Mary Shelleys Frankenstein and the Romantic Culture - Essay Example

Frankenstein is often considered a work that initiated the dark visions of the cruelty and barbarity of the scientific endeavors by megalomaniacs wishing to control the world rather than as a tool for the spread of Enlightenment ideas.

The setting and time further highlighted the Romantic character of Frankenstein. The story happened in the eighteenth century, a time wherein political, social, and scientific norms required resistance. In addition, the setting: the Swiss Alps and the cold regions of England and Scotland serve to tell us that these desolate places are where the monsters are appropriately exiled. It also underscored the sublime and untamed character of nature, which, for its part, highlighted the scientific atrocities committed by humans against it. Through the setting, there was an interfusion of elemental contraries that better demonstrate Shelley’s objectives.

One of the most important themes that I found in the novel is the concept of monstrosity. Although Frankenstein is the most obvious example of what a monster is, he was less of a monster than his creator. His hideousness hides a compassionate creature and his lack of companionship deeply troubled him. This was summed up in the line: “I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on.” (Shelley, p. 188) Victor, his creator, on the other hand, displays a more intense monstrosity in his ambition, secrecy, and selfishness, which led him to murder members of his own family.

It is, however, unnoticeable because such monstrosity is hidden in his humanity. These two characters served two represent varying concepts that permeate the literary world. The most obvious are the elements present in the revolt against the prevailing political, social, and scientific norms: master and slave, human and machine. Then, there’s this feminist hint about the characters or Shelley’s frustration over male domination in her society. Victor, a scientist, seems to embody men, with his rationality, emotional detachment, instrumentality, and competitiveness. His creature – a travesty of creation, a toy, and a tool – seems to be a female in disguise.

Frankenstein includes several texts and letters, notes, journals, inscriptions as well as books. We have Walton’s tale, which, of course, contains the entire narrative. Then, there was Victor’s story, the monster story, and the love story of Felix and Safie. There is even a reference to Paradise Lost in Frankenstein’s tale.
The contrasts – both extreme and subtle – among the characters certainly affected the intensity of their interactions and relationships. This made the novel more effective as the piece, first and foremost, belongs to the Romantic genre, which primarily appeals to emotions. Read More