frankenstein and hermetism

Japan Association of English Romanticism

NII-Electronic Library Service

JapanAssociation ofEnglish Romanticism

Frankenstein and Hermetism

Chieko TANAKA

Frankenstein; oag the Modern PTometheus is Mary WollstenecraftSheiiey's most fermidable novel, where Victor Frankenstein's imagina-

tion achieved the unusual creation of the creature and in the end, this

ereation ironicaliy caused the catastrophe of Victer himself and the name-

less creature. Crosbie Smith says that this story is "a voyage of discovery

that imaginatively explored the mysterious and dark side of Nature andman, especially in reiatiofi to an individual's quest for god-like power and

knowledge through natural philosophy."i Although his quest for powerand know}edge collapsed, the needs of Victor's imagination caused him to

create a new myth of the modern Prometheus. What lies behind Victor'simagination? And by what force are his ambitions driven to catastrophe?

In inquiring into these questions, I argue that hermetism2 exists at the

root of Victor's imagination and there is a link between Frankenstein andhermetism, which is deep}y related to alchemy and magic.

Frankenstein's science has been discussed in terms of modern science,

alchemical science, and occult science. Cultural studies on Frankenstein,which widely include the studies of lts sciefice, developed rapidly in

the 1990's.3 Jay Macpherson, David Kettere4 Peter VOrmon, and JohnA. Du,ssinger examine Victor's inclination towards the anciefit natural

philosophy-aichemy and magic. Howeveg they do not investigate theroot idea of alchemy and magic, that is, the philosophy of hermetism. It

should be noted that Mary Shelley contributed the biography of MarsilioFicino to the Cabinet Cyclopaedia and Hermes Tirismegistus is mentionedin this biography4 I will examine manifestatlons of hermetism ifi the text

of Frankenstein and investigate this novei's kinship with hermetism, thesource of which is the Hermetica.

[27]




28Chieko TANAKA

The Hermetica is the collection of works written under the name

of }-Iermes Tlismegistus in Egypt from the third century Bc to the third

century AD. Tke themes of the Hermetica are various, such as philoso-

phM theologM astrologs natural philosophM alchemM magic, and so on.

Walter Scott and Andr6-Jean Festugiere divided the H'ermetica into two

main categories: "popular"

hermetism and "learned"

or "philosophical"

hermetism (Broek 487). The Asdepins and the Corpbls Hermeticum are

the most important of the philosophicai Hermetica. According to Frances

Yates, "[the works of Hermetica] contai,n popular Greek philosophy of

the period, a mixture of Platonism and Stoicism, combined with some

Jewish and probably some Persian iRfiuences."5

The Cotpus Hermeticum became known in the West in the formsof Marsilio Ficino's Latin translation of its Greek manuscript. The Her-

metica and the divine name of Hermes Trismegistus had a great influence

upon European culture. The first version of the Corpus Hermeticum in

English was published by ]ohn Everard in l650.6 Hetmetism had much

influence upon John Dee and Edmund Spencer in the sixteenth century

and Robert Fludd and Ralph Cudworth in the seventeenth century. As

Antoine Faivre remarks, the celebrated authors in the seventeenth cen-

tury such as Richard Burton, Sir 'I'homas

Browne, Sir Walter Raleigh, and

John Milton refer to hermetic ideas in their works.7 lie also indicates that

a number of authors of pre-Romantic and Romantic literature in England

and the United States were indirectly influenced by hermetism (Faivre540>. Ernest Lee

'Ikveson points out the great infiuence ef hermetisfn

upen Romanticism. He says that "in

the hermetist tradition, ideas about

the universe remained consrant" and that C`[flinally

they led to what we

know as romanticism."S

I

As Peter Vermon indicates, Victor Frankenstein has a distinct inclina-

tion towards ancieRt Ratural philoscphy-alchemy and magic.9 Victor

indulges himself in reading the works of CorRellus Agrippa, Paracelsus,

and Albertus Magnus early in his youth. But later his inclination driftsfrom ancient natural philosophy to modern natural philosophM and he

writhes in confiict between "the ancient" science and

"a modern system




Frankenstein and Hermetism 29

of science."iO VUhy did the ancient philosophy attract Victor? ])C(e can findhere:

The untaught peasant beheld the elements around him, and was acquainted

with their practical uses. The most learned philosopher knew little more.

