"Spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" : romantic imagery in Mary Shelley's Frankstein

Romantic English literature – written at a time when prose fiction was predominantly a medium for sheer entertainment – is rooted in poetry. One or two novelists may exceptionally be granted the adjective “Romantic”, but Mary Shelley is not ranked among them. For centuries, her work has been restricted to that section in handbooks reserved for exotic Gothic literature. This thesis argues that literary criticism has failed to recognize Frankenstein’s obvious relation with the movement. The argument will be fostered by a brief look at such handbooks, and developed through the analysis of the imagery of the novel, so as to trace the Romantic elements there contained. The analysis relies mainly on the frame developed by Northrop Frye concerning the nature and function of imagery in literature. The concept of intertextuality will also be useful as a tool to account for the insertion of images in the novel, and for the novel’s insertion within the Romantic context. The work is divided into three parts. The first contextualizes the main issues set forth by Frankenstein, establishing connections with the life of the author and with the Romantic movement. The second exposes the theoretical basis on which the thesis is grounded. The last presents my reading of the novel’s web of images. In the end, I hope to validate the thesis proposed, that Frankenstein embodies the aesthetic and philosophical assessments of the English Romantic agenda, and therefore deserves to be situated in its due place in the English Literary canon as the legitimate representative of Romanticism in prose form.

The animation of psychology

This thesis investigates 'Frankenstein', in the light of Cultural Poetic practices and modern psychological theories, illustrating the pivotal role it played in the transition of developmental psychology from philosophy to science. Drawing on Locke, Rousseau and Godwin, Shelley presents the monster as an exaggerated case study of the danger of ineffective nurturing.

Frankenstein: uma releitura do mito de criação

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

The romantic life of Shelley and the sequel,

Printed in Great Britain.

The poetical works of Percy Bysshe Shelley /

Mode of access: Internet.

The poetical works of Percy Bysshe Shelley,

Bound in dark brown cloth; stamped in gold.

The poetical works of Percy Bysshe Shelley,

Mode of access: Internet.

The poetical works of Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Mode of access: Internet.

The poetical works of Percy Bysshe Shelley;

"Memoir by Charles E. Norton." The same memoir is ascribed to James Russell Lowell in the advertisement of the edition pub. by Little, Brown & Co., 1855, and also on the t.-p. of their edition of 1857.

The poetical works of Percy Bysshe Shelley /

Added t.-p. with vignette.

The poetical works of Percy Bysshe Shelley /

Mode of access: Internet.

Rambles in Germany and Italy in 1840, 1842, and 1843.

First edition.

Essays, letters from abroad, translations and fragments,

v. 1. A defence of poetry. Essay on the literature, arts, and manners of the Athenians. Preface to the Banquet of Plato. The banquet--translated from Plato. On love. The coliseum. The assassins. On the punishment of death. On life. On a future state. Speculations on metaphysics. Speculations on morals. Ion; or, Of the Iliad--translated from Plato. Menexenus,--or, The funeral oration. Fragments from the Republic of Plato. On a passage in Crito.--v. 2. Journal of a six weeks' tour. Letters from Geneva. Journal at Geneva: ghost stories. Journal: return to England. Letters from Italy.

Eminent literary and scientific men of Italy, Spain, and Portugal ...

By J. Montgomery, Mrs. Shelley and others.

Memoirs and posthumous works of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin ...

Memoirs written by William Godwin.