Gail Godwin

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, remains an influential piece of gothic literature utilized and widely studied in today’s society for its intricate writings. This chilling novel, inspired by a time of scientific advancement and misogynistic practices, contains various similarities to other literary works and theories. Various components of Frankenstein connect to the feminist theory, the Genesis creation story, and the Prometheus creation story through themes expressing…

Frankenstein incorporates themes of both the Gothic and Romantic, influenced by the long history of Gothic novels before it. Victor Frankenstein, although the nominal protagonist, causes much of the evil that drives the plot of the story. He is a young, deeply passionate man who desires knowledge beyond the ordinary, remarking that even as a child, he wanted to learn “the secrets of heaven and earth… [his] enquiries were directed to the metaphysical” (37). Although his intentions may not be…

The Palace of Illusions , written by award-winning novelist and poet Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is a rendition of the Hindu epic Mahabharata as told from Panchaali's (Draupadi’s) point of view , namely, that of a woman living in a patriarchal world. It is narrated by Paanchali herself, who is the wife of the five Pandava brothers. It follows Paanchali’s life from a fiery birth and a childhood spent in loneliness, where she only had her…

Frankenstein: The Result of Too Much Ambition The 1818 story of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley tells the story of Victor Frankenstein and his over desire to create life from death. After having a normal upbringing, Victor’s life turns upside down when his creature creates more problems than expected. It’s a story of caution, as that begins in the present and flashes back to see where Victor went wrong. The book has many themes, one of the biggest being ambition. It asks, when is too much ambition…

In 1818, Mary Shelley personified the shortcomings of society’s morality in the form of a destructive, ruthless, yet nearly human monster. During an era in which the Industrial Revolution saw the prosperity of the upper class directly lead to the death and poverty of the working class, Shelley wrote Frankenstein to challenge the presence of cultural inhumanity. Shelley’s novel chronicles the life of scientist Victor Frankenstein, whose studies and ambition lead to the creation of a living being…

On its face, Frankenstein is the creation story of a man-made human, turned monster. In reality, this tale is not about the creation of human, but rather the monstrous quality of devaluing a human. In short, Victor makes a human by hand, labels it a monster. He spends the rest of the story becoming a monster himself because he refuses to acknowledge the humanity of his creation. Here, to dehumanize a person is a monstrous act. Dehumanization is a broad term for things like: marginalization,…

The Day of the Locust and Frankenstein are uniquely telling the same story, the story of Hollywood. The characters in both the novel and the film share great similarities, as Sarver explains with Homer and the monster. A very similar comparison can be drawn between Faye and Dr. Frankenstein. Their relationship is dependent upon Sarver’s parallel, because Faye is to Homer as Frankenstein is to the monster. The connection between Faye and the doctor lies in their utter disregard for those around…

The Handmaid’s Tale The Handmaid’s Tale is a science fiction novel written by Margaret Atwood in 1983. Margaret Atwood is a Canadian author who is most known for writing the books The Edible Woman, The Robber Bride, and Alias Grace (Atwood, 1983, p.311). The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in a world where the United States has been overthrown and replaced by a new nation called Gilead. Gilead is a place where women have been subjected to a new role in society. They are no longer allowed to have a…

The development in the Northern lights. This book children fantasy/steampunk novel “Northern Lights” was published in the 1995 by Philip Pullman, who is a famous fantasy book writer in this century. The book is set in a parallel universe, it features the journey of Lyra Belacqua who is our main protagonist. She is on a quest to the artic to find her missing friend, Roger Parslow and her imprisoned uncle Lord Asriel. Lord Asriel has been doing conducting experiments with a mysterious thing…

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the origins of masculinist conventions in science fiction. Mary Shelley was a nineteenth century woman writer, best known for her science-fiction novel Frankenstein. Being a female author was a rather rare occupation in a time where men were generally the dominant and active participants in society. Female authors such as Shelley were generally confined in their writing by the male conventions that existed in the society they lived in, which, with exceptions,…