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Frankenstein and Handmaid’s Tale comparison notes
Dreams
o Dreams play a significant role in Gothic fictions- often reveal psychological states
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 Victor’s dream that bringing the Creature to life was equivalent to killing Elizabeth- prophetic
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 Suggests that sexuality frightens/revolts Victor- perhaps prefers to find a means of procreation that
eliminates sexual activity
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o Threat- anyone could be an eye/they’re everywhere
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o Enclosing narrative frames represent boundaries crossed/transgressions
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o Shelley’s message- we’re quick to judge on what we see- aesthetic prejudice- injustice/discrimination
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o Offred is involved in subversive efforts of Mayday
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Birth/fertility
o Women are fertile vessels ‘two legged wombs’ ‘we are containers’ pg107
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o Widespread protest against abortion at time written-demonized women who sought control over own body
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o No natural birth
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g
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o Widespread fear towards processes e
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Galvanism-restore life to a dead body through electrical currents
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Narrative structure
o Non chronological narrative switches constantly between past and present/ slips between memories
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o Makes clear Offred is in a liminal state between her past and present life
o Fragmented interior monologue contributes to verisimilitude and reflects the psychological pressure Offred’s
under
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g
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o Delayed/deferred information
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st
o 1 person narrative- reader can only know what Offred experiences and remembers
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o Subtle lack of information creates suspense
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o Multiple 1st-person narrator- dynamic interplay between narratives- Walton’s narrative prepares reader for
Victor’s state of mind and the Creature’s narrative encouraging the reader to question Victor’s assumptions/
prejudices
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o Frame narrative- Chinese box- Walton-Victor-Creature-Victor-Walton
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 Novel constructed of borrowings from many other texts
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Walton’s epistolary narrative aids believable aspect of novel- foundation of reality
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Bridges gap between reader and Victor
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Novel begins in media res = middle of things- then series of flashbacks- narratives are interrelated
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 Pg124 ‘I will greatly multiply’
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 Christian texts shaped western paradigm
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o Sufi proverb- under extreme conditions human survival instinct is extremely strong
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o Red shoes- link to Gilead via red and that in both texts dancing is associated with death e
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Offred does not wish
to be a ‘dancer’ at the salvaging- pg
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o Bible- alluded to when the Creature asks Victor to create a companion- Shelley highlights expectations placed on
Eve before her birth by 2 male figures
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 Epigraphs from Genesis- focuses on how life can be created/Paradise Lost asks why life is created
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 ‘deadly weight hanging around my neck’- Mariner had to wear albatross round neck- burden carried
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Duality of creature and Offred
o Offred’s liminal state between rebellion and indoctrination- makes her an ‘every-women’ figure’
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Half clinging to former self
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o The Creature is dual sided- a murderer yet a victim of humanity- draws reader into moral dilemma
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o The 2 Offred’s and 2 Ofglen’s
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o Motif returns in story of Ofglen ‘Doubled, I walk the street’
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o Offred disguised as Serena Joy when she goes to Jezebel’s/forced to look at own face in Serena Joy’s mirror
when putting makeup on
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o Popular tendency to refer to the Creature as Frankenstein- Shelley’s use of motif of the double
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o Percy Shelley- Prometheus Unbound presents double as counterpart to self
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o ‘I felt the fiend’s grasp in my neck’/ hears cries of victims in his ears- ambiguity
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Elizabeth ‘men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other’s blood’- echoes doubling on wider social
level
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Externalization of a darker side of Victor/repressed part of his psyche
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 Literally lightening reveals the figure of the Creature but metaphorically illuminates the darker side of
Victor
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Domesticity/Femininity
o Like Offred Victor loses family/Elizabeth attempts to help everyone to accept sad events/recover emotionally
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o Serena Joy commits heresy saying the Commander is ‘sterile’
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o Juxtaposition of female identity/objectification- Offred wears binary opposites of purity/overt sexuality- blue
cloak = colour of wives/sexually revealing clothing at Jezebels
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o Male world presented as explorational/domineering while female world is associated with the domestic
sphere/empathy
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o Elizabeth seen as an object to be possessed/importance of physical beauty
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 His obsession isolates him from his family/friends
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 Domestic affections- Creature longs for and Victor repeatedly holds up as what he should’ve aspired
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 Victor ‘if no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with tranquility of his domestic affections,
Greece had not been enslaved, Caesar would have spared his country’ pg
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o However, the treatment of the Creature by the De Lacey’s points to a defect in the domestic world- insularity
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 While the Preface claims "Frankenstein" demonstrates ideal 'domestic affections', the family is actually
criticised for imposing artificial gender distinctions and for insularity
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 Tension between softness/ease connoted by ‘silken’/tightness/restraint associated with ‘cord’
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 Innocent/old-fashioned game takes on whole new meaning in Gilead
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24
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 Stems from Adam + Eve in Bible- ate from the Tree of Knowledge- consequently banished from paradise
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 20th Century- clone of dolly the sheep-cloning became known as ‘Frankenstein science’- fears that what
Shelley imagined might become fact
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o Light conventionally associated with discovery/knowledge/enlightenment- however in Frankenstein search for
‘light’ ultimately leads to darkness
