Reading Between the Lines: an Analysis of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Or, the Modern Prometheus, Using Horace Walpole's
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Reading Between the Lines: An analysis of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus, using Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto as an example of male discourse about women Louise Othello Knudsen English Almen, 10th semester Master’s Thesis 31-07-2012 Tabel of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 5 Historical Context .............................................................................................................................. 10 The View on Women and Their Expected Roles in the late 18th and 19th Century ....................... 11 - Mary Shelley disowns herself .................................................................................................. 11 - Mary Shelley’s Background .................................................................................................... 12 Women’s Role in Frankenstein ..................................................................................................... 13 Men’s Role in Frankenstein ........................................................................................................... 13 - Women in Society and Women as Writers .................................................................................. 15 - The Status of Women .................................................................................................................. 18 Gothic Novels Exclude Women from the Social Order ................................................................. 20 Good and Bad Science ................................................................................................................... 20 - Monstrous Births ......................................................................................................................... 21 Anxiety of authorship..................................................................................................................... 22 - Percy Bysshe Shelley as the Editor of Mary Shelley .................................................................. 23 - Percy as the Author of Frankenstein ........................................................................................... 24 Analysis of Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus ........................................................................ 26 A summary of Frankenstein .......................................................................................................... 27 Narrative......................................................................................................................................... 28 The male characters in Frankenstein ............................................................................................. 30 - Robert Walton .............................................................................................................................. 31 - The dangers of ambition .............................................................................................................. 32 - Aspirations of Glory: Victor and Walton .................................................................................... 33 - Personal Relationships: Walton and Margaret ............................................................................ 35 Introducing Victor Frankenstein .................................................................................................... 35 - Egotism ........................................................................................................................................ 37 - Victor and His Creature ............................................................................................................... 38 - Victor’s Resemblance to Percy .................................................................................................... 40 - Victor, Clerval, and Elizabeth ..................................................................................................... 41 The Creature ................................................................................................................................... 44 - The Creature and the de Lacey family ......................................................................................... 46 1 - Human Nature .............................................................................................................................. 46 The (non)-representation of Women in Frankenstein.................................................................... 48 Margaret Saville ............................................................................................................................. 49 - Margaret’s Voice ......................................................................................................................... 49 Caroline Beaufort ........................................................................................................................... 50 Elizabeth Lavenza .......................................................................................................................... 51 - Victor’s property .......................................................................................................................... 51 - Women’s Virtues ......................................................................................................................... 52 - Elizabeth’s Voice ......................................................................................................................... 53 Justine Moritz ................................................................................................................................. 53 Safie, the Arabian ........................................................................................................................... 54 The Science in Frankenstein .......................................................................................................... 56 - Warning against Ambition ........................................................................................................... 56 - Rhetoric........................................................................................................................................ 57 - Monstrous Births in Frankenstein ............................................................................................... 57 - The Different Sciences ................................................................................................................ 58 The Stereotyped Women in Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto .......................................... 59 Elements of Gothic......................................................................................................................... 60 The Castle of Otranto ..................................................................................................................... 61 The Women in Otranto .................................................................................................................. 62 Hippolita......................................................................................................................................... 63 - The Curse of the Obedient Wife .................................................................................................. 64 - Hippolita’s role ............................................................................................................................ 65 Matilda ........................................................................................................................................... 66 - Matilda’s obedience to her mother and father ............................................................................. 67 - Matilda’s Last Words .................................................................................................................. 68 Isabella ........................................................................................................................................... 68 Bianca............................................................................................................................................. 69 Killing the Aesthetic Ideal ............................................................................................................. 70 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 72 Bibliography....................................................................................................................................... 75 2 Abstract The following thesis takes into consideration the sex of the author of Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus, because it is important in the understanding of the novel’s exclusion of female representation. The author, Mary Shelley, was the daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. The latter wrote the radical work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, which has granted Wollstonecraft her status as one of the earliest feminists. Wollstonecraft died in childbed and Mary Shelley grew up without her biological mother. Taking those circumstances into consideration, it is puzzling that Frankenstein focuses almost solely on male experience, and does