be discussed with the aim of revealing possible political implications. The first chapter, Acting a Novel , will present a background to Mary’s political views. She grew up in conflicted times and was inspired by her radical parents and husband; all prominent writers. Mary Wollstonecraft died after giving birth to Mary, therefore Mary knew her mother only through her writings. It seems that from an early age Mary was influenced by her parents’ political works, and held both of them in high regard. Neither Wollstonecraft nor Godwin were well looked upon by the English society because of their Jacobin views, and in Wollstonecraft’s case, her liberal life style for a women in the eighteenth century. Mary also made choices unusual for a woman of her time, and suffered public hostility as a result. The second chapter, My Hideous Phantom , is an introduction to the novel which became a myth. Frankenstein and his creature have been examined and analyzed in many different ways. There are numerous interpretations of Mary Shelley’s text, the most important of which are presented in this essay to provide the reader with an introduction to the novel and to some of
1 Sjöblad, Christina, et al. Editors I lärdomens trädgård Festskrift till Louise Vinge . Litteratur Teater Film, Nya Serien 15. (Lund: Lund University Press, 1996.) 154(f) 2 the possible political interpretations. Attempts have been made to correlate Frankenstein to the events of the time and to Mary’s own life. It can be seen that Mary was inspired by both of her parents’ works when she wrote Frankenstein . The third chapter, The Angel in the House , contains a comparison between the male and female characters. All major characters are included in the evaluation which determines the specifics for males and females in the novel. The characters and their different qualities are examined, and the comparison reveals how distinctive traits are distributed between the male and female characters. It will be determined how this depiction of the male and female correlates to what we learned about Mary in the first chapter. The essay concludes with a discussion of the possible interpretations of the result in relation to Mary’s life and the intentions behind the novel.
3
Acting a Novel 2
The Life of the Author of Frankenstein
The time in which Mary Shelley (1797-1851) was born was a time of revolution and change. During the period between 1785-1830, England like other European countries, industrialized, and gradually changed from an agricultural society into a modern industrial nation. Large land owners bought up land, and increased the underclass of landless poor. Communally worked farms were enclosed into privately owned holdings; a procedure which was necessary for the more efficient methods needed to supply a growing population, but it further enlarged the landless class. Many small farmers and laborers were forced out of agriculture and migrated to the new industrial centers. 3 Where once the landowners had held the power and wealth, now the large-scale employers stepped in, and the economic power shifted hands. 4 The industrialization created a new problem; unemployed and starving workers. The working- class grew, and the more workers there were, the lower the wages could be. The population became more and more clearly divided into two classes; capital and labor, e.g. the rich and the poor.5 The great majority of the workers had to work long hours under bad conditions and perform “ tasks that destroyed both the body and the spirit .” 6 This of course created a growing discontent within the working class. The French Revolution and its ideas had a great impact on all of Europe. The 1789 storming of the Bastille and the Declaration of the Rights of Man had many supporters in England, and radical social thinking was becoming more common. 7 The Declaration stated that “ Men are born and remain free and equal in rights ” and that “ liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression” are a part of mankind’s natural rights; 8 a message which was propagandized throughout Europe. 9 Both the fact and the idea of revolution engaged the minds of many Romantic writers, and in the early period all leading English writers, except
2 Mary Shelley’s own words about travelling, written 1826 in a review of several new books on “The English in Italy”. Dekker, George G. The Fictions of Romantic Tourism Radcliffe, Scott, and Mary Shelley . (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2005.) 200 3 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2 . (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1993.) 2 4 Ibid. 1 5 Ibid. 2(f) 6 Ibid. 3 7 Ibid. 1 8 Buckler, John, et al. A History of World Societies . (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.) Page 725 9 Ibid. 726 4
Edmund Burke, were in sympathy with the Revolution.10 The political opinion in Britain was sharply divided by those who welcomed the French Revolution and those who saw it as a threat to the order of civilization. 11 In the early period of the French Revolution peasants were freed from many of the old injustices, 12 but the revolution grew increasingly violent and grisly, which made many of the English advocates to lose sympathy. 13 Later, many of the young writers, such as P.B Shelley, Lord Byron and Leigh Hunt, still felt that the example of the French Revolution, when its mistakes had been annihilated, was man’s best hope. 14 During Robespierre’s Reign of Terror (1793-1794) thousands were guillotined, 15 and for many this represented a distortion of the ideals of the early revolution. 16 The prominent English poet William Wordsworth wrote in his famous poem The Prelude : “ Frenchmen had changed a war of self defence for one of Conquest .” 17 The social structure in England was threatened by the ideas of the revolution, and the ruling classes tried to repress all such activity by forbidding public meetings and charge those who spoke for political change with high treason. 18 Yet, the decisive changes in the economic system resulted in such alterations in the social conditions, that transformations in the political arrangements were needed also. New classes were arising, and started to demand political power. 19 The workers desperately needed higher wages, and between the years 1790-1810 there were over 500 riots protesting about the price of bread. 20 Both of Mary Shelley’s parents were renowned in the revolutionary movements that peaked in the late eighteenth century. 21 Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Women from 1792, but had previously impressed with A Vindication of the Rights of Men in 1790, which was her response to Edmund Burke’s conservative Reflections on the Revolution in France .22 Burke attacked the revolution and the
10 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2 . 4 11 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 2 Wollstonecraft. Jump, Harriet, Volume Editor. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 1999.) ix 12 Buckler, John, et al. A History of World Societies . 725 13 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2. 2 14 Ibid. 4 15 Ibid. 2 16 Buckler, John, et al. A History of World Societies . 731 17 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2. 2 18 Ibid. 2 19 Ibid. 2 20 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. Murfin, Ross C. Series Editor. (Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, 1992.) 13(f) 21 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2 . 4 22 Ibid. 4 5
Jacobins, and Wollstonecraft answered this by accounting for the hardships that had driven the poor toward revolution. 23 Rights of Men also responded to what Wollstonecraft believed Burke stood for; class oppression and gender stereotyping, and became an overnight success. 24 The French Revolution had given women in France more rights, such as the possibility to seek divorce and inherit property, but they were still not allowed to vote. The majority of men in the National Assembly in France believed that “ /…/ home-focused wives would raise the high-minded sons needed to govern and defend the nation .” 25 In Rights of Women Wollstonecraft attacked political oppression and argued for women’s rights, which could be seen as potentially revolutionary at the time because of its disagreement with the strong patriarchal structure of society. 26 Women were considered inferior in intellect and only excelled in domestic talents, there were no higher schools available for women and they had no legal rights. 27 Wollstonecraft claimed that women were equally intelligent and talented as men, and should have the same social, educational and vocational privileges. 28 She compared the relations between men and women with those between masters and slaves, 29 saying that women are always under “ the despotism of a father, a brother and a husband .” 30 William Godwin, Mary Shelley’s father, wrote works on political philosophy and is described as a critic of the political order. His most famous work is An Enquiry concerning Political Justice , but he also wrote novels, works of educational theory, plays, children’s books, essays and political pamphlets. 31 Godwin was an advocate of freedom of expression, free press and religion, and believed in social and economic equality, 32 which made him welcome the French Revolution. 33 From 1790 on it became more dangerous for Jacobins to publicly support the French Republic. 34 When Political Justice was published in 1793, it immediately became a success. It strongly criticized monarchism and the upper classes, and displayed Godwin’s theory of political anarchism by foretelling an inescapable
