Shelley's Parents

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William Godwin

Many critics argue that Shelley’s father, William Godwin, influenced the writing of Frankenstein, especially the issues it raises about education and the importance and dangers of knowledge.

William Godwin's works

Godwin wrote a novel called Caleb Williams, which is a criticism of aristocracy and privilege.
It is about a servant character who has found out his master's dark secret. The servant is chased all over England because of his new-found knowledge.

Father-child relationships

Other critics have argued that Shelley’s novel is a direct criticism of her father and how he raised her as the novel centres around issues relating to father-child relationships, emotional neglect and abandonment.

Shelley’s mother

Mary Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, died ten days after she was born in 1797.
Godwin remarried in 1801 to Mary Jane Clairmont.
Shelley was said to have had a troubled relationship with her step-mother and, whilst making sure she was well-read and educated, Godwin was thought to neglect his daughter’s emotional upbringing.

Victor

Godwin was a reserved and unemotional man, absorbed in his work.
Interestingly enough, Shelley dedicates the novel to her father - whether it is in a heartfelt way or a subtle criticism, it is left to the reader to decipher.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Even though Shelley never met her mother, she revered her memory and her academic achievements.

Proto-feminist literature

Mary Wollstonecraft was a proto-feminist who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women in 1792, which proposed equality for the sexes and criticised established gender roles.

Influencing proto-feminism

This early-feminist thinking may have influenced her daughter’s literary masterpiece.
- Through the three flawed male narrators, we view a world where women are usurped from the reproductive process and suffer at the hands of men.

Text on the French Revolution

Wollstonecraft also wrote several other books, including one on the French Revolution, which was a key influence upon on her daughter’s writing of Frankenstein.

Allegory of the French Revolution

The main plot of the novel could be an allegory for the French Revolution.
- The Monster acts as a physical manifestation of the anxieties that the ruling classes had about the oppressed masses. The masses were presented as hideous, terrifying and capable of rising up against authority.

Paranoia

The paranoia in England after the conflict in France lead to fears about a potential rebellion and revolution by the ‘proletariat’, who could form a ‘mob’ and overpower anyone in their way.
This idea of a powerful conglomerate could be mirrored in Victor’s description of his choice of body size for the Monster.

Body size

"As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature; that is to say, about eight feet in height and proportionably large."

Influence in Frankenstein

As Shelley’s father was an anarchist and her mother was an abolitionist, radical politics may be at the heart of the text.

Significance of Paradise Lost

Romantics such as Percy Shelley and Byron viewed Paradise Lost as an anti-authoritarian text with Lucifer as an anti-hero figure.

Division of power

Frankenstein can be viewed as a novel questioning the division of power in society.
- In Chapter 13, the Monster learns of "the division of property, of immense wealth and squalid poverty; of rank, descent and noble blood", similar to the proletariat becoming informed, roused and empowered with knowledge of their own oppression.