Where does gothic come from ?

Gothic Literature, started by a man named Horrace Walpole. He is the first author to have ever written gothic literature with his novel The Castle of Ortranto.

 Horrace dreamed that he was in a dark castle and creepy castle, and standing on the uppermost banister of a long and winding staircase was a gigantic hand in full armor. This was the inspiration for the first ever gothic novel. The word "Gothic" was invented by writers of the Italian Renaissance who blamed the general “ugly” nature of 15th century art and architecture on people from the northern tribes of Germany barbarian tribes known collectively as “the Goths”.

The typical characteristics of a graphic novel are terror and mystery. Themes of death and decay especially that of the human body, are a big part of gothic literature as well. Ghosts, haunted houses, family curses, and insanity also play a part in gothic literature. They add a sense of suspense and fear. Edgar Allen Poe is considered the "master" of gothic literature with his stories such as "The Black Cat" and "A Tell Tale Heart". A more modern gothic author would be Stephen King. For example his short novel Christine and the movie The Shining are considered to be pure Goth. It just goes to show that gothic literature has not died and is still relevant in today's society. 

(Source: Eerie Books)

How gothic can be associated with romance!

Taking place in the Romantic era gothic romance came into affect.
The first person to come up with this idea was author Horace Walpole's "The Castle of Otranto." 
The setting of the book took place in a haunted castle which contains various and intensifying appearances of fear. The writings soon started to spread around the world to Eugene Sue from france to Edgar Allen Poe in the united states. 
During this movement during the romantic era many people rejected the enlightenment idea between balance and rationalism. 
Many of the readers anticipated the hysterical, mystical and horrified passionate adventures of the heros and heroines. 
The modern horror novels and women's romance novels both derived from Gothic Romance. 

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/romanticism.html

What comes along with the term of gothic ?

There are many gothic materials within the story of Frankenstein, the author of this book is Mary Shelley who uses vivid images and moods to describe the story piece by piece Shelley uses many elements such as rain and thunder during Victor's monster that he created. Another really gothic image is the way the monster was created (with other human limbs) these discriptive images really are dark and evil sounding. After the monster is created, Victor has terrible images of Elizabeth dying in his arms, and maggots start to come out of her body. I think the main gothic elements simplified are the emotions and overall feelings of gloom and despair throughout, the supernatural and the tragedy.

When we look at Shelley's piece of literature we see a lot of dark elements to this book, and these can be easily picked up throughout the book because of images that are easy to spot .

what frankenstein is really about ?

In Frankenstein, author Mary Shelley successfully uses the Gothic Genre to evoke feelings of dread, disgust and horror in the responder. The Gothic novels are called "tales of terror" which explore powerful extremes of emotions, the unknown, the supernatural and focus on doom, destiny and fate. Frankenstein is a historical Gothic text that knowledgeably stays true to the genre through a variety of gothic conventions.

IS FRANKENSTEIN A GOTHC NOVEL ?

A Gothic Novel is a story in which supernatural terrors and an atmosphere of mysterious horror infiltrates the action. Often the setting is dark and menacing, to reflect the mood of the novel. “Frankenstein” is a good example of a Gothic novel. Written in 1816, by Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein” has become one of the most widely known examples of romantic literature and Gothic novels to date.

The novel is about a young Swiss student (Victor Frankenstein), who discovers the secret of how to create life. Frankenstein carefully assembled body parts of human corpses in the hope of creating something beautiful. But on the contrary, he creates a monster that disgusts him. Rejected by his maker and society, the monster vows revenge on the human race, and more importantly, his creator – “I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind”.

Read more: http://bookstove.com/science-fiction/is-frankenstein-a-gothic-novel/#ixzz1Kqp5DJme

What is Gothic literature?

Gothic is simply just explained as a genre with particular significance for women, almost as its out for female it has a tendency towards female writers and readership, but also embodies a peculiarly patriarchal nightmare in which violence is continually enacted on the female body.

How simple is Romanticism?