He had partially unveiled the face of Nature, but her immortal lineamentswere still a wonder and a mystery. He might dissect, anatomise, and givenames; but, not to speak of a final cause, causes in their secondary and

tertiary grades were utterly unknown to him. . . .

But here were books, and here were men [Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Al-bertus Magnus] who had penetrated deeper and knew more. I took their

word for all that they averred, and I became their disciple.ii

Victor tries to "unveil

the face of Nature" and pursues "nature

to

her hiding places" (F 49). He remarks on his quest: "It

was the secrets of

heaven and earth that I desired to learn; . . . my enquiries were directed to

the metaphysical, og in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world"

(Fl 831 37). He pursues "a

final cause," which exists behind nature. Frank-

enstein is set in the eighteenth centurM the age of reason. According toSmith, natural philosophers in that age assumed that nature had a specialordeg and they investigated the principles of its ordeL Any theological or

metaphysical quests for secret and final causes of nature were assigned to

ancient natural philosophers. Mary Shelley depicts her central figure as a

creative artist and a magician-philosopher with a Romantic temperament,rather than as an eighteenth-century Enlightenment philosopher (Smith41). Victor finds "that

passion, which afterwards ruled [his] destiny" arise"like

a mountain riveg from ignoble and almost forgotten sources" and it

becomes "the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all [his] hopes

and joys" (F 32>. Victor's Romantic passions for natural philosophy oftenovercome his reason. His enthusiastic pursuit for nature's hidden powerreflects the Romantic imagination. The imaginative search for mystery is

set against rational investigations of the modern natural philosopher. In

the 1831 edition, modern natural philosophy is criticized more than inthe 18t8 edition, for Romanticism influenced Mary Shelley's attitude to

scientific empiricism during those years. Romantic ethos sharpened her

perspective of nature: one of the fruits Romanticism bore in the 1831edition.i2 She expresses a definite shift from late eighteenth-century En-

lightenment philosophy to Romanticism in terms of nature.




30Chieko thNAKA

For Victog the final cause cannot be presented by a modem phi-losopher but by such philosophers as Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus

Magnus. These philosophers are all deeply concerned with alchemy and

magic, and furthermore they are all under the influence of hermetism.As Tuveson indicates, one of the mottoes of the hermetists is "Follow

nature." It means "one

should constantly try to extend one's obl'ective

understanding of the great cosmos" ('fuveson 32). Tuveson says that C`the

more we know about the order of nature, its laws and its secrets, the

more closely we approach the divine Being whose manifestation physi-cal phenomena are" (Tiuveson 32). For

"the

cosmos is the image of the

divine" (Tuveson 66).

In hermetism "everything

that exists, both in the material and the

spiritual world, is fundamentally one, because it derives from the One,

God" (Broek 559). Hermes says in the first chapter of the Asclepi"s that"all

things are one, and the One is all things ... all things were in the

Creator before he created them all."i3 Hermetism is "a way of moral and

spiritual progress that leads to an ever better understanding of the world

we live in and to knowledge of, and even union with, the transcendent

God who is its final cause" (Broek 562). In the context of hermetism the

ultimate cause of the universe is the One, God. According to Urs Leo

Grantenbein, Paracelsus thought that behind all things existed some-

thing like eternal ideas, "astra." Although he observed a framework of

Christian philosophB magic, alchemy and theology cannot be separatedin Paracelsus' worldview. He held magic to be a method of making use

of the secrets or fundamental laws of nature.i4 As Claire Fanger remarks,

Albertus Magnus, a German philosopher and theologian, was devoted

to the study of the natural science and Aristotelian philosophy. He refers

to alchemB alchemical operations and magic in his works, and Hermes

Trrismegistus is frequently cited.i5 Agrippa especially fascinates Victor;

