Frankenstein Annotated Bibliography
Realist Literary Techniques
Hill-Miller, Katherine C. My Hideous Progeny. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1995. Miller's book, My Hideous Progeny, talks mostly of Shelley's relationship with her family, especially her father. Miller took a chapter to specifically discuss the parallels between Shelley's familial relationships and her novel, Frankenstein. Miller argues that Shelley combined her father, William Godwin, and her husband, Percy Shelley, into the character of Victor. She talks of how Shelley explores the concept of incest by this combination of her father and husband into one character. She also shows incest through Victor's dream of kissing Elizabeth and having her turn into his dead mother. "Frankenstein's incestuous dream is the perfect revelation of something he cannot grasp in his waking moments: his desire to animate lifeless matter is ultimately traceable to his desire to bring his dead mother back to life and possess her" (63). Miller also discusses how the creature represents a daughter figure. She points out that all the daughters in the book are orphans, like the monster, and they rely on a male figure to help them. Miller shows that this relates to Shelley's life because she herself was without a mother and was abandoned in her later years by her father. Another focus in Shelley's book was the "analysis of the impact of environment upon character" (69). Miller talks of how people are changed because of the environment that they are raised in. Miller's main point is that "she used her fiction to depict and explore the daughter's baffled disappointment, suppressed anger, and passionate attachment to the father who both shaped and shunned her. Shelly told the story of the daughter's escape from the realm of her father's power and desire" (203). I really like Miller's essay because she actually relates it to her life with facts. For example, Miller points out that not only did Percy write under the name Victor, but he also
Hill-Miller, Katherine C. My Hideous Progeny. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1995. Miller's book, My Hideous Progeny, talks mostly of Shelley's relationship with her family, especially her father. Miller took a chapter to specifically discuss the parallels between Shelley's familial relationships and her novel, Frankenstein. Miller argues that Shelley combined her father, William Godwin, and her husband, Percy Shelley, into the character of Victor. She talks of how Shelley explores the concept of incest by this combination of her father and husband into one character. She also shows incest through Victor's dream of kissing Elizabeth and having her turn into his dead mother. "Frankenstein's incestuous dream is the perfect revelation of something he cannot grasp in his waking moments: his desire to animate lifeless matter is ultimately traceable to his desire to bring his dead mother back to life and possess her" (63). Miller also discusses how the creature represents a daughter figure. She points out that all the daughters in the book are orphans, like the monster, and they rely on a male figure to help them. Miller shows that this relates to Shelley's life because she herself was without a mother and was abandoned in her later years by her father. Another focus in Shelley's book was the "analysis of the impact of environment upon character" (69). Miller talks of how people are changed because of the environment that they are raised in. Miller's main point is that "she used her fiction to depict and explore the daughter's baffled disappointment, suppressed anger, and passionate attachment to the father who both shaped and shunned her. Shelly told the story of the daughter's escape from the realm of her father's power and desire" (203). I really like Miller's essay because she actually relates it to her life with facts. For example, Miller points out that not only did Percy write under the name Victor, but he also