Frankenstein y la metáfora de la alquimiauna búsqueda hacia la androginia de los opuestos

Abstract

This research was born out of a concern for tracking alchemical features in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus (1818). On starting the research on alchemy, focusing primarily on Western Europe, we have noticed two issues. Firstly, from an epistemological point of view, the alchemists facilitated the first defences of scientific researches. Secondly, since alchemy also presents an esoteric face, the access to divine knowledge took place by "practical" work. In this regard, the alchemists worked with matter, while experiencing a numinous moment of connection with the divine. During the Middle Ages, this hermetic wisdom was relegated, like most knowledge, to clerical institutions. A good example is the work of the Franciscan and medieval alchemist Roger Bacon, whose speech integrates the empirical practice of alchemy as well as its esoteric facet —particularly in this case with clear Christian features...