Many of the afflicted were said to have visible marks from sustaining injury by supposed witch attacks. The "containment" of this evil was possible since often times when accused witches were seized and tried, the marks went away. However, in the case of blacks, it was thought that because their skin could never become white, they would never be cured of evil.

McMillan, Timothy J. “Black Magic: Witchcraft, Race, and Resistance in Colonial New England.” Journal of Black Studies 25.1 (1994): 99-117. JSTOR. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.

Bridget Bishop and other accused were said to try to get their victims to sign a book, as if it were a rite to become "evil." Not signing this supposed satanic book meant that the victim was still "good" in some sense. Unfortunately, blacks were unable to maintain the perception of being good, as they were associated with the devil himself and came from what was thought to be demon infested lands. Whites were therefore more like sorcerers while blacks were "inherently evil."

McMillan, Timothy J. “Black Magic: Witchcraft, Race, and Resistance in Colonial New England.” Journal of Black Studies 25.1 (1994): 99-117. JSTOR. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.

The Puritans place great weight on books, especially the bible and religious texts. They believed that their religious writings were essentially a "transmission of sacred information" and thus viewed books as being imbued with an otherworldly or godly power. Because of this, many were fearful of the "devil's book" or "black book." Many testimonies in the Salem Witch trials reveal individuals being forced to sign the devil's book and do the devil's bidding. The idea that this book had evil power, instead of healing or sacred power like that of the bible or other religious texts, has some relation to fetishism and the cultural practices in Africa where those natives would assign objects like bones and shells to have an influence on whoever had the object.

Trigg, Christopher. "The Devil's book at Salem." Early American Literature 49.1 (2014): 37-65. Academic OneFile. Web. 8 Mar. 2016.

Africans were suspected of witchcraft because Africa itself was thought to house numerous demons and devils. Europeans were especially frightened of Africans because they, like the devil, were black. Many testimonies in the Salem Witch Trials said that the devil showed himself as "the black man."

Additionally, witches were thought to be "agents of the Devil" and had "tawny" skin. It was easy for colonists to make the correlation between witches and Indians, who also had tawny skin.

Griffin, Dustin. “Cotton Mather and the Emerson Family.” Massachusetts Historical Review 16 (2014): 1-48. JSTOR. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.

McMillan, Timothy J. “Black Magic: Witchcraft, Race, and Resistance in Colonial New England.” Journal of Black Studies 25.1 (1994): 99-117. JSTOR. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.

Healing practices and other cultural practices of the natives seemed very much like witchcraft to the Europeans, especially powwows. Colonists especially believed they were "summoning the devil" and many claimed that these natives were "enchanting" the land, conjuring up fog to shroud their ships and cause other things to obstruct their paths. To William Bradford, governor of Plymouth, powwows seemed like the natives were summoning demons when they gathered "in a horrid and devilish manner." This once again relates to the idea that America was the "devil's land."

Lovejoy, David S. “Satanizing the American Indian.” The New England Quarterly 67.4 (1994): 603–621. JSTOR. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.

Mather is pointing out that the New Englanders are currently living on what was previously the "Devil's Territories" and uses typology to compare their inhabitancy to Christianity being brought to the Ephesians. This idea that America and its natives were satanical has been present since the Spanish Conquest. This was an especially logical assumption by conquistadors and colonists alike because none of the natives practiced Christianity or heard of the Christian God before their contact with Europeans. The conversion of natives to Christianity was also stressed because of their supposed contact with the devil.

Lovejoy, David S. “Satanizing the American Indian.” The New England Quarterly 67.4 (1994): 603–621. JSTOR. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.

These lines display hybridity because Rowlandson understood that tobacco was in high demand among the Natives. She sold whatever tobacco she received despite the fact that many colonists took to smoking tobacco as well. Because of her religious views, she chose to abstain from smoking tobacco, thinking that it could lead to sin.

