For Wednesday: Browning, "Fra Lippo Lippi"

Madonna and Child: a painting by Filippo Lippi 

NOTE: Like the previous poems, this one has some historical detail and references that might initially be confusing. However, once you get past them, it's an easier read than those poems, and you get more time to 'live' with the character. And Fra Lippo Lippi is Browning's greatest character, an almost Shakespearean character who seems to live and breathe, and has a very unique view of the world. Here are some notes to help you delve into the poem:

THE STORY: Basically, Fra Lippo Lippi is a monk and a painter who works for Cosimo dei Medici, of the famous banking family that ruled Florence. He is holed up in Cosimo's house to create a number of religious paintings for him. But he gets sick of painting and hears the carnival going on outside, so ties up his bedsheets as a ladder and sneaks off into the night to party with the 'women of the night.' He is caught by the night guards and interrogated, until he can prove who is he and who he works for. Then he tells the story of his life and his philosophy as an artist. The painting that he describes at the end of the painting is a real painting, The Coronation of the Virgin, which I'll show you in class. 

Fra Lippo Lippi: actually, Filippo Lippi, a famous Florentine painter who lived from 1406 to 1469. He was a monk, though the episode in the poem is made up by Browning to give drama (and humor) to the piece.

Zooks: a mild curse, basically "gadzooks"--it originally meant "God's wounds," but was mangled into "zounds" and then "zooks." 

Weke, weke: imitating the cry of a mouse 

Flower o' the broom, etc.: These are famous folk and street songs that Fra Lippo Lippi sings throughout the poem to comment on his situation. He's probably more than a little drunk, so he keeps interrupting himself with his singing. 

The Eight: the magistrates (judges) of Florence 

antiphonary: a book of choral songs

phiz: face

They want a cast o' my office: they want a sample of my work

iste perfecit opus: "he made the work" 

kirtles: skirts

hot cockles: a game that had to be played with three or more people, where one person is blindfolded, and has to guess who is striking or pinching them. So the joke is that Fra Lippo Lippi is playing this with more than one partner! 

QUESTIONS: Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: Fra Lippo Lippi is another religious figure with questionable morals and a very loose interpretation of his religious calling. How does he compare to the Monk-Narrator in Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister or The Bishop? Is he another satire of religious hypocrisy? Or does Browning want us to like him a bit more?

Q2: According to the painter, how did hunger and poverty make him a great painter? What is it that he can see that other painters can't--and that his superior often miss themselves? How does this lead to his great breakthrough as an artist? 

Q3: When the Prior (head monk) first views Fra Lippo Lippi's work, he thunders his disapproval by saying, "Your business is not to catch men with show,/With homage to the perishable clay,/But life them over it, ignore it all,/Make them forget there's such a thing as flesh." Why was the church against realism or even the depiction of emotion in art? What did they feel it 'took away' from the experience of the painting?

Q4: Toward the end of the poem, Fra Lippo Lippi argues that "What would men have? Do they like grass or no--/May they or mayn't they? all I want's the thing/Settled for ever one way. As it is,/You tell too many lies and hurt yourself:/You don't like what you like only too much,/You do like what, if given you at your word,/You find abundantly detestable." What's he talking about here? What "lies" are they telling themselves, and why can't men simply "like grass"? 

Q5: One more tricky passage: what do you think he means when he claims, "This word's no blot for us,/Nor blank; it means intensely, and means good"? Why might this be the underlying philosophy of Lippi's life? 

Paper #2: The Psychology of the Supervillain

 

British Literature from 1800

Paper #2: The Psychology of the Supervillain

If Frankenstein can be considered the first work of science fiction in English literature, then we can also claim that Victor Frakenstein is its first supervillain. After all, he’s a criminal mastermind who creates monsters, manipulates his family, and has grandiose visions of saving/ruling the world. After his first appearance, literature swarmed with unreliable narrators who were spurred onto evil acts, their crimes on parade for anyone to read and decipher.

For this paper, I want you to make a case study of the development of the ‘supervillain’ using three ‘criminals’ in our class so far. These could consist of the Ancient Mariner, Victor Frankenstein, the Creature, Walton, the Duke, Porphyria’s Lover, the Monk, the Bishop, Johannes Agricola, Fra Lippo Lippi, Caliban, and the Invisible Man. You can even use something else from American/British literature at this time (Poe, Stevenson, Wilde, etc.) if you know these works, but try to focus mostly on our works in class. Explore what qualities, desires, motivations, and methods they each have in common. Why might we consider each one a model sociopath, and how can we learn to ‘read’ this in their works? What makes them dangerous? Unreliable? Unthinkable?

