Lightning and Electricity in Frankenstein's Time
Lightning and Electricity in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Lightning is an important symbol throughout the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The ambiguity of how Victor Frankenstein brought the creature to life raises questions among readers about how lightning and electricity were understood in this time period. Based on when and where Shelley lived, what understanding would she have had of electricity, and how might this have affected her writing?
Electricity in the Late Eighteenth Century
The people of the eighteenth century were no strangers to electricity, though it was certainly a rarer commodity than it is today. Thousands of electrical inventions of all types came from the eighteenth century.
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| Drawing of Leyden Jar (1) |
The Leyden Jar, for example, was a simple design commonly used in experiments involving electricity, as it could hold an electric charge for multiple days at a time. Invented in 1746 by Pieter van Musschenbroek, the Leyden Jar was a glass container filled with water, wrapped both inside and out with wire, and connected to an electrostatic machine (1). The discharge from the Leyden Jar looked similar to lightning and sounded like thunder, leading people to connect electricity with lightning and inspiring Benjamin Franklin's famous kite experiment (3).
Franklin's experiment, intended to determine whether lightning was electrical and, if so, if it were the same as the electricity that was known, was technically successful, though his methods were misguided. He flew a wet kite during a lightning storm, with a Leyden Jar attached to it by a wet string, while he held the kite by a dry string. The electricity from the lightning did travel down the wet string to the Leyden Jar, as intended, but the lightning did not strike the kite directly (1). If it had, Franklin would also have been electrocuted. He used his findings to develop the lightning rod, secured to the top of buildings to absorb the electricity from a lightning strike and protect the building (1).
Early Nineteenth Century Electricity
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| Voltaic pile (2) |
In 1806, Humphry Davy's experiments yielded the information that establishing an electrical arc between two charcoal rods would produce a powerful light, but this didn't result in practical lighting devices until good generators came around in the 1860's (2).
Electromagnets were invented in 1825 by William Sturgeon, who wrapped bare wire around an iron rod and passed a current through it. They quickly became an important piece of many electrical inventions throughout the rest of the 19th century (2).
Considering the many electrical inventions throughout Shelley's lifetime, it's no shock that she incorporated it into her writing in significant ways. Shelley wrote Frankenstein in 1816, and by that time there had been over fifty years of experiments regarding the effects of electricity on both living and dead organisms (3). Shelley's decision to use electricity, and lightning in particular, in Frankenstein has had a ripple effect throughout history, continuing to affect media to this day.
(1) “Electricity through the Eighteenth Century.” Electricity through the Eighteenth Century - Electricity & Alternative Energy - Alberta's Energy Heritage, http://www.history.alberta.ca/energyheritage/energy/electricity/electricity-through-the-eighteenth-century.aspx
(2) “Preconditions for Edison's Lamp.” Lighting A Revolution: 19th Century Preconditions, https://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/19thcent/prec19.htm.
(3) Schiffer, Michael Brian, et al. Draw the Lightning Down : Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment. 1st ed., University of California Press, 2003. EBSCOhost, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspxdirect=true&db=cat05986a&AN=buc.9911080679103556&site=eds-live&scope=site.
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