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Everything you need to know to read "Frankenstein" - Iseult Gillespie

Added Feb 05, 2020 •

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In 1815, Lord Byron proposed a challenge to a few literary guests he had gathered in his house on Lake Geneva: Who could write the most chilling ghost story? This question sparked an idea in eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley who, over the next few months, crafted the story of “Frankenstein.” Iseult Gillespie shares everything you need to know to read Mary Shelley’s classic novel. Lesson by Iseult Gillespie, animation by Silvia Prietov.

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in 1815 the eruptions of Mount Tambora plunged parts of the world into darkness and marked as gloomy. That came to be known The Year Without a summer so when Mary and Percy Shelley arrived at the house of Lord Byron on Lake Geneva their vacation was mostly spend indoors for amusement supposed to challenge to his literary companion who could write the most chilling ghost story this sparked an idea in 18 year old Mary over the next few months she would craft the story of Frankenstein popular depictions May evoke a green and gray figure but that's not Mary Shelley's monster in fact in the book Frankenstein refers to the nameless monsters maker doctor Victor Frankenstein is the struggle between Creator and creature you have merged in our Collective imagination before you read or re-read the original text there are several other things that are helpful to know about Frankenstein and how it came to assume it's multiple is dr. futile quest to impart and sustain life he constructs his monster part by part from dead matter and electrifies it into conscious VA upon completing the experiment however she's horrified at the result and flea what time in space aren't enough to banish the abandoned monster and the plot turns on a chilling Chase between the two show me subtitles for Fireside ghost story The Modern Prometheus that's in reference to the Greek myth of Titan Prometheus who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity Humanity knowledge and power but for tampering with the status quo Prometheus was chained to a rock eaten by cultures for eternity peaches enjoyed a Resurgence in the literature of the Romantic. During the 18th century Mary was a prominent romantic and shared the movement appreciation for nature in motion and the purity of art two years after Mary released can Stein Percy reimagined the plate of Prometheus and his lyrical drama Prometheus Unbound The Romantics use these mythical references to Signal the purity of the ancient world in contrast to modernity they typically regarded science with suspicion and Frankenstein is one of the first cautionary tales about artificial intelligence for Shelly the terror was not Supernatural but born at a lab in addition Gothic devices Infuse the text the gothic genre is characterized by an eerie settings the grotesque and the fear of Oblivion all elements that can be seen in Frankenstein but this horror had roots in personal trauma as well the text is references to Shelley's own circumstances born in 1797 with a child of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft both were Radical intellectual figures at her mother's book a Vindication of the rights of women is a key feminist text tragically she died as a result of complications from Mary's birth Mary was haunted by her mother's death and later experienced her own problems with childbirth she became pregnant elopement with Percy at 16 but the baby died shortly after birth out of four more pregnancies only one of their children survived some critics have linked this tragedy to the themes explored in Frankenstein play depicts birth as both creative and destructive and the monster becomes a disfigured mirror of the natural cycle of life the monster therefore embodies doctor Frankenstein's Corruption of nature in the Quest for Glory this constitutes his fatal flaw or hamartia is God complex is most clear in the line life and death appeared to me ideal bounds first breakthrough and pour a torrent of light Contour exotic world although he accomplishes something all inspiring his Played with Fire at his own as a collection and that decision Echoes throughout the novel which is full of references to Fire and imagery that contrasts light and dark these moments that suggests not only the spark of Prometheus is fire but the power of radical ideas to expose darker areas of life

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Everything you need to know to read "Frankenstein" - Iseult Gillespie

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