Galvanism

The electrical stimulation of animal tissue, associated with experiments in which electricity caused muscles to contract.

The study of electrical effects on animal tissue, especially the muscular movements produced by electrical stimulation.

Shelley writes in the Introduction that “galvanism had given token of such things”, linking electrical movement with speculation about reanimating a corpse.

The electrical stimulation of muscles, associated with experiments that made animal tissue and parts of human corpses move.

Connect galvanism to the creature's opening eye and convulsive movements rather than adding a detached paragraph about scientific history.

Both parts: distinguish Shelley’s novel from film adaptations. Galvanism is relevant context, but it does not establish that Victor uses a lightning bolt to animate the creature.

Electrical stimulation associated with muscular movement, which helped prompt scientific questions about the relationship between electricity and life.

An early field of electrical research associated with Luigi Galvani, including the discovery that electrical stimulation could make muscles in dead animal tissue contract.

Shelley recalls in her Introduction that “galvanism had given token of such things”. Here, she is recounting speculation about reanimating a corpse. She also remembers talk about experiments attributed to Erasmus Darwin, including a report that preserved material had begun to move.

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AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702

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Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0