Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke (1729-97)

Both Mary Shelley's parents were radically political. She grew up in a house surrounded by political, scientific and philosophical ideas that would have influenced her writing of Frankenstein.

Burke

Edmund Burke (1729-97) was the son of an Irish Protestant lawyer and his Roman Catholic wife.
He wrote An Enquiry into the Origins of the Sublime and the Beautiful (1757) which was extremely influential in the formation of aesthetic taste in relation to the natural world.

Nature and man

Many of Shelley’s passages in Frankenstein dwell upon the sublime power of nature over man ("the sublime shape of the mountains"), which Burke argues produces a sense of astonishment and fear in the observer.

Lightning

The incident with lightning in Chapter 2 when Victor witnesses the "blasted stump...reduced the thin ribands of wood" displays to him the power and force of nature.
He states "I have never beheld anything so utterly destroyed".

Warning

It is almost as if nature is warning Victor of the consequences of tampering with it, but he is too self-centred to understand:
"I ceased to fear, or to bend before any being less almighty than that which created and ruled these elements."
Victor’s arrogance and vaulting ambition cause him to think he is as powerful as nature itself, displaying his hubris and eventual hamartia.

Soothing nature

Burke also theorised that the ‘beauty’ of nature has the power to calm and soothe the human soul, and we see this occur many times in the novel.
Victor is rejuvenated by his sojourns in nature, as he "sought in the magnificence, the eternity of such scenes, to forget myself and my ephemeral, because human, sorrows."

Revolution

Even though he supported the American Revolution, Burke, along with many Romantics, were appalled by the violence of the French Revolution, especially during the bloody Reign of Terror.
Burke described violent political rebellion, resulting in revolution, as a ‘political monster, which has always ended up devouring those who have produced it’, which appears to be reminiscent of the fate of Victor, if we view his rebellion as the usurping of nature and taking over the life-giving process.

1Narrative Structure

1.1Narrative Structure

1.1.1Narrative Structure

1.1.2Narrative Distancing

1.1.3End of Topic Test - Narrative Structure

2Character Summaries

2.1Walton & Frankenstein

2.1.1Walton

2.1.2Victor Frankenstein

2.1.3End of Topic Test - Walton & Frankenstein

2.2The Monster

2.2.1The Monster

2.2.2The Monster 2

2.2.3End of Topic Test - The Monster

2.3Elizabeth, Justine & Henry

2.3.1Elizabeth Lavenza

2.3.2Justine Moritz

2.3.3Henry Clerval

2.3.4End of Topic Test - Elizabeth, Justine & Henry

2.4Families & Other Characters

2.4.1The Frankenstein Family

2.4.2The De Lacey Family

2.4.3Other Characters

2.4.4End of Topic Test - Families & Other Characters

3Intertextuality & Allusions

3.1Intertextual References

3.1.1The Modern Prometheus

3.1.2The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

3.1.3The Bible

3.1.4Mutability & Tintern Abbey

3.1.5End of Topic Test - Intertextual References

3.2Philosophical & Scientific Theories

3.2.1Edmund Burke

3.2.2Thomas Paine

3.2.3John Locke

3.2.4Jean-Jacques Rousseau

3.2.5Historical Figures

3.2.6End of Topic Test - Philosophy & Science Theories

4Biographic Context

4.1Biographic Context

4.1.1Shelley's Parents

4.1.2Loss & Maternal Anxiety

4.1.3Literary Legend

4.1.4End of Topic Test - Biographical Context

5Chapter Summaries

5.1Letters

5.1.1Letters 1 & 2

5.1.2Letters 3 & 4

5.1.3End of Topic Test - Letters

5.2Chapters

5.2.1Chapters 1-2

5.2.2Chapters 3-4

5.2.3Chapters 5-6

5.2.4Chapters 7-9

5.2.5Chapters 10-11

5.2.6Chapters 12-15

5.2.7Chapters 16-19

5.2.8Chapters 20-23

5.2.9Chapter 24 & Walton’s Last Letters

5.2.10End of Topic Test - Chapters 1-6

5.2.11End of Topic Test - Chapters 7-15

5.2.12End of Topic Test - Chapters 16-23

5.2.13End of Topic Test - Chapter 24 & Walton's Letters

6Key Themes

6.1Key Themes

6.1.1Curiosity & Knowledge

6.1.2Science & Society

6.1.3Loss & Companionship

6.1.4Connection to Nature

6.1.5Injustice

6.2Key Locations

6.2.1Extreme Landscapes

6.2.2Industrialised University Cities

6.2.3End of Topic Test - Key Themes & Locations

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