23 Ibid. 4 24 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 2 Wollstonecraft . x 25 Buckler, John, et al. A History of World Societies . 726 26 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2. 5 27 Ibid. 3 28 Ibid. 3 29 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 2 Wollstonecraft. xi 30 Ibid. 20 31 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 1 Godwin . Clemit, Pamela, Volume Editor. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 1999.) ix 32 Sunstein, Emily W. Mary Shelley Romance and Reality . (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1989.) 51 33 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 7 34 Ibid. 7 6 change towards a society where all property would be equally distributed and no government was needed. 35 The sales figures for Political Justice were 4,000, but the ideas of the book reached far more people than that: in the lower classes it was common to buy one copy and read it aloud. 36 The government considered prosecuting Godwin for the book, but eventually decided not to. However, booksellers were prosecuted for selling Wollstonecraft’s Rights of Men .37 Although Godwin’s thoughts had a great impact on many commentators of the time, 38 in the later part of the 1790s the public turned on him and viewed him less favorably. 39 Satirical papers and pamphlets discredited him, and by the end of the decade Godwin was associated with radicalism, atheism and immorality.40 All of this happened before Mary was born, but she learned of her parents’ political views through their books. 41 In 1797, eight years after the beginning of the French Revolution, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born. Ten days later her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, died of an infection caused by childbirth. 42 So begins the life of the author of Frankenstein . Mary’s father attempted to win back the public’s benevolence by publicly using the principle of sincerity which he had written on in Political Justice .43 In 1798 he published The Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Women ; the memoirs of his dead wife Mary Wollstonecraft. 44 Godwin gave information about his late wife’s former romantic affairs, her child out of wedlock; Fanny, which she had had with Gilbert Imlay, her two suicide attempts, her marriage to him, and her painful death after giving birth to Mary. The book was too revealing for the readers of the time, who were shocked by what they saw as the exposure of Mary Wollstonecraft’s immorality. 45 One critic said that these revelations “ made it impossible for a respectable English woman openly to associate herself with Mary Wollstonecraft’s feminist views.” 46 Later the same year Godwin published a second edition of the memoirs, in which some paragraphs had been rewritten and some had received
35 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2 . 1 36 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 8 37 Ibid. 8 38 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 1 Godwin . ix 39 Ibid. xvii 40 Ibid. xvii 41 Ibid. 81 42 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 9 43 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 1 Godwin . xvii 44 Ibid. xvi 45 Ibid. xvii 46 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 7 7 explanatory paragraphs, to redeem Wollstonecraft’s reputation, but the damage was already done. 47 The reputations of both of Mary’s parents were tainted in the public eye. This was the first – but not the last – time the young Mary Shelley got to experience public hostility. In 1801 Mary gained a stepmother when Godwin married Mary Jane Vial Clairmont, who brought her two children into the house. The two family members most often mentioned as close to Mary are her father and her stepsister Claire Clairmont. Possibly a part of the sisters alignment was due to Claire embracing the teachings of Godwin and Wollstonecraft, 48 as Mary also had done. 49 Claire’s statement that unless one had the ability to write an epic poem or a novel one was seen as “ a despicable creature not worth acknowledging ,”50 shows that literary skills were highly regarded in the Godwin household. In correspondence between the sisters one can read how admiring Claire is of Mary’s writing and how she encourages her to write on metaphysics, mathematics, astronomy and other typical male subjects. 51 It seems as if Claire wanted her sister to challenge the male norm of women not being able to write on such disciplines, and she is confident that Mary would triumph:” to stop their mouths in a moment with your name: and then to add, and if women whilst suffering the heaviest slavery could outdo you, what would they not atchieve were they free?” 52 Mary and Claire did not share the reformist ideology throughout their entire lives. Although Claire still admired Mary Wollstonecraft as a model of female independence, she renounced the liberal education the children had got in the Godwin household. 53 This essay will discuss Mary’s political opinions later. As a child Mary was primarily tutored at home. 54 One of Godwin’s reasons for remarrying was to get help with his daughters’ education. 55 Unfortunately, it seems that Godwin’s second wife took more interest in her own daughter Claire, than in Mary and Fanny, and Mary felt that her stepmother was jealous of her “ excessive & romantic
47 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 2 Wollstonecraft. xiii 48 Ibid. 11f 49 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 1 Godwin . 81 50 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 3 Mary Shelley . Bennett, Betty T. Volume Editor. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 1999.) 12 51 Ibid. 16 52 Ibid. 16 53 Ibid. 12 54 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 1 Godwin . 81 55 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 9 8 attachment ” to her father. 56 In the Godwin home Mary read a lot in her father’s library, which contained both his and his late wife’s books, whose ideas and values Mary came to share. 57 She spent a lot of time at her mother’s grave, reading her books. 58 Mary believed her mother had written The Wrongs of Woman: or, Maria as a testament to her, because of the heroine’s narrative being addressed to her daughter in case she dies before she could instruct her. 59 What the novel express is a “ condemnation of the social, economic, and sexual wrongs done to women and a call to her daughter to pursue happiness while she is young.”60 Mary had a belief that her mother’s spirit lived on, watching and inspiring her. This later expanded to a notion that the spirits of all aspiring and great individuals were everlasting. 61 Mary knew that her parents had held unusual social- and political opinions and had acted on them, as a part of the 1790s’ reform party in British politics. This may have influenced her decision to elope with Percy Bysshe Shelley. 62 Mary first met P.B. Shelley and his wife Harriet, in 1812. Percy was an admirer of Godwin’s teachings and visited the family frequently. 63 Percy had married Harriet to rescue her from her father, a decision he came to regret. After meeting Mary he “ speedily conceived an ardent passion” for her. 64 To Mary Percy “ personified the genius and dedication to human betterment she passionately admired all her life .” 65 The two fell in love and met secretly, which within a few months led to Mary being pregnant. 66 In 1814, Mary, only sixteen years old, eloped to the continent with Percy, accompanied by her stepsister Claire.67 By running away with a married man Mary was socially condemned in the same way as her mother was for her affair with Gilbert Imlay, and it did not make much difference that Mary and Percy later married. 68 Godwin had tried to talk sense into the young lovers before their elopement and even forbid them to see each other, because he did not want Mary to become a social outcast and because he felt it was wrong: he said that Mary had “ committed a crime against hallowed
56 Ibid. 9 57 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 1 Godwin . 81 58 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 9 59 Sunstein, Emily W. Mary Shelley Romance and Reality . 53 60 Ibid. 53 61 Ibid. 43 62 Dekker, George G. The Fictions of Romantic Tourism Radcliffe, Scott, and Mary Shelley . 201 63 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 9(f) 64 Ibid. 10 65 Sunstein, Emily W. Mary Shelley Romance and Reality . 5 66 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2. 845 67 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 3 Mary Shelley . xxxi 68 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 10 9 social arrangements, morality, her family and Harriet Shelley .” 69 When they returned to England in mid-September the same year, Godwin refused to see them and had forbidden the family members to talk to Mary. It would be two years and four months before Mary and Godwin had direct contact. 70 Back in England Mary gave birth to a daughter, who only lived for a few weeks. 71 The couple had no money, Shelley was in debt and they often had to hide from creditors to avoid arrest. 72 Despite their difficult economic situation Shelley tried to honor the promise he had given Godwin before the elopement; to pay off Godwin’s business debts, and did so with the small sums he could up bring. 73 In 1815 the French War was concluded, and when the discharged troops returned, the working force grew. The end of the war also meant a lesser demand for goods. Both of these factors led to the first modern industrial depression. 74 The workers could not vote and there were laws against unionizing, so they held protest meetings and hunger strikes, which frightened the ruling class into more repressive methods. 75 The pressure to reform was massive and gradually the working class reformers acquired support from the middle class and the liberal Whigs. 76 Mary and Percy were friends with many leading liberal writers of the time, most notably Lord Byron, which gave Mary the opportunity of further cultural education. 77 Lord Byron, P.B. Shelley and Mary shared the same liberal political views and as fellow writers they enriched their works by a “ collaborative spirit and non possessive attitude towards intellectual property /…/.” 78 However, it might also have been intimidating for Mary to be judged by these confident, gifted male poets. Percy may well have put pressure on her, because he was so eager about Mary being worthy of her heritage and “ enroll herself on the page of fame ”. 79 Mary has written about Percy’s encouragements: “/…/ …not so much with the idea that I could produce any thing worthy of notice, but that he might himself judge how far I possessed the promise of better things .” 80 On the other hand, she writes in a letter that Percy “supported & brought /…/ [her] forward ” in her writing, and in the 1831 edition of
