LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 18:7 July 2018
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
         Dr. S. Chelliah, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

Language in India www.languageinindia.com is included in the UGC Approved List of Journals. Serial Number 49042.

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2016
M. S. Thirumalai

Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
11249 Oregon Circle
Bloomington, MN 55438
USA
Custom Search

The Monster Is Alive: 200 Years of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Rajesh V. Basiya, Ph.D.


Abstract

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) is one of the classic horror stories and is regarded as the forerunner of modern science fiction. Frankenstein originally a brief story, at the suggestion of Shelley, was developed to a full-length novel. Since its publication, the thrilling fantasy in last two centuries has been adapted as movies, comic stories etc. Frankenstein is about Dr. Victor Frankenstein who is interested in the secrets of life. He secretly collects bones and body parts of dead from charnel-houses and animates the creature. The monster kills Victor’s brother, friend and wife and is indirectly responsible for his father’s death and the maid’s death. Thus, it is a creation done without thinking about the consequences. Do we make monsters or monsters are born? How do we turn a person into a monster? The novel is relevant even today as we face ethical dilemma around appropriate of stem cells, questions about organ donation and organ harvesting as well as animal to human transplants. At the same time as well, the rise of artificial intelligence indicates an uncertain future of the boundaries between machines and humans.

Keywords: Monster, Frankenstein, Creation, Consequence, Mankind, Relevance.

The year 2018 marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of the novel Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851). Frankenstein the tale of ‘Gothic horror,’ is the most well-known of Mary Shelley’s works. It was published in 1818. Told in the technique of epistolary form, Frankenstein remains as one of the classic horror stories and is regarded as the forerunner of modern science fiction. Mary was the only daughter of the well-known philosopher and author William Godwin. Mary’s mother Mary Wollstonecraft was radical feminist who died giving birth to Mary. In 1814 Mary met the renowned poet Percy B. Shelley and eloped with him to Italy. They were in Germany in 1814 when Byron challenged them to write horror-ghost story. Frankenstein originally a brief story, at the suggestion of Shelley, was developed to a full-length novel. Since its publication, the thrilling fantasy in last two centuries has been adapted as movies, comic stories etc.

What is a monster? Its dictionary meaning is ‘a creature which produces fear or physical harm by its appearance or its actions’. In the religious context of ancient Greeks and Romans, monsters were seen as sign of ‘divine displeasure’, and it was thought that birth defects especially ominous, being ‘an unnatural event or a malfunctioning of nature’. During early 14th century, Old French monstre basically from Latin monstrum means ‘divine omen, abnormal shape, monster, figuratively repulsive character, object or dread ‘from root of monere’ to warn, advice, to think’, so to say that the thing that makes you think. It was ‘malformed animal or human, creature, afflicted with a birth defect’. Abnormal or prodigious animals were regarded as signs or omens of impending evils. But in this novel the monster is created by a human being who is a young scientist.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.


Rajesh V. Basiya, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of English
K.S.K.V. Kachchh University
Bhuj-Kachchh 370001
Gujarat
India
rv_basiya@yahoo.co.in

Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.