Victor finds a volume of the works of Cornelius Agrippa at the inn in the

baths near Thonon and reads it enthusiastically. Clearly the philosophy of

Agrippa becomes to be one of the factors which triggers his ruin, which

he mentions after his conversation with his father (F 33). Afterward Victor applies himself to alchemical pursuits:

`CI entered

with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and

the elixir of life" (F 34). But he puts a high value on the elixir of life rather

than on the philosopher's stone, because the forrner is the operation of Iife





itself while the latter is merely for gaining wealth, Thus this fascinationleads to the ambition for creation, that is, the operation of life itself.

In Ingolstadt, Victor is severely criticized by M. Krempe because ofhis study of alchemy But Victor is still attracted to the grand views of

alchemical philosophy though he realizes its inefficiency in the real world.

Although Victor "had a contempt for the uses of modern natural philoso-

phB" he "was

required to exchange chimeras of boundless grandeur forrealities of little worth" (F 41). For Victor to be an inquirer of modern sci-

ence is to abandon his own imaginary world and return to the real world.

S. H. Vasbinder argues that Victor converts from alchemical science to

modern science at this point.i6 But I disagree with his argument becauseVlisbinder puts more emphasis on the mere superficial proceedings afterthis incident rather than the dilemma of whether Victor should rely on hisown imaginary world or abandon it. We should note that Victor writhed

under the dilemma, and he depreciates the value of realities with certainty

As IUveson points out, "[the

ancient alchemists'] purpose was to perfect,to make actual, the wholeness which is possible for the human mind"

(TUveson 256). In alchemical pursuit, Victo4 who cannot be satisfied withthe real world, tries to re-form and operate the laws and phenornenonon the earth, and to be free from the limitations of the real world. C. G.

Jung says that "every

life is the realization of a whole . . . of a self" and he

quotes the old alchemists' dictum that the most natural and perfect work

is to generate its Iike.i7 Victor's purpose is to perfect the wholeness of hisown self and to create his own like.

II

After he meets M. VValdman, and is instructed by him in the gloriousachievements in modern science, Victor sets out to study chemistrM

physiologM and anatomy. "After

days and nights of incredible labour andfatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and lifes naM

more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless mat-

ter" (F 47). Though it appears that Victor could have cleared the mystery

of life, he remarks, "[b]ut

this discovery was so great and overwhelming,

that all the steps by which I had been progressively led to it were obliter-

ated, and I beheld only the result" (F 47). The details are not given byMary Shelley as Mario Praz criticizes.i8 Victor was, rathe4

"animated




32Chieko rl:ANAKA

with an almost supernatural enthusiasm" (F 46) and was able "to

arrive

at once at the summit of [his] desires" <F 47). The procedure of pain-ful labour after setting out to create life is accompanied with

"a passing

trance" (F 50), so these experiences are rather mystic and transcendent.

FinallB Victor's ambition is declared as an ardent aspiration for god-likepower.

A new species weuld bless me as its creator and source; many happy and

excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the

gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve their's. Pursuing

these reflections, I thought, that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless

matte4 I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible)

renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption.

(F 49)

The ambition to create "[a]

new species" which " would bless me as its

creator and source" means the desire to be a god. Irving H. Buchen con-

cludes that Mary Shelley "provided

the model for those who in the futurewould aspire to be fledging gods."i9 A similar expression of this aspiration

can be found in the passage on the greatness of man in the Asclepius.

Man is a marvel then, Asclepiusi honour and reverence to such a being!

