A Study Of The Ecological Thoughts In Frankenstein

Mary Shelley(1791-1851), as an outstanding novelist of the English Romantic period, is hailed as “mother of science fiction” because of her writing of Frankenstein--the first science fiction in the history of literature. Since its publication in1818, the novel has received an enduring popularity among the readers and the critics as well. It is honored by western scholars as one of the most remarkable Gothic novels as well as the forerunner of science fiction. This popular fiction has attracted extensive criticism from perspectives of feminism, psychoanalysis, cultural criticism and Marxist criticism etc. And with a perusal of the novel, we can find that the work Frankenstein is actually an ecological novel containing abundant ecological revelation. Going deep into the novel, the issues of creating life via electricity and human’s spiritual alienation, and the conflict between the exploration of science and the natural rules and so on have provoked profound introspection among modern people. The study of the ecological thoughts embedded in the work shows its practical necessity and worthiness nowadays when science and technology advances quickly.This thesis attempts to create a new understanding of Frankenstein from the perspective of eco-criticism, so as to reveal Mary Shelley’s ecological thoughts reflected in the work. With a detailed reading of the text, the thesis interprets Frankenstein from three aspects of eco-criticism, namely, natural ecology, social ecology and spiritual ecology which represent respectively the condition of three basic relationships between human and nature, human and society, and human and self.In the first place, this thesis tries to analyze the relationship between human and nature in Frankenstein from the aspect of natural ecology. With an exploration of the author’s love for nature as well as condemnation of human’s destruction of natural ecology, the thesis elaborates Mary Shelley’s call for harmony between human and nature. Secondly, centering on the relationships between human and society, and between the creature and human, this thesis studies the imbalance of social ecology reflected in the novel. Through analyzing the reasons leading to these two disharmonious relationships, it reveals the author’s criticism of the imbalanced social ecology. Finally, focusing on the life experiences of two main characters--Frankenstein and his creature, this thesis further explores the alienation of human spiritual ecology. It expounds the author’s abomination of alienation in spiritual ecology, which is caused bythe imbalance of both natural ecology and social ecology.Through the research, this thesis finds that the novel embodies Shelley’s criticism of anthropocentrism and her appeal for harmony in natural ecology, social ecology, and spiritual ecology. In the view of Mary Shelley, anthropocentrism is the root cause for the imbalance of natural ecology, social ecology and spiritual ecology. Mary Shelley opposes anthropocentrism which is regarded as the root cause for ecological crises; she shows deep love for nature as well as rigorous condemnation of human’s destruction of nature, and advocates the harmony between human and nature; at the same time,Shelley attaches equal importance to the balance of both social ecology and spiritual ecology; she calls for the coordinated relationships between man and man, and between man and self. If human attempts to violate the natural rules in the pursuit of personal desires, cutting him off from the society, regardless of his own health in spiritual ecology, he would bring destruction upon himself as a result of the ecological imbalance.