In Frankenstein

Louise Armstrong

Welcome

1. Lecture on Romanticism, gothic genre & the universal in Frankenstein.

2. Writing articles.

3. ALZ group work producing leaflets.

One essay of 1500 words.

The prose study requires you to write about TWO texts, one chosen for detailed study (Frankenstein) and one chosen for wider reader. (Core and partner texts)

Essay goes in coursework folder with creative writing & commentary.

Understand the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received.

You need to discuss major influences from the time the novel was written.

You need to understand what we think about those ideas when reading the book today.

Printed on each side of the page.

Have 2 columns per side.

Be well laid out and easy to read.

You may use graphics and layout to illustrate your meaning, but the focus should be on the written content of your leaflets.

A Movement Across the Arts

The era of Romanticism began in the 1700s and lasted into the mid nineteenth century.

Can be viewed as a backlash against the classical (or Neo-classical) period.

Neoclassical Art Romantic Art

Romanticism refers to a movement in art, literature, and music during the 19th century.

Romanticism is characterized by the 5 “I”s

1. Imagination - Imagination was emphasised over ‘reason’.

2. Intuition - Romantics placed value on feeling, emotion and instincts.

3. Idealism: the concept that we can make the world a better place.

4. Inspiration: the Romantic artist, musician, or writer, is an ‘inspired creator’ rather than a ‘technical’ master’.

5. Individuality: during this time period, Women’s Rights and Abolitionism were taking root as major movements.

1. Imagination - Imagination was emphasised over ‘reason’.

2. Intuition - Romantics placed value on feeling, emotion and instincts.

3. Idealism: the concept that we can make the world a better place.

4. Inspiration: the Romantic artist, musician, or writer, is an ‘inspired creator’ rather than a ‘technical’ master’.

5. Individuality: during this time period, Women’s Rights and Abolitionism were taking root as major movements.

5 ‘i’s and relevance (or not) to Frankenstein.

A02: demonstrate detailed critical understanding in analysing the ways in which structure, form and language shape meaning in literary texts.

Frankenstein was

influenced by the

Romantic movement

(A04), and

belongs specifically to

the gothic genre

(A02).

Gothic is related to the name Goth, a Germanic tribe. The word Gothic, was first recorded in 1611 in a reference to the language of the Goths. It’s meaning extended to "Germanic," "medieval, not classical," "barbarous," and also an architectural style that was not Greek or Roman.

Novels filled with scenes of terror and gloom in a medieval setting acquired the subgenre name gothic.

Picasso, Pablo. Woman Playing the Mandolin (1909) State Museum of New Western Art, Moscow, 1931.

There is a sense of the division between our physical existence and the forces of the infinite.

And a wish to transcend earthly human limitations and reach the divine.

Gothic cathedrals reach to the sky as if the builders were trying to touch the heavens.

Carvings depict humanity in conflict with supernatural forces—demons, angels, gargoyles, and monsters.

Gothic literature focuses on the grotesque and the unknown aspects of the infinite universe and within the human soul.

Horror is created by portraying human individuals in conflict between opposing forces in the world and in themselves.

The gothic theme of the struggle between good and evil in the human soul is a prominent theme in Frankenstein.

Signs/Omens:

Reveal the

intervention of

cosmic forces and

often represent

psychological or

spiritual conflict

Supernatural/Gothic Literary Terminology

A motif is a repeated theme, image, or literary device.

Pathetic fallacy, when the weather/outside events

shadow/mimic the character’s life and feelings.

Foreshadowing, when a hint of forthcoming events is

given.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1W4TNBSc1w&feature=related

4-minute English Teacher Guy

Identify Gothic themes, motifs & literary techniques in Frankenstein.

A01: creative, informed and relevant response to literary

texts, using appropriate terminology and conceptsand coherent, accurate written expression.

Dreams express the dark, unconscious depths of the psyche that are repressed by reason.

Freud

heimlich, first definition = I, a: belonging to the house; friendly; familiar; I, b: tame (as in animals); I, c: intimate, comfortable; i.e: secure, dometic(ated), hospitable.

heimlich, second definition = concealed, secret, withheld from sight and from others; secretive, deceitful = private.

When the familiar becomes frightening.

Freud –

2 concepts & relevance

1. Archetypes

2. The Shadow

The Anima

The Animus

The Self

The Shadow

In Jungian psychology, the shadow is a part of the unconscious mind consisting of repressed weaknesses, shortcomings, and instincts.

Mostly we deny it in ourselves and project it onto others.

It can also have a life of its own, as the Other.

Our shadow may appear in dreams, hallucinations and musings, often as something or someone who is bad, fearsome or despicable in some way.

It may also take over direct physical action when the person is confused, dazed or drugged.

Family archetypes ◦ The father: Stern, powerful, controlling ◦ The mother: Feeding, nurturing, soothing

Story archetypes ◦ The hero: Rescuer, champion ◦ The maiden: Purity, desire ◦ The wise old man: Knowledge, guidance ◦ The magician: Mysterious, powerful ◦ The earth mother: Nature ◦ The witch or sorceress: Dangerous ◦ The trickster: Deceiving, hidden

Jung - 2 ideas & relevance

A03: explore connections and comparisons between different literary texts, informed by

interpretations of other readers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRK052gDfxA&feature=related

3.30 English Teacher Guy

Thoughts on Frankenstein's subtitle of ‘The Modern Prometheus.’

A second self or alternate identity, sometimes, but not always, a physical twin. The Doppelganger can be in demonic form or be a second personality within.

Gothic doppelgangers often haunt and threaten the rational psyche of the victim to whom they become attached.

The double motif involves characters

who represent opposing forces in

human nature.

For example, Dr. Jekyll and his evil

double Mr. Hyde represent the battle

between the rational, intellectual self

(Jekyll) and the irrational, bestial self

(Hyde).

Double characters are often paired in

common relationships, such as twins,

siblings, husband/wife, parent/child,

hero/villain, creator/creature, etc.

Doppelganger/double motif and relation to Jung’s shadow.

The search for forbidden knowledge or power leads the protagonist to a fall:

Eve

Prometheus

Dorian Gray

Darth Vader

Jurassic Park

Faust

The protagonist is isolated from others by the fall and either becomes a monster or confronts a monster who is the shadow self.

JUNG

The Mad Scientist Motif

Forbidden knowledge/power is often the Gothic

protagonist’s goal.

The gothic "hero" questions the universe’s

ambiguous nature and tries to comprehend and

control supernatural powers.

He tries to overcome human limitations and make

himself into a "god."

Does the theme of the search for forbidden knowledge apply to Frankenstein?

How does that relate to Romanticism?

Identify archetypal themes within Frankenstein and discuss modern representations of those themes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8V2g1_4D2k&feature=related

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmAWOq9RdsM&feature=fvw 7.5 mins

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02k-tKa2R4M&NR=1 7.5 mins

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVX2gT44DgU&feature=related 7

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFhpDVU_9Gc&feature=related 6.5