Man takes on him the attributes of a god, as though he were himself a god.. . . He is linked to the gods, inasmuch as there is in him a divinity akin to

theirs....He has access to all; he descends to the depth of the sea by thekeenness of his thoughts and heaven is not found too high for him, for he

measures it by his sagacits as though it were within his reach. (H 295)

Hermes teaches Asclepius that man has the attributes of a god and he

himself is like a god. Man is great because man has no"s, though not

all men have this. This appreciation of the greatness of man is one of

the characteristics of the Asclepius. Hermes continues to appreciate man's

ability: "[O]f

all beings that have soul, man is the only one whose fac-

ulty of cognition is, by this gift of mind, so strengthened, elevated, and

exalted, that he can attain to knowledge of the truth concerning God"

(H 297). Just as man's "faculty

of cognition" is praised by Hermes in

the Asctepius, so the very ability of grasping the secret of the universe

is praised by VictoL In hermetism "knowledge

of the truth concerning

God" is the ultimate object of cognition. Victor affirms man's intense pas-sion for knowledge:




Frankenster'n and Hermetism 33

No one can conceive the variety of feel,ings which bore me onwards, like

a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to

me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of

light into our dark world. (F 49>

He aspires to the knowledge of the secrets of life and death so inrenselyand he believes that he can

"pour a torrent of light into our dark world."

This imp!icit ttust in the know!edge of humanity corresponds to the ap-

plause for the knewledge of man in the following passage in the Ascge-

pius: "With

his quick wit he penetrates the elements; air cannot blind his

mental vision with its thickest darkness; dense earth cannot impede his

works the deepest water cannot blur his downward gaze" <H 29S-97).

Furthermore, Hermes app}ands Rot enly man's knowledge but alsoman's creativitM which we see manifest in Victor- "A

new species would

bless me as its creator and source." This aspiration can be found in theAsclepius, and is distinctly exemplified in the fo11owing passage:

[H]ow great is the power and might of man. . . . [EIven as God is the maker

of the gods of heaven, so man is the fashioner of the gods who dwell intemples and are content to have men for their neighbours. Thus rnan not

oRly receives the light of dlvine life, but giyes it also; he Rot only makes

his way upward to God, bgt he even fashions gods....MaRkind is evermindful of its own parentage and the source whence it has sprung, and

steadfastly persists in following God's example; and consequentlM just asthe Father and master made the gods of heaven eternal, that they might

sesemble him who made them, eveR so do meR alse fashieR their gods inthe iikeness of their ewn aspect. (H 339)

We notice that Hermes teaches "[t]hus

man not only receives the light ofdivine life, but gives it also. . . ." Victor struggles to create a new species

in the likeness of his own aspect, that is, a simulacra of a human being.Victor's creation of a human being is similar to the making of gods inthe passage above and the very impulse of the creation of life should beargued in a context of the hermetic tradition.

Since ancient times, the creation of Iife has been the aspiratiQn of "the

wisest men," as Victor counts himself (F 47--48). Two examples in mythol-ogy ,related to this theme are the legends of Prometheus and Pygmalion.

As Burton R. Pollin examines in his "Philosophical and Literary Sources

of Fmnkenstein,"Zg one of the materials is probably the Premetheus myth




34Chieko T:ANAKA

in Ovid's Metamorphoses.2i Mary Shelley mentions having read Ovid inher journal in 1815,22 and it seems that Ovid had attracted her deeply.But in the myth of Prometheus, it is not a man but a god who generates ahuman being. In Franfeenstein, a human being is characterized as creating

a creature that resembles him. Pollin points out that Mary Shelley read

Pygmalion et Galate'e; ou La Statue anime'e depuis vingt-quatre he"res byMme de Genlis, and that this play would have stimulated Mary Shelley'smemories of Ovid (Pollin 100). In Ovid's myth of Pygmalion, Pygmal-ion carves an ivory statue in order to have an ideal woman for his love,not because he pursues his own ambition to procreate

"a

new species"

like Victor (Ovid 81-85). In these respects, we can find a driving forcetowards the creation of life that is more similar in the Asclepius than inthese myths. The extent to which Victor's creation of life is deeply relatedwith hermetism cannot be overestimated, though there is a differencebetween man's fashioning of gods' statues in the Asclepius and Victor'screation of a new species in Frankenstein.

