Preview

Romanticism In Frankenstein Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
942 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Romanticism In Frankenstein Essay
Mary Shelly exemplifies her command as a literary scholar in her novel, Frankenstein. Her novel represents a combination of influences from the Romantic Era and her own personal dispositions. It is widely commended in the literally world because of the way every scene offers a new perspective, and a new way to interpret the themes that are communicated through the text. Furthermore, Frankenstein is notable for the way it usher in this argument whether Mary Shelly advocated for Romantic ideologies or strayed away from her fellow literary peers from the era. It is evident that there were various occasions where she offered criticism to the ideologies of the Romantic Era. However, after indulging myself into the novel, I found myself in a conflicted …show more content…
It exemplifies the characterization a true Romantic had during this era. These qualities are what lead to the creation of the monster. Victor would truly stop at nothing to create the monster because this was the mentality that was carried throughout the Romantic Era. But once again, Mary Shelly contradicts his actions when he failed to tend for the monster. In some manner, this failure represents this notion of a Romantic gone rouge and this title really carried throughout the novel. His desire for death as an “escapement,” from everything that was transpiring around him resembles the incident of Justine who “did not fear to die” (59). But, his reason for death and her reasons for death had an explicit difference. Justine sought out to leave a world that in her eyes was “sad and bitter.” Victor wanted death because he wanted to escape his responsibilities and the repercussions the monster had brought upon. He was in a position where his “renewed torture,” never ended and it was all because of his ambition (130). As a reader, this scene leads to an internal battle. Mary Shelly never outright argued against ambition, but rather she illustrated the consequences that too much ambition can bring upon an individual. Victor was so indulged with this Romantic mentality that he forget to take a step back and take a second to think about what he was doing. As a result, his ambition lead to the copious suffering he underwent throughout the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Shelley uses aspects of Romanticism in the novel by having the Creature live in the heath. Romanticism is also displayed on Victor’s retreat to the mountains. Shelley displays an enormous amount of emotion in the novel which assists the reader to understand the feelings of alienation and neglect that the Creature is experiencing. With all of these aspects, the reader may begin to question whether Shelley had an extreme personal connection to one of the characters, whether it be the Creature or Victor.…

    • 83 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Written in 1818 by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein is widely considered to be among the novels that fully exemplify Romantic-era literary achievement. The Romantic movement is a general term used to denote the intellectual evolution in literature and the arts, primarily in 19th century Europe. Substantial facets of literary Romanticism include belief in the innate virtue of humans, the bounds of nature, as well as the polarity of human emotion, all of which are embodied in Shelley’s Frankenstein. Through reading Shelley’s novel, some of the fundamental ideals of Romanticism genuinely become obvious.…

    • 1511 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romanticism, a literary movement that emerged in the late 18th century in reaction to the Industrial Revolution, inspired Mary Shelley's “Frankenstein.”Romanticism celebrated life and embraced ideas of intense emotion experienced by individuals, appreciation of the beauty of nature and non-restrictive power of imagination, all of which are explored in “Frankenstein.”Mary Shelley focuses on the central concerns of Romanticism whilst incorporating elements of the Gothic novel, thereby releasing a warning to the responder.…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frankenstein Essay

    • 2201 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, is arguably one of the most controversial novels of the 19th Century. It discusses the concept of science verses human conscience in a technological world. The Gothic atmosphere of the novel reflects the dark feelings of society at the time, and Shelley utilised pathetic fallacy, her chosen form and imagery to suggest a twist on the real monster of her story. Shelley uses poetical language and perspective to emphasise how the monster is a model Romaticist, and to express the importance of belonging and communication to a judgemental society. Symbols, contrasts and ‘heavenly’ adjectives are used to portray Victor Frankenstein as a God-like figure; expressing how we must never interfere with nature’s course and take on God’s role to the knowledge-greedy culture of the 1800’s, which was consumed with the Industrial Revolution. Shelley has manipulated her writing to convey her personal ideologies, and to reflect her concern for a loss of ethics in a society fixated on the pursuit for answers.…

    • 2201 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One must also take into account that Mary Shelly’s husband was a romantic poet, and she often edited his works. At the time of Frankenstein’s publish, the roots of Romanticism had been laid. Among the characteristic romantic attitudes were: a deep appreciation of nature, a general preference of emotion over reason and senses over intellect, an introspective evaluation of human personality and its moods and mental processes, a fixation with the “genius”,…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    believes that he can conquer nature, and tries to be a god, but discovers that…

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Fearful Frankenstein

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages

    People naturally fear the capabilities of science. Nuclear war, flying in airplanes, and even cloning are all examples of twenty-first century fears. We fear these because of science. Nuclear war would devastate the world, flying in airplanes is risky because of the unnatural ability of human flying, and cloning because it seems to play God. Well, according to Peter Hutchings in his book The Horror Film movie monsters are “expressions of or metaphors for socially specific fears and anxieties” (37). Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, is an example of societies fears in the 1800’s. This was the time of the Industrial Revolution, and people were just beginning to see what science could do. Although Frankenstein is just a gothic novel, it is also an expression for societies fears of science and playing God in the 1800’s.…

