1818 Edition, 1832 Edition

I’ve chosen two versions of Frankenstein to compare and analyze in this notebook entry: An annotated transcription of the 1818 edition from Literature in context and an annotated transcription of the 1831 version  available from Romantic circles. The 1831 edition starts off strong with Mary Shelley’s introduction to the book, where she foreshadows the book cleverly. In narrating how she thought the story up, “When I placed my head on my pillow, I did not sleep, nor could I be said to think. My imagination, unbidden, possessed and guided me, gifting the successive images that arose in my mind with a vividness far beyond the usual bounds of reverie.” (from Romantic circles) this is an amusing parallel to Victor Frankenstein’s sleepless nights of inner turmoil. Later in this introduction she says, “And now, once again, I bid my hideous progeny go forth and prosper. I have an affection for it, for it was the offspring of happy days, when death and grief were but words, which found no true echo in my heart. Its several pages speak of many a walk, many a drive, and many a conversation, when I was not alone; and my companion was one who, in this world, I shall never see more.”(from Romantic circles) What’s interesting to me about this is how she’s referring to her novel, Frankenstein, as Frankenstein would his creature- if he were fond of it. Nevertheless, she is personifying her horror novel as a “hideous progeny” that will “go forth and prosper”. This intentional use of personification is what I mean when I say she was foreshadowing in the introduction. Throughout this introduction she manages to use the word hideous five times- this repetition is intentional. Out of curiosity, I am opening up Voyant to search how many times “hideous” is used in the 1831 edition of Frankenstein. As I did before, I am converting he Project Gutenberg EBook into a text file to upload. As you can see in this screenshot I’ve inserted below, the term hideous and others like it (horrible, terrible, horrid, hideousness, hideously) appear throughout the novel tens of times. This dramatic diction/romantic style of writing in Frankenstein pleases me.

Before lecture this morning I was switching between two tabs comparing the different versions. After learning of the Frankenstein Variorum, I scrapped that bit and restarted using this new tool (so useful!!!) to compare the versions. I also that the quote from Paradise Lost is no longer on the cover of the 1831 version- maybe signaling a difference in themes. 

Chapter 1

The first difference I see in this remediated chapter is in place of the section that discusses Elizabeth and Victor’s harmonious upbringing as cousins in 1818, there is an entirely new section that provides a new backstory concerning Elizabeth. In this, Victor explains the biography of his parents and where he was born. He also says that his mother had “much desire to have a daughter”. In this version, Elizabeth is an orphan who is taken into Victor’s family. “They consulted their village priest, and the result was, that Elizabeth Lavenza became the inmate of my parents’ house—my more than sister—the beautiful and adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures.”

Chapter 2 (1818)

  In this chapter, Elizabeth catches scarlet fever and arguments erupt between Victor’s parents. His mother is described  as if she is unwise for tending to Elizabeth while there was still a risk of infection. This is implied when Victor writes, “She had, at first, yielded to our entreaties; but when she heard that her favorite was recovering, she could no longer debar herself from her society, and entered her chamber long before the danger of infection was past. The consequences of this imprudence were fatal”(1818), insinuating that Victor’s mother is unwise for tending to Elizabeth. According to the OED imprudence means shamelessness or immodesty. After Shelley’s 1831 revision this line becomes “She attended her sick bed,—her watchful attentions triumphed over the malignity of the distemper,—Elizabeth was saved, but the consequences of this imprudence were fatal to her preserver.” although she still is infected and dies, the added descriptor of the word “preserver” entails a certain honor to it.  A line shortly after this scene that strikes me is “‘…I will endeavor to resign myself cheerfully to death, and will indulge a hope of meeting you in another world.’ She died calmly; and her countenance expressed affection even in death.” This diction was surprising to me. I took a closer reading to it and noticed that the use of the words “resign”, “indulge”, and “cheerfully” all indicate that his mother was accepting of her death as it happened.

I believe that Mary Shelley’s remediation of Frankenstein was informed by the losses in her life, that they changed her philosophy and made her more pessimistic and inspired by pain. She gave more credit and depth to the mother and Elizabeth.