He Said...She Said.

Shelley’s Frankenstein, as we all know, has two different prefaces. One of these prefaces, included in the original edition, is written by her husband. Years later, Mary Shelley’s own preface is published with the 1831 edition of the work. These two distinct voices, relayed in the prefaces, tie in perfectly to the discussion that is presented in the beginning of Gilbert and Gubar’s work, “The Madwoman in the Attic.” Gilbert and Gubar ask, what happens “if the Queen’s looking glass speaks with the King’s voice?” How does this idea complicate the writing of Frankenstein, with the original preface being written in P. B. Shelley’s voice? Does this difference in author create a visible divide between the preface and the work, or is Mary Shelley, in the text, speaking with “the King’s voice”?

Let me answer that.

As previously discussed, P.B. Shelley’s preface is predominately focused on science and the advances being made, something that, even though the text touches upon, it is not the actual focus of the work. P.B. Shelley provides a very structured preface, trying to find a space for Frankenstein to be accepted in the world of science. However, when the work is read, it is clear that it is much more than an example of the capabilities of science. Frankenstein provides an undoubted discussion of humanity and the manner in which society constructs what is deemed acceptable and what is not. Thus, the ideas the P.B. Shelley presents in attempts to latch the work onto the scientific advancements of the time, are clearly not developed in the text. In that matter, it becomes obvious that Mary is presenting her work according to her own standards, and is not attempting to align herself with those of the King.

If Mary is not speaking in the King’s voice, then she is most certainly speaking in her own. In her preface, the reader is shown her writing process, something which naturally flowed out of her onto paper. In reading the preface that Mary writes, it is obvious that the book naturally follows, and that they are of the same hand. In Mary’s preface she details the development of the work, and does not try to validate it. She depicts her relationship with the work, something that only an author can accurately do.

In terms of Mary Shelley then, it appears to me as if she does not try to speak with the King’s voice, but instead challenges the standard by using her own. She does not have a problem with presenting her work in her voice, and the fact that she includes a second preface many years later, shows that she wants the work to exist in a manner that is all her own. Thus, Shelley truly helps to create the image of female author as a force to be reckoned with, resisting the notion that female authors must rely on their male predecessors.