Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus And The Psychology of Mary Shelley

ABSTRACT: Humans are creatures many of whose worst fear is that they will disappear, who characterize themselves as unique creatures, who consciously want to increase their civilization, and who can imagine events that involve either part of their own experience or someone else’s experience; even events that have never really happened and creatures who have never really existed. Every human being has his/her own psychology and every person’s psychology differs due to individual experiences and beliefs. Human beings try to avoid feeling remorse by accommodating enormous defence mechanisms. Sometimes, they can accuse someone else or worse they can remain silent to try to lessen their remorse. Disappearing is the worst fear of human beings. Because of that fear, we develop survival instincts. We want to be recognized and accepted and some of us want to reproduce. To destroy the hunger of recognition, some want to reproduce to ensure their immortality or leave a work of art to penetrate human minds. Mary Shelley by writing Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, attempted to satisfy her hunger for recognition, gain approval and to satisfy her lack of self-confidence that lies behind the fear of not being accepted and stems from being repulsed by her father who raised her. She writes out of remorse in order to restore her mental health. In short, although there are lots of differences between Shelley’s psychology and that of her characters in Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus my aim is mainly to show the similarities. Shelley’s main aim in writing such a novel may seem like creating a horror novel but by writing such a novel, she reflects her state of mind, and the novel becomes the fatalistic expression of her psychology. Keywords: Remorse, recognition, self-confidence. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………