69 Sunstein, Emily W. Mary Shelley Romance and Reality . 89 70 Ibid. 87(f) 71 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2 . 845 72 Ibid. 845 73 Sunstein, Emily W. Mary Shelley Romance and Reality . 89 74 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2 . 3 75 Ibid. 3 76 Ibid. 3(f) 77 Dekker, George G. The Fictions of Romantic Tourism Radcliffe, Scott, and Mary Shelley . 201 78 Ibid. 202 79 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 11 80 Ibid. 11 10
Frankenstein she gives him credit for her writing the novel. 81 It seems Percy’s encouragements were both a blessing and a burden to Mary. In 1816 Mary, Percy and Claire left for the continent again, partly to seek out Byron in Geneva because Claire was pregnant by him.82 It was here Mary began what came to be her most famous work; Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus, with which she founded the genre of Science Fiction. 83 In Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva, Byron suggested that they should all write a ghost story each. 84 In the introduction to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein Mary writes: “ I busied myself to think of a story /…/ which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror – one to make the reader dread to look around, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart .” 85 What started as a short ghost story, over the next two years grew into the three-volume edition published for the first time in 1818. 86 The novel was first published anonymously, and many assumed P.B. Shelley to be the author. 87 Walter Scott wrote a favorable review of Frankenstein published in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine , where he wrote of the novel as “ /…/so powerful a work of the Godwin school – a work whose ‘new trains of thought’ /…/ were concerned with social and political reform”. 88 Mary claimed authorship after the novel was well received, 89 but when it was learned that a woman was the author the reviews changed. 90 When Mary Shelley claimed authorship not only did the political implications in the reviews more or less disappear, but there were comments about “ the impropriety of a female author delving into spheres beyond a woman’s understanding.” 91 Later, Mary experienced the same with her other novels. In Lives of the Great Romantics Volume 3 it is said about the reviews of her novels that: Both positive and hostile commentaries disregarded how she altered the natural (Frankenstein; The Last Man), history (Valperga; Perkin Warbeck), and everyday
81 Ibid. 11 82 Breen, Jennifer, Editor. Women Romantics 1785-1832: Writing in Prose . (London: Everyman, 1996.) 237 83 Sunstein, Emily W. Mary Shelley Romance and Reality . 4 84 Sjöblad, Christina, et al. Editors I lärdomens trädgård Festskrift till Louise Vinge . Litteratur Teater Film, Nya Serien 15. 154(f) 85 Ibid. 166 86 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 3 87 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 3 Mary Shelley . ix 88 Ibid. ix 89 Dekker, George G. The Fictions of Romantic Tourism Radcliffe, Scott, and Mary Shelley . 202 90 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 3 Mary Shelley . x(f) 90 Ibid. ix 91 Ibid. ix 11
values (Lodore; Falkner) as a part of a continuing politicized agenda to which she remained committed throughout her life .92 Death seems to have been present in Mary’s life. She experienced the death of three children, the suicide of her half-sister Fanny, and had to deal with the guilt when Percy’s first wife Harriet committed suicide. 93 In 1822 Mary was left a widow when Percy drowned in Italy, where the couple had moved in 1818. Mary did not want to return to England, where she was not well looked upon because of her elopement with a married man, but was forced to do so for financial reasons. 94 The views on Mary’s political opinions differ, but there is no doubt she had great admiration for her parents. In a letter written in September 1827 she speaks of them: “Her greatness of soul & my father [‘s] high talents have perpetually reminded me that I ought to degenerate as little as I could from those from whom I derived my being .” 95 However, it is unclear if Mary agreed with her parents radical opinions throughout her life; the views on her political beliefs seem to differ. Johanna M. Smith writes that Mary failed to live up to her parents’ radicalism and that she never was a spokesperson for women’s rights. 96 Smith also gives examples of classist remarks made by Shelley after her son had inherited his grandfather’s title and estate, these remarks concern “ the number of maids one must keep in the country ” and that employing these maids is a good deed because it is “ giving work to the industrious ”, 97 which seem to coincide badly with her parents’ political standpoints. Still, Smith points out that Mary, both in early and later letters, shows her sympathy for the poor and talks about her concern about people starving. 98 Smith gives a double image of Mary’s political viewpoint: she fears the revolutionary working class, but yet feels sympathy for the laboring poor. 99 In Lives of the Great Romantics Volume 3 , a much less complicated image of Mary’s political views is given. It simply says that Mary shared her parents’ political outlook and continuously promoted such ideas in her work, 100 and that she kept these beliefs
92 Ibid. xix 93 Dekker, George G. The Fictions of Romantic Tourism Radcliffe, Scott, and Mary Shelley . 201 94 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 3 Mary Shelley . x(f) 95 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 2 Wollstonecraft. 247 96 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 12 97 Ibid. 13 98 Ibid. 14 99 Ibid. 14 100 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 3 Mary Shelley. xiii 12 throughout her life. 101 In the Norton Anthology of English Literature the image given of Mary’s political views in later life is that “ she craved social acceptance and status, and although maintaining liberal opinions she adapted herself to conventional standards both in her writings and in her social life ”102 - presenting a somewhat conflicted position of her politics. According to Emily Sunstein in Mary Shelley Romance and Reality , Mary was slandered by Trelawney after her death, saying that she had been Percy’s opposite in everything, and was; “ intellectual mediocre, antipathetic to his radical views /…/ [and] ‘a slave of convention’”. 103 Mary’s original papers and journals were withheld by Lady Jane and her heirs for almost a century after her death, which let several later biographers to believe Trelawney; as examples Sunstein gives Marshall T Florence biography published in 1889 and Rosalie Glynn Grylls’ from 1938. The papers were eventually made available, but Sunstein makes the good point that it is difficult to change what has been believed of a person for nearly a hundred years. 104 This could be part of the explanation for why the views on Mary’s political position differ between the authors. To thoroughly investigate Mary Shelley’s exact political viewpoint, and determine whether it is conflicted or not, would demand a reading and analysis of her entire works, letters and journals – a far too great a task for this essay. The times were turbulent in England. The working class demanded the right to vote, but the classes who had property feared to give them this right. Every time the Reform Bill was voted down in the House of Commons, the supporters of the bill rioted – which only deepened the fear of the ruling classes. 105 Smith writes that Mary seems to have had a double view of the Reform Bill; it appears that she wanted the bill to be passed, but that she also feared the “ sick destructiveness ” of these possibly revolutionary movements; however she acknowledges that this destructiveness may be the only way to force the landowners to give up their exclusive right to vote. 106 When the demands threatened to break out into revolution the first Reform Bill was carried in 1832. 107 Although this bill excluded half the middle class, almost all the working class and all women, a principle was set: it had been a nonviolent
101 Ibid. xix 102 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2. 846 103 Sunstein, Emily W. Mary Shelley Romance and Reality . 7 104 Ibid. 7 105 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 14 106 Ibid. 14 107 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2. 4 13 adjustment of opposing interests by parliamentary majority – and reform was to go on in England until all adults were able to vote. 108 Mary suffered from a brain tumor, which killed her in 1851. 109 After her death all of her papers fell to her son Percy Florence and his wife Lady Jane. They tried to save the family’s reputation by destroying compromising documents of their controversial relatives. 110 In the beginning of the 1870s they hired Kegan Paul, to finish a biography on Godwin which Mary had started. The material Mary had collected on her father formed the base of Paul’s work William Godwin: His Friends and Contemporaries. However, many of Mary’s passages have been discretely altered to give an image of Godwin and the ones close to him as being in a safe distance from the popular reform movement. 111 As is shown, Mary Shelley lived a somewhat controversial life. Both her parents held unconventional ideas for the time, and weren’t afraid to put their necks out. Mary adopted this way of life when she decided to elope with her husband-to-be; at the time married to another woman. She was a talented writer, probably influenced by her legacy as the daughter of two prominent writers and of the cultural education she had received in the Godwin household. She was both encouraged and intimidated by her husband’s talent, and it is difficult to determine how he affected her writing. Whether her political views were conflicted or not, she tried to promote her ideas in her work and if we read them today we will find much to discuss.
