frankenstein - english in my...

FrankensteinA scene taken from the film version of Frankenstein directed by James Whale in 1931, starring Boris Karloff.

mercoledì 24 febbraio 2010

• The daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, both believers in the Enlightened power of reason.

• She eloped to France with the Romantic poet Percy B. Shelley.

• The writing of Frankenstein took place at Villa Diodati on the banks of Lake Geneva.

1. Mary Shelley’s life

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Mary Shelley


• Frankenstein, a Swiss scientist, creates a human being by joining parts selected from corpses.

• The result of the experiment is ugly and revolting to him.

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2. Frankenstein and its plot


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2. Frankenstein and its plot

• The Monster becomes a murderer.

• At the end he destroys his creator.

• The story is introduced by a series of letters written by Walton, a young explorer on an expedition voyage to the North Pole, to his sister, Margaret Walton Saville.


3. The Origin of the Model

A waking dream or nightmare that terrified Maryoriginating from:• The reading of ghost stories• Speculation about the reanimation of corpses• Her personal anxieties• Her sense of loss at the death of her own mother

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The protagonist of Frankenstein is the first

embodiment of the theme of science

The latest scientific theories of chemistry and electricity influenced Mary Shelley

He creates a human being through the use of electricity and chemistry

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4. The influence of science


4. The influence of science

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5. Influences: From Prometheus to Frankenstein



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J.J. Rousseau



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J. Locke



“My sensations had by this time become distinct, and my mind received every day additional ideas. My eyes became accustomed to the light and to perceive objects in their right forms; I distinguished the insects from the herb, and, by degrees, one herb from another. (…) One day, when I was oppressed by cold, I found a fire which had been left by some wandering beggars, and was overcome by delight at the warmth I experienced from it. In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain. How strange, I thought, that the same cause s h o u l d p r o d u c e s u c h o p p o s i t e e f f e c t s ! ” Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus: Chapter 11

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• Gothic stories read by Mary and Percy B. Shelley.

• J. Milton’s Paradise Lost Both Satan and the Monster are freedom fighting heroes

• S. T. Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner Both the novel and the poem are stories of a crime against nature.


Walton’s narration to his sister Margaret Walton Saville (chapters 1-10): epistolary form

Frankenstein’s narration to Walton(chapters 11-17): first person narrative

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6. Narrative structure: a frame story

The Monster’s narration to Frankenstein(chapters 18-24): first person narrative


• Both Captain Walton and Doctor Frankenstein try to go beyond human limits.

• R. Walton anticipates Dr. Frankenstein’s quest for new knowledge and ambition

• They are both Titans and Overreachers

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7. Main characters

Captain Walton and Doctor Frankenstein


7. Main characters

• The Monster is complementary to his creator: they both suffer from isolation and they both begin with a desire to be good.

• They both violate the order of the Cosmos• They are both destroyed because of this

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The Monster and Doctor Frankenstein


The quest for forbidden knowledge and the penetration of Nature’s secrets (Walton and Dr Frankenstein) is related to the theme of the overreacher.•Walton and the secrets of Magnetism•Frankenstein and the secrets of Creation

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8. Themes


8. ThemesThe double (Walton, Dr Frankenstein and

the Monster).• The 3 most important characters in the novel are linked

to each other by the theme of the double• Walton is a double of Frankenstein as he manifests the

same ambition, the same wish to go beyond human limits and challenge the unknown, the same pride in being “different”

• Frankenstein and the Monster are complementary: they are both alienated and isolated, they want to be good but they are overcome by hate and violence

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• The overcoming of natural and divine rules the creation of a human being without the participation of a woman the usurpation of the female role.

• Education and experience the Monster’s intellectual and emotional development.

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8. Themes


8. ThemesSocial prejudices the Monster as an outcast.

The Monster is hideous ouside, but generous and good inside

“I am malicious because I’m miserable”

• Man’s incapability to overcome appearance to get to know

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8. Themes

All the characters in Frankenstein are:• Great individualists, dissatisfied with their world• Alienated, prisoners of their own self, alone• Unable to cope with themselves and the others• Cut off from the the reality of their own environment by

their monomania• Victims of the Romantic “Fatal Pride”• Overreachers and Titans prepared to die for a desire• Ready to sacrifice everyone and everything for their

purpose

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Human Isolation due to “Fatal Pride”


Cloning is the creation of an organism that is an exact genetic copy of another. This means that

every single bit of DNA is the same between the two.

Can you consider the Monster a sort of a clone?

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9. Frankenstein and cloning

Sheep cloning.


First nuclear transposition of the nucleus of a frog embryo cell

The first transgenic mouse

was born

‘Embryo splitting’ technique was

discovered: from a single embryo, 5 identical sheep were obtained

Sheep Dolly was born

Thomson found out

embryo stem cells

European Parliament voted

against therapeutic

cloning

The Advanced Cell Technology announced its success in cloning a

human embryo

1952 1982 1984 1996 1998 2000 2001 2007

Scientists discovered stem cells inside placenta and amniotic fluid able to give rise to specialized cells

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10. Cloning steps


A being created by man

Boris Karloff in Frankenstein by James Whale, 1931 Robert De Niro in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein by Kenneth Branagh, 1994

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8. Frankenstein on the screen


9. Frankenstein and Bladerunner

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Roy Batty Priss

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The Nexus – 6 Replicants



• Reflections on “Humanity” and “Mortality”: the consequences for the Replicants of their programming

• Moral implications of human mastery of genetic engineering

• The question of “empathy”: humans lack empathy, they are cold and impersonal, replicants show compassion and concern for each other

• The film questions whether Deckard is a human and forces the audience to re-evaluate what it is to be “human”

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Exploring Humanity


27

I've seen things

you people wouldn't believe.

Attack ships on fire

off the shoulder of Orion.

I watched C-beams

glitter in the darkness

at Tannhauser Gate.

All those moments

will be lost in time

like tears in rain.

Time to die.


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