Date of Award

5-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

College/School

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department/Program

English

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Wendy Nielsen

Committee Member

Monika Elbert

Committee Member

Emily Cheng

Abstract

This research paper focuses on the influence of domesticity in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The motivation for this project comes from the theories of Gaston Bachelard in his book, The Poetics of Space. I study the domestic situation of the three narrators from Frankenstein: Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the creature. Additionally, I analyze each character’s household, as well as their isolation, in order to highlight the difference between belonging to a home and being homeless. Belonging to a household, and maintaining an attachment to home appears to be particular characters’ saving grace. On the other hand, and paradoxically, it seems that home drives characters away and into isolation or society. Each character demonstrates how their home environment teaches them language, and language informs their self-identification. The result of this research is the realization that Mary Shelley’s most famous novel depicts how home informs identity.

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