After awhile when righting about the period of Romanticism you ask what more can you say about it? It isn't as big of a topic as some of the others however it still contributed to this era.  In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein things as simple as the monsters reaction to the sound of  the singing birds or it's relationship to nature was a part of romanticism. Funny how while writing this I started thinking what made the monster a male and not female? We know what makes human a male or female but  what happens in this case? Anyway that's a different story but as for the early century romanticism it could be seen in almost anything if really looked for.

Frankenstein is Sort of Like reading Folklore

In Mary Shelleys novel "Frankenstein" there's a hint of folklore derived in it.  Only from stories we've heard about what scientists did back then trying to find out the causes of life and death or even the anatomy of a human.  Though the creature sort of resembles the peasant, lonely, unwanted and doesn't fit in.  His creator has left him to fend for himself in the world and almost like in every folklore there's never a happy ending.  Which is a result in the end of Frankenstein were Victor finds his bride to be murder by the creature.

Folklore

The romantic era didn't just pop out of the blue, but evolved from democratic ideologies of the age of revolution and folklore legends.  The reason people believe this is that songs and legends have been left behind showing us what was written and developed.  Though due to the folk movement it became a common language for humans to shine through out the era.
info:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/icon/romanticism.html

Science:Humphry Davy Inventor of the First Electric Light Connection Post

I think this can relate to Frankenstein because obviously people needed a way to light there houses or light there way while in a dark area. Also when the people went after the creature or when Frankenstein was looking for body parts he could have been using Humphry Davys Electric Light.

Science:Humphry Davy Inventor of the First Electric Light.

 Humphry Davy invented the first electric light in 1809. He created this light by connecting two wires to a battery. Then he connected a charcoal strip between the other ends of the wires. The carbon would glow from this thus creating the first electric (arch) lamp.
Source

Halloween Special

At the University of Bologna in Italy, noted surgeon Luigi Galvani was investigating the effects of electricity on animals. It was not an unusual line of inquiry. Researchers knew electrical shocks produced violent spasms and speculated that electricity might cause muscular contractions.

On January 26, 1781, while dissecting a frog near a static electricity machine, Galvani's assistant touched a scalpel to a nerve in its leg, and the frog's leg jumped. Galvani repeated this and several other experiments, observing the same violent muscle spasms. He also noticed that frog legs occasionally twitched when they were hung from a brass hook and allowed to touch an iron trellis, so Galvani joined a length of each metal together to form a brass and iron arc that made the leg muscles contract when touched.
But where did the electricity come from?

Galvani, who called it "animal electricity," believed it resided in the frog itself. He thought that the bimetallic arc merely conducted the electricity from one part of the frog to the nerve, causing the leg to jump. He published his findings in 1791 and, as the story goes, came to be known as the frog dancing master.

Isolation in Frankenstein

Mary Shelley uses icy glaciers to give off the aura of loneliness. Arctic areas are completely deserted so it's not surprise that they were used as the setting throughout the novel. The creature says at one point "The desert mountains and dreary glaciers are my refuge. I have wandered here many days; the caves of ice, which I only do not fear, are a dwelling to me, and the only one which man does not grudge." This shows how the creature has been rejected and is forced to live in the icy mountains alone solely based upon his looks.

 

Isolation in Gothic Literature

A common element used in Gothic literature are feelings of despair and isolation. This can make the reader feel sympathy for a character even if they may not deserve it. Gothic literature strives to create a dark and menacing setting and by adding intense feelings and depressing moods, it adds to the aura of terror and mystery. This is why dark castles, towers, mysterious corridors, etc are so popular in Gothic literature. Mary Shelley's use of an ice glacier is an example of isolation in Frankenstein. It wasn't a dark castle of mysterious corridor, but it did give off a feeling of loneliness and despair.

