Lecture VI--Science and Fiction: Mary Shelley and the Frankenstein Legacy
If we start with the diagram for a piece of communication - roughly familiar as the Introduction, Body, and Conclusion - we can see that writing tasks have a pattern. When we were shackled by paper-print techniques, we tended to think that we had to write in order. But the act of writing is always influenced and changed by technology, even if we absorb the possibilities for change rather slowly. There is nothing to say that you have to write the Introduction first and the Conclusion last. I would encourage you, in fact, to "Swiss cheese" this paper - writing segments all along that will go into a larger framework that you have set up, using our model. First, you would do well to make a list of the topics you might cover--and this just means copying the lecture titles out for yourself:
then, looking to see what the major ideas are that might relate to your author: Images of Women in Literature: In this lecture, we talked about the stock images of women - the virgin, the old woman, the queen, the hag, the fallen woman. In the case of Mary Shelley, even though she lived centuries after many of these stereotypes were developed, she suffered from being branded with many of the same concepts. She must have been an entrancing "young, virginal girl" at 16, when Percy fell in love with her. She was surely a "fallen woman" when she had 2 children by Percy Shelley while he was still married to Harriet. And, she ended up being discarded as an "old woman" - and largely disregarded - at an age when most of us are just getting started!! With respect to Mary Shelley's characters, the women do not figure much in Frankenstein, on the plot level. On the meaning level, the story may have to do with a woman's anguish over the act of creation - and that attitude is definitely not a stereotype. Women Writers Through the Ages: Despite the stereotypes that were attached to Mary Shelley over her life, her actual writing pattern might tend to fall into the Intellectual Daughter category. She was immensely influenced by the men her father, William Godwin, knew and his own work. He supported, to a point, her intellectual endeavors. Her role at the time she was writing Frankenstein was probably quite different, however, and represents the way in which she is really a New Writer. Women and the New World: Mary Shelley's work was surely influenced by the ideas surrounding the discovery of the new word - especially the advances in science. Also, although we have no real "new world" characters, the bid for individual respect is part of the philosophy that comes from colonial questions. (Information about The Last Man might go here, too.) Aphra Behn and the proto-novel: Fran Science and Fiction: Mary Shelley and the Frankenstein Legacy: The Novel and the Middle Class--Jane Austen tells us How: The Gothic world of the Bronte Sisters: The Modern Novel: Virginia Woolf and the Word: Ok, so now you have a start--and you can continue to write little bits that assess Mary Shelley's work in the light of the subjects we discuss. Those paragraphs will make up the body of the paper. It's always good to be looking for your "hook", as well. I would be watching for the quote you like best, as you read Mary Shelley's work - or read through the lecture. You will now have spaces for the Thesis and Method, as you will fill them in later on. This is about where you should be by now. We will return to this later!!
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Literature 45 - Women in Literature : Marjorie C. Luesebrink, MFA Contents: Announcements // Discussion Page // About Your Class // Class Syllabus // Lecture Notes // Discussion Group // Reading List // Recommended Reading // Assignments // Resources and Web Sites // Grading Policies // Contact Your Instructor
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