Revolutions in Frankenstein and the ampyre

A detailed Summary of Revolutions in Frankenstein and the ampyre

With close reference to ONE male writer and ONE female writer studied in the module, show how the writers in the period 1780-1830 represented revolution in very different ways and to different ends. ('Revolution' here refers most obviously to the French revolution, but it could also be taken to refer to any of the revolutions in British society and culture which were talked about in the period, some of which will be addressed in the lectures of this module).

Frankenstein and The Vampyre and the influence and effect of 'revolutions.'

Within the texts of Frankenstein (1818) and The Vampyre (1819) there are obvious influences from the current revolutions effecting Britain and Western Europe. Both Shelley and Polidori give us many insights into the key issues effecting contempories of the time through the medium of the texts. I chose these two texts as they are closely linked from the alleged trading of ghost stories between Bryon, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelly and Polidori and it is argued that Mary Shelley had more impact on Polidori's work. The most immediately obvious form of revolution effecting the authors here is the working-class driven French revolution, however there is also the industrial revolution; creating a great fe

ar of artificial power, which in turn led to many debates as to what makes us human and do we have a soul and finally can human life be simulated by artificial, man-made workings?

Another key element within both texts when referring to revolution is the type of 'prey' each of the monsters kill. Within the text, Polidori's Lord Ruthven preys on both the working classes- Ianthe- and the upper classes- Miss Aubrey- this seems to hint at a certain disregard for class, however, the fact that "Aubrey's sister had glutted the thirst of a vampyre!"(Polidori 20) only through painstakingly organised marriage whereas Ianthe's death was brutal and uncaring seems to suggest that Lord Ruthven will only kill the upper-classes via careful planning and thought, whereas the working classes are seen by him simply as a readily available source of blood. This belief may be due to the fact that a member of the aristocracy- of which 'Lord' Ruthven undoubtedly is- offer a much more clean, attractive and harder-to-obtain food source. Frankenstein's monster however preys solely on the members of Victor's family and can be seen as a type of avenging character for the centuries long exploitation of the working classes by the Bourgeois, Victor created him in an attempt to further science yet his attempt at playing God backfired and destroyed his family and his life. Frankenstein's monster however is provoked into a terrible vengeance by "the exclusion, pain and oppression to which he is condemned" (Davenport-Hines 193) We can link this to the corruption of the original idea of the revolution in France, what began as an attempt to overthrow the harsh, ancient rule of the French monarchy soon became a bloodthirsty massacre of "The citizenry as well as the aristocracy" (Davenport-Hines 151) and as a result "France, was condemned to the arbitrary viciousness of mob rule"(Davenport-Hines 151) all as a result of the constant exploitation of the proletariat by a monarchy capable of "inept brutality"(Davenport-Hines 151)

Shelley, Mary Wolstencraft. Frankenstein of The Modern Prometheus. London: Penguin Classics 1992

The fight for equality between men and women, whilst not a particularly strong argument at this point was none-the-less existent. We can gain invaluable knowledge of the author's views on the role and rights of women from their description of them within each of the texts. The most immediate thing noticed about Frankenstein is the fact the creature simply bears his creator's name, rather than getting his own, this has direct connotations and links to the loss of a women's surname through marriage, it is interested however to note that Mary Wolstencraft Shelley neither took her father's name or fully removed her maiden name after marriage. The treatment of women in Polidori's The Vampyre is very different to that existing in Frankenstein, which is likely when we consider the different genders of the authors. In The Vampyre, the narrator speaks of women as simply objects of beauty that are portrayed as possessions of men, we can gain this information from the only main inclusion of a female member of the bourgeois- Miss Aubrey- becoming Lord Ruthven's possession to do what he sees fit too only after their marriage, it seems that following the marriage

Some common words found in the essay are:
Lord Ruthven, Bourgeois Victor, Victor Frankenstein, Revolution Victor's, Mary Shelley, Victor Elizabeth, Shelley Polidori, Mary Shelley's, , Ruthven Vampyre, lord ruthven, frankenstein's monster, french revolution, penguin classics, mary wolstencraft, london penguin, classics 1992, london penguin classics, penguin classics 1992, recently realised power, key issues, lord ruthven represents, shelley polidori, britain western, britain western europe,

Approximate Word count = 2195
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English