Your paper should identify one of these characters as the prototypical supervillain, and then use two others to corroborate or elucidate these traits. Be sure to close read examples from each book/poem so we can see these criminals in action. How does each author reveal their motivations and actions, and where can we read between the lines to see even more? Be specific, and try to find the hidden clues that a Sherlock Holmes (who was created in the 1880s, just before The Invisible Man) would sniff out.

REMEMBER: When citing literature in a paper, be sure to introduce the work and cite the page number of your edition. For example,

In Robert Browning’s poem, “Porphyria’s Lover,” the narrator tells the reader, “No pain felt she;/I am quite sure she felt no pain” (9).

(WC): Browning, Robert. “Porphyria’s Lover.” New York: Dover, 1993.

REQUIREMENTS

• Page limit optional, though consider how much work you need to make a convincing case
• Examine and quote from three works
• Cite all sources according to MLA format, along with a Works Cited
• DUE Wednesday, October 13^th by 5pm [no class]

For Monday: Browning's Poems: Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister; Johannes Agricola in Meditation; The Bishop Orders His Tomb...

NOTE: Since these poems have more historical detail than the previous ones, I thought I would provide a few notes to help you along. Ultimately, these are poems with very unreliable narrators who tell stories about themselves which betray greed, avarice, self-righteousness, and blind indifference to their fellow man. The questions follow after these notes. 

JOHANNES AGRICOLA IN MEDITATION

* Agricola was a 14th century religious philosopher who founded a sect called the Antinomians, who believed in strict predestination. If someone was holy, they were going to heave no matter what; similarly, someone damned was damned from birth and no amount of good works could save them. So this "meditation" is his dramatic monologue about the nature of his existence. 

SOLILOQUY OF THE SPANISH CLOISTER 

* Takes place in a monastery in Spain sometime around the 18th or 19th century (we can only tell because the narrator mentions owning a French novel, which didn't come around until the 1720's or so), and concerns the rivalry between the narrator and his fellow monk, Brother Lawrence. 

* Salve tibi: a greeting in Latin, as the monks would speak amongst themselves

* Swine's Snout: the botanical name for the dandelion, but here it has a double meaning!

* the Arian: or Arius, a 4th century heretic who rejected the Trinity (hence, the narrator drinks his watered orange-pulp in three sips) 

* Galatian: St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, though he's making up the so-called "great text of damnations" (or it suggests he doesn't know the Bible as well as he thinks!)

* French novel: these were synonymous with pornography. So the narrator owns a pornographic novel. 

* Belial: a name for the Devil 

* Hy, Zine, Hine: a magic spell like "abracadabra" 

* Plena gratia, Ave virgo: Hail Virgin, full of grace 

THE BISHOP ORDERS HIS TOMB AT SAINT PRAXTED'S CHURCH

* A bishop, on his death bed, has gathered his sons (both actual and illegitimate) around him to order his tomb, and to frustrate his recently-deceased rival, Gandolf, who is also buried in the church. His mind is going, so he rants and raves all over the place, revealing much about his life and his 'holy' pursuits. 

* onion-stone: poor-quality marble

* lapis lazuli: semi-precious stone with a deep blue color--very prized in the ancient world

* antique-black: high-quality marble

* travertine: ordinary stone used for building

* Tully: Cicero, a Roman statesman and scholar. famous for his beautiful use of Latin

*  Ulpian: a poor-man's Cicero! 

* ELUCESCEBAT: "to shine forth" in Latin; the Bishop seems to suggest that the word is on Gandolf's tomb, and scoffs, since Tully (Cicero) would have written better Latin 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: All three poems focus on religious figures, all of whom are in a position of power or prestige (though less so in the Spanish Cloister). What makes each one satirical? How can we tell that each one is supposed to poke fun at the supposed holiness and austerity of the clergy? 

Q2: "The Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister" veers very close to a Poe short story, and indeed, Poe was writing his own stories at the same time (this poem appeared in 1842, and a similar story, "The Cask of Amontillado" appeared in 1846). If you know Poe's stories, what makes this narrator such a prototypically "Poe" narrator? What makes him unreliable, though he certainly seems to be honest about his hatred? Where does he slip and reveal too much to the reader?

