The novel Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, is a romantic, gothic classic with strange similarity to Mary’s own personal life: the losses, the stages grief, the heartbreak, all relating back to life of Mary Shelley. Oddly enough, her own life experiences are what she uses as building blocks for this story line and creatively worked into the character own personal lives throughout the novel. Is this just a coincidence or was this book written for her own personal therapy session?
This novel is more than a classic example of gothic literature; writing this piece was a way for Mary Shelley to alleviate the constant pain and suffering she had encountered while demonstrating her remedies of coping when stricken with grief. When try to consider a book a classic, the novel must have been read and passed down generation after generation. In 2016, we have been reading and analysing the works of Mary Shelley and her book Frankenstein. Her works of 1817 have been displayed in a multitude of ways.
From movies, to other renditions of the book, Shelley’s work will be forever well know. Not only has the novel been turned into multiple productions, other writers have taken it upon themselves to write an analysis and even publish their own work based around this novel. The numerous articles that was written, analysing her work could also be a consideration of her work being a classic. Not only has the book Frankenstein been read by thousands of students, renditions of the book have been made into multiple movies for our viewing pleasure.
Twisting what Mary Shelley wrote back in 1817, making the idea into 5 star thriller movies that we would enjoy today. The different interpretations of the novel clearly shown how versatile this concept of the recreation of life could be. Almost two hundred years later, movie producers are still using Mary Shelley’s idea of recreation of life in movies of today. The many renditions of this novel into movies not only shows how detailed her work was, also shows how many people approved her idea and uses it for their gain.
The book is so well known and so widely used in different varieties, we consider it a classic novel. Students around the United States are forced to dive into Mary Shelley’s own creation. Two hundred years after it was first written, it is still in our curriculum for students to read today and is used challenge the students with the language and ne further prepared for college ahead. This novel not only helps develop an ear for old english, but it also teaches us to apply what we have been taught in previous english classes to help understand and give us the tools navigate our way through to the end.
Not only has this story been made into movies and other people’s work, it has been read by almost every student, which indeed can classify this novel, Frankenstein, a classic novel. “Gothic literature: a movement that focused on ruin, decay, death, terror, and chaos” (Gothic literature summary). Mary Shelley took this literary movement and turned it into a classic. Frankenstein was an example of ruin, terror, and also death. The creature is an example of terror. Shelley portrays this character as a monster who terrorizes villages and murders anyone in sight.
Using the departure of loved ones in her novel, Mary Shelley used that as a symbol of her loses in life. There are five stages of grief that therapist use to help their patients when lose enters their lives: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (Kubler-Ross). Using these five steps, Mary Shelley went through each stage, representing some, but not all, stages of grief throughout her book. As the result of experiencing multiple loved ones departure, Shelley needed a way to cope with misfortune that has happened frequently in her life.
After the recurring death of loved ones, Mary Shelley soon began to slip into a depressed state. One storming night, she began a short story that will became what we refer to as Frankenstein today. Depression always on her mind, she filled her story with death and grief; All what he was experiencing at the time. She need a way to express her feelings and help with coping because back in that time, there was no real therapy available. With no one to help her, she decided to take matters into her own hands.
It is said take matters into your own hands is the only thing to help through the grieving process, “It’s a natural process. It hurts, but most people can work through it and go on” (Brody). Writing Frankenstein was Mary Shelley’s way of coping. Those life experiences are what pushed her to write Frankenstein and help her through the hard times she faced. At the age of eighteen, Mary gave birth to her second son William. Mary gave birth to William, eleven months after her first child had passed away. The death of her first son sent into Mary into a deep, depressed state of mind.
This distress sparked something in her, inspiring her to write Frankenstein. During this time, Shelley became pregnant with her third child but as we know, “She was to lose both this child and William” (Johnson 8). Strangely enough, Mary Shelley created a child in her novel, named William, who died at a young age as well. Shelley uses the same name as her son who passed, in her novel Frankenstein. This coincidence could be explained by her grief of losing her dear child. Naming a character after her beloved child could show she was in the denial stage.
In this stage, you can not accept the fact a loved one is no longer present. Expressing her sorrows through her work, Mary Shelley was pushing her own grief into the novel. Using William as representation of her own grief, making Williams’ family, in her novel, feel the same grief of losing little william as Mary Shelley felt when she lost both William and the first baby. Victor Frankenstein, Shelley’s main character in the novel, seems to be another way Shelley portrayed her grief and uses it for self therapy. In the novel, Victor receives a notice that his mother has passed.
The news of his mother’s passing sent him into a chemical craze. Frankenstein began to be fascinated in biology and in chemistry in order to bring back life. This was his way of coping, and although Mary Shelley did not try to create life, she herself was trying to find a way to cope with the death of her mother. Shelley’s way of coping involved her modeling the work Frankenstein after her own life. Relating Shelley to one of her characters Victor, Shelley used this character to express the bargaining stage of grief. In this stage, always ask “what if” or “if only” (Kubler-Ross).
Victor was upset his mother died, which lead him to look into chemistry and conference with professors about his research. Using this stage, Victor wanted to create life with the thought process, what if I can bring my mother back? Eleven days after Mary Shelley was born, her mother passed away from illness. She was raised by her step mother who is your typical “evil stepmother. ” Shelley was always rejected from her stepmother and tried anything to feel loved. The side effect of being rejected and not loved could be explained throughout her novel. She uses that in her novel displayed by, Victor rejecting his own creation.
The hurt the monster had from the rejection was the same pain Mary Shelley went through. She forced that pain onto a character from her book in order to remove that distress from her life. Losing a mother at any age is an emotional lose, especially if one received an evil stepmother who did not give Mary Shelley the time of day. This constant trying to please her stepmother became too much for Mary to handle. She ran away soon after becoming a teenager. The hurt and constant non attention could be explained due to Mary Shelley stuck in the anger stage of grief.
Shelley needed a way to release the anger that has been built up for some many years of not being good enough for her step mom so she wrote Victor rejecting his own creation in order to express how she felt about being rejected by her own stepmother. Percy Florence, Mary’s son, was the only child of hers to grow up and live past childhood. Although Percy was born into a brilliant family, “He did not prove literary or an intellectual” and was seen as a disappointment in the eyes of his parents and others (Johnson 10). Using this setback, Shelley shaped Victor’s creation on her own child.
Percy’s lack of knowledge upset Mary and she needed an outlet for her frustration. Using this as a motive, Mary Shelley used the monster as her way of releasing the annoyance from within her. Although Mary Shelley did not lose Percy, as like her other children, she was still battling with the grieving process. In Percy’s case, Mary Shelley was most likely stuck in the denial stage. Not only was that her only child who lived past childhood, but that he was not all she thought he would be. Shelley could not believe her own son, was not as intellectually there as she had hoped.
Comparing this feeling to the creature, after Victor feeling ashamed and in denial about how his creation did not turn out the way he was hoping for. Mary Shelley has faced some hardships in her life. Using the 5 stages of grief, she was able to manage herself and slowly decreased the pain. Writing her book Frankenstein, was her way to release the lifelong grief that was built up from so many losses in her life. Mary Shelley’s book will forever be known as an example of classic literature, but also a way for her to find herself as a person and be used a coping mechanism.
