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Social changes in industrialised societies have brought new perspectives to the study of creativity, shifting from a focus on the aesthetic, the philosophical and the psychological, to an analysis of the significance of creativity in social and economic development. Romanticism favours heroic emotion and revolutionary fervour accompanied by a gothic taste for the fantastic and the macabre In 18 th century Europe the idea of creativity and invention underwent a dramatic change. During a period of nationalistic and imperialist expansion into North America and Asia as well as discovery beyond the confines of earth with the science of Kepler, Newton and Galileo (de la Croix &# 038; Tansey, 1980: 630) a modern conception of genius gathered strength. This notion emphasised the invention and production of original products by those of superior intellect, imagination and talent. Gone was the idea of genius as one who sought merely clever and methodical imitation (Becker, 1978: 109). These conceptions of creativity and genius were carried into the nineteenth century, but endowed with the flavour of Romanticism.
Romanticism favours heroic emotion and revolutionary fervour accompanied by a gothic taste for the fantastic and the macabre (de la Croix &# 038; Tansey, 1980: 701 - 2). Many fictional works of this period offer tales of inventors and the emergence of modern science. An example with which many of us are familiar is Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. The story was first published in 1818, when Shelley was nineteen years old and staying near Lake Geneva. In the book, Frankenstein, a young university student of chemistry and natural philosophy, passionately and compulsively seeks to pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation (Shelley, 1994: 46). After years of painful labour, Frankenstein discovers the cause of the generation of life, and succeeds in bringing animation to lifeless matter producing a creature made from discarded pieces of human bodies (ibid: 50).
The story of Frankenstein illustrates the eighteenth century idea of creativity as the invention of something entirely new which advances knowledge rather than reiterates tradition, and portrays the inventor as a person of superior intellect. The novel is also firmly within the Romantic tradition, offering high drama and emotional pathos. This is particularly evident in Frankenstein's reaction to his creation. He is horrified by what he has produced and flees across Europe as if a fugitive. Frankenstein is followed by the desperately lonely creature who becomes angry at Frankenstein's refusal to assist him. The rest of the story is one of deepening sadness and horror as Frankenstein and his family face the consequences of his scientific discovery.
Frankenstein is the editor+ of the heroic inventor who suffers tragedy but eventually takes responsibility for his creation. The tale may be read as a dialogue about the morality of invention, contrasting Christian values with those of modern science, a condemnation of intense intellectual labour as both unlawful and unnatural (cf. Shelley, 1994: 53) and the expression of a newly developing concern about scientific invention and its threat to social convention. Shelleys story is part of a genre in which many writers expressed similar concerns. In 1849 Edgar Allan Poe published a short fictional tale about an alchemist called Von Kempelen, who had discovered the alchemists secret of converting lead into gold.
It appears the alchemist came to the notice of the police when he purchased property despite having always been in poverty. He was suspected of fraudulent activities and kept under surveillance. Upon bursting into his chamber the police found Von Kempelen at work with his test tubes and chemicals. As news of the invention spreads, the price of gold falls, the price of lead increases, and the rush to the gold fields of California ceases.
Poe explicitly poses the question to the reader about whether the discovery will be of service or disservice to mankind at large (1980: 296). Though not as dramatic an example as Frankenstein, the tale of Von Kempelen also served as a warning about the value and direction of modern science. Public concern over new developments in science during this period can be related to dramatic social upheaval as cities industrialised and medicine grew as a profession (cf. Larson, 1977). The care of the sick, which had previously been the province of the community and particularly of women, was unexpectedly becoming the occupation of men who were increasingly being granted legitimacy by the State in their role of managing the community's health (cf.
Marland, 1993; Achterberg, 1990). The idea of the doctor as a respected and cultured gentleman (and there was an almost total predominance of male practitioners) existed simultaneously with one of the doctor as a scientist who turns from established practices and traditions in search of elusive discoveries. Becker proposes that creative individuals were given a licence to challenge established rules and conventions, in order that they may guide the course of civilisation (1978: 112). If such a licence existed, it did not prevent writers from expressing deep concern over the moral and physical dangers that could be unleashed by unwise scientific invention. web Mary Shelley+s first novel has established itself as one of modernity+s most compelling and ominous myths. Frankenstein poignantly captures the spirit of the early 1800 s as an age of transition tragically divided between scientific progress and religious conservatism, revolutionary reform and conformist reaction.
