다시 읽는『프랑켄슈타인』-“모던 프로메테우스”와 여성의 생명 창조력- = Reading Frankenstein in terms of “Modern Prometheus” and the Female Creative Power

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Mary Shelley`s Frankenstein, Or The Modern Prometheus is a depiction of a haunting nightmare of Western civilization since the dawn of the modern industrial society. This paper will be reading the novel, focused on its subtitle, “The Modern Prometheus.” Invoking the myth of Prometheus who was taken for the symbol for the unvanquished human willpower and the overreaching pursuit beyond the human limitations by Romantic poets, Shelley asks us what the Modern Prometheus should be. By assigning to a man the job of creating life with the supreme knowledge while to herself that of giving birth to a book instead of a child, Shelley subverts the established gender roles. As a result Victor Frankenstein ended up creating a monstrous creature who eventually destroyed its creator and itself, while Shelley succeeded in writing the novel, Frankenstein, which Paul Youngquist calls “a Vindication to the Imagination of Women,” a sequel to her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft`s “The Vindication to the Right of Women.” The novel is about giving birth, which is a power unique to the woman and the core of nature`s secret and the goal of Frankenstein`s aspiration. In this nightmarish story, Shelley tries to demolish and deconstruct the binary oppositions between masculine and feminine, life and death, and civilization and nature. The birth of the monster is the first step to our recognition of the problems involving the exploitation of the nature in the name of science and civilization.

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 Hogle, Jerrold E, "“An Introduction,” Frankenstein’s Dream, Romantic Circles Praxis Series"

2 Waxman, Barbara Frey, "Victor Frankenstein’s Romantic Fate: The Tragedyof the Promethean Overreacher as Woman" 23 (23): 14-26, 1987

3 Moncrief, Kathryn M, "Performing Maternity in Early Modern England" Burlington 2007

4 Mellor, Anne K, "Mary Shelley: Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monster" Methuen 38-51, 1988

5 Schoene-Harwood, Berthold, "Mary Shelley: Frankenstein" Columbia University Press 2000

6 Youngquist, Paul, "Frankenstein: The Mother, the Daughter, and the Monster" 70 (70): 339-359, 1991

7 Fitzpatrick, Sean, "Frankenstein: Prometheus Mythic & Modern"

8 Fitzpatrick, Sean, "Frankenstein: Prometheus Mythic & Modern"

9 Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, "Frankenstein" New American Library 1983

10 Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, "Frankenstein" Bobbs-Merrill 1974

11 Kristeva, Julia, "Feminist Theory: A Critique of Ideology" University of Chicago Press 1982