III

Next, let us consider the process of Victor's creation. At first he begins hiswork as if he were an advocate for mechanical materialism. Victor beginsthis attempt by performing experiments, which seem to be controlled byreason on the surface, but prove to be horrible and cursed, driven by thedark side of human passion, until the process assumes characteristics of

Gothic novels. A hermetic "god" undertakes his cursed operation in a

chamber which looks like a cell for alchemical experiments. Here is themoment of the creature's animation.

It was on 2 dreary night of Novembeg that I beheld the accomplishment

of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collectedthe instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being intothe lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the

rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burntout, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull

yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion

agitated its limbs. (F 52)





Mary Shelley avoids the details of the process of animation. The idea of"a

spark of being" is to appear again in the scene where Victor confronts

the creature. He exclaims in the scene, "Wretched

devil! you reproach me

with your creation; come on then, that I may extinguish the spark which

I so negligently bestowed" (F 94>. Lateg the creature is severely rejected

by Felix, Safie, and Agatha because of his deformed appearance. The

creature says to Victog "Cursed,

cursed creator! Why did I live? VCihM inthat instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so

wantonly bestowed?" (F 132) "A spark of being" is a crucial reference

for the destinies of both Victor and the creature. It can be considered as

the galvanism mentioned by Mary Shelley in the introduction of the 1831

edition. Marilyn Butler examines this issue, contrasting John Albernethy'svitalism and William Lawrence's argument against it.23 V7hat then can we find in the crux of the matter on the animation of

life? Tb answer this question, let us return to the early youth of Victon

The raising of ghosts or devils was a promise liberally accorded by myfavourite authors, the fulfilment of which I most eagerly sought; and if

my incantations were always unsuccessful, I attributed the failure rather to

my own inexperience and mistake, than to a want of skill or fidelity in my

instructors. (F 34)

Invocation in terms of magic is a subtle and significant thread in this

novel. Pondering the creation of life in the light of magic, we can see

clearly Victor's aspirations for magical invocation. One of his "favour-

ite authors" is Agrippa, who offers lists of means for invocations in his

work ('lilates 153). In "The Philosopher and the Magus" Eugenio Garin

remarks that "Agrippa

contrasted the `pestilential'

Aristotle's philosophyof nature with his own view of magic (the magic of Ficino and Pico) asthe culmination of a movement to constitute an active science of nature

and an operative knowledge. . . ."24 Magic was "the

practical aspect of

the science of nature" (Garin 138>. In short, Victor sought not only forknowledge but also for action: he sought out

"the secrets of

`natural'

magic to gain dominion over the physical world" (Garin 151). Indicat-ing that

"Victor's aspirations are still under the influence of the world of

alchemy and magic,"25 and that "the

description of the moment of ani-

mation suggests something that is the very opposite of natural-a magical




36Chieko "IIANAKA

and amazing occurrence . . ." (Rowen 175), Norma Rowen remarks that"the

sense of man's capacity to perform marvels and miracles . . . informshis ambitions" (Rowen 174-75). I believe that these ambitions to

"per-

form marvels and miracles" to animate matter have their roots in thehermetic creation of gods, since the same ambitions are clearly seen in thefollowing passage in the Asclepi"s:

What we have said about man is already marvellous, but most marvellous

of all is that he has been able to discover the nature of the gods and to

reproduce it. Our first ancestors invented the art of making gods. Theymingled a virtue, drawn from material nature, to the substance of the stat-

ues, and "since

they could not actually create souls, after having evoked the

souls of demons or angels, they introduced these into their idols by holyand divine rites, so that the idols had the power of doing good and evil

[sic]."26 (Yates 39)

Here Egyptian priests contrive to find the method of giving life to inani-mate matteg that is, the making of

