Frankenstein: Guitar of M. De Lacey

Frankenstein: Guitar of M. De Lacey

Guitar of M. De Lacey; Looking at the Best in Humanity

1794 Fabricatore 6 string Early Romantic French Guitar. Honey colored wood, simple decoration around the edge of the guitar and the sound hole. Decorative black metal expanding from guitar’s bridge. Some mild scratching due to age.

This guitar was featured in the book “Frankenstein,” and belonged to the elderly, impoverished M. De Lacey to whom Frankenstein’s monster formed an attachment. De Lacey’s guitar playing was one of the few pleasures that the monster experienced in its life, just as De Lacey's kindness was the only positive interaction that the monster ever had with humanity.

M. De Lacey's guitar contributed to the mood of the Creature's narrative about his early developments and benevolent impulses.

Mary Shelley

Megan Lang

Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus.

Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday

January 1, 1818

October 22, 2018

Megan Lang

Public Domain

Literary Artifact from Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein."

JPEG image, guitar

. De Lacey's guitar would have been created by hand in the mid to late-18th century, an instrument that signified wealth and education in that era.

Shelley uses the guitar to indicate M. De Lacey's genteel nature, despite his fall into poverty. This gentility is mirrored in the treatment the monster receives from De Lacey, as the blind man is the only one to treat the creature with any respect or concern. Listening to the guitar is a significant part of the creature's development of its better nature, and its attraction to the better parts of humanity.

English

Speculative Fiction

Gothic Literature

Horror

Science Fiction

Guitar,

Handmade

Instrument

18th century

De Lacey family

Wealth

Hope

Early Romantic Period France, 18th century guitar. Handmade instrument by guitar builder Fabricatore, it represented education and wealth for owners, and was one of the few signs of the De Lacey family's "noble" upbringing.

Described intermittently in chapters 11 -15 of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" in the creature's narrative.