The comparative study of texts, allows audiences to investigate the changing nature and interpretation of issues relating to humanity as they are interpreted in different contexts. Context allows audiences to relate to and understand the thoughts, decisions and actions of individuals within a text. Context provides the opportunity to develop and shape a new genre or interpret an existing genre in a new way. The comparative study of context allows for audiences to compare the changing values of societies over time. Literary techniques such as allusions, imagery and dialogue is used to shape context and can be used by composers to entertain, inform or persuade an audience or highlight and provide insight into interesting or noteworthy points. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1831) and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (Directors Cut-1992) individually utilise literary techniques to establish the context of their text within its time. The comparative study of these two texts highlights how texts are inevitably a product of their time however both texts present issues that explore the intricacies and complexities of all human experience. Shelley and Scott utilise distinctive contexts to explore the nature of humanity and ultimately question what makes us human. Frankenstein and Blade Runner exist to highlight how context affects the perceptions of the audience in regards to how a text is received over time thus highlighting how a comparative study of texts can accentuate distinctive contexts.
The comparative study of texts depends on the context used to establish a relationship with the audience. Mary Shelley’s fiction novel Frankenstein (1831) is a hybrid product of 18th century Gothic-Romanticism. The text reflects recent challenges to the social order as a result of the English industrial revolution and the French revolution during the second half of the 18th