Source: Suite 101

The 19th Century British Empire

---

1800			Jefferson becomes US president		Volta makes first battery
1801	Irish act of Union	First census	Concordat between Napoleon and Pole		Gauss develops his Theory of Number
1802			Peace of Amiens		Charlotte Dundas: First Steamship
1803	Suppression of rebellion in Ireland; Wellesley defeats Indians in Maratha War	Forms new Anti-Napoleon coaltion	Lousiana Purchase	Beethoven's Eroica Symphoney	Dalton's Atomic theory
1804		First Corn Law	Haitian Independence		Trevithick's first steam rail locomotive
1805		Nelson wins Battle of Trafalgar	Austerlitz; Mehemet Ali becomes Pasha of Egypt
1806			Napoleon's continental system		Beaufort's scale of wind velocity
1807	Prohibition of shipment of slaves in British ships or to British colonies			Hegel's Philosophy of History
1808			Spanish uprising against French; Wellesley lands in Lisbon
1809		Cobbett imprisoned for criticising flogging in the army			Samuel Sommering's electric telegraph
1810	Seizure of Cape Colony
1811		George III insane; Luddites smash spinning and weaving machinery	Egypt: Mamelukes overthrown by Mehemet Ali
1812	War of 1812	PM Spencer assassinated	Napoleon's Russian campaign	Grimm's fairy tales
1813	English East India company loses monopoly			Jane Austin's Pride and prejudice
1814			Treaty of Ghent ends war
1815	Receives Cape Colony and naval bases at Congress of Vienna; British East India Company take Ceylon from the Dutch	Waterloo	End of Napoleonic war; Congress of Vienna
1816	The Zulu king Shaka comes to power		Congress of Tucuman	British museum acquires Elgin Marbles	Stethoscope invented
1817		Habeas Corpus suspended	Monroe becomes US president
1818	Shaka forms Zulu kingdom			Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
1819	Raffles founds Singapore	Peterloo massacre	US purchases Florida	Schubert's Trout quintet	Macadamized roads developed; The Savannah is the first steamship to cross the Atlantic
1820		George IV becomes king		Scott's Ivanhoe
1821	Sierra Leone, Gambia and the Gold Coast are combined to form British West Africa	Famine in Ireland	Mexico and Peru gain independence; Napoleon dies on St. Helena	Quincy's Confession of an Opium Eater	Faraday invents electric motor
1822	Discovery of a Tea bush growing wild in India ends Chinese monopoly		Liberia founded for freed US slaves	Rosetta stone deciphered by Champollion	First Iron Steamship sails
1823	Daniel O'Connell forms Catholic Association, First Anglo-Burmese war	Rugby invented	Monroe doctrine		Rubberized cotton developed by Macintosh
1824				Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
1825			Java War		Stockton Darlington railway
1826	Straights settlement; Penang, Malacca and Singapore		Seku Ahmadu conquers Timbuktu	J. F. Cooper's Last of the Mohicans
1827	joint Anglo-French fleet defeats Turks at Navarino	PM Canning dies	France intervenes in Algeria	Death of Beethoven	photographs produced on a metal plate
1828	The Hindu BrahmoSamaj sect established in India	Duke of Wellington becomes Prime Minister	Queen Ranavalona rules Madacasgar		Dutch manufacturer Houten develops the chocolate bar
1829	Western Australia founded; abolition of Suttee in India	Catholic Emancipation; Police founded	Jackson US president	Braille invented	Stephenson's Rocket
1830		Lord Grey PM, William IV King	France takes Algeria
1831		Cholera epidemic	Greek Independence		Darwin begins Beagle voyage
1832		Reform act	American Indians forcibly resettled		Morse invents code
1833	Abolition of slavery throughout Empire, Falklands annexed
1834	Tolpuddle martyrs transported to Australia	Workhouses established
1835	Boers start Great Trek	Railway Boom
1836	South Australia becomes a province		Texas independent from Mexico	Chopin's 24 Preludes
1837	Patriot War Rebellion in Canada	Queen Victoria starts reign June 20th	Padri War, Dutch sack Sumatran fortress of Bonjol		Electric Telegraph invented. Euston becomes London's first railway station
1838	First Afghan war starts (1838- 1842); Myall creek massacre in NSW; Battle of Blood River in South Africa; First Canadian railway starts operating		Pastry War between Mexico and France		Screw propellor invented
1839	First Opium war in China (1839-42)	Anti-Corn law, Chartists	Mehemet Ali defeats Turks		Faraday's theory of electromagnetism