108 Ibid. 4 109 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 3 Mary Shelley. x 110 Mullan, John, General Editor. Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 1 Godwin. xiv 111 Ibid. xiv 14
My Hideous Phantom 112
The Novel
As we learned in the previous chapter, Frankenstein; Or, the Modern Prometheus was the outcome of a challenge among friends to write a ghost story. On Mary Shelley’s part this became the most prominent work of her life. The novel quickly became famous and since its first publication in 1818 its fictional idea has been reproduced uncountable times in plays, movies, comic books, cartoons, etc up to the present time. The fact that the novel’s main characters, Frankenstein and his monster, have almost gained a life of their own, separated from their author and the original story, tells us that there must be something very captivating about them. Maybe Mary succeeded in her aim to write a story that would “ speak to the mysterious fears of our nature.” 113 There are many possible interpretations of the novel, and we can find much to discuss. Baldick even states that too many interpretations are possible, saying these “ overlap and interfere with one another at so many points that no single interpretation can convincingly fend off all the others .”114 This chapter does not aim at giving an overview of all possible readings of Frankenstein , but merely to give an introduction to the novel. This means that some themes and symbols, viewed as relevant, will be discussed, and others will not. Firstly, it is interesting to discuss some of the possible sources of inspiration for Mary. According to Chris Baldick, Mary was inspired by both her parents’ works when she wrote Frankenstein . From Wollstonecraft Mary got an interest in the theory of education. In the novel this can be seen in how she stresses the influence of the characters’ upbringing and early impressions; 115 Victor’s early encounter with the natural sciences is through experts on magic, the occult and alchemy.116 Mary also seems to have been very inspired by Godwin’s novel St. Leon , as the stories have remarkable similarities; in St. Leon the hero discovers the secret of the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life, but is not able to benefit mankind by these discoveries. Due to his project his loved ones and other innocents die. St. Leon abandons his experiments when he realizes that they have destroyed his familial loyalties. In
112 Originally written by Mary Shelley in the preface to the 1831 edition, referring to a dream she had of the monster prior to writing the novel. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein . 1818 (London: Everyman, 1992.) 199 113 Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein . 197 114 Baldick, Chris. In Frankenstein’s Shadow Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth-century Writing. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987.) 56 115 Ibid. 38 116 Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein . 24 15 the novel there is a giant whose sufferings have caused him to hate mankind. He says he was not born to do so, but rather is forced to by the sufferings he has endured. 117 There is an undeniable correspondence to how Victor starts out with an interest in benefit of mankind, yet manages to bring the creature to life only to bring doom upon himself and those close to him. The giant in St. Leon and the creature both become enemies of mankind due to the sufferings they experience. Throughout the greater part of the eighteenth century a mistrust in radical innovations spread, causing human ambition “beyond the limits of our species” to come under attack by many authors. 118 Mary could have been influenced by this when she wrote her novel in the early nineteenth century, even if the Romantic era also held human potentialities in high regard. 119 There are two protagonists in the novel; Frankenstein and his creature. The story is framed by letters written by the explorer Walton, who is trying to sail a ship to the North Pole, but is trapped in the ice. Victor Frankenstein boards the ship and tells his story to Walton. The events that have led Victor to this remote place are told through both his narrative and the creature’s. Therefore the narrative shifts from Walton to Frankenstein to the creature, each revealing his own perspective of the story. This leaves the moral of the story like an “open contest or debate” 120 as Baldick phrases it; “ As in the Revolutionary debates, the accuser of monstrous offspring is himself accused of being a monstrously negligent parent .” 121 It is left up to the reader with whom he places his sympathies. The life of Victor Frankenstein begins in Geneva. It is when he moves to Ingolstadt to study at the university that he becomes obsessed with discovering the secret of life, and therefore builds a creature out of dead body parts. The feelings driving him forth in his work are “ like a hurricane.” 122 He carries out this work in secret and continues to keep it a secret up until he reveals his story to Walton. He is so involved in his task that he isolates himself from everyone and everything else, and describes how this was an unhealthy devotion to his work: “ But my enthusiasm was checked by my anxiety, and I appeared rather like one doomed by slavery to toil in the mines, or any other unwholesome trade, than an artist occupied by his favorite employment .” 123 His work makes him forget the people he loves. This
117 Baldick, Chris. In Frankenstein’s Shadow Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth-century Writing . 37 118 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2 . 10 119 Ibid. 10 120 Baldick, Chris. In Frankenstein’s Shadow Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth-century Writing . 43 121 Ibid. 44 122 Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein . 37 123 Ibid. 39 16 is the first time we see Victor’s “ fatal flaw of egotism”124 , which will be the cause of his misery. George Dekker describes Victor’s character in The Fictions of Romantic Tourism : “Victor is a prisoner of his own temperament who is constantly driven or manipulated to act against his own or his family’s best interests .” 125 Victor manages to bring the creature to life, but is terrified when he sees the being he has created. He abandons his “child” due to its hideous appearance, again displaying his egotism. Here Mary addresses the philosophical problem of the relation of parts and wholes; although Victor selected beautiful parts, the whole is ugly. Baldick attempts an explanation for this, saying that the beauty of the whole only can come from “a pure vital principle within”126 , while Frankenstein’s creation came from “ tormented isolation and guilty secrecy ”127 , causing the ugliness of the creature. For Victor his failure to fulfill his duty to the being he has created will prove to be a crucial decision. According to Elizabeth Fay in A Feminist Introduction to Romanticism this rejection denies the creature its humanity by denying it parental love and protection, 128 thus increasing the creature’s experience of alienation. The creature, who has “ declared everlasting war on the [human] species ”129 approaches Victor and tells him his story of rejection and isolation. Through the creature’s narrative we learn that he wasn’t malevolent until he realizes that mankind will never accept him because of his horrifying appearance. This perspective encourages sympathy for the creature. He longs for acceptance and belonging, but learns through rejection that he will not find this among humans. For this he blames his “ Cursed, cursed creator! ”130 Meyer Howard Abrams state that there was a concern in the Romantic era with human isolation and alienation, which the creature in Frankenstein represents; the being is cut off from humanity and his rejected love turns to hate. 131 Johanna Smith states that what the creature is saying is that his culture made him monstrous, while Frankenstein believes that the creature is born monstrous. 132 Smith continues in interpreting what this claim means; if the monster is created by environment or culture what Mary is saying is that revolutionary violence is created by society and not its outcasts, 133 a statement
124 Sunstein, Emily W. Mary Shelley Romance and Reality . 132 125 Dekker, George G. The Fictions of Romantic Tourism Radcliffe, Scott, and Mary Shelley . 210 126 Baldick, Chris. In Frankenstein’s Shadow Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth-century Writing . 35 127 Ibid. 35 128 Fay, Elizabeth A. A Feminist Introduction to Romanticism . (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998.) 97 129 Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein . 114 130 Ibid. 114 131 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2 . 845 132 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 16 133 Ibid. 16 17 which would fit well with the Jacobin point of view. Both Mary’s parents were of the opinion that society forms it members; Wollstonecraft argues in Rights of Women that women’s capacities have been held back by men, and Godwin states in Political Justice that human character and behavior are the products of “circumstances and events” 134 ; which Mary seems to agree with. The creature tells of how he lived in a cottage watching a family, who he came to love. Living there he learned language, both to speak and read. This is, as Baldick states, a strong human characteristic. 135 This gives further proof that the creature was not yet a monster. However, when he reveals himself to the family they become terrified of his appearance. Felix, the son, beat him up and then the family left the cottage, leaving the creature abandoned once again and causing him to give up hope of being treated friendly by mankind. When living in the cottage the creature read The Sorrows of Young Werther , and according to Andrew Stauffer in Anger, Revolution, and Romanticism this caused him to believe that emotions are not things one gets over, a very dangerous belief when it comes to anger. 136 The creature also read Milton’s Paradise Lost and identified himself with Satan and his condition of permanent rage. Stauffer says it is because of this commitment to “ outrage as destiny”, that the creature becomes a monster. 137 Stauffer continues by saying that Mary Shelley did not intend to diminish the creature’s guilt by the fact that it was rejection and desertion that turned him to violence. Stauffer’s proof of this is that when the creature is provoked, as when he was beaten by Felix, he runs away. And when he is passionately angry he attacks only a house. All the actions of physical violence against humans are planned. He murders only innocents, who have not provoked him, all a part of his vengeance on Victor. 138 Baldick gives another interpretation of why all the victims are innocent, he says it is “ an illustration of the arbitrary injustice of the human society which condemns him on sight ”139 ; the creature too is an innocent being punished. The creature gives Victor an offer; if Victor agrees to create a female companion for him, he will forever leave him and the rest of mankind alone and voluntarily isolate himself with his bride. Victor sees the fairness in this offer and agrees, but as he begins the work on a new female creature, he changes his mind: “ the wickedness of my promise burst
