The article “Female Gothic: The Monster’s Mother,” was written in 1976 by Ellen Moers, a literary critic who wrote about female literature. In the article, Moers describes the female gothic genre as it was before Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein and how Shelley changed the genre. Before Frankenstein, the genre always centered around a female victim/heroine. When Shelley wrote Frankenstein, one of the things that made it unique and important was the distinct lack of such a female heroine. According to Moers, the fact that the book was written by a woman yet has no major female character was genre changing. Moers goes on to talk about Shelley’s life history and how influential that was on her writing. She talks about how life and death, beginning from her own birth and the consequent death of her mother shaped Mary Shelley’s vision and thoughts. Moers goes on to demonstrate how the overriding themes of birth and death in Shelley’s life are quite astonishingly mirrored in the novel. Moers ends with a discussion and analyses of another recurrent theme in the book, that of parent child relationships and dynamics.
My response to this article, in particular, was very strong. It made the most sense to me and gave me a whole new perspective of Frankenstein and also shedding some light on at least one thing about Frankenstein that bothered me. The whole idea and importance of giving birth in the book somehow eluded me, but after reading Moers article it is remarkably clear to me. In addition, the one scene that disturbed me the most in the book was how after laboring furiously for months over his creation, Frankenstein finally infuses life into his monster only to run away from it and pretend it doesn’t exist for years. He then is horrified that it has come back to haunt him. This was something that bothered me immensely and I was not able to pinpoint why. After reading this article and how Moers analysed “the parent-child and child-parent relationship” I had an ah-ha moment and suddenly looked at Frankenstein in a whole new way. I do think that I will somehow incorporate this article into my third essay.
Hi April,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your summary of Moers response to "Frankenstein." I too find this a very intriguing point- the parent, child relationship, that I didn't really consider until reading this article. Will you be using this response in your 3rd essay? I think it's a great point to share and expound upon. Thanks for sharing.
Heather
First of all I would liek to applaud you for your summary. You did a very good job with it and hit the main points very well. I only mention this because I find summary difficult but you seem to grasp that concept very well. As far as this article it brought about many ideas that were apparent in the book but in other ways. I saw the main theme as companionship, and how important it is for all creatures. I never really got the parent to child relationship, but now that I see it from your response, it fits right into the companionship. Seeing another form of companionship brought about in this story will surely help me with choosing articles to use in the next essay, as well as build on the ideas that I had already formed. So thank you for helping me to build on previous ideas.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand how you felt when you wrote about the months of work Frankenstein put into his work, only to abandon it. I found that this is the same feeling that I get when I hear of parents abusing or neglecting their children. When we think about it, it is the exact same thing, except that children aren't ugly like the monster. Do you think this is what Moer was trying to get across?
ReplyDeleteHi April,
ReplyDeleteI really have to start by saying that your summary helped me understand Mores' opinion of Mary Shelly's writing even more then simply reading it myself! You really did an excellent job summarizing the original text. I would have to agree with your 'ah-ha' moment as I felt the same while reading 'Female Gothic: The Monster's Mother.' The text also opened my eyes to this story in a whole new way!
Great Job~ Carissa DeJong
Hey April. Good job summarizing Mores writing. It seems to be very similar to the one I wrote about which was Barbara Johnson. Like you, after reading these criticisms, it brought me to a different level and allowed me to understand better. I have to say, it actually made the novel appeal more to me. Good job on summarizing.
ReplyDeleteI got the same feeling after reading moers' article. it definitely let in a new light in on me after doing a little background on both of these authors. Good job on summarizing. i didnt put down as much background on moers as u did but i read it so i guess i could take ur example next time so that my readers could know a little bit more.
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