This is a research paper that I did for a course at Three Rivers College in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. I am rather proud of this one, despite its mistakes. I am posting this just to share it and to show what is possible when you put your mind to getting a good grade in a class. I am considering posting about being a working adult in college so this may end up being linked to at some point. I hope you enjoy the paper.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the Importance of Experience, Inputs, and the Constructed Environment
It was a series of dark and stormy nights. There was a collection of Romantic period poets and intellectuals who spent time together during an unusually cold and wet summer outside of Geneva, Switzerland in 1816. Long conversations were had about the state of the industrializing world, medical and scientific news of the day, man's relationship with nature, and many other topics that piqued the interest of these intellectuals. One of the most important works of literature to come out of the interactions of this gathering was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The creation of this book in that environment is an example of how place and the presence of engaged cohorts can influence the creative process. I put forth that creativity is the product of an accumulation of experience and exposure to various ideas and is heavily influenced by the real and constructed environment surrounding and influencing the creator. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein shows how accumulated exposure to varying literary styles, exposure to discussions on topics of the day, and the influence of an environment, including interaction with others, led to the creation of a literary work of art.
It has been said that art is the organization and integration of parts and elements into relationships that are both meaningful and purposeful. This definition can be used to address any piece of art that may be considered challenging to the viewer. One can inquire as to the purpose of a work, the meaning that the artist trying to convey, what elements are utilized to create the work, and how are these elements organized. The unique ways in which combinations of selected parts and elements are organized is creativity in art, and the development of literature is the development of a form of art (Pavitra, et al. 35).
In bringing to life a work of literature, creativity must be seen in the context of combining convention with innovation. Without convention, a work of art would be unapproachable to an audience, whereas a work of art without innovation would lack interest and individuality (Uzzi and Spiro 461). In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley combined conventional acceptable novel and storytelling elements that included proper characterization, global travel, romance, adventure, and religion with the innovation of adding the scientific and moral questions of the day to create a work that crosses many genres. She was able to accomplish the technical aspect of this creation through a lifetime, young as it was, of interest and exposure to literature (Richardson). Her experience with writers and the composition of literature had long preluded Mary Shelley’s presence at Geneva in 1816 (Buzwell).
Another experience element that Mary Shelley brought to her novel was an exposure to the concerns of the peasantry, the laborers, the wealthy, and the learned people of the day. Having access to knowledge through literature and exposure to intellectuals in her youth not only helped with her having the technical ability to create a work of literature as mentioned earlier but gave her experience through reading and conversation of the workings of the world and the people in it (Richardson). Exposure to literature is a form of experience that can provide experience as though a person were present at the events depicted. She not only had years of literature to draw from, but she had the physical experiences that she had immediately preceded her time at Lake Geneva (Poetry Foundation). During her traveling to the Swiss location, she traversed many war-torn lands that were beginning to feel the effects of grain shortages due to the fact that this year was subject to very odd weather patterns (Richardson). The time that Shelley spent in Geneva with some of the literary giants of the day occurred in what has been termed “the year without a summer” due to the atmospheric disturbances created by a series of volcanic eruptions that culminated in the eruption of Mount Tambora (UCAR). The effects of these disturbances led to a rainy and cold summer not only in Geneva but throughout the world. During this year the atmospheric disturbances were such that many crops failed and the possibility of famine based on raising grain prices was of paramount concern to many. Shelley was able to see first hand how fear, uncertainty, desperation, war, hunger, and death affects many different people from many different walks of life (Richardson). This recent tangible worldly knowledge was combined with Mary Shelley’s previously acquired knowledge to give a sum total of experience that was greater than would be expected from someone 18 years of age. Even though the acquisition of experience and knowledge were assembled, there still needed to be an engine to animate Shelley’s creativity.