"the moving statues made by Daedalus,

the speaking statues of Mercurius" (Yates 165). The very ability of mak-

ing these statues is inciuded by Hermes in the human privileges, as well as

the ability to contemplate the heavenly and apprehend the divine. I return

now to Agrippa, who exhibits a striking similarity to the Asclepius:

But who can give a soul to an image, or make a stone to live, or mettal

[metal], or wood, or wax? and who can raise out of stones children unto

Abraham? Certainly this Arcanum doth not enter into an Artist of a stiffe

necki neither can he give those things which hath them not. No body haththem but he who doth (the Elements being restrained, nature being over-come, the Heavens being over-powered) transcend the progress of Angels,and comes to the very Archetype27 it self, of which being then made a coop-

erator may do all things, as we shall speak afterwards.28

Here, it is very clear that hermetism infiltrates this passage. The crucial

subject of how we can give a soul to animate lifeless matter is discussedhere. Seeking for "a

spark of being," Agrippa remarks that man who can

reach God, and operate as God does, can make miracles and magic. By

Agrippa, too, man is privileged to create life as if he were a god. He uses

the Asclepius as an authority on his magical philosophy. Agrippa observes"Mercurius

7'>'ismegistus writes, that an image rightly made of certain





proper things, appropriated to any one certain angel, will presently beanimated by that angel" (Agrippa 112). Besides, he mentions Hermes's

teaching on the greatness of man: "[W]hence

Hermes saith, O Asclepius!Man is a great miracle, an animal to be honoured and adored: for he

passeth into the nature of God, whereby he becomes God . . ." (Agrippa627). These quotations from the Asclepius show so evident a connection

between Agrippa and hermetism that we can assert that Victor's aspi-

ration is under the influence of hermetism. Agrippa is a philosopher to

whom Victor has committed himself, and there is a reflection of Agrippa's

philosophy upon Victor's mind. Thus we can find echoes of hermetism in

Victor's aspirations.

Let us examine a further relationship between Victor's creation and

hermetism. In his early youth Victor indulged in the imaginative world of

Agrippa and his companB then tried to produce the elixir of life, and then

strived to manipulate a principle of life. This transition, from indulging inmere speculation to performing scientific experiments and magical mira-

cles, should be viewed in terms of the operation of the will. Yates says,"[The

ancient Greeks] did not want to operate. They regarded operations

as base and mechanical, a degeneration from the only occupation worthy

of the dignity of man, pure rational and philosophical speculation. . . .

[T]he real function of the Renaissance magus . . . is that he changed the

will. It was now dignified and important for man to operate; it was also

religious and not contrary to the will of God that man . . . should exert

his powers" (YZites 174-75). In the midst of the shifts from `[the

theoreti-

cal to the practical" in the history of thought, Renaissance magic playedan important role in "bringing

about fundamental changes in the humanoutlook" (Ylites 174). Ylites places an emphasis on the Renaissance ma-

gus, since he embodies man's capacity to operate his own will. Through

magic he tries to change the world and manipulate its system. This at-titude was triggered by the philosophy of Hermetica, and Yates cleverly

calls this emotional driving force the "Hermetic

impulse" ('Iiates 175).When we view the changes in Victor's attitude from "the

theoretical to

the practical" in terms of the human will, we can see that they are paral-lel to the shifts of the human attitude towards the will in key historical

phases. As "the

Hermetic impulse" drove man "to

apply knowledge to

produce operations" (Ybtes 174) in magic, science, and religiositM so this

impulse forces Victor to aspire to create life and to realize his design by




38Chieko TANAKA

directing his own will towards the world, that is, through magical and

scientific operation.