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Despite the fact that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is typically seen as exhibiting characteristics of the gothic genre, those characteristics cross over to how the novel fits within the Romantic genre of women's writing. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein definitely includes characteristics of the Romantic genre. Mary Shelley expresses her feelings towards the way that women writers were treated in society. She highlights the fact that women were treated and acted the way that men and society says that they should act. Shelley used Victor Frankenstein’s monster to represent the treatment of women during her time and the different ways that they were treated. One way that this was shown was through the way that Victor Frankenstein reacted…

    • 1731 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein during the Romantic Era. Characteristics like a passion for human emotion and the advocacy of free thought are part of Romantic literature. However, Shelley’s writing was more of a toned down version of Romanticism. The novel itself describes a dark and grotesque story, using gothic themes throughout the story. Using gothic and romantic themes throughout the novel Shelley creates an iconic example that is the epitome of the gothic and romantic ideals stressed throughout the nineteenth century.…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Novels come in many different genres, mainly separated by fiction and non-fiction. Fiction can also be broken down into subgroups. Gothic romance is a branch of fiction detailing in the dark tragedy including romance. The tragedy tells the tale of death. Shelley was surrounded by death, close family died quickly, she lost her children, her sister committed suicide and as result she had a lot of despair and loneliness in her life. This led to her gothic-romantic style of writing. Frankenstein, stylistically written for Shelley’s time period, is a worthy representation of both gothic and romantic literature. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus is a classic composition that entails conflict and uses point of view to tell the story in a constructive way.…

    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Frankenstein - Romanticism

    • 1558 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Bibliography: Works Cited Brigham, Linda. "Legacies of omission and unacknowledged bequests: Recent Romantic Criticism." College Literature 24 (1997): 195. Cantor, Paul. "The Reception of Myth in English Romanticism." Modern Philology 95 (1998): 411. Caprio, Terri. "Overview of Feminist Criticism." Online. Internet. Available URL: http://loki.stockton.edu/~stk13818/fem.htm. Hamberg, Cynthia. "Biography: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley." Online. Internet. 1999.Available URL: http:/home- 1.worldline.nl~hamberg/text/MaryShelley/biographytext. html. Hall, Jacquline. "The Prong of Love." Southern Cultures 5 (1999): 44. Heffernan, James A.W. "Looking at the Monster: Frankenstein and Film." Critical Inquiry 24 (1997): 133 Lowy, Michael. "Marxism and romanticism." Latin American Perspectives 25 (1998): 76. Pipkin, John. "The material sublime of women romantic poets." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 38 (1998): 597. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Literature of the Western World, 4th ed. vol.2. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1996: 668-803. Zschirnt, Christiane. "Fainting and Latency in the Eighteenth Century 's Romantic Novel of Courtship." The Germanic Review 74 (1999): 48…

    • 1558 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the Romanticism era, authors often looked to nature as an ideal for humanity. Famous Romantic author Mary Shelley wrote the novel Frankenstein centers on Victor Frankenstein bringing a creature into the natural realm of the living. Another famous author, William Wordsworth, wrote the poem “The World is Too Much with Us; Late and Soon,” to reveal a personal perspective on the evolving relationship between mankind and nature. Shelley's novel Frankenstein and Wordsworth's poem "The World" illustrate nature as a force essential to mankind's stability and happiness, and as a result, isolation from nature by the subjects of the works in favor of human interests procures devastating effects.…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women In The Romance Era

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Mary Shelly’s novel, Frankenstein, plays a part in the romantic period. Mary is the daughter of liberal and feminist, Mary Wollstonecraft, and political philosopher, William Godwin. Mary’s mother died when she was only eleven days old, so her father raised her and her half sister. Around the age of nineteen, Mary writes a short story to entertain Lord Byron in a cottage in Switzerland. Though the encouragement of her husband, Percy Shelly, she creates the novel, Frankenstein. In her years of authoring, however, and many believe that Mary’s novels were not of her own mind but of the mind of Percy Shelly. Edward Trelawney’s…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Frankenstein is a popular novel written by Mary Shelley in 1818. When she began in 1816, she was only 18 years old. It was then published in 1818, when she was only 20 years old. This novel is a product of a ghost story competition and Mary got the idea from a dream. Analyzing Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein through the feminist, archetypal, and…

    • 1434 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Whenever we hear the tale of Frankenstein, our natural instinct is to demonize the creature himself. We’ve heard of his heinous acts and known of his unnatural upbringing; yet, we never question the origins of his trivial motives. To our knowledge, this “mutation of alchemy” is inherently evil and nothing short of the story’s main antagonist. However, I believe Mary Shelley, the mastermind behind this novel, reveals different intentions beyond the book’s face value. Not only does Shelley present perhaps a more disturbing creature in her novel, she also covertly highlights the absence of women and their importance to society.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays