Robert Mitchell’s Suspended Animation, Slow Time, and the Poetics of Trance talks about how during the time of the Romantic era literature had a high demand for suspense from readers which they called “willing suspension of disbelief”.  This concept was known as a phase of “undoubtedly the single most famous critical formulation in all of English Literature”. Authors like the poet Coleridge’s type of suspension was in the form of disbelief but he was also interested in another form called suspended animation. Suspended animation was created in the late eighteenth century. It was described to convince medical readers that individuals who have apparently drowned might still be alive also known as a condition we would call a coma like state. This term of suspended animation was quickly used by medical and literary authors. Throughout this reading Robert Mitchell talks about how this form of writing called suspended animation was also prevalent in many different pieces of literature such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Roger Dodsworth: The Reanimated Englishman. An example of how it was prevalent in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was when Creature tries to “restore animation” to a small girl who has drowned in a river.

Mary Shelley’s On Ghosts shows how she responds to the lack of mystery and suspense in stories during the period. She shows this by describing several ghost stories that happened to different people. In this story, Mary Shelley asks a question to her readers on whether people in society believe in ghost or not. She explains that it is easy not to believe in the possibility of ghosts during the day time where there is light but during the times for example midnight in a house with curtains moving and a dusky passageway while reading about the Bleeding Nun there is no denying the possibility of ghost existing in society. As the story goes on Mary Shelley describes how she personally has never seen or encountered a ghost but describes different accounts of incidents where people have believed to have encountered them. For example when Mary Shelley describes the event of when Angelo Mengaldo saw a headless ghost. He describes the ghost as one of his companions who killed themselves after falling in love with a women who did not love him back.

Usually when stories are categorized as ghost stories there is an element of suspense or of a dark somewhat eerie setting. Mary Shelley’s On Ghost is an interesting example of what a typical ghost story would be like with a little bit of a twist to it.

Robert Michelle’s Suspended animation and Mary Shelley’s On Ghost are both related very closely with each other. Robert Michelle’s Suspended animation talks about the origins of how the literary element of suspense was created and how it evolved throughout the years. Mary Shelley’s On Ghost is about the different forms of ghost stories she has heard about or have encountered.

Queastions:

1. Do you think suspense is an important element in literature even to this day?
2. Do you believe that the demand of suspense in literature during the time was what made Mary Shelley want to write about ghost?
3. Why do you think suspended animation became so popular during this time?

 

                                   

Leading Up to‘The Year Without Summer’ 

     Northern Europe during the early nineteenth century (~1790-1830) encountered severe issues of climate change, where global temperatures reached a periodically low point, below that of normal. The highly explosive eruption of mount Tambora caused after effects of volcanic debris and dust which blocked the sun from hitting earth’s surface; “triggering what H.H Lamb calls one of the greatest world disasters associated with the climate”(227). The ’empire of ice’ by 1816 had conquered the minds of the Britons, releasing their fear of climate change. The debate over climate change came down to the many questions about geoengineering; Should humans intervene with nature?  

By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the indication that climate change took place was agreed upon, but the cause was unknown. The debate started with polar ice being a sole factor in which the climatic temperatures were changing drastically, and society believed that to combat those temperatures they must all take part in agricultural improvements. Moving forward though, many started to believe that agricultural improvements instead was the “cause of climate deterioration” (Carroll, 215). In 1818 climate change still produced major social and political fears in Europe, mostly because the cause of this was still marked as unknown. In Frankenstein’s introduction, we hear from Walton who reads us letters he wrote to his sister while exploring the Arctic climate. In his travel letters, Walton mentions the “Arctic wind” which sets the stage for the entire book to follow. He also sets an example for many Europeans that seek the scientific discovery of the poles, showing them that the icy climate could be extremely dangerous. The Arctic wind mentioned here also plays a huge role in the controversy described in ‘Crusades Against Frost’ where the publics anxieties had stemmed from this ‘cold breeze’ that drifted through all northern Europe. One side of this debate believed that the ‘cold breeze’ was caused by the melting of the ice caps. When the ice caps melt, it causes the water to become colder, thus creating a colder breeze.  

Siobhan Carroll in ‘Crusades Against Frost: Frankenstein, Polar Ice and Climate Change in 1818 explores the sciences that dealt with the phenomena of the Earth’s climate and its drastic environmental changes by reviewing quarterly articles written by John Barrow. John Barrow wrote articles in the Quarterly Review expressing his curiosity and need, to endure on an Arctic exploration. Barrow resided within the British government and told the public that there was no need for government action. His articles were to raise awareness to the controversy regarding climate change. Barrow helped finance the governments arctic expedition for the sole purpose of exploration. In “Erasmus Darwin’s ‘The Botanic Garden’ (1791) it has been stated that humans could delay the apocalyptic cooling of the globe, and perhaps forge a new cosmopolitan utopia, by uniting to destroy Arctic Ice”(Carroll, 212). Erasmus Darwin, unlike Barrow, shared his opinions about the danger of the climate change, making it known that something must be done. Darwin suggested in The Botanic Garden (1791) that to combat the icy climate, all European governments must work together. He believed that it was the duty of a man to destroy the icebergs and claimed that every country should exist as one in the fight against nature. Darwin fought for the “actual implementation of geoengineering schemes” (Carroll, 219).