"[Hermes]

remained the same in essence throughout. Each appear-

ance was taken from the cosmogony of the time; each was a transforma-

tion of a continuing body of root ideas" (Tiuveson 2S5). Tb conclude, I

think that the hermetic tradition, whether directly or indirectly, is inher-

ited in Frankenstein. Driven by his enthusiasm for natural philosophMVictor rushes to his ruin. His destiny is suggestive of the Romantic myth

of creation and destruction. VCJith his hermetic quest for knowledge and

powe4 his applause for man's creativitM and his inclination towards al-

chemy and magic to transmute the world, Victor exemplifies the hermeticimagination. We can say that Victor's

"fatal impulse" <F 33) that ruled

his life is the "Hermetic impulse" (Yates 175). In Frankenstein we can see

the essence of hermetism and here its root ideas are embodied strikingly

amongst the various other appearances throughout the Romantic period. (Graduate Student of Tbkyo Metropolitan University)

This is a revised version ef the paper read at the 58th Kyushu English LiterarySociety Meeting.

Notes

i Crosbie Smith, "Frankenstein

and Natural Magic," Frankenstein, Crea-tion and Monstrosity, ed. Stephen Bann (London: Reaktion, 1994) 59.

2 In this papeg I use the term

"hermetism" instead ef

"hermeticism," fol-

lowing Roelof Van Den Broek, who uses the term "hermetism"

to indicate the

specific religious worldview of the so-called philosophical Hermetica. RoelofV2n Den Broek, "Hermetism,"

Dictionary ofGnosis (tv NP2istern Esotericism, ed.

Wouter J. Hanegraaff, vol. 2 (Leiden; Brill, 200S) 559. Hereafter cited as Broek.

3 Johanna M. Smith, `CA

Critical History of Frankenstein," Frankenstein, ed.

Johanna M. Smith, 2nd ed. (Boston: Bedford, 2000) 247.

4 Mary ShelleB "Marsiglio

Ficine" 1835, Mary SheUey's Literary Lives andOther IX?7itings, ed. Tilar J. Mazzeo, vol. 1 (London: Pickering, 2002) 85.

S Frances Yhtes, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic [Ibeadition, 1964 (Lon-

don: Routledge, 2002) 3. Hereafter cited as Yates.

6 Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus, TZ7e Divine Pymander of Hermes MeF

curius Ti'ismegistus, in XVII Books, 7}'anslated Formerly Out of the Arabic into

Greek, and thence into Latine, and Dutch, and Now Out of the Originat into

Engtish; by Doctor [IohnJ Everard, London, 1650.





7 Antoine Faivre, "Hermetic

Literature IV: Renaissance-Present," Diction-ary ofGnosis clr NX7lestern Esotericism, ed. Wouter J. Hanegraaff, vol. 1 (Leiden:Brill, 2005) 538. Hereafter cited as Faivre.

8 Ernest Lee

rlbveson,

the Avatars of 7-1irice Great Hermes; An APPToach toRomanticism (London: Associated Ue 1982) 12. Hereafter cited as TUveson.

9 Peter Vermon, "Frankenstein:

Science and Electricity," Etudes Anglaises50.3 (1997): 271.

iO Mary ShelleB Franfeenstein; on the Modern Promethe"s, the 1818 text, ed.

James Rieger (Chicago: U of Chicago e 1982) 33. Hereafter cited as F.

ii

Mary ShelleM Frankenstein: oag the Modern Prometheus, the 1831 text, ed.

M. K. Joseph (Oxford: Oxford Ug 1998) 40. Hereafter cited as Fl831.

i2 I arn very grateful to Professor Shoichi Yamauchi for his valuabie com-

ments on the relationship between the 1831 edition and Romanticism.

i3 Hermes Trismegistus, Hermetica: the Ancient Greek and Latin SX77itings

which Contain Religious or Philosophic [lleaching Ascribed to Hermes [l-beismegis-tus, 1924, ed. and trans. Walter Scott (Boston: Shambhala, 1993) 289. Hereafter

cited as H. In this paper I use this English text translated by WL Scott for the main

text of the Hermetica. Considering the criticism of Scott's textual emendation

and textual insight by Brian R Copenhaver and Roelof Vlin Den Broek, I collated

this English text translated by WL Scott with the Latin text in Scott's edition,

the French text edited by A. D. Nock and translated by A-J. Festugiere (Her-mbs Trism6giste, Corpus Hermeticum, trans. Andre-Jean Festugiere, ed. ArthurDarby Nock, 4 vols [Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2002]), the English text translated