134 Ibid. 16 135 Baldick, Chris. In Frankenstein’s Shadow Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth-century Writing . 45 136 Stauffer, Andrew M. Anger, Revolution, and Romanticism. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.) 108 137 Ibid. 108 138 Ibid. 104 139 Baldick, Chris. In Frankenstein’s Shadow Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth-century Writing . 52 18 upon me; I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their pest, whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy its own peace at the price perhaps of the existence of the whole human race .” 140 Victor is afraid that the two creatures might procreate, and that there are no guarantees that the new creature, or their children, will bend to an agreement made before their creation. Once again, Victor denies his creation the possibility of companionship, and brings on the creature’s revengeful promise; “ I shall be with you on your wedding-night .” 141 Victor’s dear friend Henry Clerval is killed by the creature, who then turns up on Victor’s wedding night and kills his bride, Elizabeth. This causes Victor’s father, Alphonso, to fall ill and die. The monster denies Victor what has been denied him; belonging to a family. Now, Victor is as alone in the world as the creature, and takes on similar feelings of revenge: the monster whom I had created, the miserable dæmon whom I had sent abroad into the world for my destruction. I was possessed by a maddening rage when I thought of him, and desired and ardently prayed that I might have him within my grasp to wreak a great and signal revenge on his cursed head .142 Victor sets out on a chase to kill the creature, who leads him out on the ice, where exhausted, he boards Walton’s ship. Before Victor dies he tells his story to Walton, and moments before he passes he says: “ Seek happiness, in tranquility, and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries. Yet why do I say this? I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed .” 143 Saying that another may succeed is not entirely shunning the search of knowledge; maybe it can be done in another way? In the Romantic era there was a fascination with the myths of Satan, Cain, Faust and Prometheus, due to their status as ultimate nonconformists. 144 The addition in the title connects Frankenstein with the mythical figure Prometheus, who defied the Gods, stole fire and gave it to the humans, and was eternally punished for it. For many contemporaries Prometheus was regarded “the great protagonist of humanity.” 145 Prometheus sets himself in opposition to the Gods when he steals fire, but unlike Satan he is rather the benefactor of mankind than its enemy. 146 As the title suggests Mary intended Frankenstein to be
140 Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein . 143 141 Ibid. 145 142 Ibid. 170 143 Ibid. 187 144 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2 . 12 145 Beer, John. Romantic Consciousness Blake to Mary Shelley . 171 146 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2 . 12 19
Prometheus, indicating a less favorable view of the mythical figure, since his actions are not benefitting humanity but instead bring on misery. John Beer describes how the creature, instead of Frankenstein, can be seen as a Promethean figure: “ – being bound to the rock of deformity which offers no hope for anything but hostility and fear from human beings ,” 147 the monster is forever to be tortured, as Prometheus, although he has not himself committed the act of defiance. Mary splits the Prometheus myth: Victor is the one crossing boundaries natural to man, and the creature is the one eternally condemned. However, Victor is condemned by the creature, and they both share the punishment. Sunstein gives an interpretation of Mary herself identifying with Frankenstein and the Prometheus myth; she too is a “defier of natural limits,” in the choices she made in her life. 148 Still, it would be an exaggeration to state that she shared the second part of the myth; even though she suffered public hostility it would be excessive to say she was “eternally condemned” for her choices. Both the creature and Victor can be found identifying themselves with the Satan of Paradise Lost ,149 instead of the roles of Adam and God, which would be expected of their creator – created relationship. According to Baldick both Mary’s father, in Political Justice , and husband in the preface to Prometheus Unbound , elevate Satan as resister of tyranny.150 However, this is not how Mary uses the Satan myth. Both Frankenstein and the creature identify with Satan by “bearing a hell within” 151 , e.g. being miserable. Injustice is a major theme throughout the novel. On the title page there is a quotation from Milton’s Paradise Lost , illustrating the unfair situation the creature is put in by his creator: Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay To mould me man? Did I solicit thee From darkness to promote me? 152 The creature did not ask to be made, but yet he has to suffer the consequences of his creator’s actions. Baldick points out that Victor’s isolation was voluntary, while the creature’s was forced; he has had no say in his own creation. 153 The creature is treated unfairly by all he encounters, due to his hideous appearance. He saves a girl from drowning, and her friend shoots him: “ My sufferings were augmented by the oppressive sense of the injustice and
147 Beer, John. Romantic Consciousness Blake to Mary Shelley . 171 148 Sunstein, Emily W. Mary Shelley Romance and Reality. 131 149 Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 68, 81, 108, 114, 181, 190 150 Baldick, Chris. In Frankenstein’s shadow Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth century Writing 41 151 Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein . 68, 81, 108, 114, 181, 190 152 Ibid. 1 153 Baldick, Chris. In Frankenstein’s shadow Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth century Writing . 52 20 ingratitude of their infliction .” 154 The creature tries to do good, but is treated as if he is doing the opposite. Victor fails to parent the child he has created and abandons him in a world treating him cruelly. Fay relates the creature’s anger towards Frankenstein to the French Revolution and the lower classes’ anger towards their political father; the monarch who denies them their citizenship and thus their adulthood. 155 One could say that Frankenstein denies the creature access to the human community by abandoning him. John Beer describes the monster as a symbol of various fears; fears of war, oppression, violence and also how the novel raises the question of if it is not a failure of love within the human race that ultimately is the cause of these terrors. 156 If Frankenstein would have honored his duty towards his creation and “parented” it, would not the story have been quite different? Smith argues that when put in the context of the time, the creature can be seen as the underclass; to Frankenstein the being has no rights and no claim to the recognition he demands from his superior. Further, when he asks for sympathy Frankenstein can see the justice in these claims, just as the more benevolent of the middle- and upper class liberals would contemplate requests from the working class. 157 However, Frankenstein is reluctant to create a female companion for the creature, due to the risks of the two procreating. Smith argues that Frankenstein does not want to pass the power to create life to the monster and his companion, and compares it to the dangers of giving the working class right to vote. 158 Baldick mentions Ellen Moers interpretation that Frankenstein can be seen as a “birth-myth”, expressing anxieties of maternity, which would fit well into Mary’s own experiences of childbirth and death. 159 Baldick continues by connecting anxieties of parenting with anxieties of authorship, with Mary’s prominent parents, husband and associates in mind. 160 As we learned in the first chapter Mary did feel pressured to “ enroll herself on the page of fame ”161 ; and as Frankenstein was her first novel and also part of a challenge among these talented friends, some anxiety and doubt on her literary ability would not be surprising. The young Mary Shelley created a complex novel, full of political implications. It is clear that she was inspired by both her parents and the political events of the time. One of the stronger political suggestions is that the creature was not born a monster, but became one due to how his culture treated him. Such a suggestion implies that revolutionary violence is
154 Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein . 119 155 Fay, Elizabeth A. A Feminist Introduction to Romanticism . 98 156 Beer, John. Romantic Consciousness Blake to Mary Shelley. 175(f) 157 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein. By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 15 158 Ibid. 15 159 Baldick, Chris. In Frankenstein’s shadow Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth century Writing. 31 160 Ibid. 32 161 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 11 21 created by society, an idea which both of Mary’s parents held for true. A common interpretation of the novel is that the creature represents the working class, and the struggles they had to go through. There are, however, many layers and possible interpretations of Frankenstein , not all of which have been covered here. The first novel of a young woman, written in the beginning of the nineteenth century, has today the status of myth.
