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Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: what made the Monster monstrous?
Author(s) -
Britton Ronald
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of analytical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.285
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1468-5922
pISSN - 0021-8774
DOI - 10.1111/1468-5922.12126
Subject(s) - monster , dream , sister , psychoanalysis , art , philosophy , art history , literature , psychology , sociology , neuroscience , anthropology
Abstract This paper discusses the genesis of the famous story of Frankenstein which arose from a dream experienced by Mary Shelley whilst on a holiday shared with her husband Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, Dr Polidori and her step sister Claire Clairmont. The novel relates how the creature created by Victor Frankenstein horrifies him, is rejected by him and called a monster. The monster's ensuing despair and subsequent murderousness is eloquently described. The whole book is clearly connected to Mary Shelley's experience as an infant whose mother died after giving birth to her and her subsequent loss, as a mother, of her own new born infant. It is suggested that the novel imaginatively describes what it is to have been primarily rejected as an infant and to feel regarded as a monster.