In 1815, the eruption of Mount Tambora plunged parts of the world into darkness and marked a gloomy period that came to be known as The Year Without a Summer. So when Mary and Percy Shelley arrived at the House of Lord Byron on Lake Geneva, their vacation was mostly spent indoors. For amusement, Byron proposed a challenge to his literary companions: who could write the most chilling ghost story?
1815 年坦博拉火山爆發, 讓大半世界陷入黑暗, 也昭示了一段黑暗時期, 稱為無夏之年。 那時,瑪莉·雪萊跟珀西·雪萊前往 拜倫勛爵位在日內瓦湖畔的宅邸, 他們的假期也幾乎在宅邸內度過。 拜倫為了找點樂子, 向文友們提出了挑戰: 誰能寫出最可怕的鬼故事?
This sparked an idea in 18-year-old Mary. Over the next few months, she would craft the story of “Frankenstein.” Popular depictions may evoke a green and groaning figure, but that's not Mary Shelley's monster. In fact, in the book, Frankenstein refers to the nameless monster's maker, Dr. Victor Frankenstein. So tense is the struggle between creator and creature that the two have merged in our collective imagination. Before you read or reread the original text, there are several other things that are helpful to know about Frankenstein and how it came to assume its multiple meanings.
18 歲的瑪莉文思泉湧。 接下來幾個月, 她致力於科學怪人的故事。 一般可能會想到 綠色的可怕怪物形象, 但那並非瑪莉·雪萊要塑造的怪物。 其實,書中的科學怪人弗蘭肯斯坦 指的是創造出無名怪物的科學家, 維多·弗蘭肯斯坦博士。 科學家與怪物兩者間緊張的關係, 形成兩者混為一體的意象。 第一次閱讀或是重閱本書之前, 有幾項背景知識可以幫助你 閱讀科學怪人,
The book traces Dr. Frankenstein's futile quest to impart and sustain life. He constructs his monster part by part from dead matter and electrifies it into conscious being. Upon completing the experiment, however, he's horrified at the result and flees. But time and space aren't enough to banish the abandoned monster, and the plot turns on a chilling chase between the two.
以及故事要呈現的各種意涵。 故事追溯至弗蘭肯斯坦博士徒勞地 追求、維持生命的過程, 他用屍塊拼湊出怪物的身體, 利用電擊激發他的意識。 實驗完成之際, 他卻因為恐懼而逃跑。 被遺棄的怪物徘徊於時空之中,
Shelley subtitled her fireside ghost story, "The Modern Prometheus." That's in reference to the Greek myth of the Titan Prometheus who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity. This gave humanity knowledge and power, but for tampering with the status quo, Prometheus was chained to a rock and eaten by vultures for eternity. Prometheus enjoyed a resurgence in the literature of the Romantic Period during the 18th century. Mary was a prominent Romantic, and shared the movement's appreciation for nature, emotion, and the purity of art. Two years after Mary released “Frankenstein,” Percy reimagined the plight of Prometheus in his lyrical drama, "Prometheus Unbound." The Romantics used these mythical references to signal the purity of the ancient world in contrast to modernity. They typically regarded science with suspicion, and "Frankenstein" is one of the first cautionary tales about artificial intelligence. For Shelley, the terror was not supernatural, but born in a lab.
劇情轉向到兩者間無情的追逐。 雪萊為故事下了副標: 「現代的普羅米修斯」 引用希臘神話中 泰坦巨神普羅米修斯, 他偷了眾神的火苗,賜予人類。 這賦予了人類知識及力量。 但因此舉, 普羅米修斯被鍊於巨石, 永生被禿鷹啄食。 普羅米修斯的神話 在 18 世紀浪漫時期 再次獲得注意。 瑪莉是浪漫時期的重要作家, 支持自然、情感還有純粹的藝術。 瑪莉出版《科學怪人》兩年後, 珀西重編普羅米修斯的劇情, 寫成抒情詩劇 《解放普羅米修斯》。 浪漫時期作家引用希臘神話, 以表達與現代相反的純真古老世界。 他們大多對科學持疑, 《科學怪人》是首批關於 人工智慧的警世作品之一。 對雪萊來說, 恐懼並非來自超自然力量, 而是來自實驗室的產物。
In addition, gothic devices infuse the text. The gothic genre is characterized by unease, eerie settings, the grotesque, and the fear of oblivion— all elements that can be seen in "Frankenstein."
除此,文本也融入了哥德文體。 哥德文體的特色是緊張的情緒、 怪誕的背景、 詭異 以及被遺忘的恐懼 ── 這些元素也可見於 《科學怪人》之中。
But this horror had roots in personal trauma, as well. The text is filled with references to Shelley's own circumstances. Born in 1797, Mary was the child of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. Both were radical intellectual figures, and her mother's book, "A Vindication of the Rights of Women," is a key feminist text. Tragically, she died as a result of complications from Mary’s birth. Mary was haunted by her mother's death, and later experienced her own problems with childbirth. She became pregnant following her elopement with Percy at 16, but that baby died shortly after birth. Out of four more pregnancies, only one of their children survived. Some critics have linked this tragedy to the themes explored in "Frankenstein." Shelley depicts birth as both creative and destructive, and the monster becomes a disfigured mirror of the natural cycle of life.
但這樣的恐懼也來自個人的創傷。 文本可見雪萊個人的寫照。 瑪莉出生於 1797 年, 雙親為威廉.戈德溫 及瑪莉.沃斯通克拉夫特。 兩人皆為激進的知識分子, 她母親的著作《為女權辯護》 是相當重要的女性主義文本。 不幸的是她死於生產瑪莉時 所引起的併發症。 母親之死深擾瑪莉, 而之後她自己生產時也不順利。 她 16 歲跟珀西私奔之後懷孕, 孩子出生不久就離世。 四次懷孕中只有一個孩子活下來。 部分評論家將這悲慘的經驗 與書中探索的主題做連結。 雪萊認為生產同時具有 生機及毀滅性, 怪物則真實地反映了生命的殘破面。
The monster, therefore, embodies Dr. Frankenstein's corruption of nature in the quest for glory. This constitutes his fatal flaw, or hamartia. His god complex is most clear in the line, "Life and death appear to me ideal bounds which I should first break through and pour a torrent of light onto our dark world." Although he accomplishes something awe-inspiring, he has played with fire at his own ethical expense. And that decision echoes throughout the novel, which is full of references to fire and imagery that contrasts light and dark. These moments suggest not only the spark of Prometheus's fire, but the power of radical ideas to expose darker areas of life.
怪物也因此代表弗蘭肯斯坦博士 在追求榮耀的同時天性淪喪。 這也成為他的致命缺陷或「罪」, 他的上帝情節在下段節錄中 表露無遺: 「生死的完美界線將由我率先打破, 為這黑暗世界注入光明。」 雖然他創造出了令人 望而生畏的產物, 但他卻是捨棄道德冒險玩火。 這個抉擇的意象在小說中反覆出現, 不斷出現火的暗示 及光影對比的意象。 這些不僅是普羅米修斯盜火 所濺起的火花, 更是激進思想的烈焰, 映照出生命更深層的黑暗面。