Q3: How might we see something of Victor Frankenstein (and more literally, William Godwin) in the narrator of "Johannes Agricola in Meditation"? Why might such a man also decide to make monsters and devils without fear or reprieve? 

Q4: Though the Bishop doesn't kill anyone (his rival seems to die of natural causes, as does his wife--I think!), he shares a lot in common with the Duke of "My Last Duchess." What makes him such a merciless figure, despite his age and mental fragility? Related to this, why might many of his children be standing back rather than holding his hand as he drifts off into death? 

For Friday: Browning, from My Last Duchess & Other Poems: "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover"

NOTE: Browning's poetry is different from Keats, Coleridge, and Wordsworth, in that most of it is in a form called "Dramatic Monologues." As the title suggests, it's the speech of a single character (often a historical figure, or a character from literature or legend) talking to another person. So imagine this as a monologue from a play where the main character is talking to the audience. Like the paintings we look at on Wednesday, Browning is attempting to combine modern speech & character to mythic and historical situations. So it would be like the 'modern' look of Guenevere or Ophelia that we looked at in class. However, it's also like "The Baleful Head" (pictured above) where the historical/mythical setting is used as an allegory about issues of modern life. So try to imagine how he's attempting to talk about his own world through the lens of the past. 

Poems: "The Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover"

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Who is the narrator in "The Last Duchess" talking to? Or rather, why does he have guests in his palace? What clues does the poem offer...and how does it make his showing of the painting of his 'last duchess' quite ironic? 

Q2: What does the narrator mean when he says, "She had a heart--how shall I say?--too soon made glad,/Too easily impressed" (2). Why is this a criticism of the duchess, and why does it ultimately lead to her doom?

Q3: The title "Porphyria's Lover" reminds us of the character of Porphyro, in the Eve of St. Agnes. While they're clearly not the same character, why might Browning have wanted to evoke that poem in this one? What connections come to mind as you read it?

Q4: What does the narrator mean when he exults, at the end of the poem, "That all it scorned at once is fled!/And I, its love, am gained instead!" (9). What has she "gained" in death...or what does the narrator think she's gained that she lacked in life? 

For Monday: Finish Frankenstein and read Appendix A (The Education of Mary Shelley) and Appendix D (Reviews of Frankenstein)

Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft, writer of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (and Mary's mother) 

NOTE: Finish the book for Monday if you can, but if not, you can easily finish it this week since we'll have very little reading. In fact, I would encourage you to go ahead and read Appendix A and D even if you can't finish the book, since that's something I want to discuss in class. Remember that William Godwin in Mary's father, and Mary Wollstonecraft was her mother (though she died in childbirth, sadly). So the Appendix A writings are pieces from her parents that she is responding to, in some form, in the novel.

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Victor claims that his narrative is a warning for Walton, so that “the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been” (17). However, the end of the novel seems to contradict his aim in telling his story—and Victor’s actions seem less than repentant than would first appear. What is his hope in telling Walton his story, and does his story leave him a "sadder and a wiser man"? (to quote The Rime). 

Q2: In one of Godwin's writings from Political Justice, he claims that "Justice would have taught me to save the life of Fenelon [a famous poet] at the expense of the other [his own father or brother]. What magic is there in the pronoun "my" that should justify us in overturning the decisions of impartial truth?" (230). How might this doctrine of "justice" over sympathy have influenced some of the ideas in Frankenstein? Do you think Mary Shelley agrees or disagrees with her father's ideas? 

Q3: Mary Wollstonecraft was very concerned about the education of young children, and at one time even worked at a sort of elementary school and developed educational books. According to these excerpts from her famous work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, what is the worst thing that could happen to the developing mind? How might this parallel the education of the Creature in the novel?

Q4: Sir Walter Scott was the most famous novelist of his age (he wrote books that are rarely read today, including Ivanhoe and Rob Roy), and his review in 1818 would be like Steven King taking time to review a book today. Though he is very impressed with the book, what does he find are the novel's biggest failings? Do we still agree with him? Why or why not?

Q5: John Wilson Croaker, writing in the Quarterly Review, takes the novel to task for its absurdities, among which are its complete lack of "conduct, manners, or morality" (281). Why do you think he fails to see anything thoughtful or intellectual in the novel, when that's the only reason we still read it today? What does he see instead? 

