Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

Frankenstein à lire

Premiere oeuvre: Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley (1797-1851)

- She was born in 1797

- Her parents were famous writers

- She was very young when she wrote Frankenstein

- The idea came to her during her stay in Switzerland : Ghost story competition with her friends, they stopped at some point but she kept going and then published the book

Frankenstein

- Prometheus (Greek Mythology)

- Frankenstein can be compared to prometheus → trying to compete with god

- Victor Frankenstein is the name of the scientist, he's the creator of the creature.

- Victor is the narrator in the book : He tells the story with hindsight → he expresses his regrets and his guilt many times

- Influenced by gothic novels

- It is not an actual gothic novel itself, but some elements of the book can be qualified as gothic literature

Gothic novel definition: (moodle)

- Lord Byron was present during the stay in Switzerland, he wrote a poem called prometheus

Ihe sublime: a landscape that is both beautiful and terrifying, with admiration mixed with fear

Movie adaptations:

Frankenstein, by James Whale (1931)

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)

Frankenstein, by Guillermo del Toro (2025)

What we should pay attention to while reading:

- The structure of the novel

- How suspense is created, what place the creature is given, position of the reader

- Language → words used by Victor to refer to the creature → connotations of these words? Are they used elsewhere in the text?

Language is an important issue in the novel (The "creature" will have to learn to speak)

- Motif of the double

- Who is the "monster"? Is there a monster?

- How does the novel resonate today? Why is it popular?

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