This passage, not included in the Norton Anthology of American Literature, shows a Native offering Rowlandson food and speaking with her. Although the Native points out that her "master," or Native friend, had been kind to her, he had murdered Englishmen. Rowlandson does not seem to be completely bothered by this, perhaps because of her devotion to God and her belief that she would not be harmed while in their captivity. (She may have also thought the Native was lying to her, as she had mentioned previously that Natives lied about how her husband had remarried.) If this [religion] is the case, it allows her writing to be even more emblematic of the Puritan sentiment.

Ground nuts are a perennial plant found in the central and eastern parts of North America. They grow in damp soil and have edible tubers that are said to taste similar to potatoes. Native Americans often consumed grounds nuts by boiling them or incorporating them into various dishes.

Rowlandson's consumption of groundnuts display hybridity in that she is becoming somewhat accustomed to the Native cuisine. This paragraph also marks just one instance, from a number of narratives with contact zones, where a non-native had to depend of Native food in order to survive.

"Apios Americana Ground Nut PFAF Plant Database." Apios Americana Ground Nut PFAF Plant Database. Web. 09 Feb. 2016. http://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?latinname=Apios americana

Squaw is the Native word for woman or wife and originated in the northeastern tribes of North America. The colonists adopted this word into the English language as the general term for a Native American woman but their use of it was often offensive or derogatory.

"Squaw." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2016. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/squaw

"Squaw." Encyclopedia of North American Indians, Houghton Mifflin. Ed. Frederick E. Hoxie. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. Credo Reference. Web. 9 Feb. 2016.

antipode: the parts of the earth diametrically opposite —usually used in plural —often used of Australia and New Zealand as contrasted to the western hemisphere

Smith most likely believed he was at the opposite side of the world from England.

"Antipode." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2016. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antipode

Smith wrote this document primarily for the English public. This comment about the Spanish would have been easily recognizable and understood by the English reading this. This reference was not only a reminder that the Spanish had tried to colonize the New World; it was also a reminder of their thirst for gold and the violent ways they went about obtaining it. An aversion of the Spanish seems to be found in much of the English colonists' writing because of their rivalry in converting Natives to their respective religions and obtaining profitable goods. Smith is not an exception.

Appelbaum, Robert, and John Wood Sweet. Envisioning an English Empire: Jamestown and the Making of the North Atlantic World. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania, 2005. Print.

Smith's interactions with the Natives here show that he was aware they would be amazed at the appearance of a compass. It is evident the Natives had never seen anything like it since they seem very intrigued at the needle's movement. Smith used this as a way to escape execution, playing on the naivety the Natives had for European objects and instruments.The image below depicts a diptych dial compass, which is what Smith's compass might have looked like.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?partid=1&assetid=386621001&objectid=55146

Aqua vitae is defined as a strong alcoholic liquor, such as brandy. It literally means "water of life" and has been used since the 15th century.

"Aqua Vitae." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2016. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aqua+vitae

Meanly is defined as in a lowly or inferior manner. Here the word refers to the girl's clothing as being lowly, indicating that she is poor.

"Meanly." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meanly

Venerable is defined as being valued and respected because of old age. The cottagers respect the old man, De Lacey; this is apparent since the creature uses venerable a number of times to describe the old man and also goes into detail about the love shared between the inhabitants of the cottage.

"Venerable." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. http://beta.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/venerable

A Christian Arab is someone who is ethnically Arab and a follower of Christianity. The Islamic conquest had often resulted in Arab Christians being persecuted for not being Muslim, which could explain why Safie's mother was forced into being a slave.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Christians

Only after learning about the family unit, different sexes, and relationships does the creature realize that he has never experienced any of this. He has not encountered an individual who shares his appearance or resembles him whatsoever. This brings up self-discovery and he questions what he is. De Lacey is the father of Agatha and Felix and Felix and Safie are in love with one another, but the creature does not have parents or a lover. He learns alongside Safie from Volney's Ruins of Empires, about western civilization, hierarchy, and race. But Volney also prompts the idea of a desire for a mate in this text and it is likely that the creature learns to adopt this desire as well in order to have a sense of identity.

Komisaruk, Adam. "'so Guided by a Silken Cord': Frankenstein's Family Values." Studies in Romanticism 38.3 (1999): 409. JSTOR.

