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Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus
Preface
Mary Shelley subtitled her novel "The Modern Prometheus." According to the
Greeks, Prometheus stole fire from the gods. As punishment, he was chained to
a rock, where an eagle each day plucked at his liver. Haughty Prometheus
sought fire for human betterment--to make tools and warm hearts. Similarly,
Mary
Shelley's arrogant scientist, Victor Frankenstein, claimed "benevolent
intentions, and thirsted for the moment when I should put them in practice."
Frankenstein endures not only because of its infamous horrors but for the
richness
of the ideas it asks us to confront--human accountability, social alienation,
and the nature of life itself. These passages illuminate some of them.
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/prom300.jpg)
Prometheus Bound, 1611-1612
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
Photographic reproduction of an oil painting
The Granger Collection, New York
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Paradise Lost
Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould me man? Did I solicit thee
>From darkness to promote me?
Lines from John Milton's Paradise Lost
>From the title page of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheuse, 1818
In Frankenstein, the intelligent and sensitive monster created by Victor
Frankenstein reads a copy of Milton's Paradise Lost, which profoundly stirs
his
emotions. The monster compares his situation to that of Adam. Unlike the
first man who had "come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature,"
Frankenstein's creature is hideously formed. Abandoned by Victor Frankenstein,
the
monster finds himself "wretched, helpless, and alone."
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/IID21B.jpg)
The Expulsion from Eden, 17th century
Artist unknown
Photographic reproduction of a line engraving
The Granger Collection, New York
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Surrounded by Ice
A sledge . . . had drifted towards us in the night, on a large fragment of
ice. Only one dog remained alive; but there was a human being within it. . . .
His limbs were nearly frozen, and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue
and suffering. I never saw a man in so wretched a condition.
Robert Walton to his sister Mrs. Saville
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheuse, 1818
Frankenstein opens with a series of letters written by Arctic explorer
Robert Walton, engaged in a personal quest to expand the boundaries of the
known
world. It is Walton who first encounters Victor Frankenstein in the Arctic
desperately searching for the monster he has created. The explorer becomes the
only person to hear Victor Frankenstein's strange and tragic tale.
Untitled, 1827
Artist unknown
Photographic reproduction of an engraving from Northern Exposure, 1827
Picture Collection, The Branch Libraries, The New York Public Library
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The Spark of Life
I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak . . . and so
soon as the dazzling light vanished the oak had disappeared, and nothing
remained but a blasted stump. . . . I eagerly inquired of my father the nature
and
origin of thunder and lightning. He replied, "Electricity."
Victor Frankenstein to Robert Walton
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
In Mary Shelley's day, many people regarded the new science of electricity
with both wonder and astonishment. In Frankenstein, Shelley used both the new
sciences of chemistry and electricity and the older Renaissance tradition of
the alchemists' search for the elixir of life to conjure up the Promethean
possibility of reanimating the bodies of the dead.
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/IID42.jpg)
The Blasted Stump, 1984
Barry Moser (b. 1940)
Photographic reproductions of wood engravings from Frankenstein; or, The
Modern Prometheus, Pennyroyal Press, 1984
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Unveiling the Recesses of Nature
The modern masters promise very little. . . . but these philosophers. . .
have indeed performed miracles. . . . They have discovered how the blood
circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They have acquired new and
almost
unlimited powers; they can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the
earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows.
Professor Waldman to his class at the University of Ingolstadt
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
By the early nineteenth century, philosophers like physician Erasmus Darwin
and chemist Humphry Davy, both well known to Mary Shelley, pointed the way to
mastery of the physical universe. Discoveries about the human body and the
natural world promised the dawn of a new age of medical power, when such
things as reanimation of dead tissue and the end of death and disease seemed
within reach.
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/IID51.jpg)
Experiment with an Air-Pump, ca. 1768
Joseph Wright (1734-1797)
Photographic reproduction of an oil painting
The Granger Collection, New York
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Midnight Labors
Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil, as I dabbled among the
unhallowed damps of the grave, or tortured the living animal to animate the
lifeless clay?
Victor Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
With feverish excitement, Victor Frankenstein pursues nature to her hiding
places. By moonlight, he gathers the body parts he needs by visits to the
graveyard, to the charnel house, to the hospital dissecting room and the
slaughterhouse. Although he finds his solitary preoccupation repulsive, he is
not
deterred from his quest to restore life.
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/IID64.gif)
There Stalked a Multitude of Dreams, 1969
Federico Castellon
Photographic reproduction of a lithograph
National Library of Medicine Collection
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Hideous Progeny
I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark
of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. . . . His yellow skin
scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a
lustrous black, and flowing . . . [it] formed a more horrid contrast with his
watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in
which they were set, his shrivelled complexion, and straight black lips.
Victor Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
Overcome by the horror of what he has done, Victor Frankenstein abandons the
"miserable monster" he fathered in his laboratory. That evening a nightmare
disturbs his sleep; Elizabeth, his fiancée, becomes in his arms the decaying
corpse of his own dead mother. The next morning when he returns to his
"workshop of filthy creation," the monster has escaped.
