How Does Mary Shelley's Impact On Domestic Life

The negative impact of inventions on Domestic Life

The impact of inventions throughout history has been always subject of disagreement between authors. Mary Poovey has argued that in Frankenstein, the invention disrupts and even murders domestic tranquility. But does an invention always trouble and afflict the domestic circle? After studying Frankenstein and In The Cage, it turns out that the domestic circle is always a victim of inventions and technology. In Frankenstein the invention literally killed the domestic circle and its inventor; in In The Cage it ruins the marriage of Lady Bradeen by permitting her to have an affair with Everard and delayed the telegraphist’s union with Mr. Mudge because of her interest in knowing the evolution of

Indeed, he is always in good terms with his father, plays every day with his sister Elizabeth and his best friend Henry, and is never forced into studying or any responsibility in general. At the end he concludes: “Such was our domestic circle, from which care and pain seemed for ever banished” (Shelley 24). We note how Frankenstein depicts the ideal domestic circle by completely excluding “pain and care”, using “ for ever” which is synonymous to always in this case, and “banished” which is an exaggeration of the exclusion. After spending his complete childhood surrounded by the affection of his family, Frankenstein goes to Ingolstadt to study Natural sciences and, from that moment, his domestic relations start to weaken: “Two years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva” (Shelley 30). We notice that Frankenstein is so “engaged in the pursuit of some discoveries” (Shelley 30) that he spends two years without seeing his family and doesn’t seem as much affected. What is even more interesting is the effect that his future invention has on him before even being created. These “discoveries” are the only reasons for the radical change in Frankenstein’s relation with his family; they have taken his attention and his time of the people with whom he has spent most of his

Asking for a second chance, Frankenstein tries to “embrace” the indulged domestic circle and strengthen the ties between them again. However, as it is shown with the use of the simultaneity “as”, his attempt to save the domestic circle is vain and it is too late to save this relation for it is long gone: “livid” with the “hue of death”. At this moment, Frankenstein realizes that he has been blinded by his ambition and his invention and is ashamed of having failed his family. Moreover, Frankenstein’s dream depicts how he has murdered not only his loving domestic circle “Elizabeth”, but also the domestic circle who gave birth to him “His mother”. “The grave-worms” serve as a reminder of his sinister toils that led him to fulfill his desire and complete his invention. Finally, we notice the opposition in register between the beginning of the dream “bloom of health”, “delighted”, “embraced”, “kiss” which reflects the affection and happiness of Frankenstein childhood, and the end of the dream “hue of death”, “livid”, “corpse”, “grave-worms” which reflects Frankenstein’s present life, after pursuing discoveries and ignoring his family. It also anticipates the coming future where the monster slowly kills every person beloved to him and becomes what he will later call “the destroyer of my family” (Shelley 143). Critic Mary Poovey also argues that Frankenstein fails to realize