Emily Humphries UNST 101E Frankenstein Take Home Exam PART 1 Section A Mary Shelley was influenced in writing Frankenstein by her father, William Godwin namely in two ways; her father's interest in alchemy and the occult, along with the influence Godwin's peers whom Mary grew up around. Godwin had a fascination in occultism, owning books by Paracelsus, and Cornelius Agrippa, to name a few. Mary, through her father, also because interested in the occult, after she “…had her father's book, Lives of Necromancers printed in 1834… being a book she greatly admired.” (Florescu, p.215) Within Frankenstein, this influence can be seen in Victor's interest in alchemists, for “When [Victor] returned home, my first care was to procure the whole works of [Cornelius Agrippa], and afterwards of Paracelsus and Albert Magnus.” (p.22) Mary was interested first by her father's interest in alchemy, and the same authors that inspired him also inspired Victor into the sciences. Godwin's circle of natural philosophers also gave him influence on Mary's writing. Sir Humphrey Davy, a friend of Godwin and a researcher in the chemical effects of electricity. “From her journal it is apparent that Mary started reading Davy's Elements of Chemical Philosophy (1812) on October 28, 1816…” (Florescu, p.206) So through the influence of her father's friends, whom she might have not become intrigued by without Godwin, their sciences became possible influence in the science of Frankenstein, shown by Victor's early fascination by electricity; “… I eagerly inquired of my father the nature and origin of thunder and lightning. He replied, `Electricity;'…” (p.23) Scientific ideas of Mary's time also influenced Frankenstein, namely Galvanism. Luigi Galvani was a scientist in the 18th century who discovered the apparent

reanimation of tissue by applying electricity. At the time, this was a horrible discovery to Victorian society, in that it was perhaps possible to reanimate the dead. Erasmus Darwin, who had Percy Shelley along with Godwin as great admirers, was among one of the scientists to delve into this theory. Shelley developed a great enthusiasm for Darwin's work, “… and inevitably communicated his enthusiasm to Mary, who learned most of Darwin's theories from Shelley.”(Florescu, p.209) Although it does not specify electricity was the sole purpose of bringing Victor's monster to life, it is implied by Victor referring to the birth of his creation as “…I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet.” (p.34) And lastly, Mary's own personal experiences, namely her great exposure to death in her lifetime, influenced her writings as well. Mary has lost three children in the years prior to her writing of Frankenstein, as well as suffered the suicides of her half-sister Claire and Shelley's wife. Victor and Mary are similar in the fact they witnessed death that affected them both. Mary's mother died after giving birth to Mary, and Victor's mother also died as an indirect result of Elizabeth becoming ill (this perhaps showing the relationship of a child figure indirectly causing the mother figure's death). In the way death effected Mary's life, Victor too was deeply effected by death, as shown in his dream shortly after bringing life to his monster. “…Delighted and surprised, I embraced [Elizabeth]; but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms…” (p.34) Section B A thematic interpretation evident in Frankenstein is that of Birth and Creation. By the artificial creation of the monster, Victor creates “… the displacement of God and woman from the acts of contraception and birth.” (Levine, p.8) “Winter,

spring, and summer, passed away during my labours… Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever… I had hitherto enjoyed most excellent health…” (p.33) In his creation of the monster, Victor experiences a synthetic labor of sorts, not only taking relatively 9 months to `birth' his monster (the same amount of time of a woman's pregnancy), but he also experience deteriorated health; perhaps a reflection of Mary's experiences with hard pregnancies; “… [reflecting] a fear of birth and Mary Shelley's own ambivalence about childbearing…” (Levine, p.9) This also is seen in “The Monster's presence on the wedding night…” (Levine, p.9) of Victor and Elizabeth. The murder of Elizabeth by the monster, a symbol of the dismissal of sexuality, is perhaps Victor's unconscious rejection of sexuality, showed in the beginning with his creation of the monster. Relating to this, the monster's request for a female companion in his discussion with Victor, and Victor's initial refusal; “Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world. Begone!” (p.98) Victor's ultimate lack of a promised companion shows the subconscious rejection of a sexual relationship for the monster, and in turn his denial to accept a sexual relationship in general. This can reflect Mary's view on sexuality, which was effected by Percy's concept of free love, pressuring Mary into sexual deeds and also developing sexual relationships with various women.

