Frankenstein: Technology

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glass case, till by some extraordinary means it began
to move with voluntary motion," (Joseph vii). The extraordinary means forms the
basis for Frankenstein. Many people also believe that a nightmare that Mary
Shelley had could also be partly responsible for the creation of the novel.
At the time the novel was written, England was on the brink of leading
the Industrial revolution in Europe. The experiments of Huntsman (crucible
steel manufacture), Newcome (steam-powered pumps), and Cochrane (coal tar
production) throughout the eighteenth century in England were decisive in the
initial transformation of England into an industrialized country (Burke 137, 173,
195). The emerging age of technology appears to have found followers throughout
the culture and to have become firmly reinforced by the time Frankenstein was
written. Eric Rabkin (author), says that in England early in the eighteenth
century, "there exist a populous discourse community that accepted the rhetoric
of science" ...

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Shelley's lifetime by quoting a book on Homer that
proclaimed England's arts improving and its sciences advancing. Tillyard's
point is that "the eighteenth-century myth of freedom in England included the
doctrine of progress" ( Tillyard 106). The doctrine of progress is connected
with the emerging doctrine of industrialization and science. It was this
doctrine, seemingly inside by English scholars and popular culture, although
reflected by imagination it may have been, that it can be said to have provided
scientific proof for Frankenstein. Rankin states that "Shelley had written a
palpable fable and she knew that its full effect depended on authorizing some
possibility of belief" ...

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