intro
BBC Bite Size
- BBC Bitesize"Frankenstein by Mary Shelley looks at what happens when one man decides to play God. His actions ultimately lead to his own downfall ... "
Video spark notes
ClickView Frankenstein
A series of short ClickView videos deconstructing the novel's context and background as well as Shelley's writing style.
books
Study Guide - Library
links
General Information
- Eight things you need to know about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein"In his acceptance speech at the 2018 BAFTA awards, Mexican director Guillermo del Toro – a creator rather fond of monsters himself – praised the writer Mary Shelley for giving a “voice to the voiceless”. Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus was Shelley’s first novel, written at the tender age of 18. Here are some things you might not know about her most famous creation, first published 200 years ago in 1818 ... "
- The strange and twisted life of Frankenstein"Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley began writing “Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus” when she was eighteen years old, two years after she’d become pregnant with her first child, a baby she did not name ... "
- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in Charts"Two centuries after the publication of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, the monster she created still stalks our imaginations ... "
- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: what made the Monster monstrous?This paper discusses the genesis of the famous story of Frankenstein which arose from a dream experienced by Mary Shelley whilst on a holiday shared with her husband Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, Dr Polidori and her step sister Claire Clairmont. The novel relates how the creature created by Victor Frankenstein horrifies him, is rejected by him and called a monster. The monster's ensuing despair and subsequent murderousness is eloquently described. The whole book is clearly connected to Mary Shelley's experience as an infant whose mother died after giving birth to her and her subsequent loss, as a mother, of her own new born infant. It is suggested that the novel imaginatively describes what it is to have been primarily rejected as an infant and to feel regarded as a monster.
- Frankenstein for the twenty-first century: An exploration of contemporary issues.Discusses the relevance of the character of Victor Frankenstein in the novel by Mary Shelley in classroom discussions of moral and ethical issues. Identification of a preferred social issue related to the novel `Frankenstein'; Role of a balanced liberal arts education; Pervasiveness of the theme of social responsibility of scientists; Expression of a connection to good parenting.
- Why Frankenstein is a Stigma Among Scientists.As one of the best known science narratives about the consequences of creating life, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818) is an enduring tale that people know and understand with an almost instinctive familiarity. It has become a myth reflecting people’s ambivalent feelings about emerging science: they are curious about science, but they are also afraid of what science can do to them. In this essay, we argue that the Frankenstein myth has evolved into a stigma attached to scientists that focalizes the public’s as well as the scientific community’s negative reactions towards certain sciences and scientific practices.
- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, and the Spectacle of Masculinity"While a strong feminist tradition has virtually revolutionized the reading of Frankenstein, giving the work's feminine subject new visibility and centrality, this approach has simultaneously obscured access to the text's theatrical display of masculinity. Yet an understanding of the deployment of the male body (in the novel and in the cultural construction of Mary Shelley) might challenge current understandings of both the gendering of Frankenstein and Frankenstein's place in the gendering of literary history ... "
- Technology and Impotence in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.The article presents a literary criticism of the book "Frankenstein," by Mary Shelley, its broader mythological body of works, and its discussions of technology, power, and weakness. The author examines the primary theme of technology use and its dangers as seen within the story, contrasting the illusion of power in technological capability with the ways technology weakens or usurps human freedom and power.
- "Listen to my tale": Multilevel Structure, Narrative Sense Making, and the Inassimilable in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.An essay is presented on the narrative style used in the book "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley. It provides an analysis on the text used in the narration which is relevant in drawing out reader's response. It outlines the characters and explores the symbolic significance of these characters specifically on the role of Frankenstein. An overview of the story is given.
- Frankenstein : Character StudiesMary Shelley's Frankenstein is one of the most widely read novels of all time. Its two central characters, the scientist Victor Frankenstein and the being he creates, have gained mythic status in their own right. Engaging with the novel's characterization is crucial to gaining a real understanding of its themes and contexts, including education, gender difference, imperialism, personal identity, revolutionary politics, and science. This study includes: an introductory overview of the novel, including a brief account of its historical and literary contexts; its reception history; discussion of the major themes and narrative structure; detailed analysis of, the representation of main characters, such as Walton, Frankenstein, and the creature; and a conclusion reminding students of the links between the characters and the key themes and issues."
- Monstrous Progeny : A History of the Frankenstein Narratives"Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein is its own type of monster mythos that will not die, a corpus whose parts keep getting harvested to animate new artistic creations. What makes this tale so adaptable and so resilient that, nearly 200 years later, it remains vitally relevant in a culture radically different from the one that spawned its birth? ... "
- The Political Geography of Horror in Mary Shelley's FrankensteinThe monster who startles unsuspecting victims in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein by his sudden and fatal appearance seems to them to come from nowhere. He steps out of the placeless space of our most terrifying nightmares ... "
- 'Frankenstein' Reflects the Hopes and Fears of Every Scientific Era"The novel is usually considered a cautionary tale for science, but its cultural legacy is much more complicated ... "
- Frankenbook"Frankenbook is a collective reading and collaborative annotation experience of the original 1818 text of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. The project launched in January 2018, as part of Arizona State University’s celebration of the novel’s 200th anniversary ... "
Articles
Mary Shelley
- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley"Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was the daughter of the celebrated feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft and the radical philosopher William Godwin ... "
- Who was Mary Shelley"When Mary Shelley (1797-1851) was 18, she had a dream that would change her life ... "
- Frankenstein at 200 – why hasn't Mary Shelley been given the respect she deserves?"Shelley’s Frankenstein has spoken to technological and cultural anxieties from the Enlightenment to #MeToo. But its author’s achievements have too often been dismissed or treated with scepticism ... "
- Daughter of the Revolution: Mary Shelley in Our Times"Feminist literary history moves in waves, uncovering figures in the sands of time, and lifting them to crests of popularity, interest, and print runs. ... Perhaps no other woman writer thought back so assiduously through her foremothers as Mary Shelley ... "
Clickview
Frankenstein
Some 200 years since it was written, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is now shorthand for the horrors of science run amok. But when author and anatomist Professor Alice Roberts returns to the 18-year-old Mary's manuscripts, she finds someone concerned with the very act of creation itself. She also discovers clues of another writer's influence, someone very close to Mary.
Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein
Frankenstein, directed by Kenneth Branagh
When the brilliant but unorthodox scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein rejects the artificial man that he has created, the Creature escapes and later swears revenge.
The Birth of Horror: Frankenstein
The Birth of Horror: Frankenstein
This series examines the creation and popularity of the classic literary horror novels of the Victorian Era. The genre of the horror story gained immense popularity during the late nineteenth century and has retained its popularity for over a century. The classic gothic horror novels reveal the ambiguities of the Victorian Era, an era that experienced the changes of the Industrial Revolution and social repression at the same time. Nightmare! The Birth of Victorian Horror would be useful for classes on Literature, Western Civilization, Drama, Culture and Psychology. It is appropriate for middle school and high school.
BBC
BBC's Frankenstein: Birth of a Monster
Creator of a modern monster, visionary of a scientific future, celebrity, sexual experimenter and struggling mother; Mary Shelley is one of the most enduring novelists and one of the most remarkable. This program reveals how Mary Shelleys personal life influenced her most famous work and why her ideas resonate so clearly today.
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley, directed Haifaa Al-Mansour
Life and facts of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, who at 16 met 21 year old poet Percy Shelley, resulting in the writing of Frankenstein.