Untitled, 1779
J.F. Declassan
Photographic reproduction of an illustration from Jacques Gamelin
(1739-1803),
Nouveau Recueil d'Osteologie et de Myologie, 1779
National Library of Medicine Collection
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Poor, Helpless, Miserable Wretch
But where were my friends and relations? No father had watched my infant
days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses; or if they had, all
my
past life was now a blot, a blind vacancy in which I distinguished nothing.
>From my earliest remembrance I had been as I then was in height and
proportion. I had never yet seen a being resembling me. . . . What was I?
The Monster
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
Mary Shelley gave her monster feelings and intelligence. Fatherless and
motherless, the monster struggles to find his place in human society,
struggles
with the most fundamental questions of identity and personal history. Alone,
he learns to speak, to read, and to ponder "his accursed origins." All the
while, he suffers from the loneliness of never seeing anyone resembling
himself.
Madness, or A Man Bound with Chains
Artist unknown
Photographic reproduction from an illustration from Sir Charles Bell
(1774-1842),
Essays on the Anatomy of Expression in Painting, 1806
National Library of Medicine Collection
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Remaining Silent
I paused when I reflected on the story I had to tell. A being whom I myself
had formed, and endued with life, had met me at midnight among the precipes.
. . . I well knew that if any other had communicated such a relation to me, I
should have looked upon it as the ravings of insanity. Besides, the strange
nature of the animal would elude all pursuit, even if I were so far credited
as to persuade my relatives to commence it. . . . I resolved to remain
silent.
Victor Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
Abandoned by his creator, the monster takes his revenge on Victor
Frankenstein by killing his younger brother, William. Frankenstein's silence,
in the
face of the monster's murderous actions, exacts a terrible price. His
self-imposed isolation from society mirrors the social isolation the monster
experiences from all who see him. Frankenstein's decision to remain silent
about the
monster leads to further tragedy.
Finis, 1733
Artist unknown
Photographic reproduction of an engraving from William Cheselden
(1688-1752),
Osteographia, or, The Anatomy of the Bones, 1733
National Library of Medicine Collection
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A Monstrous Mate
I demand a creature of another sex, but as hideous as myself. . . . It is
true, we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that account we
shall be more attached to one another. Our lives will not be happy, but they
will be harmless, and free from the misery I now feel. Oh! my creator, make
me happy; let me feel gratitude toward you for one benefit! Let me see that I
excite the sympathy of some existing thing; do not deny me my request!
The Monster to Victor Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
Victor Frankenstein initially agrees to create a mate for his monster. But
as Frankenstein begins to assemble an Eve for his Adam, he grows terrified by
the prospect that this female creature will be "ten thousand times more
malignant" than her companion, and that the two might themselves produce "a
race
of devils." Breaking his promise to the monster, Frankenstein disposes of the
body parts he gathered to produce the female creature. Inflamed with hatred,
the monster sets outs to destroy in Frankenstein's life all that he coveted
for his own. After killing Clerval, Frankenstein's best friend, the monster
murders Elizabeth, Frankenstein's bride, on their wedding night.
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/IID101.jpg)
The Nightmare, 1781
Henry Fuseli (1741-1825)
Photographic reproduction of an oil painting on canvas
Courtesy © 1997 The Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase
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The Greatness of His Fall
The forms of the beloved death flit before me, and I hasten to their arms.
Farewell, Walton! Seek happiness in tranquility, and avoid ambition, even if
it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science
and discoveries. Yet why do I say this? I have myself been blasted in these
hopes, yet another may succeed.
Victor Frankenstein to explorer Robert Walton
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
As he lies dying aboard Walton's ship, Frankenstein offers an ambivalent
assessment of his own conduct. In both the subtitle (The Modern Prometheus) of
her novel and through Frankenstein's dying words, Mary Shelley suggests that
Frankenstein's misfortune did not arise from his Promethean ambition of
creating life, but in the mistreatment of his creature. Frankenstein's failure
to
assume responsibility for the miserable wretch he fathered in his workshop is
his real tragedy.
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/IID111.jpg)
Broussais
Charles Blanc
Photographic reproduction of an etching
National Library of Medicine Collection
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Monstrous Remorse
Once I falsely hoped to meet with beings, who, pardoning my outward form,
would love me for the excellent qualities which I was capable of bringing
forth. I was nourished with high thoughts of honour and devotion. But now vice
has
degraded me beneath the meanest animal. . . . the fallen angel becomes a
malignant devil. . . . I am quite alone.
The Monster to explorer Robert Walton
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818
Encountering Robert Walton aboard his ship, the monster expresses
overwhelming remorse for his frightful catalogue of misdeeds, the deaths of
William,
Clerval, Elizabeth, and his creator. The creature informs the explorer that he
will destroy himself in the frozen north, and disappears in the icy waves.
The tragedy of Frankenstein and his monster is complete.
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/IID121.jpg)
Hiob
Artist unknown
Photographic reproduction of a halftone reproduction of a woodcut
National Library of Medicine Collection
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