22
The Angel in the House 162
Male and Female in Frankenstein
In this chapter I aim to compare the male and female characters in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein . The main characters under discussion are Victor Frankenstein and his creature, Henry Clerval, Robert Walton, Elizabeth Lavenza, Justine Moritz and Caroline Beaufort. As we learned in the previous chapter there are many possible interpretations of what the creature symbolizes, though in this chapter he will be treated solely as a male character. Since Victor Frankenstein is the foremost actor around who the story revolves, the discussion will relate the other characters to him. I will begin with a general description of the characters mentioned above, and then proceed with a more gender specific evaluation. In Victor Frankenstein’s narrative we meet his dear friend Henry Clerval. George Dekker states that Henry is the direct opposite of Victor, because he is not as suited for the natural philosophies as Victor. 163 Dekker refers to the following quotation; “ Clerval was no natural philosopher. His imagination was too vivid for the minutiæ of science .” 164 We can also find evidence for the two being contrasted when we look at Henry’s studies in comparison to Victor’s; when Victor leaves for Ingolstadt Henry wants to accompany him, but is not allowed to do so by his father. 165 When Henry finally arrives to Ingolstadt, Victor’s studies are over, and Henry nurses Victor through his nervous fever. 166 Far later in the novel when they travel together to England and Scotland to seek information from natural philosophers, Victor is ridden by despair while Henry seems to enjoy himself; “ his mind expanded in the company of men of talent .” 167 Henry’s main role throughout the novel seems to be caring for Victor when the latter’s health is unbalanced. When Victor needs care in Ingolstadt it is Henry who is his “kind and attractive nurse ,” 168 who asks nothing in return; “ he never attempted to draw my secret from me .” 169 Henry manages to draw Victor out of the isolation he put himself in while working on his project: “ Study had before secluded me from the intercourse of my fellow-
162 Originally title of a poem by Coventry Patmore from 1854. The phrase came to express the Victorian image of an ideal woman; passive, powerless and pure. Information retrieved 19 January 2008 from http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/thackeray/angel.html 163 Dekker, George G. The Fictions of Romantic Tourism Radcliffe, Scott, and Mary Shelley . 211 164 Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein . 50 165 Ibid. 29 166 Ibid. 42-44 167 Ibid. 139 168 Ibid. 44 169 Ibid. 50 23 creatures, and rendered me unsocial; but Clerval called forth the better feelings of my heart; he again taught me to love the aspect of nature, and the cheerful faces of children. Excellent friend!”170 When they receive the letter saying young William has been murdered, again Henry’s role is to comfort and console Victor. 171 Another contrasting trait between Henry and Victor is how they manage their emotions. Henry does not have any outbursts of emotion in the novel, and is described as calm; “ His mind and enthusiastic imagination was chastened by the sensibility of his heart .” 172 Victor is quite the opposite; he seems to be governed by his frame of mind. On several occasions Victor chooses to isolate himself, due to his mental state; he says that when his melancholy returned he “ took refuge in the most perfect solitude.”173 When in Scotland he feels that he is in no mood to be a compliable guest, he isolates himself on “ the remotest of the Orkneys ”174 , and when he is feeling guilty about Justine’s death he finds consolation only in “ deep, dark, death-like solitude .” 175 Victor also seems to have difficulties controlling his joy and expresses his high spirits excessively; “ I jumped over the chairs, clapped my hands, and laughed aloud.”176 Later in the novel he lets the feelings of vengeance and hatred control him, and he decides to live on only to pursue the creature and revenge the deaths of his beloved ones; 177 “I was possessed by a maddening rage when I thought of him, and desired and ardently prayed that I might have him within my grasp to wreak a great signal revenge on his cursed head .” 178 Victor and Walton on the other hand are more similar, although not in every aspect. Walton’s letters to his sister construct the frame narrative, and they contain the main story of Frankenstein and his monster, which can be related to Walton’s situation. Both Walton and Victor seek knowledge in order to do good for humanity, Walton says: “ you cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole.”179 Victor’s main motive is the same; “wealth was an inferior object: but what glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death! ”180
170 Ibid. 51 171 Ibid. 55 172 Ibid. 134 173 Ibid. 129 174 Ibid. 140 175 Ibid. 73 176 Ibid. 43 177 Ibid. 175 178 Ibid. 170 179 Ibid. 8 180 Ibid. 25 24
When Victor and Walton meet in the novel, Victor’s character has evolved – he has learned from his mistakes that there is a danger in seeking knowledge: “ You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been .” 181 When Victor tells his story he continues to warn Walton of the dangers of seeking knowledge: A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind, and never to allow passion or a transitory desire to disturb his tranquility. I do not think the pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this rule. If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections, and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind .182 Yet, when Walton’s crew demands that they turn around if the ice lets the ship go, Victor speaks to them of courage and of commitment to the course they have set out on; “ Oh! be men, or be more than men. Be steady to your purpose, and firm as a rock .” 183 Another proof of that Victor might not entirely have changed is found in his dying words to Walton; “ Seek happiness, in tranquility, and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries. Yet, why do I say this? I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed .” 184 It seems Victor provides evidence of that he no longer sees ambition and knowledge as the foremost goal, but also of that he stills finds it admirable – and that others may succeed where he failed, saying that he has not completely changed. Adding this last phrase “yet another may succeed,” makes Mary seem reluctant to let the reader draw the conclusion that ambitious search for knowledge is what she is warning of, this will be discussed later. The most essential difference between these two pioneers lies in the manner in which they conduct their search for knowledge: Victor describes himself as in frenzy 185 while working on the creature and tormented by nervous fevers every night;186 he was completely absorbed with his work and neglected to write home to his family, 187 while Walton on the other hand remains in health and keeps in touch with his sister. In The Norton Anthology of English Literature Meyer Howard Abrams suggests that Victor was cut off from moral and
181 Ibid. 19 182 Ibid. 39 183 Ibid. 184 184 Ibid. 187 185 Ibid. 141 186 Ibid. 39 187 Ibid. 38 25 social concerns while working on his creature, 188 which is affirmed by Victor’s statement that his human nature often turned with loathing from his work. 189 Another difference between Victor and Walton is Victor’s voluntary isolation opposed to Walton’s longing for a friend; “ I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me; whose eyes would reply to mine .”190 Victor had such a friend, Henry, but chose to keep his work a secret from him. The creature and Victor have similarities, but are also each other’s adversaries. The creature also, like Victor, has outbursts of emotions. In the disappointment following the beating of Felix, he becomes almost animal like in his despair, and compares himself to the fallen angel of Milton’s Paradise Lost : “ I gave vent to my anguish in fearful howlings. I was like a wild beast that had broken the toils * /…/ I, like the arch fiend, bore a hell within me *” 191 Victor too identifies himself with the fallen angel; when Justine has been convicted, Victor feels; “ Anguish and despair had penetrated into the core of my heart; I bore a hell within me, which nothing could extinguish .” 192 Both of them suffer, because of each other. The creature’s unhappiness lies in his alienation from mankind, he longs to be loved. Victor’s misery lies in the fear of what the monster he has created will do to his loved ones. Ultimately, their source of distress is the same; neither wants to be denied their family ties. At first the creature is benign; “ I looked upon crime as a distant evil; benevolence and generosity were ever present before me ,” 193 but as he is frequently refused companionship and friendship by the humans he encounters, he learns to be malevolent. When the creature discovers that his “protectors” have deserted him he sets the cottage on fire, in feelings of revenge and hatred. 194 These feelings are enforced by the repeated rejection the creature experiences. When society rejects him his morality becomes distorted, 195 and he turns into a monster. In the course of events the creature grows more and more fearful and cruel in his acts towards Victor. The stronger the feeling of alienation, the more malicious the creature becomes. When he learns that Victor is not willing to create the companion he desires, he tries to command him: “ Slave /…/ Remember that I have power /…/ I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master; - obey!” 196 Victor chooses not to obey, and denies the creature his bride, who
