Frankenstein (1818) – It’s Place in Gothic Literature

WHERE DOES THE GOTHIC BEGIN?

The Age of Enlightenment is the era in Western philosophy, intellectual, scientific and cultural life, centred upon the 18th century, in which 

reason was advocated as the primary source for legitimacy and authority.

The taste for Gothic fiction begins in the Enlightenment period, when the truth claims of religion were being questioned.

•Maidens fleeing from the rapacious hands of murderous monks in the novels of Ann Radcliffe (The Mysteries of Udolpho 1794) or Matthew Lewis (The Monk 1796) represents for many the attempt to escape from the constrictions of Christian belief and its oppressive institutions into secular freedom.

•Encounters with ghostly figures are taken as Kantian attempts to test the limits of reason itself. (Immanuel Kant 1724-1804)

The Changing Role of Science in Gothic Literature.

Scientific Advancements - Galvanism

•During the 1790s, Italian physician Luigi Galvani demonstrated what we now understand to be the electrical basis of nerve impulses when he made frog muscles twitch by jolting them with a spark from an electrostatic machine.

•When Frankenstein was published, however, the word galvanism implied the release, through electricity, of mysterious life forces. "Perhaps," Mary Shelley recalled of her talks with Lord Byron and Percy Shelley, "a corpse would be reanimated; galvanism had given token of such things."

By 1836, The Science of Galvanism has Changed

Electricity's seeming ability to stir the dead to life gave the word

galvanize its own special flavouring, as this 1836 political cartoon of a "galvanized" corpse

suggests.

•But in the 20th century, attention moves to the horrors that lurk in our own psyche.

•The unconscious comes to be a subject of attention and exploration in stories such as the celebrated Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Freud’s ‘The Uncanny 1919’•Although the haunting by a second self may appear to confirm the existence of the supernatural, ever since Freud this apparition has been understood not as a true spiritual

presence but as a figure of repression.

•The eeriness of two selves where there should only be one is, Freud argued, an irruption of disquiet caused by our separation from our origin in our mother's womb.

•Uncanny is unheimlich in German, or "unhomely", and Freud claims it is the home that we refuse to acknowledge and from which we are estranged which causes the double among other eerie manifestations.

•Freud's theory is used to account for the plethora of double figures from Frankenstein and his Creature, Poe's William Wilson, Dorian Gray and his portrait, and the tortured protagonists of the Tales of Hoffman, all of whom play out the horror of duality, of a subjectivity rendered uncanny.

Gothic scholars and Cultural AnxietiesThe Gothic scholar aims to lift the veil on Victorian hypocrisy.

•Dr Jekyll, a highly respected physician, lives in a large and handsome house, and moves in elevated professional circles.

• There is, however, a shady back door to his house, out of which the apish, squat figure of Hyde emerges, to act out violent assaults with monstrous malice.

•He contradicts the moral behaviour of Dr Jekyll and questions the integrity of his social persona.

Degeneration, Eugenics and The Gothic

•Gothic provided a space wherein to explore phenomena at the borders of human identity and culture- insanity, criminality, barbarity and sexual perversion. (Hurley 1996)

By the end of the 19th century, the term Degeneration has become a full-blown social and

political belief system.

• The Deviant • Nordau in 1895, linked Krafft-Ebing’s work to degeneracy, which he described as:

 • …a morbid deviation from an original type [whose] successors will not resemble the healthy, normal type of the species...[but rather] morbid deviations from the normal form. (Nordau in Luckhurst and Ledger 2000:15)

 

• Secrecy: • The belief in the existence of degeneration… fostered a sense that what might be happening to civilization, lay somehow hidden, buried from sight…  [and] installed an alternative myth which spoke to this dark side of progress.  

