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Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" specifically how the novel from a Marxist point-of-view reflects the ideology of her times
Marxist Monsters
Mary Shelly is known as one of the greatest horror writers of all time, even though it may be more accurate to refer to her writings as introspective social commentary on the human condition and the state of society. Shelly's Frankenstein has become far more than just a novel. The story of this created Monster has been retold countless times and has become a part of the modern archetypal mythology. Shelly herself was raised by parents with influential artistic, political, and social ideas that infiltrated her personal ideologies and incarnated themselves in her work. Her father wrote a book called Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, in which he taught "public realization of rational ideals of justice and benevolence." This may be one of the first influences which inspired the Marxist elements that would later appear in Mary Shelly's work; Marxism after all is rational, and the public realization of benevolence could be equated with money for everyone. Her mother, on the other hand, wrote a novel called A Vindication of the Rights of Women before Mary was born, and the equal rights message of this book also may have drawn Shelly to a Marxist perspective. Whatever the influence, Shelly's Frankenstein is a stunning...
The Monster struggles to become an equal in society, and be awarded all of the rights of any citizen. The tension that runs through the plot is a statement about the plight of the oppressed in society, and how the downtrodden of society have an unfair disadvantage put onto them by an outside force. This outside force, from a Marxist perspective, could be a symbol for capitalism, which creates hideous slave laborers whose existence is much like that of Frankenstein's monster. The creature is "a poor, helpless, and miserable wretch," (Shelley 84) like the poor people of society. The division of the classes, between the very wealthy and the horribly poor, was very acute in Shelly's time, and the rejection and oppression of the monster represents the oppression of the masses who are created to serve their bourgeois masters, who then react in fear when they realize the masses have the ability to overthrow them.
The oppressed masses that are enslaved and mutated by the elite are related to the story of Frankenstein is through their connection to technology. Technology is what created Frankenstein's monster, as…
Bibliography
Godwin, William. Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and Its Influence On Morals and Happiness. Archived online http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/godwin/PJfrontpiece.html.
Marx, Karl. The Communist Manifesto.
Montag, Warren. "The 'Workshop of Filthy Creation': A Marxist Reading
of Frankenstein.
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