188 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2 . 845 189 Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein . 38 190 Ibid. 10 191 Ibid. 114 192 Ibid. 68 193 Ibid. 106 194 Ibid. 116 195 Abrams, M.H. General Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Volume 2 . 16 196 Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein . 144 26 retaliates by denying Victor his by killing Elizabeth on their wedding night. Again, Victor and his creature want and are denied the same thing; a female companion. As for the women, Elizabeth, like Henry, is concerned with the well-being of others, a quality Victor very much likes in her, he even says he never liked her better than when she was engaged in the care of her family: but Elizabeth endeavored to renew the spirit of our little society. Since the death of her aunt, her mind had acquired new firmness and vigor. She determined to fulfill her duties with the greatest exactness; and she felt that most imperious duty, of rendering her uncle and cousins happy, had devolved upon her. She consoled me, amused her uncle, instructed my brothers; and I never beheld her so enchanting as at this time, when she was continually endeavoring to contribute to the happiness of others, entirely forgetful of herself .197 It seems as if in this situation of a family tragedy, Elizabeth takes on the traditional female role of taking care of the family and neglecting herself. She sees it as her “duty” to console and amuse the men of the family, and Victor is so pleased with this behavior he even finds it “enchanting.” This is evidence of Elizabeth’s domestic role. Further proof is how she is also physically restrained to remain with her family. When Victor and Henry are leaving for England she expresses regret that not she too had “the same opportunities of enlarging her experience, and cultivating her understanding .” 198 According to Dekker this statement expresses Elizabeth’s envy of the male freedom displayed in the mobility of Frankenstein and the creature.199 Thus, although Elizabeth is physically domesticated, she expresses a wish not to be so. However, there is more evidence of how her main focus is on familial issues; in the letter she writes to Victor prior to his return home, she expresses concern that his dark mood and all his travelling is because he does not want to marry her; “/…/ when I saw you last autumn so unhappy, flying to solitude, from the society of every creature, I could not help supposing that you might regret our connexion, and believe yourself bound in honour to fulfil the wishes of your parents /…/” 200 Her thoughts go to the domestic issue of marriage, when in fact the cause of Victor’s state of mind has nothing to do with familial matters. We can conclude that throughout the novel Elizabeth is domesticated both physically and in thought. Elizabeth displays her morality when Ernest’s father wants him to become a judge; she complains in a letter to Victor, saying it would be better for Ernest to become a
197 Ibid. 29 198 Ibid. 132 199 Dekker, George G. The Fictions of Romantic Tourism Radcliffe, Scott, and Mary Shelley . 210 200 Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein . 161 27 farmer instead; “ it is certainly more creditable to cultivate the earth for the sustenance of man, than to be the confidant, and sometimes the accomplice, of his vices; which is the profession of a lawyer .” 201 She finds the work of a lawyer less honorable, and says it is a judge’s misfortune to “ meddle with the dark side of human nature .” 202 This statement shows that Elizabeth does not find a profession desirable because of its high place in society, but rather that one must consider the morality of the actual task to be performed. Therefore she finds the work of a farmer much more admirable than that of a lawyer. This quotation gives us a clue as to what she would think of Victor’s creation, if she would be made aware of it. Victor says in regards to when he was working on the creature: “ often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation, whilst, still urged on by an eagerness which perpetually increased, I brought my work near to a conclusion .” 203 The fact that Victor himself knew that what he did was wrong, and still finished the work, tells us that he ignored his moral voice. Another demonstration of Elizabeth’s morality is when she speaks on Justine’s behalf in front of the court, when none of Justine’s friends have the courage or will to do so. Elizabeth knows this might not be well looked upon, because of her close relation to both the victim and the accused, but feels she has to speak; “ It may therefore be judged indecent in me to come forward on this occasion; but when I see a fellow-creature about to perish through the cowardice of her pretended friends, I wish to be allowed to speak, that I may say what I know of her character .” 204 Elizabeth’s speech does not have the effect she hoped for, and Justine’s conviction is not prevented. When Justine has been sentenced to death, Elizabeth speaks of justice; “ Oh! How I hate its shows and mockeries! When one creature is murdered, another is immediately deprived of life in a slow torturing manner; then the executioners, their hands yet reeking with the blood of innocence, believe that they have done a great deed .” 205 In this speech Elizabeth is challenging the justice of the judicial system, of the death penalty and of revenge – matters far from the domestic arena we see her move in throughout most of the novel. However, none of these two speeches manage to avert the death of the innocent Justine. Victor describes Elizabeth’s mood after the execution of Justine; all pleasure seemed to her sacrilege toward the dead; eternal woe and tears she then thought was the just tribute she should pay to innocence so blasted and
201 Ibid. 47 202 Ibid. 47 203 Ibid. 38 204 Ibid. 64 205 Ibid. 67 28
destroyed /…/ She was no longer that happy creature, who in earlier youth wandered with me on the banks of the lake, and talked with ecstasy of the inconstancy of fortune, and the instability of human life .206 Elizabeth’s mourning is not just for the dead innocents William and Justine, but also for her own innocence, which have been “blasted and destroyed” due to the injustice in the deaths of both her dear cousin and friend. What Victor is saying is that she has now learned the lesson of “the inconstancy of fortune and the instability of human life”, of which she prior to these events spoke of without having experienced. Justine is convicted of murder and executed - although innocent – and becomes the second of the creature’s victims. According to Chris Baldick in Frankenstein’s shadow the court makes a female monster out of Justine by convicting her of William’s murder. 207 When explaining her confession Justine says; “ my confessor has besieged me; he threatened and menaced, until I almost began to think that I was the monster that he said I was .” 208 She is looked upon as a monster by those confident of her guilt, because of the monstrousness in the deed they believe she committed. Baldick explains the creature’s motive as connected to his involuntary isolation, as long as there are victims like himself, he is not entirely alone. 209 As for Justine, she seems to accept her impending death, and does not suffer from the injustice of it as much as Elizabeth is: In these last moments I feel the sincerest gratitude towards those who think of me with kindness. How sweet is the affection of others to such a wretch as I am! It removes more than half my misfortune; and I feel as if I could die in peace, now that my innocence is acknowledged by you, dear lady, and your cousin .210 For both women it is the innocence of Justine that is of greatest significance; to Justine it is important to be believed, even if only by two people, she feels that she can die in peace with that acknowledgement, and for Elizabeth it is imperative to be able to believe in Justine’s innocence; “ For the moment that I believed her guilty, I felt an anguish that I could not have sustained. Now my heart is lightened. The innocent suffers; but she whom I thought amiable and good has not betrayed the trust I reposed in her, and I am consoled .” 211 To both of them it is their relationship that is essential; neither has been betrayed by the other.
206 Ibid. 75 207 Baldick, Chris. In Frankenstein’s Shadow Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth-century Writing. 53 208 Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein . 66 209 Baldick, Chris. In Frankenstein’s Shadow Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth-century Writing. 53 210 Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein . 68 211 Ibid. 68(f) 29
Another woman in the novel who passively accepts her death without vivid outbursts of emotion is Victor’s mother Caroline Beaufort. On her deathbed she speaks to Elizabeth and Victor: ‘/…/ Alas! I regret that I am taken from you; and, happy and beloved as I have been, is it not hard to quit you all? But these are not thoughts befitting me; I will endeavor to resign myself cheerfully to death, and will indulge a hope of meeting you in another world.’ She died calmly .212 Caroline says that it is hard to leave, but that those are not thoughts “befitting her”, she should not make her death hard on herself or anyone else. Instead, she tries to comfort Elizabeth and Victor. She restrains her emotions and dies calmly. This seems like a typical female trait of the time; women should comfort others and not let their emotions get the best of them. Yet, Caroline is not always described as a “typical woman”; “ But Caroline Beaufort possessed a mind of an uncommon mould; and her courage rose to support her in her adversity. She procured plain work*; she plaited straw; and by various means contrived to earn a pittance sufficient to support life .” 213 When she had no other choice, Caroline supported herself and her ill father. She is described as having a mind of an “uncommon mould” and to have courage, these are not distinctive female characteristics. In this aspect Caroline is reminiscent of Mary’s own mother Mary Wollstonecraft; who also had to obtain work. In Wollstonecraft’s case it was because her alcoholic father had impoverished the family, and she had to work at several jobs before she turned to writing. 214 However, although Caroline possesses these traits, she is still rendered helpless when her father dies; “ leaving her an orphan and a beggar ,” 215 and a man, Victor’s father Alphonso Frankenstein, has to come to her rescue; “ He came like a protecting spirit to the poor girl .” 216 Later in the novel we learn that Alphonso has had a painting made of Caroline, portraying her in the position she was when he rescued her; “in agony of despair, kneeling by the coffin of her dead father. ”217 This reveals that Alphonso enjoys playing the part of her rescuer. However, in the description of the painting it is also said that she has “ an air of dignity and beauty ”218 around her, which “ hardly permitted the sentiment of pity.”219 This prevented Caroline from becoming completely victimized.