Degeneration and The Aesthetes

• Nordau pronounced it fact that the term ‘degenerates’ could be applied to the originators of the new aesthetic tendencies in fin-de-siecle art and literature…which could be proven through 

 • a careful physical examination of the persons concerned, and an inquiry into their pedigree…[which included] a lack of the sense of morality and of right and wrong.  For them there exists no law, no decency, no modesty…(Nordau in Ledger and Luckhurst 2000:16).

• William James in his review of Nordau’s Degeneration hit back with a vengeance, calling him an ‘idiot’,  ‘imbecile’ and an ‘erotomaniac of the prudish sort, haunted by horror of other people’s sexuality…[with an] inability to see a joke’ and referred directly to his tirade of criticism of Oscar Wilde’s epigrams (James in Ledge and Luckhurst 2000: 19). 

Frankenstein and Degeneration

•The monster's own comment on his degeneration,

•"'But it is even so, the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil,'" 

THE GOTHIC THEME OF : HUBRIS

Germany, Switzerland and Northern Italy are popular locations for the gothic novel which became a veritable craze in the late eighteenth to early nineteenth century. 

Gothic Themes:

• A fascination for the past, often but not exclusively, the Medieval era. The past is associated with simplicity and harmony in contrast to the turmoil of modernity.• An interest in the supernatural, eccentric, magical, sublime, where ‘supernatural’ means something beyond nature and beyond the rational.• Developed characterisation, often psychological.• A focus on the sinister, dark, horrific and terrible.• Grand settings, or conversely, simple settings (‘domestic’ gothic). Ruins, dungeons, castles, darkness, wilderness, heavy weather etc. 

THE GOTHIC THEME OF : HUBRIS

'Hubris' means god-like arrogance, dangerous ambition - or excessive pride. Think of 'pride goes before a fall'.

Gothic ArchitectureSpot the Difference!

The Gothic in Architecture:

•was a response to the anxieties of the incipient Industrial and Scientific revolutions that picked up pace in the mid eighteenth century. This shift was as traumatic as it was violent. People did not want to be catapulted into a dangerous, unknown future. They wanted the security, romance and magical qualities of the past. Architecture began to copy much older, medieval styles.

The Gothic in ArtFrancisco Goya (1746 – 1828) offers visionary works of horrific and nightmarish proportions which come to embody the supernatural and macabre in the human psyche and the human world. 

William Blake (1757 – 1827) overtly challenges the political, monarchic and religious establishment in his work which seeks to expose the oppressive nature of rationalism and reinstate the liberty of the mind.  

What kinds of novels were written before this?

• Not many. Novels are a relatively late form of literature. The first novel in English is often said to be Robinson Crusoe (1719)

• The popularity of novels increased as literacy rates grew, mechanised printing made mass production possible, and lending libraries circulated vast numbers of texts at low cost. 

• The amount of women reading grew exponentially at this time.

Frankenstein (1818)

• Frankenstein’s theme is hubris, and it is one of the first Science Fiction novels written, dealing with the dangerous power of scientific discovery. 

• This makes it very different to the pseudo-medieval novels, as it is forward-looking, dealing with the cutting edge of science at the time, in galvanism, anatomy and the most modern philosophical thought about the status and rights of man.

Can anyone think of any texts and/or films that relate to the idea of Hubris? You can go back before the Bible right up to the present day……

•   

Clue: Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus, (1818)

This links to the Greek myth of Prometheus.

• Prometheus created people out of clay. Then he stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. • Fire, here, symbolises knowledge, science and technology (fire is the first human invention. You could even argue the invention of fire is when we became 'human', not 'animal').•  In this story, it's Prometheus who is punished.

“How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to be greater than his nature will allow.”

• Knowledge is Power• Almost the first story in the Bible (in Genesis) is about Hubris. In the beginning, God made creatures out of clay, 'in his own image' - Then the people ate from the tree of knowledge and became clever, so God punished them by evicting them from Eden (paradise). 

• “I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel...”