This refers to a radical work by Constantin François de Chasseboeuf, Comte de Volney called Les Ruines, ou méditations sur les révolutions des empires or The Ruins, or Meditations on the Revolutions of the Empires. This controversial work was published during the beginning of the French Revolution in 1791 and included many Enlightenment ideals. It also critiqued the paradigms and ideologies around the world, most notably Christianity. Percy Bysshe Shelley had a strong reaction to this text and responded by writing the poem "Queen Mab" in 1813.

Mazzeo, Tilar J. "Volney, Constantin François de Chasseboeuf, Comte De 1751-1820." Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760-1850. Ed. Christopher John Murray. London: Routledge, 2003. Credo Reference. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.

This paragraph is another allusion to John Milton's Paradise Lost, where Eve looks at her reflection in a lake and begins to discover her identity. Eve is also startled at her appearance at first but she realizes that she is looking at herself. The creature does the same thing here, though instead of being fair or attractive like Eve, he sees that he is frightening. This experience allows him to realize that he is in fact different from others.

Komisaruk, Adam. "'so Guided by a Silken Cord': Frankenstein's Family Values." Studies in Romanticism 38.3 (1999): 409. JSTOR.

Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires and it is now present day Istanbul, which is located in north western Turkey. Both Safie and her father are from somewhere in Turkey.

"Constantinople." The Columbia Encyclopedia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015. Credo Reference. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.

"Istanbul." The Columbia Encyclopedia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015. Credo Reference. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.

The name Safie could refer to an African talisman or amulet called saphie, which was a piece of paper with prayers from the Koran written on it. These saphies were thought to hold virtues and were often used for protection. Mary Shelley mentions in her journal that her and her husband Percy read Mungo Park's Travels in the Inferior Districts of Africa which described African culture, especially the influence of Islam there. Park's writings seem to have influenced Mary Shelley to include Muslims in Frankenstein.

Neff, D. S. "Safie/Saphie: Mungo Park's “Travels In The Interior Districts Of Africa” And The De Lacey Episode In “Frankenstein”." Anq 21.1 (2008): 45. Biography Reference Bank (H.W. Wilson). Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

The first words the creature learns may be of some significance. In the previous lines, he learns the names of the cottagers and their labels but also "good," "dearest," and "happy." The cottagers to him are inherently good and also dear, but he notices they are unhappy and suffering from poverty and hunger. These words may also be able describe the creature himself. He wants to be good like the cottagers, not some sort of evil entity. He desires affection or someone to view him as dear. But because of his terrifying appearance, he will never be able to accomplish this and is left "unhappy."

The creature is able to view the cottagers through this small crevice. While it is the creature's narrative, he ultimately tells the story of these cottagers and his narration of them acts as a framing device. Their story is within the creature's and his story is in turn within Victor Frankenstein's.

Lyons is a city located in east central France. In the 15th century, it was a silk center in Europe, raising silkworms in order to create silk.

Mont Cenis is an Alpine pass on the border of France and Italy.

Leghorn refers to Livorno, a city on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy, which is known for its fishing industry and major shipyards. Leghorn is the anglican spelling of Livorno.

Felix had led them from the eastern part of France, through the Mont Cenis pass, and down the coast of Italy to Livorno so the Turk could escape execution.

"Lyons, City, France." The Columbia Encyclopedia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015. Credo Reference. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

"Cenis, Mont." The Columbia Encyclopedia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015. Credo Reference. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

"Livorno." The Columbia Encyclopedia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015. Credo Reference. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

"Livorno (Leghorn)." Thames & Hudson Dictionary of the Italian Renaissance , the. Ed. J. R. Hale. London: Thames & Hudson, 2006. Credo Reference. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

Muhammadan, or Mohammedan, means of or relating to Muhammad or Islam.

The monster's narration refers to the Turkish merchant as a Muhammadan, indicating that the Turk is in fact Muslim.