212 Ibid. 28 213 Ibid. 21 214 Smith, Johanna M. Editor. Frankenstein . By Mary Shelley. Third edition 1831. 5 215 Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein . 21 216 Ibid. 21 217 Ibid. 58 218 Ibid. 58 219 Ibid. 58(f) 30
As we can see women in the novel are passive. They are not actors in the meaning of driving the story forward; they have no power to effect what is taking place around them. Elizabeth tries to prevent the death of Justine, but is unable to do so. Caroline tries to support herself, but ultimately needs the help of a man. Justine is virtuous yet becomes executed as a murderer, despite her attempts to defend herself. The females’ focus seems to be on familial issues and relationships, far from the main character’s focus on first knowledge and then the creature he created. Dekker states that Frankenstein can be read as a “ paean to domesticity ”220 , meaning that the women’s domestic relations and concerns are held in higher esteem than the male characters’ search for knowledge. It may be argued that if Victor had focused more on familial relationships he might not have been so quick to discard the “child” he had created. Instead Victor isolates himself and takes no responsibility for the creature; he is the parent abandoning his “child.” It could be this Mary is warning of; losing the connection to familial relationships and values may cause a loss of morality. It is the detachment of social and moral principles that is dangerous, not the ambitious search for knowledge and this is why she lets Victor proclaim that another may succeed where he failed. Elizabeth is highly moral, unlike Victor who disregards the moral aspect of creating a being out of dead body parts, and then refuses to take his responsibility as its creator. The creature has morality, but loses it as he is further and further detached from human relations. John Beer claims in Romantic Consciousness that Mary had reverence for the nature of life, and because of her own experiences with childbirth and death, was of the opinion that life was too precious to be regarded as a means to an end. 221 This coincides with the claim that Mary places familial principles higher than ambitions in the realm of science. Read from this perspective the female domestic role is to be judged “good” while Victor and the creature’s role of isolation is “bad.” However, there is a problem with this interpretation; the female characters all remain in this domestic role and retain their morality, still they are powerless against the events around them. Their attempts to affect events all fail, and ultimately they die. Still, there might be an explanation for this in the fact that all characters except Walton die. All within Victor’s family circle die; his life is completely devastated. Walton’s decision to let the crew turn around the boat makes him a morally guided person who can represent “the other who may succeed.” Walton is similar to Victor in his quest for knowledge, but he also has female traits in that relationships are important to him; he writes to his sister and he
220 Dekker, George G. The Fictions of Romantic Tourism Radcliffe, Scott, and Mary Shelley . 201 221 Beer, John. Romantic Consciousness Blake to Mary Shelley . 173
31 wishes he had a close friend, and he is led by his moral code when the crew wants to turn the ship around; he does not want to lead them unwillingly forward and leaves the decision up to them. Walton has ambition for knowledge, yet he is not governed by it as Victor was. Henry is also similar to the women; he too is taking on the part of being caring, and remains calm and patient, without emotional outbursts. The difference is that Henry is not restrained to remain in the house, he can travel and study and “expand his mind,” something which the women cannot do. It remains an open question if Mary Shelley had a political agenda behind the depiction of the male and female in Frankenstein ; she leaves it open to different interpretations. The females appear as “Angels in the House,” in the sense that they are devoted to familial relationships, are powerless, self-sacrificing and do not have outbursts of emotion. There is a possibility that Mary did not want to make the females radical because it might steal attention from Victor and the creature, or that she felt that these passive female characters further enhanced the wrong doings of the protagonists. The two male main characters appear as “Miserable Devils” by being isolated, dwelling in their miseries and committing themselves to revenge and hatred. Neither of these roles can be interpreted as “good” since in the end they both terminate in misery and death. The one survivor of the novel; Walton, shares characteristics from both of these male and female outposts; he represents the character to imitate.
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Conclusion
The question of if it is possible to distinguish specifically female and male qualities in Mary Shelley’s characters must be answered in the affirmative. However, the feature of domesticity in the sense of nurturing familial relationships is not exclusive for the female characters, but also shared with some of the males in the novel. The only trait limited to the female characters alone is that of powerlessness, and the one trait exclusive to men is the loss of morality in ambition for knowledge, this is however not shared by all male characters. It is possible that the females’ lack of power is a way to further stress the devastating consequences Victor’s actions has on those near to him, or in a broader sense, how dangerous science not guided by social and moral codes can be to the traditional values of family and society. However, there is also the possibility that Mary’s depiction of the female characters is just an attempt to describe women’s situation as it was in the eighteenth century. In the first chapter Johanna Smith states that Mary never was a “spokesperson for women’s rights,” and therefore had no interest in depicting women as other than in the passive, domesticated role that was the political mainstream of the time. Although we cannot with certainty know Mary’s political views, this does not seem to agree with the choices she made in her own life, which were anything but political mainstream. Mary enjoyed a freedom the women of her novel did not; she eloped with a man she loved, she travelled and moved abroad, and she promoted her political ideas in several novels. As a daughter of two radicals and wife of another, it seems unlikely that she would promote a powerless and passive role for women. An important point to notice is that the two male main characters that become isolated from the female field of familial relations lose their morality and become miserable and filled with hatred. The Passive Angels and Miserable Devils of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein do not give a positive image of either sex. There is only one survivor, Walton. As we have seen, he shares both female and male traits by being ambitious without isolating himself or losing contact with moral standards. Therefore, Walton represents what is good in both of the male and female extremes that Mary describes. When Mary’s parentage and upbringing in the Godwin household, her radical husband and their way of life, are taken under consideration, one might think it odd that she depicts women in this passive role. However, if in fact her intention was to bring light to the wrongs of both the female and male roles, it appears more in line with her own life. Although, as was pointed out in the first chapter, we cannot determine if Mary fully coincided with her parents’ and husband’s political opinions. However, what we can say with certainty is that the
33 angels and devils in Frankenstein die; the angels with their morality intact and the devils through degeneration. Walton represents the middle way; being neither an angel nor a devil. This should tell us that Mary valued the social and moral principles of the female role, but also desired the male freedom and ambition to expand one’s mind. What she is speaking for could be the unification of angels and devils, into a harmonious whole. If this is the case, then Mary is making a political statement about the gender roles of the time; both the male and female roles contain important values, but these should not be held segregated. The most successful role is when male and female traits are balanced together. If one chooses to interpret Mary’s depiction of male and female in Frankenstein in this manner, Mary must be viewed as ahead of her time and the novel can be paralleled to feminist debates in modern society. To be successful, the angels and devils of society should learn from each other and find an appropriate balance.
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Bibliography
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--- Lives of the Great Romantics III Godwin, Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley By their Contemporaries. Volume 3 Mary Shelley Bennett, Betty T. Volume Editor. London: Pickering & Chatto, 1999.
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Sandqvist, Mona, Sjöberg, Birthe Sjöblad, Christina, Stenström, Johan. Editors I lärdomens trädgård Festskrift till Louise Vinge Litteratur Teater Film, Nya Serien 15. Lund: Lund University Press, 1996.
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