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o Knowledge makes the Creature aware that he’s different- learns only way out of pain is death- foreshadows
climax of novel
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Walton similarly attempts to surpass previous human explorations-endeavoring to reach the North pole
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 Victor ‘Learn from me
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The Creature naturally seeks knowledge- learns how to speak and read- but this makes him miserable
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 Victor’s ‘success’ has tragic consequences- Shelley warning that knowledge shouldn’t be used- personal
gain
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g
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o Pg211 ‘amputated speech’/prescribed speech ‘praise be’
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o Offred uses language as a shield/distraction against Gilead- during stressful periods often engages in language
musings
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g
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o Nazis burned books- knew ignorance served purposes of any would-be dictatorship
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 Faith embroidered cushion- minimal access to language
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o Novel is about the power of language
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o Victor’s narrative is used to bias reader against the Creature with constant referrals as ‘wretch’/‘devil’
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 Reminiscent of vengeful God in Old Testament
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I compassionated him’ pg
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 First key stage of the Creature’s education-recognition of importance of language- ‘god-like science’
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o Weak/inadequate- inability for characters to express true feelings ‘no one can conceive’ ‘I cannot describe’
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 Language appears to have power when combined with other qualities e
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social position
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o Creature’s eloquence- surprise
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 Creature’s ability to convince Victor to make him a mate- language clearly has power
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I compassionated him’ pg
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 Eloquent rhetorician- uses devices e
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oxymorons/antithesis
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o First key stage of Creature’s education-recognition of importance of language- ‘god-like science’
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g
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Stories
o Power of stories and need to tell them
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o Act of resistance- by bearing witness Offred plays own small part in undermining theocracy
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 Postmodern literature tends to make deliberate use of unusual, hyper-real and deliberately unrealistic
narrative strategies that are made up in order to raise questions about relationship between fiction and
reality
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 Attwood draws attention to how texts work- complex structure, fragmented and non-linear directly
reflects nature, possibilities and limitations of the act of storytelling
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Reader forced to jigsaw together Offred’s jumbled subjective experience from a patchwork of interrupted
memories
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o Victor’s early detachment from tragedy of death ‘churchyard was to me merely a receptacle of bodies deprived
of life
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Religion
o Priest threatens Justine with excommunication and in the Handmaids Tale religion is used to justify immoral
acts
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o Gilead- theocracy- uses Bible to justify system e
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each month before ceremony- commander reads from
Genesis justifying and moralizing the crude intercourse that will take place
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 ‘Gods’ of Gilead + the Creature intend to improve nature/humanity but instead destroy
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o Rachel + Leah- symbolic of rebirth new identity- past incarnations of gym represents juxtaposition of cultural
norms
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 Puritans aimed to come to America + enforce their own version of extreme Protestantism on others
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o Religion corrupted and used as method of control- salvaging’s are penalty for biblical sins such as adultery
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o Shelley was critical of the Church- coercive priest forces Justine to confess guilty by threat to excommunicate
her
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o Biblical references such the Creature’s desire for an Eve
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o Victor’s creation- transgression against God
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 The Creature + Satan- observes happiness/eaten up by envy
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Nature
o Human nature repressed/controlled- natural relationships prohibited- pg104 ‘fucking’- onomatopoeic
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 Militaristic language used to describe the Commander during the ceremony- no personal
satisfaction/duty
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 Sexual nature distorted as a result of the regime- sex as an act is twisted into a highly controlled,
dispassionate act, which contrasts highly with expectations today
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Atwood presents a society where fertility is regarded as a life giving force as it enables procreation
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 ‘I can almost see it, red radiation’ ‘A burning city’
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Further reminder that nature cannot be controlled
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Atwood draws a strong connection to the disintegration of nature to the disintegration of the Handmaids
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In both cases at height of their hubris- nature is quick to reassert itself- Walton’s ship sunk in ice and Victor
enslaved by own obsessive nature and creation- becomes a ‘slave’ to the Creature
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Idea of nature as restorative- important in Romantic poetry
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 Research into power of nature/ triumph over it leads to Victor’s destruction
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Artic desert functions as symbolic backdrop for Victor’s primal struggle against the Creature
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Alps- ‘sublime’- Victor visits them to recover from the trauma of the creation
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 Mont Blanc described as ‘magnificent’ and possessing ‘awful majesty’
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 Physically/metaphorically isolated- also through actions
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Humanity
o Victor + Offred are forced through circumstance to see humanity in their adversary- Commander + the Creature
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o All forms of natural intimacy/sexuality absent
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 Both a result of unnatural births/unsuccessful
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 With Aunt Lydia’s encouragement the Handmaids accept Janine deserved to be gang-raped- women
beware women culture
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 Prayvaganza- faux community
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o All seem intent on breaking rules
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o In Gilead sex is a form of oppression/commodity to be traded/unable to develop normal reciprocal relationships
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o Appearances assumed to reflect interior states
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 Interesting to compare to attitude when made visual through film- more likely to see as monstrous?