For Friday: Shelley, Frankenstein, Chapter VIII (8) to Book 3, Chapter VI (6) (pp.148-202) & Handout

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: When Victor bids farewell to Elizabeth (after planning to marry her), the 1831 text says that she “acquiesced; but she was filled with disquiet at the idea of my suffering, away from her, the inroads of misery and grief...she bade me a tearful, silent farewell.” However, our version of the novel reads: “Elizabeth approved of the reasons of my departure, and only regretted that she had not the same opportunities of enlarging her experience, and cultivating her understanding...We all, said she, depend upon you; and if you are miserable, what must be our feelings?” (164). What does the original text seem to communicate about Elizabeth’s experience that the 1831 version wipes away?

Q2: Why does Victor renege on creating a companion mate for the Creature? Particularly when, after a long debate with the creature in Chapter IX (Book 2), Victor finally muses, “I was moved. I shuddered when I thought of the possible consequences of my consent; but I felt that there was some justice in his argument” (157). Are we supposed to applaud his last-minute heroics? Or does this show us his true identity as a murderer (of women, especially)?

Q3: When Victor finds Elizabeth slain by the Creature, he “rushed toward her, and embraced her with ardour” (198). Note that this is the first time he describes showing her any real affection, much less passion. Her also spends quite some time in describing her body as left flung lifelessly across the bed. Does this bring to mind certain passages of The Eve of St. Agnes?

Q4: After the death of Clerval, when Victor is languishing in an Irish prison, he reflects, “The whole series of my life appeared to be as a dream; I sometimes doubted if indeed it were all true, for it never presented itself to my mind with the force of reality” (149-150). How does Shelley complicate the matter of Victor’s innocence or guilt in the final chapters? Is their more evidence for his crimes—or the Creature’s existence?

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ALSO, below is the handout I gave to the class from Mary Shelley's Journal. The bibliographic information follows in case you ever want to use it in a paper assignmen:

Shelley, Mary. The Journals of Mary Shelley 1814-1844. ed. Paul R. Feldman & Diana Scott-Kilvert. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1995. 

From The Journals of Mary Shelley (1814-1844)

Monday 6^th [March 1815]

Find my baby dead….It was perfectly well when I went to bed—I awoke in the night to give it suck [and] it appeared to be sleeping so quietly that I would not awake it—it was dead then but we did not found that out till morning—from its appearance it evidently died of convulsions.

Thursday 9^th  & Monday 13th

Read & talk—still think about my little baby—‘tis hard indeed for a mother to lose a child…Shelley, Hogg & Clary go to town—stay at home & think of my little dead baby—this is foolish I suppose yet whenever I am left alone to my own thoughts & do not read to divert them they always come back to the same point—that I was a mother & am so no longer.

Saturday 19^th

Dream that my little baby came to life again—that it had been cold & that we rubbed it by the fire & it lived—I awake & find no baby—I think about the little thing all day—not in good spirits—Shelley is very unwell.

Monday 20^th

Dream again about my baby ------------------------ (passage marked out)

Wednesday 24^th  [July 1816] * compare to pages 115-117 of Frankenstein

Shelley and I begin our journey in Montanvert—Nothing can be more desolate than the ascent of this mountain—the trees in many places have been torn away by avalanches and some half leaning over, others intermingling with stones present the appearance of vast & dreadful desolation—It began to rain almost as soon as we left our inn—when we had mounted considerably we turned to look on the scene—a vast dense white mist covered the vale & the tops of the scattered pines peeping above were the only objects that presented themselves—The rain continued in torrents—we were wetted to the skin so that when we had ascended more than half way we resolved to turn back—Shelley went before and tripping he fell upon his knee—this added to the weakness occasioned by a blow on his ascent—he fainted & was for some minutes incapacitated from continuing his route…This is the most desolate place in the world—iced mountains surround it—no sign of vegetation appears except on the place from which we view the scene—It is traversed by irregular crevices whose side of ice appear blue while the surface is of a dirty white…We arrive at the inn at six fatigued by our days journey but pleased and astonished by the world of ice that was opened to our view.

I write my story [Frankenstein].

For Wednesday: Shelley, Frankenstein, Book 1, Chapter 5 - Book 2, Chapter 7

REMEMBER, we switched dates a little so that your Paper #1 is due on Monday instead of last week. There is NO CLASS ON MONDAY so you can work on it. In the meantime, keep reading Frankenstein, Book 1, Chapter 5 to Book 2, Chapter 7, pp. 88-148.  

