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Monsters of their own making: Shelley's Frankenstein and Spark's Jean Brodie

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Date Issued:
1995
Summary:
Two British women writers, Mary Shelley and Muriel Spark, express a curiously similar vision in their novels, creating characters whose solipsistic view of the world finally makes them monsters. Solipsism is the assertion that the self is the only reality that can be known and verified; a doppelganger is a mirror-self or double of the protagonist. The narrative structure and viewpoints in both Frankenstein and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie rely on these two concepts. Victor Frankenstein journeys through solipsism by first creating his monster from necrotic material--dead "selves." Jean Brodie's solipsistic response to her world is to re-"create" and manipulate her student Sandy Stranger as an extension of herself. Both Frankenstein and Jean Brodie experience a paradox of identity, forming but then conflicting with other characters who become their doppelgangers. In both novels, doppelgangers become "harbingers of death" rather than instruments of insight. Both Shelley and Spark demonstrate that a self-centered perspective leads to destructive isolation and alienation from others.
Title: Monsters of their own making: Shelley's Frankenstein and Spark's Jean Brodie.
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Name(s): Lombardo, Diane Marie.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
McGuirk, Carol, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1995
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 62 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Two British women writers, Mary Shelley and Muriel Spark, express a curiously similar vision in their novels, creating characters whose solipsistic view of the world finally makes them monsters. Solipsism is the assertion that the self is the only reality that can be known and verified; a doppelganger is a mirror-self or double of the protagonist. The narrative structure and viewpoints in both Frankenstein and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie rely on these two concepts. Victor Frankenstein journeys through solipsism by first creating his monster from necrotic material--dead "selves." Jean Brodie's solipsistic response to her world is to re-"create" and manipulate her student Sandy Stranger as an extension of herself. Both Frankenstein and Jean Brodie experience a paradox of identity, forming but then conflicting with other characters who become their doppelgangers. In both novels, doppelgangers become "harbingers of death" rather than instruments of insight. Both Shelley and Spark demonstrate that a self-centered perspective leads to destructive isolation and alienation from others.
Identifier: 15188 (digitool), FADT15188 (IID), fau:11960 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1995.
Subject(s): Spark, Muriel--Criticism and interpretation
Spark, Muriel--Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft,--1797-1851--Criticism and interpretation
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft,--1797-1851--Frankenstein
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15188
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.