   The Era of Frankenstein 

     Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein could potentially be written as a reaction to human interference with nature. She writes this tale of a scientist whose greatest dream is to conquer the world of science where the limit of knowledge is unknown to mankind. Victors curiosity about discovering the secret of life lead to his downfall, where his creation ends up destroying him, and his entire world. Here, Shelley could be imitating that you get what you give, implying that human interference with nature could go one of two ways. Many believed that the climate within England had been changing, but the cause of this change posed the major question and debate. Europe’s fight against climate change had some believing that “agriculture improvement combated the dominion of frost” while others believed that “Britain’s modifications of local natures were the cause of climate deterioration.” The debate on human intervention within the natural world, along with ‘the year without a summer’ had many writers and theorists revising their previous work which before, was pro-intervene, whereas now they note that nature is not a force to be reckoned with. For example, Percey Bysshe Shelley was one to notice the “strange weather across the northern hemisphere in 1816”, causing him to change his thoughts on geoengineering and the human power to improve global climate change.  

In Volume I of Frankenstein, we are introduced to the young Victor Frankenstein, and we watch his love and curiosity for science grow; “In other studies, you go as far as others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is a continual food for discovery and wonder”(Shelley, 30). In chapter four we analyze the creation of this monster that turns Victor’s dream into a nightmare. Here we can picture the sight of this horrifying monster, because once created, Victor runs away with utter disgust. We don’t come across the monster again until page 50, where Victor returns home to mourn the loss of his brother. At the sight of his brother’s murder the monster appears, and here Victor learns the capabilities of his creation. In both instances here, Shelley uses a storm to capture the moments before the monster returns to his creator, what could that imply? The effect of nature is used throughout Victors downfall, relating to the relapses he encounters between the different stages of his depression. Nature places an emphasis on the romantic period in which the novel was written.  

Victors constant neglect on his creation allows for the monster to feel as if he rejected from human society; especially when in Volume II, we hear the monsters story. As the reader we come to empathize with the monster because we watch the rejection that it encounters as he ventures out into society after being neglected by his creator. In these chapters we watch the monster develop many skills involving the use of his senses. His daily secret encounter with the DeLacey’s helps him learn how to speak and eventually read as well. In his hovel, he learns all about society and what the relationship between a creator and his creation should be, thus learning what he really is, turning him against society. Since there is no one in the world who cares for him, the monster turns to Victor and asks him to make him happy, where he relates himself to the biblical Adam, as well as the fallen angel from Milton’s Paradise Lost. These references play a role in the monster’s fate from when he was brought to life, to his downfall feeling hated and sinned against by his creator. The monster asks for a mate, so he can feel love and affection, Victor argues with himself and the monster on the development of a new creation and ends up giving in only because he thinks it will get rid of his reoccurring nightmare. 

The monster created within Frankenstein is sought out to be many things since first introduced to the public 200 years ago. My supplemental article reviewed the science behind climate change in 1818, the same year that Shelley wrote the novel Frankenstein. Both the novel and my supplemental article show a relationship between human nature and society, and throughout the book we follow the monster, and watch him grow based on the knowledge he gains from human interaction. The monster represents both the best and worst of human nature and mankind. The best when he is nourished and loved, and the worst when he is rejected and failed. When the monster came across rejection he described the same gloomy weather that Europe encountered around the year 1816; “Nature decayed around me, and the sun became heatless; rain and snow poured around me; mighty rivers were frozen; the surface of Earth was hard and chill and bare, and I found no shelter”(Shelley, 114). Frankenstein explores the nature of improvement found within science where Victor intervenes and reverses death, while my supplemental article explores the role of science behind climate change regarding the future of humans and nature. Romantic writers viewed climate change as something bigger than the present world they were living in. The empire of science and the ‘year without summer’ raised many debates regarding human intervention and the reverse of decay on our planet.  

 Discussion Questions: 

1) Why do you think Shelley uses a ‘storm’ to indicate the warning that Victor will soon run into his creation? 

 

2) Do you believe that human nature can successfully intervene and alter climate change? 

 

3) What role do you believe nature plays within Frankenstein? 

 

 

Works cited:

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851. Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus : the 1818 Text. Oxford ; New York :Oxford University Press, 1998.