1840	Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand, Canadian provinces act of Union, Ndebele found Matabeleland	Victoria marries Albert, first postage stamps			First bicycle
1841	Hong Kong established, Livingstone arrives in Africa	Peel PM	Said ibn Sayyid makes Zanzibar his capital
1842	Treaty of Nanking, US/Canada border agreed, Kabul garrison annihilated in Khyber pass, Brooke made Rajah of Sarawak	Income tax reintroduced	France occupies Tahiti, Guinea and Gabon	Verdi's Nabucco	First use of Anaesthetic in an operation
1843	Sind conquered				Brunel's SS Great Britain
1844		Factory acts		Turner's Rain, Steam, Speed
1845	First Sikh War (1845-46), Irish potato famine (1845-48)		US annexes Texas	Engels' Condition of the working class in England	Galvanised corrugated Iron invented, Pneumatic tyre invented
1846	Second Xhosa war	Corn Laws repealed	Mexican-US war (1846-48)
1847				Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights
1848	Second Sikh War (1848-49)		European uprisings; Gold discovered in California	Communist Manifesto
1849	Gough annexes Punjab	Navigation Acts repealed	California Gold Rush		Safety Pin patented; Speed of Light accurately measured by Fizeau
1850	Australian Colonies Act	Irish Franchise Act	Taiping Rebellion		Kelvin's Law of conservation of energy
1851	Gold discovered in Australia	Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace	Fall of French Second Republic	Great Exhibition	Great Exhibition
1852	Second Anglo-Burmese War (1852-5), Livingstone crosses Africa (1852-56), Transvaal Independent	Aberdeen PM
1853	First railways and telegraph in India		Commodore Perry arrives in Japan with a US fleet	Verdi's La Traviata	Hypodermic syringe invented
1854	Eureka rebellion in Victoria	Civil Service formed	Crimean War (1854-56); USA forces Japanese to start trading		John Snow proves cholera is a water borne disease
1855		Palmerston PM; Livingstone is the first European to see the Victoria falls		Telegraph's Crimean War coverage	Mendel's discovery of laws of heredity
1856	Oudh annexed, Second Chinese Opium War (1856-60)	Victoria Cross established		Flaubert's Madame Bovary published	First refrigerator ship, synthetic colours invented
1857	Indian Mutiny (1857-58)	Indian Mutiny">		Trollope's Barchester Towers	Trans Atlantic cable completed
1858	East India Company dissolved, Burton and Speke discover Lake Tanganyika
1859			John Brown at Harper's Ferry	J.S. Mill's On Liberty	Darwin's Origin of Species, Oil pumped in Pennsylvania
1860	Kowloon leased from China, Taranaki Wars in NZ (1860-70)		Garibaldi's red shirts start Italian Unification		Bessemer's mass production of Steel
1861		Death of Prince Albert	American Civil War (1861-65), Russia abolishes Serfdom	Eliot's Silas Marner	Pasteur's Germ Theory of disease
1862		American Civil war results in the steep reduction of cotton supplies which in turn forces many mills to close		French start to colonise Vietnam
1863		Football Association formed, Salvation Army started	Emancipation of US slaves		Maxwell's theory of electro magnetism
1864			Red Cross founded	Jules Verne's Voyage to the Centre of the Earth
1865		Russell PM	Lincoln assassinated	Lewis Carroll's Alice's adventures in Wonderland, Wagner's Tristan and Isolde
1866	Livingstone's third journey in Africa (1866-73)	Derby PM	Ku Klux Klan started in US		Nobel invents dynamite; Mendel published his research into Genetics
1867	Canada becomes a Dominion; Diamonds discovered in South Africa	Second Reform Act	US buys Alaska, Meiji restoration in Japan	Japanese art exhibited in Paris
1868	Abyssinian campaign	Gladstone PM, TUC formed			Traffic signal in London, Helium discovered
1869	Suez Canal opened			Tolstoy's War and Peace finished
1870	Rhodes arrives in Africa, Cable links Australia and London	elementary education act	Franco-Prussian war; Schliemann discovers Troy		Periodic table developed by Mendelev
1871	Stanley finds Livingstone; Vancouver and British Columbia join Canada	Trade Unions become legal	Paris Commune; Wilhelm I emperor of Germany	Verdi's Aida performed	Pullman introduces the Sleeper car
1872	Earl Mayo, Viceroy of India is murdered	Secret ballot introduced			Vacuum flask, air brakes, typewriter and colour photography are all invented
1873	Royal Canadian Mounted Police formed		Dutch suppress revolt in Sumatra: Acheh war (1873-1903)	Tolstoy's Anna Karenina
