trippycheez- just wanted to say that your post is one of the best explanations I have read on the entire board. You are absolutely spot on with all of your comments. I just wanted to add a couple details.
After Byron's wife divorced him, I believe she committed suicide, which markedly upped the scandal factor. And his sexual proclivities and deviances, and wild behavior were legendary. It might have been helped along by the fact that he was, as many historians have concluded, routinely sexually molested by, oh I can't remember if it was his aunt, or his mother, or what- whoever Lady Caroline was, starting at a very young age.
For those that think the movie doesn't make sense, or was contrived and over the top, and a meaningless story about a weird group of people who party all weekend, and its unrealisitic that an laudanum, an opiate, could produce such hallucinations- let me say this:
Understand that Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron, and their circle of writer friends were Victorian England's equivalent of modern-day ROCK STARS. They were celebrities. They were the celebrated creative talent of their era. First of all, I think Russell went over the top with the hallucinatory visions not to be gratuitously sensationalist, but to illustrate the enormous imaginations of these talented writers. I mean, two of the top horror classics, to this day, came out of that weekend. And from what I've read, laudanum, in excessive amounts, could produce pronounced hallucinatory effects. And I'm fairly certain they were jacked up on it all weekend.
I think it would have been more meaningful, and less confusing, if it would have included a bit more about their backgrounds, because it would "bring it all home" about the significance of the events there, and how the famous stories came to be (each of them had something to do with the personal issues of the author), but I don't see how it could have been done in the movie, and yet keep it under about 5 hours. Just an example- its a fairly widely held belief that Mary's half-sister Claire was emotionally a little bit high-strung- and not only was she dating Lord Byron, but she also bought into Percy's "free love" concept, and for awhile was openly sleeping with her sister's husband. Mary seemed to adopt the "open" marraige philosophy, but she was never truly happy with the arrangement- but she went along with it because she loved Percy.
Anyways, sorry to get long-winded, but I'm saying you're right- the conundrum of the movie is this- a movie is the telling of a story, but it's not completely effective if you don't know the story "behind" the story. For those who know about, or decide to learn about the historical basis of the movie- the story becomes crystal clear, and I think it's tremedously well done.
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eliesabetha
16 years ago
Just on the Laudanum:
Laudanum wasn't a drug as f.e. xtc, weed or whatever...It was a medecin, and often used for all sorts of pains, illnesses etc. .Samuel Taylor Coleridge f.e. started using it as a 'medical treatment', bot got addicted to it...
Shelley used Laudanum because he suffered from nightmares and sleepwalking ever since he was a kid (he even got punished for it while at school). So he as wel used it as a medical treatment. However, people didn't know that this same laudanum, an opiate, could cause hallucinations itself...the use of laudanum as seen in the film, seems rather exagerated...If laudanum had been a recreational drug, I'm not sure shelley would have used it, he even didn't drink alcohol (see his vindication on a vegetabel diet)
Second, Shelley wasn't really 'famous' before he died...The image of shelley as we know him today, was created by Lady Jane Shelley (wife of shelley's son percy florence). When he died, englisch newspapers reported that shelley, a poet of some 'infidel poetry' had died. He was know as the atheist, and therefore despised. Byron on the other hand was famous both for his scandalous behavior and for his 'childe harold'
On shelley,read the very interesting 'The Pursuit', by Richard Holmes!
(srry for the bad english!)
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firephoenix6
16 years ago
"Laudanum wasn't a drug as f.e. xtc, weed or whatever...It was a medecin, and often used for all sorts of pains, illnesses etc. .Samuel Taylor Coleridge f.e. started using it as a 'medical treatment', bot got addicted to it..."
Yes, you're right. I didn't mean for my comments on their usage of it to be interpreted as "hee,hee- lets pass the party bowl of chemicals and get LIT!!" And laudanum was a medicinal treatment in much the same way as cocaine was, sold in pharmacies in the U.S. until about 1917. But the fact remains that it was a powerful opiate-
"However, people didn't know that this same laudanum, an opiate, could cause hallucinations itself..."
Please don't take offense, but in my opinion that statement is sort of like saying people don't know that drinking alcohol can make you lose your balance and see double. Laudanum was medicinal, but the extreme high wasn't exactly considered a drawback.. And in their society, it was widely considered to be a discreet alternative to going to an opium den. I think it would be more to the point to state that Shelley probably wasn't aware of the health risks of it, as opposed to alcohol.
I acknowledge the correction on Shelley's fame. I should have said he was part of Byron's "entourage",so he was a VIP by proxy.
Anyway, just wanted to clarify. And I do agree that the movie most likely did exaggerate the effects, but I think that was to illustrate the magnitude of their imaginations. And with Byron around, you never know.:) He was a party boy.
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sarafist
15 years ago
After Byron's wife divorced him, I believe she committed suicide, which markedly upped the scandal factor. And his sexual proclivities and deviances, and wild behavior were legendary. It might have been helped along by the fact that he was, as many historians have concluded, routinely sexually molested by, oh I can't remember if it was his aunt, or his mother, or what- whoever Lady Caroline was, starting at a very young age.
Annabella certainly did not commit suicide after their divorce; she long outlived Byron (and their daughter) and obsessed over him until her death.
And Lady Caroline Lamb certainly wasn't molesting Byron at a young age--they didn't even meet til 1812!
Allegations of sexual molestation are by no means common, but there are numerous accounts of Byron's being physically and mentally abused by various caretakers as a child.
While the movie has its basis in truth--that is things that actually happened--there is a great deal in the movie that was altered or even fabricated out of whole cloth. It hsould not be viewed as literal history, but as a creative interpretation of Frankenstein's genesis.
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Marta
14 years ago
Byron and Annabella were never divorced. They remained separated for the eight years Byron had left to live, after he left England in self-imposed exile, and Annabella was his nominal widow for the 36 years she lived on after his death.
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