Siobhan Carroll (2013) Crusades Against Frost: Frankenstein, Polar Ice, and Climate Change in 1818, European Romantic Review, 24:2, 211-230, DOI: 10.1080/10509585.2013.766402

 

In ‘My Hideous Progeny’: The Lady and the Monster, Mary Poovey analyzes Mary Shelley’s career as a writer and personal life behind her gothic masterpiece – Frankenstein. Poovey’s writing largely deals with the concept of egotism and imagination and how these affect Shelley’s works and characters. Poovey also argues that Shelley constantly faced the battle between the urge to create and the anxiety of meeting the “prevalent social expectations that a woman conforms to the conventional feminine model of propriety.” To support her argument, Poovey analyzes the differences between the first edition (1818) and the second edition (1831) of Frankenstein, not only to bring clarity to some stranger changes, but to understand Shelley’s career transition in those years.

Victor Frankenstein

Even though Shelley claimed that she didn’t want to change any portion of the story or introduce any new ideas or circumstances, she made significant changes to the main character – Victor Frankenstein. In both 1818 and 1838 editions, Victor Frankenstein appears as an egotistic and self-assertive protagonist who ruins his life and people around him, but Shelley changed the origin of Victor’s creative urge in later editions. Poovey describes that, in the 1818 edition, Victor is driven by his innate desire and imaginative activity and believes that “his desire to conquer death through science is fundamentally unselfish and that he can be his own guardian.” But for Shelley, desire must be regulated by domestic relationships because it can protect oneself from the external world. Shelly suggested “as long as domestic relationship govern one’s energy, desire will turn outward as love”. Victor abandons his home to pursue his desire in both editions, but domestic relationships present as an option for him in the 1818 edition.

In the 1838 revision, Shelley depicted Victor as the “helpless pawn of a predetermined ‘destiny’, of a fate that is given, not made”. Because Victor’s destiny is doomed, he is powerless and helpless to change his fate. He must leave his family to create the monster. Shelley wrote, “such a man has virtually no control over his destiny and that he is therefore to be pitied rather than condemned”.

The monster

In the monster’s narrative, Shelley indented to make the monster a symbol of the consequence of Frankenstein’s self-assertion. Animating the monster gives Victor Frankenstein’s imagination a physical form. It fulfills Victor’s innate desire, but eventually destroys his domestic relationship while the monster kills his family and friend. Poovey also argues that the monster seems simply the agent of Victor’s desire, but it also presents to be a “Godwinian critique of social injustice.” The monster’s story becomes “a symbolic extension of her comment on the ego’s monstrosity, an inside glimpse of the pathos of the human condition.”

Poovey also makes the point that we cannot understand Mary Shelley as a writer without considering her as a person. Mary Shelley was the daughter of two prominent people, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, then the wife of Percy Shelly. “Shelley was encouraged from her youth to fulfill the Romantic model of the artist, to prove herself by means of her pen and her imagination.” According to Poovey, Shelley constantly felt the pressure to be something great and as Shelley herself put it, she was “Nursed and fed with love of glory.” Shelley’s stepsister Claire Clairmont once wryly remarked, “in our family, if you cannot write an epic poem or novel, that by its originality knocks all other novels on the head, you are a despicable creature, not worth acknowledging.” Shelley faced not only the pressure to be “original” with her writing, but the pressure to meet societal expectation that a woman should be self-effacing and supportive to her family rather than to a career. Caught between these two models, Shelley developed a pervasive personal and artistic ambivalence toward feminine self-assertion.

The first edition of Frankenstein was published in 1818, when Shelley was just twenty. Even though people were praising the work’s power and stylistic vigor, they also criticized its inappropriate subject and lack of a moral, which was an essential during that time. One of the first reviewers commented “Our taste and our judgment alike revolt at this kind of writing, and the greater the ability with which it may be executed the worse it is—it inculcates no lesson of conduct, manners, or morality.” Some of the critics even assumed the author of Frankenstein to be a man who is no doubt a follower of Godwin.

Later, in the introduction of 1831, Shelley felt guilty about her “frightful” transgression and apologized for her adolescent audacity. The primary purpose of 1831 introduction was to explain and defend the audacity of what now seems blasphemy. Shelley claimed, “How I, then a young girl, came to think of, and to dilate upon, so very hideous an idea?” In the 1831 edition, Shelley wanted to assure her reader that she was no long the “defiant, self-assertive girl who, lacing proper humility, once dared to seek fame and to explore the intricacies of desire”. Shelley also claimed to be “very averse to bringing herself forward in print”. While Shelley continued to write, her work became less subversive and her characters became more meek, domestic, and feminine. She subjected her characters to pain and loneliness. This allowed her to achieve both social approval and her desire to prove herself worthy of her parents and Percy Shelley.

Discussion questions:

• What is the effect of a series of first person narratives in the book?
• Do you agree that there is a lack of moral in Frankenstein? If no, what is the moral of this book?
• At the end of the Volume two, the monster asks Frankenstein to create a woman creature for him. Does Frankenstein have the duty to do that?