Composed in a time of major scientific developments, including Galvani’s concept of electricity as a reanimating force, Shelley’s Frankenstein utilises the creative arrogance of the Romantic imagination to fashion a Gothic world in which the protagonist’s usurpation of the divine privilege of creation has derailed the conventional lines of authority and responsibility. Her warning of the dangers of such actions is encapsulated within Victor’s retrospective words of “how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge”, whilst Shelley’s use of a fragmented epistolatory narrative adds a disturbing sense of truth, foreshadowing the dark consequences of Frankenstein’s actions. Moreover, her allusions to John Milton’s Paradise Lost evoke the poetic retelling of Satan’s fall from grace, wherein the daemon’s association with “the fallen angel” exacerbates the effects of Victor’s rejection, ultimately transforming its “benevolent nature” into a thirst for retribution. Together with its questioning of how Victor could “sport with life”, Shelley’s warning reverberates past the page, directly questioning the scientists of her era, including evolutionary theorist Erasmus Darwin, to reinforce the dangers of our humanity’s inherent yearning to play the role of the
Composed in a time of major scientific developments, including Galvani’s concept of electricity as a reanimating force, Shelley’s Frankenstein utilises the creative arrogance of the Romantic imagination to fashion a Gothic world in which the protagonist’s usurpation of the divine privilege of creation has derailed the conventional lines of authority and responsibility. Her warning of the dangers of such actions is encapsulated within Victor’s retrospective words of “how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge”, whilst Shelley’s use of a fragmented epistolatory narrative adds a disturbing sense of truth, foreshadowing the dark consequences of Frankenstein’s actions. Moreover, her allusions to John Milton’s Paradise Lost evoke the poetic retelling of Satan’s fall from grace, wherein the daemon’s association with “the fallen angel” exacerbates the effects of Victor’s rejection, ultimately transforming its “benevolent nature” into a thirst for retribution. Together with its questioning of how Victor could “sport with life”, Shelley’s warning reverberates past the page, directly questioning the scientists of her era, including evolutionary theorist Erasmus Darwin, to reinforce the dangers of our humanity’s inherent yearning to play the role of the