o Is Victor a tragic hero? - only partly responsible for own downfall or attempts to deny responsibility
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 Victor describes himself with language usually associated with supernatural ‘unquiet’ ‘restless’dehumanises himself as a ‘thing’- implies human is the monstrous
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 Shelley suggests it’s natural to long for affection- is the Creature more human then Victor? - difficult to
distinguish between human + monstrous
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As we cannot see the ‘detested form’ of the Creature we’re more likely to sympathise /willing to hear the
Creature’s tale?
Godwin believed man’s natural emotions = benevolence/pity- echoed in the Creature’s claim he was
instinctively ‘benevolent + good
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Rousseau- secular version of the Fall- natural man is born in state of innocence
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Love
o Gilead’s main problem is its attempt to dismiss human feelings for sake of efficiency- results in failure
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o The Commander can’t have both marriage with Serena Joy + romance with mistress- forced sex can’t generate
real love
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o Atwood entwines private story of Offred + Nick with series of vividly described violent public deaths- what
chance do these lovers have in finding happiness in their society?
o Shelley depicts love as true life-giving power- counter to Victor’s beliefs- e
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it’s only through compassion from
Clerval that Victor survives
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Impact of science on human body
o Science in both novels- reductive and lacking inhumanity- humans reduced to body-parts and Victor is noticeably
absent when the Creature’s mind is formed
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o Scientific solution to a scientific problem- high levels of pollution caused by humanity that caused falling birth
rates- another negative impact of science on human body- Atwood draws attention to this using disturbing
apocalyptic language
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o ‘Workshop of filthy creation’- ‘unhallowed’ -warn Victor’s going against nature
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 Greek mythology= demigod- Zeus hid fire away from man, Prometheus stole it by trickery- punishment:
chained to a rock where eagle fed each day on his live, which sense he was immortal-grew again every
night
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 Tribute to this power- sense of dangers already abroad discussions of scientific matters
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 Humphrey Davy ‘science has…bestowed upon (man) powers which may be called almost creative…who
would not be ambitious of becoming acquainted with the most profound secrets of nature’
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o Description of Victor’s emotional state emphasizes the power of science/its potential danger
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o Key criticism of Victor as a scientist: pride, repulsiveness of activities, isolation work imposes on him and neglect
of natural beauty
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o Basic liberties taken from Handmaid’s- emphasized by Atwood through use of passive voice ‘I went to the
doctor
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o Offred trapped in prison of self- Gilead demands suppression of her sense of agency and humanity
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o Offred only exists in a time trap of the present- only in memory/imagination does she have freedom of choice‘the illusion of depth…Otherwise you live in the moment
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153
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Where should I go? Pg47- escape in memory
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o ‘My own territory…where only I know the footing’ pg83
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o Victor is trapped in prison of self- secrecy, solitude, guilt and self-centeredness prevents him from finding
comfort through empathy of others
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o Justine’s imprisonment used as Godwinian criticism
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o Women confined to domestic sphere
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o Men are the ruling class- allowed to read, own property and have jobs
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o Atwood implies suppressive patriarchal social structure has negative impact on both sexes
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o Female subjection is complete- Handmaid’s identity subsumed by the male who controls them
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o Prayvaganza- mass single-sex religious celebrations- gender divide is absolute
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I had only their words for it’
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o ‘nature demands variety for men’- hypocritical self-justification- the Commander is part of a patriarchal culture
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o Justine- classic female ‘damsel in distress’- in trial all judges men- highlights social injustice
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 Justine shows courage- her self-possession contrasted with Victor’s hidden cowardice
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 At end of novel- used as a pawn in a male/male power play
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 Huge courage on deathbed- shows resolution and decisiveness
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 Analyses the way women are treated in male-dominated society
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 ‘Vindication of the Rights of Women’- consequences of social construction of gender that values male
over female
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o Unusual nature of the Creature’s birth- counterpoint to foreground significance of female gender roles in
society- suggests merely companions for men- usurps role of women- made unnecessary
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 Elizabeth ‘docile and good tempered’
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Power + control
o Power structures- patriarchy/family/institutions
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 Power structures impact individuals
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o Desire to control the narrative
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- Binary language- othering of the Creature