"Mohammedan." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2015. http://beta.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mohammedan

The creature identifies with Safie because not only is she learning the language, but she helps the creature learn about the world. They both cry when hearing about the imperial expansion. They are learning about geography and the violence associated with empires expanding and in turn are also learning about race. This is important because Safie is a foreigner; she is Arabian and the creature is similar in that he is almost of his own race, a monstrous one. The things taught by Felix are what stays with the Creature and he thus has an understanding of racial supremacy and possession. His "deformity" makes him feel inferior and he lashes out at numerous points in the story due to this.

Bugg, John. "'Master of Their Language': Education and Exile in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." Huntington Library Quarterly. 48: 4 (2005), 655-666. JSTOR.

Here Shelley includes Orientalism with the introduction of Safie, an Arabian girl with whom Felix is in love. Orientalism is defined as the representation of the Orient, mainly the Middle East, in literature and art. Shelley would have definitely read Orientalist pieces written by Percy Shelley and Lord Byron and her inclusion of it here seems to be a response to the exoticizing nature of Orientalism. It also seems to be a pun on "Arabia Felix" which was the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula.

Lew, Joseph W. "The Deceptive Other: Mary Shelley's Critique of Orientalism in 'Frankenstein.'" Studies in Romanticism. 30: 2 (1991), 255-283. JSTOR.

"orientalism, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, September 2015. Web. 17 November 2015.

The creature describes himself as a mixture of a donkey and a lap-dog, noting that while donkeys are rude and tend to be uncouth, he means well. The mention of the lap-dog indicates that he is affectionate and simply wants to be shown kindness rather than the violence and denouncing he has been met with before when encountering people.

The creature hopes that his mastery of language will be compensatory for his terrifying appearance, which relates to somewhat to eighteenth to nineteenth century slave narratives where slaves wished to read what their master could read. This is seen in Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s "Trope of the Talking Book" which includes the narrative of James Gronniosaw, a slave who spoke about his curiosity and desire to be able to read and how perplexing it was to watch books "speak" to his master.

Bugg, John. "'Master of Their Language': Education and Exile in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." Huntington Library Quarterly. 48: 4 (2005), 655-666. JSTOR.

As the creature travels, he continues to look for warm and dry places to shelter him from the elements. The creature seeking a warm shelter also parallels his desire for warmth from others. In other words, he desires kindness and sympathy from others but is constantly met with fear and anger, for example when he is driven away by the villagers who thrown stones at him towards the beginning of this paragraph. This fear and anger could be represented by the cold and the rain and snow he experiences.

Britton, Jeanne M. "Novelistic Sympathy in Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein.'" Studies in Romanticism. 48: 1 (2009), 3-22. JSTOR.

The idea of tabula rasa, or blank slate, seems to be related here. John Locke's idea that everyone's mind began as a blank slate seems to pair with the creature's gradual discovery of the world around him. Mary Shelley read Locke and she uses this idea to develop the creature. His experience of nature allows him to learn more about the world like distinguishing different plants from one another and which birds make certain sounds.

Malchow, H. L. "Frankenstein's Monster and Images of Race in Nineteenth-Century Britain." Past & Present. 139 (1993), 90-130. JSTOR.

The Creature's naivety results in him finding out about the harm fire can pose. This passage foreshadows him burning down the cottage after his attempt at befriending the cottagers ends in disaster. It also alludes to the slave rebellions where slaves would murder whites and set fire to buildings, something a wealthy merchant named Bryan Edwards included in his history about the West Indies. The way the creature is abhorred by others and is troubled by their contempt could imply a parallel between him being racially different, specifically like a black slave.

Malchow, H. L. "Frankenstein's Monster and Images of Race in Nineteenth-Century Britain." Past & Present. 139 (1993), 90-130. JSTOR.

Pandemonium is the capital of hell which houses all demons in Paradise Lost by John Milton. Later on in the Creature's narrative, he mentions a number of books he found in the forest, one of them being Paradise Lost. Upon reading this, he identifies with Satan who is cast out of heaven because of his envy towards God. The creature views the hut like a refuge and compares it to the palace Pandemonium, which implies that the creature views himself to be demonic or deserving of being in hell.

"pandemonium, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, September 2015. Web. 16 November 2015.