PART 2 Frankenstein invokes the question that has been asked by many for hundreds of years, and that is what does it mean to be human? What is the essence of human nature? While there are in fact many ways to decipher the nature of humans, including biological terms as well as mental ones, the concept that is perhaps the most important to me is the presence of a soul; a conscious. The definition of soul

in the American Heritage Dictionary is “The animating and vital principle in humans, credited with the faculties of thought, action, and emotion and often conceived as an immaterial entity.” For the purpose of this paper, I will be defining soul as this definition. The question of what marks humanity can be applied the best to Victor Frankenstein's monster. By biological terms, one could argue the monster may appear a human, but lacks the natural formation of a human (conception and birth) thusly it is not really a human. So, because of this, one must look into the actions of the monster to seek humanity rather than from the outward appearance of a man. The first evidence to show the monster is human, which I believe that he essentially is, is to look at the monsters initial wanting of human interaction. Even moments after his `birth', the monster looks for a connection with Victor. Victor observed the monster with “…one hand [being] stretched out, seemingly to detain me…” (p.35) While Victor can see this as a threat of violence on the monster's behalf, one must realize Victor's horror at the creation of a human being skews his perception. Since the monster was smiling and attempting to speak to Victor, one could convincingly argue that it was not harm the monster was intending, but a bond. The need for human acceptance and connection is also seen later in the monster's recollection of his time spent with the cottagers. In observing the family, the monster gained the urge to speak like them (“This was indeed a godlike science, and I ardently desired to become acquainted with it.” (p.75)) in order to communicate his feelings to them eventually. “When they were unhappy, [the monster] felt depressed; when they rejoiced, I sympathized in their joys.” (p.75) The ability to feel what others feel is another strong characteristic of being human, and being able to connect to other humans. The monster related to Victor that he “… required kindness and sympathy; but I did not believe myself

utterly unworthy of it.” (p.89) If that does not sum up the feelings of the human soul, I am not sure what else can. In his time with the family the monster felt sadness, joy, jealousy, longing, curiosity, nervousness, and in the end, rage; all of these are the basic emotions of all mankind. When a person is forsaken, the natural reaction is to forsake the foresaker. The monster did exactly this. When rejected by the cottagers based on the creature's hideous appearance, the monster went into a rage and burnt down their home. When Victor had forsaken him after his creation, he sought vengeance, taking form first in the murder of William; “Frankenstein! you belong then to my enemy - to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim.” (p.97) He seeks vengeance of Victor yet again when he fails to keep his promise to the monster in creating a mate. All in all the mixture of emotions the monster possesses creates his humanness. When neglected by his creator, a god of sorts, he seeks others for consolation and a need of normalcy. When rejected by society, in this case because of his appearance, he rejects them just as they rejected him, but essentially he does not want to be alone. Left with nothing positive to base his relationship with society, he turns to the only form of interaction that he thinks suits him; violence. Yet despite his lack of remorse towards his murdering, he still wishes to live a happy life, with a partner nonetheless, and it is this simple human desire not being met that turns him to entirely forsake society as well as himself. He plans his death at the end, seemingly regretful that the only thing that brought him to this was the fact that despite his longing for compassion, all he had ever know was hatred. Frankenstein's monster is human because he is the embodiment of the human condition; some view loneliness as the essence of being human. Each human being comes into the world alone, travels through life as a separate person, and ultimately dies alone. The last line in the book, “He was soon borne away by the

waves and lost in darkness and distance.” (p.156) summarizes this, and can be related to any character in the book; the monster for the literal reason of him disappearing into the artic, but also becoming alone by being shunned by mankind. Victor suffered the solitude from his family, and his mind was lost to the thoughts of aloneness. Elizabeth, being neglected by Victor, notably on their wedding night, lost her life. Since the monster embodies the fundamental trait of the human condition which connects him to actual `humans', it is safe to say that the possession of a human soul and conscious makes a creature human, and in this case, makes the monster human.