This Guide encapsulates the most important critical reactions to a novel that straddles the realms of both high literature and popular culture. The selections shed light on Frankenstein+s historical and socio-political relevance, its innovative representations of science, gender, and identity, as well as its problematic cultural location between academic critique and creative production. Ranging from the first reviews in 1818 to postmodern readings of the mid- 1990 s, the Guide illuminates one of British literature+s most spectacular novels. In her complete works, including seven novels, stories, essays, poetry, and travel writing, Mary Shelley creates a feminist vision of women in an egalitarian society. In doing so, Shelley places women in the cultural center, rejecting the idea of separate spheres and beginning with the feminist ideas of Wollstonecraft: sound education for females results in strong women citizens. Chapter one of part two focuses on Frankenstein and its powerful critique of Romanticism and traditional domesticity, male-female relations in the novel.
In concentrating on what she variously calls the 'marriage complex (ix) or the marriage conundrum (82), Lowe-Evans, biographical-historicist approach (ix) puts male-female relations in the novel at the centre of her interpretation. reading ultimately opposes the unsatisfactory separate spheres marriage of Victors parents to the rather more satisfactory union of Felix and Safie. Although Lowe-Evans identifies Felix and Safie with Percy and Mary Shelley, and suggests that Safie's Turkish father maybe something to William Godwin's example (80), she makes no mention of Marc A. Rubensteins exemplary 1976 article, 'My Accursed Origin': The Search for the Mother in Frankenstein in which, for the first time, Safie's mother is identified as Mary Wollstonecraft. (Had Lowe-Evans been aware of Rubensteins article and his demonstration that the description of Safie's mother constitutes the novels structural centre, she might not have repeatedly referred to the monsters creation as the central scene of Frankenstein [ 26, 28, 29 ]). And while it seems accurate to state that Felix and Safie do not marry in the novel (48), it is necessary to account for the fact (presumably as a repeated mistake on Mary Shelleys part) that, in both the 1818 and the 1831 editions, Felix at one point refers to Safie as My wife (see Shelley 134 for the 1831 instance). full cover.
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In this Icon Readers Guide, Berthold Scene-Harwood provides a detailed introduction to the most important critical debates on a novel that continues to make its mark in the realms of both high literature and popular culture. The extracts and essays assembled here shed light on Frankenstein s historical and socio-political relevance, its innovative representations of science, gender and identity, as well as its problematic cultural location between academic critique and creative reproduction. Spanning secondary sources from the first reviews in 1818 to postmodern readings of the mid- 1990 s, the Guide represents an indispensable sourcebook for the study of one of British literature s most exciting and spectacular novels Conservatives resist change or want regressive change. Anyone who supports progressive change is a liberal. There are four types of American liberalism, Reform, New Deal, New Left, and Neo-liberalism. There are also four types of American conservatism, Organic, Laissez-Faire, New Right, and Neo-conservatism.
The left to right spectrum commonly used to identify ideological positions ranges from the extreme of revolutionary on the left and reactionary on the right. Ideologies may also be classified by subject type. Most are social systems, political systems or economic systems. Social ideologies are those that deal with relationships and duties between individuals. Nationalism is the unifying loyalty to a group based on common culture, language, land, or religion; whereas, internationalism emphasizes the commonality of the entire human species. Elitism is a belief that naturally superior groups exist and are better qualified to rule; whereas, egalitarianism suggests fairness and equality.
Egalitarians may be either procedural, concerned with the process, or substantive, concerned with the end result. Communalists believe individuals have a duty to contribute to the success of society; whereas, individualists contend that society and government exist solely to serve individuals. The Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment brought about the idea that problems would be better addressed by reason than divine inspiration. This concept was a dangerous idea to those who believed the world was as it is because God intended it so (81). Under feudal monarchism, a merchant class or bourgeoisie began to emerge. The quest for a government system that promoted security, stability, and social order without sacrificing freedom and individualism resulted in constitutionalism and classical liberal ideology.
