Jonny Drybanski “Notes and Quotes” Frankenstein /Anne Williams: Art of Darkness: Poetics of Gothic Williams: “The Gothic myth itself is the patriarchal family” (Williams, 87) “Such fictions, however, allow one to come to terms with the real world through stories about the past­ about the origins and history of self and community” (Williams, 89) “Family functions as an important cognitive structure and is also at the center of children’s fantasies used to deal with certain difficulties of accepting “reality”(Williams, 90) ­Victor’s loss of his mother through Elizabeth’s fever breeds the fantasy of creating a life that can’t die from disease. Victor’s wrestling with reality is also affected by his early attachment to outmoded and apocryphal philosophies. ­The relationship to Elizabeth also plays a role in Victor’s conception of reality­­ fantasizing about their marriage, and later the monster’s reasoning that he should be given a mate, mirroring how Victor is given his. “All these tales about the power of the past… to affect the present symbolically foreshadow (and express within the symbolic) the basic psychoanalytic principle that the present self is shaped within the structures of the past”( Williams, 90) ­The recurring trope of “listen to my story so that you may avoid the tragedy of my history” “Incest, the paradoxical ‘law’ of forbidden love, as the horror of horrors, the unspeakable crime” (Williams 92) ­Victor and Elizabeth’s unique position as both familial but sexually linked in the patriarchal assumption of their eventual union. Theme of Confession: “Not only must the subject confess the truth, but ‘truth’ must reside in an already determined range of “facts: the secrets to be revealed are always private sexual secrets” (Williams, 94) ­Victor’s creation of the monster as analogue for unsanctioned sexual activity/taboo. It even leads Elizabeth to question if he has another lover. Victor’s actions and subsequent repression negatively affects his family, and therefore according to Williams, his place in the dominant patriarchal role which constructs the way he views reality. “Thus Gothic may indeed be aligned with the ‘poetic’ in Kristeva’s sense of the term. It permits the return of the repressed­­ the maternal principle, the “female” in all the modes in which it may be recognized”(Williams, 96) The Male vs. Female Gothic: (Male) (Female) Father Mother House Secret room Univocal speech Written Text Signifier Signified Symbolic Semiotic Conscious Unconscious Horror Terror Culture Nature Deployment of Alliance Deployment of Sexuality (Williams, 99) “This overview of Male and Female Gothic conventions leads to the conclusion that their differences arise from the male and females different cultural positions”( Williams, 107) Frankenstein Recurring Themes: Glory, Heroics, Ambition, History, Mortality, Hubris, Destiny, Fear/Horror, Anxiety, Isolation, Guilt, Justice, Madness, “I greatly need a friend who would have sense enough not to despise me as romantic, and affection enough for me to endeavor to regulate my mind” (Shelley, 15) ­ This quote from Walton’s narrative seems to serve as a good inroad to some of William’s observations on the Gothic. This quote points in several useful directions. First, Shelley sets up a departure from typical ‘romance’ by introducing Walton’s feelings of alienation and isolation, Gothic sentiments that continue to appear throughout the novel. Furthermore, this line mirrors both Victor’s longing for an understanding companion as well as the Monster’s same desire. Walton also expresses the worry that he needs to ‘regulate’ his mind, pointing to the perceived risk of paranoia and instability, both themes that continue on. Finally, the fact of Walton’s addressing this entreaty to his sister, calls to mind the Male vs. Female , and family focused tendency of the Gothic. Despite that Walton is far away from his sister, much like Victor puts himself at a distance from his family, the quote presupposes that because of the cultural spheres inherent in their reality as men and women, that a friend capable of ‘regulating’ the mind must be accessed through the patriarchal sphere, like Clerval’s relation to Frankenstein, and that Mrs. Saville and Elizabeth are somehow unfit for this role. This theme of friendship also brings into its fold the theme of confession, or rather repressed confession, highlighting that Frankenstein’s secrets haunt him to near destruction before he finally relates his story to Walton.