Answer TWO of the following for Wednesday's class: 

Q1: In Book 1, Chapter 7, Victor and Elizabeth interview Justine in prison, and learn of her false confession. How might this chapter be a discussion of justice and cruelty comparable to what we find in Maria? Why doesn't Victor, who knows the truth, tell the court what he knows? Does he admit his cowardice to Walton? 

Q2: How does Elizabeth change in these chapters from what he was? Victor notes that "She was no longer that happy creature,"  and that she had "become grave." Is it just the death of her loved ones that causes this change? As one of the few women in the novel, what does Shelley want us to see through her character and its degradation?

Q3: One of the great debates of the 18th century was about the inner nature of men and women: were they a 'blank slate,' which was simply imprinted with their immediate surroundings? Or did they come into this world fully formed, with morals, values, and inclinations toward good or evil? How is the Creature a way of testing this theory in a dramatic way? As a truly blank slate (random body parts given life), what does Shelley feel is the intrinsic nature of men and women? (consider, too, the themes of innocence vs. experience we've previously encountered). 

Q4: At the end of Volume 1, Victor claims that “I bore a hell within me, which nothing could extinguish." Based on this passage (and our previous discussion), is it possible to read the Creature as Victor’s doppleganger—a 'double' that torments him and follows him because he is him? What clues or inconsistencies seem to support this reading? Do you think Shelley wanted to leave this possibility open in the novel?

For Friday: Shelley, Frankenstein, Letters I-III & Chapters 1-4 (pp.49-88)

Self-Portrait by Goya...or is it Victor Frankenstein???

NOTE: Try to read as much of the first FOUR chapters of Frankenstein for Friday's class. There's SO MUCH to discuss here, so we can't possibly be through it all. The questions below are a kind of 'wish list' of what I hope to discuss, and where you might focus your reading as you wade through the opening chapters. If you've never read the novel, relax and enjoy the ride. If you have, try to read it in light of the Romantic poems we've read in class, and consider how the novel changes when we read it in the shadow of The Rime, Tintern Abbey, and The Eve of St. Agnes. 

Answer TWO of the following: 

Q1: Most first-time readers of Frankenstein are surprised to find that the novel begins with a frame narrative: that of Walton, the arctic explorer, who is writing home to his sister, Mrs. Saville. How does this contrast with the frame narrative we encountered in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”? Also, why is a narrator like Walton a horror-story (or Gothic story) convention even in films today? 

Q2: According to the story of his early education that Victor gives to Walton, what set him on the path of creating new life? How did he go from an earnest, naive young man to a “modern Prometheus” who would “pour a torrent of light into our dark world”? In other words, what went ‘wrong’ in his life, considering he had a good family, wealth, and the support of his parents?

Q3: Immediately after he creates his “monster,” Victor ends up falling asleep and has a nightmare of Elizabeth, where as soon as he kisses her, “her lips...became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms" (84). How do you read this strange dream in relation to the events of the story? Does it remind you of anything we’ve read before?

Q4: Why do you think Shelley quotes the fateful lines from “The Rime” that go, “Like one who, on a lonely road” in Chapter 4, after Victor creates and first sees the monster? Remember that this passage from “The Rime” occurs after the spell has been broken, but the Mariner still feels he is being haunted. Did Shelley simply like the mood or feel of the lines, or might there be a deeper significance?

Q5: Mary Shelley was a student of the Romantics, and knew Coleridge and Wordsworth personally, and of course married (or ran away with) Percy Shelley (who wrote “Ozymandias”). Even in the first four chapters, how do we know this is a ‘Romantic’ novel? Where is she borrowing, plagiarizing, or simply being influenced by the poems she grew up with? Hint: from Chapter 3, “my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature…”

For Next Week: Goya and Frankenstein!

 No reading yet for next week, since when we come back on Wednesday, we'll do our second Art Response to one of Goya's famous works (not the one below, but it will give you an idea of what to expect). This will also serve as an introduction to Frankenstein, which we'll start reading for Friday's class. So if you want to get started, feel free, though it is a shortish novel. Expect to see many echoes in this work to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The Eve of St. Agnes, and even Wordsworth's poems! 

See you next week! 

Goya's "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters"...did we read anything recently about someone sleeping and not liking what they saw when they awakened?