Frankenstein and scientific fiction

Literature of the Romantic Period

1. Scientific fiction in Frankenstein Prepared by- daya vaghani Batch-2020-22 (MA sem-1) Paper –literature of the romantics Roll no-07 Enrollment no-3069206420200017 Email  id  [email protected] Submitted to-s.B. Gardi department of english maharaja  krishnakumarsinhji  bhavnagar university

2. FRENKENSTEIN  written by marry shelley  first published in 1 jan. 1818 genre: horror, gothic –scientific fiction the modern Prometheus 

3. WHAT IS SCIENCE FICTION? Science fiction is a genre of fiction in which the stories often tell about science and technology of the future. The plot creates situations different from those of both the present day and the known past. Science fiction texts also include a human element, explaining what effect new discoveries, happenings and scientific developments will have on us in the future. Science fiction texts are often set in the future, in space, on a different world, or in a different universe or dimension.

4. MARY SHELLEY'S NOVEL  society was over hopeful of science.  The quest of knowledge was one of the most essential aspects of that time.  Frankenstein's focus is from past to the future. But the success is rewarded as a horrible situation.  It is Mary's question to the thoughtless development of modern science. The novel can be read from two main levels;                            as a science fiction                             as a human nature.  The whole story moves around the invention of a scientist and the result of it.  Dangerous aspect of experience in the scientific field is the subject matter of the novel.

5. VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN one of the representative figures of modern scientists who created a monster due to his excess focus in the quest of scientific knowledge. but at last he lost the control over his own creation.  Rather Victor Frankenstein compelled to lose his own family members and his own creation became the real cause of his own destruction.

6. VICTOR'S AMBITION The monster, Victor's reaction itself, is a kind of scientific achievement around which the whole plot structure is designed. The protagonist Victor Frankenstein is a scientist driven by ambition of scientific curiosity. His quest for absolute knowledge and power has ended in his own destruction. So the novel shows that thoughtlessness causes destruction to themselves. Shelley shows the dangerous aspects of modern scientific world.

7. THE MONSTER The monster is itself a scientific investigation of the protagonist. It is eight feet tall, ugly and attempts to integrate himself into human social patterns but all who see him dislikes him. The feeling of abandonment compels him to seek revenge against his own creator. Also at this point it becomes clear that Mary Shelley is very critical about the scientific invention and intention of contemporary people in regard to its further coming results.

8. Mistakes of Modern Science Related to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein                                                                                                                   “I had ardently desired the acquisition of knowledge... I longed to enter the world and take my station among other human beings.”  It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed at the metaphysical, or in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world. Victor Frankenstein

9. THE RESULT OF SCIENTISTS' INVENTIONS The whole novel is about scientific ambition of     the protagonist. It is said that one of the most important quest of     scientific aspect is the quest of a new kind of creation. But most of the scientists are unknown about how their     invention will be resulted at last.  They are thoughtless about the further coming danger     and destruction of science.

10. THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN SCIENCE Victor Frankenstein was over curious man to learn the hidden law of nature due to his fervent love for science.  this event of the novel is very symbolic for the development of modern science.  It allows to have the deep thought in the field of science. In this way as the protagonist and all his activities in the holistic plot structure of the novel moves around the scientific subject matter together with its consequences. So the novel can be analyzed as a science fiction!

11. References Holmes, R. Science fiction: The science that fed  Frankenstein .  Nature   535,  490–491 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/535490a Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851. Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus : the 1818 Text. Oxford ; New York :Oxford University Press, 1998.   Stableford, Brian (1995).  "Frankenstein and the Origins of Science Fiction" . In Seed, David (ed.). Anticipations: Essays on Early Science Fiction and its Precursors. Syracuse University Press. pp.  47–49 .  ISBN   978-0815626404. Retrieved 19 July 2018. Wikipedia contributors. “Frankenstein.” Wikipedia,  wikimedia  foundation, 18 dec. 2018,  en.Wikipedia.Org /wiki/ frankenstein . ‌