The Cold and Desolate Heart: Masculinity and Science in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"
Presenter Type
UNO Undergraduate Student
Major/Field of Study
English
Other
English
Advisor Information
Dr. Kristin Girten
Location
MBSC304 - U
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
24-3-2023 2:30 PM
End Date
24-3-2023 3:45 PM
Abstract
When “patent” means money and “founder” means fame, it becomes easier for greed to overcome ethics. In 17th-century Europe, logic, and skill meant power and money. The rise of commercial industrial growth created a masculine space for technological growth and experimentation no matter the cost to the environment or humans. As the world changed, "the mechanical explanations were offered for sympathy, and a crude materialism began to stand in for the previously occult attributes of sympathy” (Caldwell 40). This sympathy, tied closely to sensibility, forced socially political notions of gender to rise into academic and scientific fields. This over-connection to emotion was deemed sensible and thus womanly, and further both were undervalued as frivolous and excessive. In contrast, the hyper-masculine scientific field held great "emphasis either on logic, order, and predictability or on power and activity led to different styles of science and to different modes for dominating and controlling nature” (Merchant 217).
In the past thirty years, research has ensued discussing the way that the interrogation of the earth through scientific experimentation and gender have been connected from the scientific revolution to now. Feminist theorists blame the hyper-masculine for the lack of empathy in scientific discovery, while others defend the past scientific methods and theories for their positive effects on the human experience. These topics have been pondered before, generations ago, by a young writer who was interested in the new modern scientific processes of time, and also felt constrained within societal notions of emotion, Mary Shelley. In Mary Shelley’s prolific novel, Frankenstein, she provides the detrimental effects of the hyper-masculine on science and people. In discussing masculinity in the narrative, she represents using themes of domination over nature, lack of awareness for others, and obsessive tendencies for one’s own pleasure. This portrayal of the dangers ingrained in hyper-masculinity then is balanced using sensibility and feminine characteristics. Through the discussion of masculine characters, the characterization of people within the novel provides adequate material to connect and compare the hyper-masculine and the traits of sensibility. What does Mary Shelley’s portrayal of sensibility and the sublime reveal about how she envisioned humanity’s relationship to non-human nature? At the time of writing, Shelley was keenly aware of the definition and role of sensibility in the understanding of gender. Opposing the extreme self-centered nature of masculinity, sensibility was often viewed as a feminine trait, which entailed an acute focus on empathy and cares for others, people, and the environment. The role of sensibility is seen as a solution to the uncaring nature of masculinity and the dangers it brought. Through my research, I have found that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein promotes a radical intimacy with, and responsibility to, the natural world that directly challenges contemporary scientific methods and the liberal humanism with which they had come to be associated.
Caldwell, Janis McLarren. “Sympathy and Science in Frankenstein.” Literature and Medicine in Nineteenth-Century Britain: From Mary Shelley to George Eliot, 2004, pp. xi-201. Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511484742.
Merchant, Carolyn. The Death of Nature. 1st ed., Harper & Row, 1980.
Scheduling
9:15-10:30 a.m., 10:45 a.m.-Noon, 1-2:15 p.m., 2:30 -3:45 p.m.
The Cold and Desolate Heart: Masculinity and Science in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"
MBSC304 - U
When “patent” means money and “founder” means fame, it becomes easier for greed to overcome ethics. In 17th-century Europe, logic, and skill meant power and money. The rise of commercial industrial growth created a masculine space for technological growth and experimentation no matter the cost to the environment or humans. As the world changed, "the mechanical explanations were offered for sympathy, and a crude materialism began to stand in for the previously occult attributes of sympathy” (Caldwell 40). This sympathy, tied closely to sensibility, forced socially political notions of gender to rise into academic and scientific fields. This over-connection to emotion was deemed sensible and thus womanly, and further both were undervalued as frivolous and excessive. In contrast, the hyper-masculine scientific field held great "emphasis either on logic, order, and predictability or on power and activity led to different styles of science and to different modes for dominating and controlling nature” (Merchant 217).
In the past thirty years, research has ensued discussing the way that the interrogation of the earth through scientific experimentation and gender have been connected from the scientific revolution to now. Feminist theorists blame the hyper-masculine for the lack of empathy in scientific discovery, while others defend the past scientific methods and theories for their positive effects on the human experience. These topics have been pondered before, generations ago, by a young writer who was interested in the new modern scientific processes of time, and also felt constrained within societal notions of emotion, Mary Shelley. In Mary Shelley’s prolific novel, Frankenstein, she provides the detrimental effects of the hyper-masculine on science and people. In discussing masculinity in the narrative, she represents using themes of domination over nature, lack of awareness for others, and obsessive tendencies for one’s own pleasure. This portrayal of the dangers ingrained in hyper-masculinity then is balanced using sensibility and feminine characteristics. Through the discussion of masculine characters, the characterization of people within the novel provides adequate material to connect and compare the hyper-masculine and the traits of sensibility. What does Mary Shelley’s portrayal of sensibility and the sublime reveal about how she envisioned humanity’s relationship to non-human nature? At the time of writing, Shelley was keenly aware of the definition and role of sensibility in the understanding of gender. Opposing the extreme self-centered nature of masculinity, sensibility was often viewed as a feminine trait, which entailed an acute focus on empathy and cares for others, people, and the environment. The role of sensibility is seen as a solution to the uncaring nature of masculinity and the dangers it brought. Through my research, I have found that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein promotes a radical intimacy with, and responsibility to, the natural world that directly challenges contemporary scientific methods and the liberal humanism with which they had come to be associated.
Caldwell, Janis McLarren. “Sympathy and Science in Frankenstein.” Literature and Medicine in Nineteenth-Century Britain: From Mary Shelley to George Eliot, 2004, pp. xi-201. Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511484742.
Merchant, Carolyn. The Death of Nature. 1st ed., Harper & Row, 1980.