New Historicism and Frankenstein

In a week on New Historicism, obvious questions emerge about the history surrounding Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The introductin in the Norton says that "New Historicists study literary tex not as autonomous objects but as material artifacts made in interaction with specific social, cultural, and political forces" (30). What are the "specific social, cultural, and political forces" that surround and circulate through Frankenstein? To briefly name a few, these include the French Revolution and its aftermath, the abolition of the slave trade (1807), the growth of the British Empire, debates over the rights of man. How do these play out in the novel? Because I am doing my final paper through the lens of race and ethnicity studies, I'm curious if anyone has any ideas on ways that race and imperialism make their way into Frankenstein. In my research, I stumbled upon an essay by Anne K. Mellor that offers some insight into the way the French Revolution makes its way into the novel. In the essay, "Why Women Didn't Like Romanticism: The Views of Jane Austen and Mary Shelley," Mellor argues that Shelley responds to the French Revolution by showing what happens when one does take responsibility for his creation: "In her novel, she represented the havoc wrought by the French Revolution in the gigantic and misshapen body of Frankenstein's creature...Frankenstein's creature -- like the French Revolution -- originated in the idealistic desire to liberate all men from the oppression of tyranny and mortality. But the Girondist Revolution, like the monster, failed to find the parental guidance, control, and nurturance it required to develop into a rational and benevolent state" (284). This ties in with our determining last week that ultimately, Frankenstein is a novel about responsibility -- taking responsibility for one's creation, one's actions, and, in this case, one's political ideals.

I know New Historicism came about in response to the New Criticism that was prominent in the 1960s, but in a way I feel like it still focuses on the text. In "Against Theory," Knapp and Michaels argue against approaching literary works through theory. They argue that "criticism is an activity that cannot be governed by transcendent principles; rather, it is a 'practice,' prior to and not determined by any guiding theory" (2489). I like this idea because it brings the focus back to the text. I am an advocate of close reading and basing my analysis on the text rather than the theory, but I do like New Historicism. This is because you look at history through the text and try to determine how historical events may have constructed the work, but you still have to focus on the work. And I really do believe that literary works are socially constructed, which I suppose is why some of our critics for this week were Marxists.

So I guess my overall question up for discussion this week is, what social forces went into the construction of Frankenstein? And where do we see these played out in the novel?