1874	Gold Coast becomes colony	Disraeli forms government		First Impressionist exhibition
1875	Britain buys Suez canal shares; Fiji islands annexed; Prince of Wales visits India; New Zealand parliament formed		French republican constitution passed	Bizet's Carmen	Bell patents telephone
1876	Victoria becomes Empress of India; Famine in India	Plimsoll line introduced	Battle of Little Bighorn	Brahms' first symphony
1877	Last Xhosa war; annexation of Transvaal		Russo-Turkish war (1877-78)	Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake	Edison invents Gramophone
1878	Cyprus gained; Second Afghan war (1878-1880)	Salvation army established	Congress of Berlin settles Balkan crisis	Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore	Channel tunnel attempted
1879	Zulu war; Anglo-French control over Egypt		German / Austo-Hungarian Dual Alliance	Ibsen's The Doll's House	First Tramways in Berlin
1880	Borneo and Brunei become protectorates; Rhodes founds De Beers; Ned Kelly hanged in Melbourne; first boer war (1880-81); Kruger becomes president of Transvaal	Gladstone's Midlothian campaign			Pasteur discovers Streptococcus bacteria; First electric street light in New York; Charles Lavern proves that Malaria is caused by a parasite in the blood.
1881	Mahdi war in Sudan (1881-98)	Irish land and coercion acts	Jewish pogroms in East Europe; Alexander II assassinated	Nietzche's Aurora	Electricity exhibition in Paris
1882	Occupation of Egypt	Phoenix park murders	Triple Alliance		First hydro electric station in US
1883			Krakatoa explodes; Germans take SW Africa
1884	Berlin conference to discuss colonisation	Third Reform act; Fabians established	Sino-French war (1884-85)		Rayon's artificial fibres
1885	Gordon killed in Khartoum; Indian National Congress formed; Canadian Pacific railway completed; Burma fully occupied; Gold discovered in Transvaal		Belgian Congo under Leopold		Daimler and Benz build automobile; unique quality of fingerprints established
1886	Royal Niger Co. Charter; Colonial and Indian exhibition; Gold discovered in Transvaal	Gladstone resigns over Ireland; Chamberlain forms Liberal Unionists	Slavery ends in Cuba; Tunisia becomes French protectorate
1887	British East Africa Co. charter awarded; Zululand becomes protectorate; First colonial conference	Victoria's Golden jubilee	Boulanger fails to gain office	Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes	Radio waves discovered by Hertz
1888		County Councils formed	French Indo-China formed; slavery ended in Brazil; Wilhelm II emperor of Gemany	Van Gogh to Arles	Dunlop's pneumatic tyre
1889	British South Africa Co. Charter awarded; Rhodesia established	London Dock strike	Japan's Meiji constitution; Italy takes Somalia and Ethiopia	Eiffel Tower completed
1890	Heligoland ceded to Germans	Parnell resigns	Bismarck dismissed; German control over East African territories; Indians massacred at Wounded Knee	Death of Van Gogh
1891	Australian demands for Trade protection and unification		Trans-Siberian railway begun; Germany develops first pension scheme	Gaughin travels to Tahiti
1892		Gladstone's fourth ministry	Franco-Russian alliance
1893	Matabele war; East African protectorate; Women's suffrage in New Zealand	Independent labour party formed	French colonise Ivory Coast, Laos and Guinea	Tchaikovsky's Sixth symphony; Dvorak's New World Symphony
1894	Uganda becomes protectorate; Jameson occupies Matabeleland	Rosebery PM	Sino-Japanese war (1894-95); Tsar Nicholas II; French take Madacasgar	Rudyard Kipling's Jungle book	Escalator lifts (US); Manchester ship canal completed
1895	Jameson Raid	Salisbury PM	Japan takes Taiwan; Cuban rebellions begin	Oscar Wilde imprisoned	Cinema, safety razors, wireless telegraphy and X-rays all invented
1896	Famine in India; Sudan war (1896-99); Kaiser telegram to Kruger; Matabele Revolt Brutally suppressed (1896-97)		Olympic games started; Nobel peace prizes started		Radioactivity of Uranium discovered
1897	Victoria's Diamond Jubilee; destruction of Benin city; uprising on North West frontier		Dreyfus affair		Thomson discovers electrons; aspirin marketed; diesel engines invented
1898	Omdurman and Fashoda in Sudan; Curzon viceroy of India		Spanish-American war; Germany's Tirpitz plan	Zola's J'accuse	Curies' Radium
1899	Boer war (1899-1902)		Boxer rebellion		Zeppelin invents his airship