Modern liberals and conservatives are derivatives of classical liberalism, though some elements of classical conservatism may be found in modern organic conservatives. Classical conservatives distinguished reform from innovation and feared the government being taken over by inexperienced, insolent, illiterate, unprincipled clowns (92). They were irrationality, did not trust the invisible hand of market capitalism, and ridiculed the American Frankenstein (97). Classical socialism has its roots in the egalitarianism of Christianity and fears of social Darwinism. Desire for utopian stability, rejection of materialism, and the emergence of the proletariat contribute to the acceptance of Marx s new man as an ideological goal.
Marx and Lenin believed that individuals freed of poverty and exploitation would be cooperative and just (111), in contrast to the classical liberal belief that people are competitive and fundamentally selfish. The two primary challenges to western ideology and political systems are fascism and environmentalism. Fascism is an extreme form of nationalism, symbolized by Nazi Germany, that combines elitism, militarism, organicism, anti-intellectualism, and authoritarianism. Survivalist militia movements, ethnocentric myth mongers (129), and the uncertain political situation in Russian are reminders of the fascist threat. Environmentalism is concerned with protection and promotion of the biosphere.
Originally environmentalists were either conservationists or preservationists. Recent concerns over pollution, overpopulation, ecocide, resource depletion, and dangerous new technologies have resulted in a worldwide environmentalist movement concerned with establishing a sustainable society. Shortly after the publication of Frankenstein first theatre adaptations of the novel appeared although at that time the novel was widely criticised for being subversive and atheistic. William Beckford, writer of fantasy and travel literature, called it the foulest Toadstool that has yet sprung up from the reeking dunghill of the present times. (Baldick 1990: 56). Stage adaptations of Frankenstein were intended as commercial productions that should simply entertain the audience. The writers of these adaptations had to bear in mind the conservative majority and therefore tried to include a morale which would satisfy less liberal views.
The title of the first Frankenstein stage adaptation, Richard Brinsley Peake's Presumption: or the Fate of Frankenstein (1823), clearly signals that it presents a morale fit for a conservative audience. Nonetheless so-called friends of humanity (Baldick 1990: 58) started a moral campaign appealing to fathers of families to boycott the play. Under this pressure the management announced the play with the following statement, The striking moral exhibited in this story is the fatal consequence of that presumption which attempts to penetrate beyond prescribed depths, into the mysteries of nature. (Baldick 1990: 58). In order to appeal to his audience Peake changed the original plot of the novel. He introduces an assistant to Frankenstein, the bumpkin Fritz, who prepares the audience to interpret the tale according to received Christian notions of sin and damnation by telling them that like Dr Faustus, my master is raising the devil (Baldick 1990: 59). Immediately after Frankenstein has created the Monster he begins to regret his doings, when he describes its ugliness and wants to extinguish the spark which I have so presumptuously bestowed. (Peake 1884: 7, quoted from Baldick 1990: 59) Other minor changes Victor is in love with Agatha de Lacey, who falls victim to the Monster, and Elizabeth becomes Victors sister were simply made to make the play fit into the genre of melodramatic romantic theatre.
But the most significant changes are the omission of the Walton subplot and even more important the muteness of the Monster. Peake made it a brutish creature with an infants mind unable to speak. It does not develop human emotions and is only capable of rage and violence. In the end Frankenstein and his Monster are buried under an avalanche. In Peake's version the Monster is no longer a sensitive critic of social institutions but has been assimilated firmly into the traditional role of the monster as a visible image of presumptuous vice. (Baldick 1990: 59) Mary Shelley attended one of the performances but found that the story was not well managed (Baldick 1990: 58). This opinion is quite understandable considering the fact that the originals wide range of possible interpretations had been removed in favour of a moralistic reading of Frankenstein.
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Research essay sample on Mary Shelley Separate Spheres
