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    <user id="891299">
    <name><![CDATA[Brandon]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Aurora, CO]]></location>        
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      <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>9</votes>
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  <date_added>Sat Mar 08 00:36:47 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Mar 08 01:20:14 -0800 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[Mary Shelly wrote this book when she was only 18 years old. She was under the heavy influence of her politically radical, and powerful parents.  And she was very much aware of the political movements that had shattered Europe in the late 1700's and early 1800's.  The noble efforts of the French Revolution had recently ended with the reign of Terror and left Europe in a conservative backlash that included a crack down on civil liberties.  Also keep in mind that the book's full title is &quot;Frankenstein: or The Modern Promethues.&quot;  Mary Shelly is retelling the myth in this book. Like the titan Prometheus who took on the duties of god and made man, Frankenstein has taken on the role of god also, but created a monster.  I think that this book is actually a commentary on the French Revolution (and the English Civil War before it, which ended in the regicide of Charles I).  The rights of government are to be given by God to a chosen King.  When man takes to himself this right, as in the French Revolution, they make a monster that begins to destroy the lives and liberties that they meant to protect. Though the ideals expressed by the political philosophers of the day (Dr. Frankenstein) were beautiful, once they &quot;came alive&quot; in the form of the Government of the Convention, run by inexperienced leaders and politicians, it became ugly.  Note the pivotal transition in the book from beautiful to ugly is precisely  when the monster opens his eye.  Dr. Frankenstein thought his creation was beautiful up until then, but as soon as the monster awoke he was appalled by him.  Also note the the date of the book's action is 1792:  the exact year of the storming of the Bastille.  One other point of note, the monster is only stopped when he turns on himself and flees.  The reign of Terror was stopped when Robespierre was arrested and guillotined under authority of his own iron fisted laws.  This is an amazing piece of literature!<br/>Brandon]]></body>
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