Fear of Pregnancy in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Essay -- Frankenstein

Fear of Pregnancy in Frankenstein Frankenstein can be read as a tale of what happens when a man tries to create a child without a woman. It can, however, also be read as an account of a womans anxieties and insecurities about her own creative and reproductive capabilities. The story of Frankenstein is the first articulation of a womans experience of pregnancy and related fears. Mary Shelley, in the development and education of the monster, discusses child development and education and how the nurturing of a loving parent is extremely important in the moral development of an individual. Thus, in Frankenstein, Mary Shelley examines her own fears and thoughts about pregnancy, childbirth, and child development. Pregnancy and childbirth, as head as death, was an integral part of Mary Shelleys young adult life. She had four children and a miscarriage that almost killed her. This was all before the age of twenty-five. Only integrity of her children, Percy Florence, survived to adulthoo d and outlived her. In June of 1816, when she had the waking nightmare which became the catalyst of the tale, she was only nineteen and had already had her first two children. Her first child, Clara, was born prematurely February 22, 1815 and died March 6. Mary, as any woman would be, was devastated by this and took a long time to recover. The following is a letter that Mary wrote to her friend Hogg the day that the baby died. 6 March 1815 My dearest Hogg my baby is dead - will you come to gain vigor me as soon as you can - I wish to see you - It was perfectly well when I went to bed - I awoke in the night to give it suck it appeared to be sleeping so quietly that I would not awake it - it was dead then but we did not find that out till mornin... ...loom, Harold. Mary Shellys Frankenstein. New York Chelsea, 1987. Garber, Frederick. The Autonomy of the Self from Richardson to Huysmans. Princeton Princeton University Press, 1982. Levine, George. The Endurance of Frankenstein. Los Angeles Moers, 1974. Marder, Daniel. Exiles at hearth A Story of Literature in Nineteenth Century America. Lanham University Press of America, Inc., 1984. Patterson, Arthur Paul. A Frankenstein Study. http//www.watershed.winnipeg.mb.ca/Frankenstein.html Smith, Christopher. Frankenstein as Prometheus. http//www.umich.edu/umfandsf/class/sf/books/frank/papers/FrankCS.html trip up, Muriel. Mary Shelly. New York Dutton, 1987. Spark and Stanford. My Best Mary. New York Roy,1944. Williams, Bill. On Shelleys Use of Nature Imagery. http//www.umich.edu/umfandsf/class/sf/books/frank/papers/FrankWJW.html