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- Act of defiance- non-chronological/fragmented/discontinuous- antithesis of what Gilead requires
her to be
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 Gilead’s narrative trying to define Offred
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- ‘walking womb’- reductive language
o Self-control
 Victor’s lack of self-control- governed by impulses
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 The painting ‘Wonderer above the sea of fog’ by Caspar David Friedrich- 1818- Romantic quality- solitary
traveler
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- Romantic visionary
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 Aspirations to Godhead
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 Creature = embodiment of Victor’s unconscious- not in control of it
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- Radicals full of optimism- ends in bloodbath
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- Rhetorical antithesis- 2 clauses in a sentence containing opposite ideas/balanced state of mind
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- Something uncontrollable in all of us
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 Role of Offred’s interior monologue as coping mechanism
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 Particicution scene- self-control v savage
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 Unusual nature of the Creature’s birth- usurps role of women- made unnecessary
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 The Creature’s desire for a mate- but we’re made uncomfortably aware through Victor’s reflections- mate
may not accept him
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 Power dynamic within relationship
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 When power intrudes on relationships- corrupts them
o Attempts to control nature- both novels suggest it’s impossible to control nature
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- Compensation for having not control over her fertility
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 Ceremony- the way emotion has been absented
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- Reductive quality ‘pubic bone’ + ‘skull’- linked to creation scene in Frankenstein- body parts- lack
of human emotion
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o Pill introduced in America in 60’s
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o Joseph Priestley 1711 mice in a bell jar experiment- mice die in bell jar but with mint inside they survive
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o Humphrey Davy- provided Shelley with information on chemistry and how it may provide the secret to life
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o Galvani- conducted experiments on human corpses- electrified corpses giving appearance of reanimation
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 Shelley provides frighteningly believable prediction of what future- humans hold secret of life
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o Phyllis Schlafly- unspoken right-wing activist believing women’s place is at home and against abortion and
modern feminism- another model for Serena Joy
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o ‘context is all’- judging the regime by norms + value of another time and place is inappropriate
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o Latin monstrare means to demonstrate/ monere means to warn- originally monstrous was matter of visual
however Shelley suggests lies the monstrous within
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o Shelley makes us question how we treat those appear monstrous when we may be monsters
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 Critisises superficial society- emphasis on physical beauty- assumes exterior reflects inner being
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 Romantic poets read Paradise Lost- Satan presented as heroic figure/rebelling against authority
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o The Creature’s victims are innocents- the same arbitrary injustice the Creature is subject to when society
demonised him purely based on appearance
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o Impact of Romanticism-solitary genius/attitudes to natural world/ power of imagination
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o Romania’s decree 770- due to rapidly falling birth rates- abortion and contraception criminalized 1966
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 Explicit links between the Commander + those who carried out Hitler’s orders- Offred is unable to
separate the man from the regime
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 Pg75 ‘four digits and an eye’- tattoo
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‘Underground female road’ allusion to ‘underground railroad’- slavery 1800s- assistance to Canada
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 Mob frequently represented as a monster
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 Both Victor + the Creature become consumed by revenge- driven by obsessions/embodiment of the
revolution mob violence
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Literary contexts
o Postmodernism- idea that there is no one specific truth- facts are simply widely accepted interpretations of an
event or theory
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o Romanticism- Victor and Walton both possess qualities of the solitary genius- Romantic idea
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o Milton’s Paradise Lost- epigraph
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 As creator- Victor assumes role of God
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103 + echoes Satan’s words in Paradise Lost ‘evil thenceforth became my good’
p
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 Victor links to Satan- pride and ambition- attempts to displace God
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I am chained in an eternal hell’
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o Rime of Ancient Mariner
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 Victor like the mariner defies God- by shooting albatross he disturbs natural order- transforms his world
into nightmare vision of an alien universe
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Gender contexts
o Feminist triumphs of 1970s- widespread access to contraception, legalization of abortion, increasing political
influence of female voters
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o 19th C idea of separate God-given spheres for men/women-Shelley critiques gender roles/rejection by men of
the female sphere
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o Mary Wollenscraft (Shelley's mother)- early feminist- argued for Women’s rights to education

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