by Brian R Copenhaver (Hermes Tleismegistus, Hermetica, 1992, trans. Brian RCopenhaver [Cambridge: Cambridge Ue 2000I) and the Japanese text translated

by Sasagu Arai and Yu Shibata (Hermes Ttrismegistus, T!,e Corpus Hermeticum,trans. Sasagu Arai and YU Shibata [Ibkyo: Asahi Shuppansha, 1993]), which

does not treat the Asclepius, as well as the English text by E Yates (Frances Yates,Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic 7>'adition, 1964 [London: Routledge, 2002]),which contains a part of the Hermetica.

i4

Urs Leo Grantenbein, "Paracelsus,"

Dictionary ofGnosis cb" IVestern Eso-tericism, ed. Wouter J. Hanegraaff, vol. 2 (Leiden: Brill, 2005) 924-27.

iS CIaire Fangeg

"Albertus Magnus," Dictionary ofGnosis ts Ivaistern Eso-

tericism, ed. WouterJ, Hanegraaff, vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2005) 9-12.

i6 Samuel H. Vasbindeg Scientific Attitudes in Mary Shelleyls Frankenstein,

1976 (Michigan: UMI, 1984) 60.

i7

Carl Gustav Jung, Psychology and Alchemy, trans. R. E C. Hull, 2nd ed.

(Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993) 222-23.

i8 Mario Praz, "Introductory

Essay" 1968, TZ7ree Gothic Novels, ed. Peyer

Fairclough (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975) 25.




40Chieko TANAKA

i9

H. Irving Buchen, "Frankenstein and the Alchemy of Creation and Evolu-

tion," T)he Wordsworth Circle 8 (1977): 111.

20

Burton R. Pollin, "Philosophical and Literary Sources of Frankenstein,"

Comparative Literature xvii (1965): 102. Hereafter cited as Pollin.

2i

Ovid, Metamorphoses II, trans. Frank Justus Milleg 3rd ed. (London:Harvard Ue 1984) 102. Hereafter cited as Ovid.

22

Mary ShelleB theJournals ofMary Shelley; 1814-1844, ed. R R. Feldman

and D. Scott-Kilvert (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UR 1955) 73.

23

Marilyn Butleg "Frankenstein and Radical Science" 1993, Franfeenstein,

ed. J. Paul Hunter (New Ybrk: Norton, 1996) 302-13.

24

Eugenio Garin, C`The Philosopher and the Magus," Renaissance Charac-

ters, trans. Lydia G. Cochrane, ed. Eugenio Garin (Chicago: U of Chicago U1991) 146. Hereafter cited as Garin.

25

Norma Rowen, "The

Making of Frankenstein's Monster: Post-Golem, Pre-

Rebot," Tllpe State of the Fantastic: Studies in the T)beory and Practice of Fantas-tic Literature and Film, ed. Nicholas Ruddick (London: Greenwood, 1992) 146.

Hereafter cited as Rowen.

26

After having coliating the text by Scott with the French text by A. D. Nock

and A-J. Festugiere and the Engtish text by E 'lrlates,

and the text in Latin in

Scott's edition, I determined to use here the text translated by Yates. In this pas-sage Scott clearly oversimplifies his translation, which can be said an error in

translation.

27

According to Suehiro Tlanemura, the "[a]rcherype" means

"the

One" in

the context of Neoplatonism. Suehiro Tlanemura, Parafeerus"su no Sekai (Tbkyo:Seidosha, 1976) 125.

28

Henry Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim, TZ?ree Books of Occult Philoso-

phy, 1651, trans. James Freake, ed. Donald Tlyson (St. Paul: Llewellyn, 2005)

404. Hereafter cited as Agrippa.

frankenstein and hermetism

Documents