Lamb, John B. "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Milton's Monstrous Myth." Nineteenth-Century Literature. 47:3 (1992), 303-319. JSTOR.

Jessica Milewski

Coleridge uses a simile here to compare a seemingly supernatural wind with that of the wind in a meadow during the spring. This contrasts with where the Mariner is during these lines, since he is stuck on a ship at sea with a dead crew. To bring a meadow during spring into the poem connects this wind with the idea of something joyous and possibly of rebirth. After the Mariner's ordeals, he becomes a changed man and is more religious, which could be interpreted as a type of rebirth. Also the fact that it "felt like a welcoming" is also juxtaposed with the supernatural and frightening experiences the Mariner has.

These twelve lines are not in their original orientation. An earlier edition of the poem published in 1798 have a number of lines included between each set of four lines. The lines that have been omitted here describe the reanimated bodies moving towards the mast of the ship and raising their right arms. Throughout lines 481-502 of the 1798 version, they are described as red shadows, their outstretched arms like torches, and their eyes glittering in the red light. Upon watching this, the Mariner is fearful and turns away and prays.

(http://www.rc.umd.edu/sites/default/RCOldSite/www/rchs/reader/rime6.html)

In this later version of the poem, the bodies are not described in great detail like the 1798 version. This omission makes the scene less frightening since it only describes the moonlight and the angelic spirits leaving the dead bodies.

Here the text in the margin, or the gloss, points out that the spirit from the South Pole is forced by angelic spirits to move the ship. The ship is said to move to the Line, which is the equator, though previously the ship had been sailing southward. Lines 379 to 384 only say that the ship had been sailing on it's own and then a supernatural force takes over and propels the ship backwards and forwards in the next lines, but there is no clear indication as to where the ship is going. The gloss, however, provides a definite direction and it seems that Coleridge perhaps wanted to clarify this.

The gloss also mentions that the spirit wants vengeance for the death of the Albatross. This could indicate the curse placed on the Mariner in which he has to tell his tale to the people he meets.

Coleridge uses a metaphor here to further describe the transparency of the ghostly ship. His use of the term "dungeon-grate" makes the appearance of the ship more ominous and foreshadows the chilling encounter the Mariner has with the supernatural. These lines also personify the sun, like the sun being a prisoner looking out from the bars of a dungeon.

The line in quotations is the wedding guest interrupting the Mariner and saying that he is afraid. The Mariner responds to him in the next line by telling him to be calm. The shift of the speaker allows the reader to recall that the Mariner is at a wedding and telling this story to a wedding guest. In other words, this is a story within a story.

scourge: A whip, lash. Now only rhetorical, with reference to the torturing of human beings, or to ascetic discipline.

In these lines, Robert Southey illustrates the brutality experienced by slaves during the time of the Slave Trade. By describing the slave trader as inhuman and coupling that with the imagery of him lifting a whip, it creates the idea that this slave trader is monstrous. Additionally, Southey compares the bloodshed during the Slave Trade as a beverage that the traders sip. In other words, he is referring to the benefits reaped by the traders whenever they force innocent people into slavery. The dark imagery of the slave traders essentially drinking the blood of the slaves is very sinister and attempts to show the inhumanity and cruelty that these slave traders were exemplary of.

"scourge, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, September 2015. Web. 24 September 2015.

The Hesperian gardens refers to the Hesperides from Greek mythology, who were three to four nymphs, daughters of Atlas, that resided in a garden and guarded an apple tree bearing golden apples of immortality. This garden was located in the far west and thus the Hesperides are also referred to as the 'nymphs of the west.'

Barbauld's inclusion of this reference to the Hesperides creates a mystical atmosphere in terms of describing the sunset and closure of the day. Her many references to other mythological figures also accomplish this.

"Hesperides, the." Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth. Kenneth McLeish. London: Bloomsbury, 1996. Credo Reference. Web. 24 Sep 2015.

"Hesperides." Who's Who in Classical Mythology, Routledge. Michael Grant and John Hazel. London: Routledge, 2002. Credo Reference. Web. 24 Sep 2015.