The context of Frankenstein Social / political , the French war

Government and popular feelings about France were exacerbated by the French wars, which lasted for over twenty years. France first declared war on Britain in 1793 and although the Peace of Ami ens brought a pause in the conflict, fighting was resumed in 1803 and continued until 1815. Fears of a French invasion of Britain were prevalent throughout the next twenty years. French troops landed in Ireland in 1798.French general who seized power in 1799 and declared himself Emperor in 1804, led his country in a series of wars that extended into the Middle East. He was planning an invasion of England in 1804-5, when he was defeated at the sea-battle of Trafalgar in 1805. His disastrous Russian campaign weakened his power and he abdicated in 1814 and was banished to the island of Elba. He escaped and returned to France and the French wars only came to an end with his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Gothic literature and feminism the British Empire

Gothic operates as a genre with particular significance for women: it has a tendency towards female writers and readership, but also embodies a peculiarly patriarchal nightmare in which violence is continually enacted on the female body. The importance of Mary Shelly's identity as the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft. She was a woman living in a tradition of literary women who explicitly criticized patriarchy. The maleness of  Frankenstein  is that men are dominant, women are weak and passive playthings and possessions, or self-sacrificing mother/nurture figures. Shelly's use of the exaggerated misogyny of the genre can be seen as being in many ways subversive and critical.

India vs The British Empire

The British East India Company arrived in India in the early 1600s, struggling and nearly begging for the right to trade and do business. By the late 1700s the thriving firm of British merchants, backed by its own army, and essentially ruling India. In the 1800s English power expanded in India.After those very violent spasms things would change but Britain was still in control, And India was very much an outpost of the mighty British Empire. I personally think the British Empire was all about gaining power from one country to another.

The British Empire Rule

Shelly's position firmly within the Romantic movement
The importance of the Romantic emphasis on the self as distinct from society
The exaggeration of Romance's sense of individuality into alienation in Gothic.
Self hood as a process of deliberate artistic construction.
The distinction between the physical and spiritual selves.

Women of 18th Century

“Spinster” nowadays is often used to describe an unmarried, older woman. The background of the word “spinster” tells us how an 18 century woman was viewed according to society of that time period. The production of fabrics was a family thing in those days. Women often made fabric at home to earn money not entirely because she needed it but because it was something to do. But industrial revolution put an end to that. Industries could produce way more fabric than a woman can on that machine. This shows how woman were treated in the 18th century. They could not have a career. Lamed Jaramillo

The British Empire and Frankenstein.

The British Empire and Frankenstein relates to each other; both were ambitious. Both tried to go beyond the rules. Frankenstein tried to go beyond God by creating a creature similar to a human, and the British Empire tried to go beyond the rules of other nations. They wanted power, respect, and they were also looking for the admiration of others.

The British Empire.

The British Empire was established by England in the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries. It was the largest empire that the world has ever know and for over a century the foremost global power. People used to say that “the sun never sets on the British Empire" because it’s span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous territories.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/80013/British-Empire

wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire

The renaissance humanists

In 14th and 15th century in Italy and France a group of thinkers known as the "Humanists " at the the time there wasn't any anti-religions ,almost everyone was catholics. They argue about "proper worship of God involved admiration of his creation," and in " particular of that crown of creation, humanity". They started to clebrate "Human race" argued that they were worshipping God more than priests . some of the thinkers like Dr. Frankenstein believed that human were like God, created not only in his image, but with a share of his creative power.