It is believed by many of that the direct inputs into the creation of Frankenstein came in the form of conversations that were had about the scientific advances and related moral and philosophical issues of the day (Buzwell). As she was in the company of writers and poets at Lake Geneva in 1816, there was nearly certainly discussions of Milton’s Paradise Lost to which Frankenstein is often compared despite the fact that Milton’s work is rooted in religion and deals with the issues of a fall from grace whereas Shelley’s work is rooted in scientific theory and deals with issues of identity, relationship, and ones place in society (Lamb 304-305). Shelley also experienced various German folk tales from readings that were suggested by Lord Byron and others at the gathering. It was these immediate inputs, the discussion of the science and concerns of the day, the great literary works of the time, and the exposure to German folk tales, that influenced the immediate consciousness of Shelley. This may have given rise to many parts of the story but it was the environment, both real and constructed, that contributed to the creation of the innovations in the tone for this work of art.
As mentioned earlier, the weather around Lake Geneva was noted that summer for its rain and general darkness. Even gatherings during the middle of the day required the lighting of candles to ward off the gloom (Richardson). This darkness combined with the general atmosphere of the building in which the writers frequently gathered, Villa Diodati, to create a setting that many of us are familiar with, the manor house that has become a staple in the variations of Gothic horror in literature and media. Greg Buzwell of the British Museum describes the combinations that created this physical environment as providing “… the perfect backdrop to the telling of bleak, macabre, and doom-laden tales” (Buzwell). This physical environment that was so conducive to Gothic tales combined with the constructed environment, which including those who she shared this space with, and this combination would provide the spark the creation of the novel.
Creativity is seldom a solitary process. According to Fischer, et al., there have been studies that confirm with quantifiable evidence that “most scientific and artistic innovations emerge from joint thinking, passionate conversations, and shared struggles among different people” (Fischer, et al.). Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, Percy Bryce Shelley, Lord Byron, and the others who were at Villa Diodati that rainy summer had many interactions that included joint thinking, passionate conversations, and shared struggles. The viewpoints, opinions, and knowledge of all of the creators at the villa were part of the environment that surrounded Mary Shelley and influenced her thoughts and her creativity. The intensity of group’s interactions was nearing that of a primary group instead of an elite purposed group and this allowed for the free exchange of ideas with little fear of being ostracized for their uniqueness of thought (Smith and Preston 109). The interactions of the poets and intellectuals that created the constructed environment, the environment created by the combining of the physical environment combined with the interactions of people, is what dressed the stage on which Shelley's experiences and inputs were allowed to develop.
In the wet cold summer of 1816 on the shores of Lake Geneva, Mary Shelly created a monster. She sewed together pieces of her experience with new ideas and inputs before the backdrop of a lively constructed environment created through blending the physical environment with the sum of the interactions of the group in the shared physical environment. Shelly was able to organize and integrate the parts and elements of each these experiences and influences into a relationship, a story, that had both meaning and purpose.
Works Cited
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Fischer, Gerhard, et al. 2005. Beyond binary choices: integrating individual and social creativity. International Journal of Human-computer Studies. 63, 4-5 (October 2005), 482-512. DOI=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2005.04.014
Lamb, John B. “Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Milton's Monstrous Myth.” Nineteenth-Century Literature, vol. 47, no. 3, 1992, pp. 303–319. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2933709.
Leuba, Clarence. “A New Look at Curiosity and Creativity.” The Journal of Higher Education, vol. 29, no. 3, 1958, pp. 132–140. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1978623.
UCAR. “Mount Tambora and the Year Without a Summer.” Mount Tambora and the Year Without a Summer - UCAR Center for Science Education, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, 2012, scied.ucar.edu/shortcontent/mount-tambora-and-year- without-summer.
Poetry Foundation. “Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mary-wollstonecraft-shelley.
Pavitra, K. S., C. R. Chandrashekar, and Partha Choudhury. “Creativity and Mental Health: A Profile of Writers and Musicians.” Indian Journal of Psychiatry 49.1 (2007): 34–43. PMC. Web. 21 Apr. 2018.
Richardson, Ruth. “Frankenstein: Graveyards, Scientific Experiments and Bodysnatchers.” The British Library, The British Library, 8 Oct. 2014, www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/frankenstein-graveyards-scientific-experiments-and-bodysnatchers.
Smith, Ronald W., and Fredrick W. Preston. Sociology: An Introduction. St. Martin's Press, 1977.
