Haunted

One glance at this artwork called The Nightmare and one can notice several things going on. For example, the ghostly horse in the right corner, or the stalkerish demon looking over the sleeping woman in white. What did the painter, Henry Fuseli want the demon and the horse symbolize and why are they creepily watching over this woman? One could potentially say that the demon and the horse symbolize the weights of the woman’s life that are causing her nightmares. 

This particular painting could depict a fairly decent portrait of Mary Shelley–the true author of Frankenstein. For example, the demon and horse could represent the struggles she faced as a woman. Shelley had lost nearly every person around her, such as friends, babies, her husband, her sister and some others (xiv). From this beginning, anyone can see the toll this would take on a person. Therefore the horse could be representing all those around her that she lost and how it was a burden to her. No loss was as significant as the death of her mother. The demon could be representing the burden of not having a mother and having half a family. For example, Shelley was always craving the attention from her father because her mother had died giving birth to her (xiii) and as she noted it in Frankenstein, “… and ultimately it is responsible for the death of the one that gave it life” (xxvi). That was an apparent burden Shelley carried around her whole life of being, what she thought, the one responsible for her mother dying. Because she lost all those around her, she formed it into writing. She put her burdens to good use. 

Fuseli, Henry. The Nightmare. “The Norton Anthology of British Literature: The Romantic Period.“ 10th. Stephen Greenblatt and W. W. Norton, 2018. p. C5.

Shelley, Mary. “Frankenstein”. Introduction by Karen Karbiener. Barnes and Noble, 2005. p. xiii-xxvi.