Human Autonomy

In chapter 12 it talks about how the monster, who’s place of refuge was “constructed of wood, but so low, that I could with difficulty sit upright in it.”(pg. 83) He observes his neighbors through a crack in the wall. While observing them for a while he notices that they seem often unhappy and is unsure why. He soon realizes that their despair is a result of their poverty which he had been contributing to by stealing there food. Torn by his guilty conscience, he stops stealing there food and gathers wood at night and leaves it by their home to reduces there hardship.  He also observes them for quite a while and even learns how to speak their language.
    This reflects the Enlightenment idea of Human Autonomy in which people "humans develop (become “mature”) through the use of their reason." People can seek knowledge and use their own reason in order to think for themselves, such as the monster did when he met these people. He first stole there food and noticed that this gave them grief and annoyance so he stopped and even tried to help them by supplying them with wood.

How the Voltaic Pile Relates to Frankenstein

I feel since the Voltaic Pile was a source of electricity it related to Frankenstein because one of the key elements to bringing the creature to life was electricity. Although the source that brought the creature to life was lighting the machines that Frankenstein had used electricity possibly running on a Voltaic Pile.

Alessandro Volta And The Invention of the Voltaic Pile

In 1800 a man by the name of Alessandro Volta  invented  the "Voltaic pile".  He also invented the first practical way to generate electricity. Volta also made many inventions in the fields of electrostatics, meteorology and pneumatics.  The voltaic pile consisted of alternating disks that were made of zinc and copper and had cardboard soaked in brine between the metals.  The pile created an electrical current and it was a steady electrical current. 

Volta Info Link

British Empire Greed related to Frankenstein

The fact that the British expanded because of greed relates to Frankenstein and his greed for power in  science[ his extreme desire to play God]. Frankenstein did not benefit from it financially but he did accomplish what he set out to do. Like the British in the 16th century it stated off small,  with just collection of body parts, the end result an actual creature.

British Empire Greed

The British first decided to expand outside of Great Britain in the 16th century. However because of commercial ambition ( greed) and competition from France in the 17th century they made establishments in North America and the West Indies.

Sources of P.B.S. 
http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/notes/britishempire.html

British Empire in India

This article is about an Indian revolutionary activist who assassinated a British official because of his actions. This can directly related to Frankenstein. Victor treated the "monster" as he pleased. The monster on the other side killed Victors loved loved ones to get attention. To me Victor represents the British Empire, the monster as the activist, and the victim as Elisabeth and William.

British Empire in India

Avenger of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

In the annals of anti-colonial revolutionary activity in India, the name of Udham Singh shines bright. He is remembered chiefly as the assassin of Sir Michael O’Dwyer, the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, often confused with Brigadier General Reginald Dyer, the perpetrator of the infamous Jallianwala Bagh Massacre at Amritsar in 1919. O’Dwyer was then the ruler of the Punjab, and O’Dwyer, though he did not order the massacre, not only did not issue any reprimand but was also clearly of the opinion that Dyer had taken appropriate action to stem a lawless mob from taking the law into its own hands. It was necessary, as O’Dwyer and Dyer were to state on subsequent occasions, to strike terror among the people and create the necessary ‘effect’. 

Full article here

In the history of anti-colonial activities in India, the name of Udam Singh is remembered with glory. Udam Singh is famous for assassinating Sir Michael O’ Dwyer Lieutenant governor of Punjab. O’ Dwyer is often confused with Brigadier General Reginald Dyer, man responsible for Jallianwala Bagh massacre at Amritsar in 1919. O’ Dwyer did not ordered the massacre but still is blamed for it because he did not took appropriate actions against general Dyer.

Industrial Revolution and Mary Shelly

      The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions of the times. It began in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spread throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world.
The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in human history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. Most notably, average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. In the two centuries following 1800, the world's average per capita income increased over 10-fold, while the world's population increased over 6-fold.

Starting in the later part of the 18th century, there began a transition in parts of Great Britain's previously manual labour and draft-animal–based economy towards machine-based manufacturing. It started with the mechanisation of the textile industries, the development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of refined coal. Trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads and railways.

**Frankenstein in jail Britain was in the middle of the Industrial Revolution when Mary Shelley   wrote Frankenstein