GENESIS 3:15 THE PROTOEVANGELIUM OR "FIRST GOSPEL"

DR. FAUSTUS by Christopher Marlowe (1590)

• The myth of Faustus, tells the story of Dr. Johann Faustus, who makes a pact with the devil Mephistophilis in order to gain ultimate knowledge under the condition that he surrender his being to the devil after twenty-five years. 

• Faustus, of course, ignores the responsibility gained with such power, and abuses his gift for the entire twenty-five years until he loses his soul to Mephistophilis. 

• The irony within this myth is that despite his vast knowledge, Faustus never realized the error of his ways, nor did he repent for what he had done. 

“Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.”

• Almost instantly, similarities between Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Faustus are clear: both of them became blinded and guided by their own ambitions. At one point, Frankenstein even admits both his recklessness and his stupidity concerning his plight, which is intentionally similar to that of Faustus': 

"...I ardently desired the acquisition of knowledge... now my desires were complied with and it would have, indeed, been folly to repent.”

Hubris in Macbeth?

• Hubris can be considered more than excessive pride in a person. Hubris can also be too much ambition or even over confidence in a character....

• Macbeth’s ‘vaulting ambition’……..

Forbidden Knowledge or Power

Forbidden knowledge/power is often the Gothic protagonist’s goal. The Gothic "hero" questions the universe’s ambiguous nature and tries to comprehend and control those supernatural powers that mortals cannot understand. He tries to overcome human limitations and make himself into a "god." This ambition usually leads to the hero’s "fall" or destruction; however, Gothic tales of ambition sometimes paradoxically evoke our admiration because they picture individuals with the courage to defy fate and cosmic forces in an attempt to transcend the mundane to the eternal and sublime.

THIS IS KNOWN AS HUBRIS

What's the Difference Between 'Terror' and 'Horror' and Also, Why Should I Care?•Because Ann Radcliffe wrote a very famous Essay called 'On the Supernatural in Poetry', and this is going to give you something to argue against in your Lit B exam, that's why. This is especially handy for any essay with 'supernatural', 'terror', 'horror', 'fear' or 'frightening' in the title.

And yes, I did say argue against. Quoting critics is nice, but a bit C-B grade(ish) if all you do is vomit up someone else's opinions onto the page.

So - Ann Radcliffe got fairly obsessed about the difference between these two words. To us mere humans, 'terror' and 'horror' may seem to mean the same thing, so here's the difference as explained by Radcliffe:

• Terror 'expands the soul' (i.e. is good for you) and draws us closer to the 'sublime'. It creates uncertain apprehension (tension) that leads to a complex (therefore interesting) fear of strange and dreadful elements. Terror stimulates the imagination and often challenges intellectual reasoning to find a plausible explanation of this ambiguous fear and anxiety. Resolution of the terror provides a means of escape.

• Horror is just scary. It ‘annihilates’ (utterly destroys) the soul.Works of horror are crafted from a maze of alarmingly concrete imagery designed to induce fear, shock, revulsion, and disgust. Horror appeals to lower mental faculties, such as curiosity and voyeurism. Elements of horror render the reader incapable of resolution and subject the reader's mind to a state of inescapable confusion and chaos. The inability to intellectualize horror inflicts a sense of obscure despair.

Entrapment, Imprisonment and Escape: Claustrophobia

• It's every Gothic writer's favourite scenario: someone's trapped - either chained up, strapped down, or tucked away in some dank cell, castle, cellar or cloister. The physical entrapment and claustrophobia symbolises psychological limitation - of narrowness, or theconfines of society, and the expectations of others. The physical claustrophobia symbolises the psychological limitations which cause mental pain.

Obviously, if the character is trapped by someone else - as in Carter's 'The Bloody Chamber' or Cathy's self-imposed exile to her room in Thrushcross Grange, in Wuthering Heights, then it's also about control and power.

• If you're going to write about this, make sure you also pick up on the reverse: of release into wild, open spaces - as where the creature in Frankenstein escapes.