Anna Gary
1st Block
December 16,2015
Honors English IV: Mrs. Joyner
The Gothic Tale of Frankenstein Mary Shelley wrote the classic story, Frankenstein, in 1818. Throughout the novel Frankenstein, there were numerous elements that could be categorized as Gothic Romanticism. Elements that really stand out this particular novel are the appreciation of nature, the appreciation of the supernatural, and the amount of madness that is seen in the story. Mary Shelley pushed the writing norms of her time; she uses such powerful elements of Romantic literature. “In short, the argument can be made that through Frankenstein, Shelley not only engages with Romanticism, she exceeds much of what her contemporaries were writing by taking the movement one step
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it has shown the importance of components of Gothic literature. According to an article entitled, (Elements of Romanticism in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley), the source states, “ What makes Frankenstein endure as an exemplary romantic novel is the fact that it takes on these characteristics and concerns that are so central to romantic writing and challenges the common use and treatment of them. By appropriating elements of the romantic and combining them with characteristics that are clearly gothic, Mary Shelley expanded the possibilities of both genres. (Page 2)” The mention of nature has extreme significance because it defines the setting, the mood and the theme. The acknowledgement towards nature began to take over as a new view of the world. The mention of nature also has many …show more content…
Mary Shelley was a creative individual, who changed the structure and the topic of famous works for those who will follow her with their own acclaimed piece of work.
"Elements of Romanticism in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley." Article Myriad. Article Myriad. Web. 8 Dec. 2015. "Great Works in Dialogue." Great Works in Dialogue. Great Works in Dialogue. Web. 8 Dec. 2015. Guyer, Sara. "Romantic Circles." Biopoetics or Romanticism. Https://www.rc.umd.edu/praxis/biopolitics/HTML/praxis.2012.guyer. Web. 9 Dec. 2015. Lowe, Sean. "Frankenstein: A Mix of the Gothic and the Romantic." Frankenstein: A Mix of the Gothic and the Romantic. Http://loweperson.tripod.com/literaryanalysis/frankenstein.htm. Web. 8 Dec. 2015. Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein. Charlottesville, Va.: U of Virginia Library, 1996. Print. "The Romantic Era-19th Century." Http://www.csun.edu/~pjs44945/romanticera.pdf. Http://www.csun.edu/~pjs44945/romanticera.pdf. Web. 8 Dec. 2015. "What Are the Characteristics of Romanticism?" WiseGEEK. WiseGEEK. Web. 8 Dec.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was published in 1818 during the Romanticism era. Romanticism describes the period of time from the late 18th century to the mid 19th century. This period was seen as a response to the Enlightenment; overall there was an increase in the desire to understand the world in an objective matter (lecture). Though Romanticism is commonly viewed as a literary and artistic movement, Mary Shelley gives evidence on the development of Europe in a historical sense through her novel, Frankenstein. Through the motifs and personal experiences of her characters, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein gives insight on scientific development, emerging roles of women, and how the individual is viewed the
Mary Shelley and Samuel Taylor Coleridge are two recognized writers of the Romantic era. The influence of Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere is reflected in Shelley’s Frankenstein in terms of narrative structure, literary techniques and themes. For example, bo...
Romantic examples flood this novel and make it intriguing for scholars even today because of its remarkable ability to give subtle nods to things that strike our inner most emotions. Mary Shelley managed to take our sympathy and pour it onto the Creature and tell the story in a truly Romantic fashion.
The idea for the novel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein came to her one night when she was staying in the company of what has been called ‘her male coterie’, including Lord Byron and her husband, Percy Shelley. Mary Shelley’s whole life seems to have been heavily influenced by men. She idolised her father, William Godwyn, and appears to have spent a good part of her life trying very hard to impress both him and her husband. There seems to have been a distinct lack of female influence, her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, having died weeks after her birth, being replaced by a neglectful step-mother. These aspects of her life are perhaps evident in her novel. The characters and plot of Frankenstein were perhaps influenced by Shelley’s conflicting feelings about the predominately masculine circle which surrounded her, and perhaps the many masculine traits that we see in novel were based upon those of the male figures in Shelley’s own life. In this essay I will attempt to show some of these traits.
After studying the romantics poets such as Shelley, Keats, and Wordsworth, it is obvious that Frankenstein was included in the curriculum because it reflects the same ideas of these poets and the romantic period. One example of romanticism in Frankenstein is how Victor believes that he could bring anyone back to life and basically create immortality. Because of his loneliness, Victor decides to create the monster to keep him company as a friend. After Victor creates the monster and sees how ugly he is, he runs away from it and the monster wakes up very confused that his creator ran away and alone. At the end of the novel Victor plays with immortality again by bringing back Elizabeth. Another example of romanticism in the book is the detailed descriptions of the stormy and cloudy skies; this is parallel to the emotional confusion on the villager’s faces wh...
Mary Shelley’s text, Frankenstein is a text, which is highly regarded in today’s society for its outstanding literary worth. However, the text as it was seen during the time of Shelley and its appearance and appeal today, most certainly differ. The most significant difference is that over a hundred years ago, the text was seen as a popular text, our modern day Simpsons, if you like. Conversely, today it appeals to the cannon of high culture. Its gradual change over time has been based on a number of deciding factors.
Mary Shelleys Frankenstein ( 1818 ) is considered by many literary critics to be the quintessential gothic novel despite the fact that most of the more conventions of the genre are either absent or employed sparingly. As many of the literary techniques and themes of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein adhere to the conventions of the gothic genre it can be considered, primarily, a gothic novel with important links to the Romantic movement.
The literary elements of remote and desolate settings, a metonymy of gloom and horror, and women in distress, clearly show “Frankenstein” to be a Gothic Romantic work. Mary Shelley used this writing style to effectively allow the reader to feel Victor Frankenstein’s regret and wretchedness. In writing “Frankenstein” Mary Shelley wrote one the most popular Gothic Romantic novels of all time.
Mary Shelley, with her brilliant tale of mankind's obsession with two opposing forces: creation and science, continues to draw readers with Frankenstein's many meanings and effect on society. Frankenstein has had a major influence across literature and pop culture and was one of the major contributors to a completely new genre of horror. Frankenstein is most famous for being arguably considered the first fully-realized science fiction novel. In Frankenstein, some of the main concepts behind the literary movement of Romanticism can be found. Mary Shelley was a colleague of many Romantic poets such as her husband Percy Shelley, and their friends William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge, even though the themes within Frankenstein are darker than their brighter subjects and poems. Still, she was very influenced by Romantics and the Romantic Period, and readers can find many examples of Romanticism in this book. Some people actually argue that Frankenstein “initiates a rethinking of romantic rhetoric”1, or is a more cultured novel than the writings of other Romantics. Shelley questions and interacts with the classic Romantic tropes, causing this rethink of a novel that goes deeper into societal history than it appears. For example, the introduction of Gothic ideas to Frankenstein challenges the typical stereotyped assumptions of Romanticism, giving new meaning and context to the novel. Mary Shelley challenges Romanticism by highlighting certain aspects of the movement while questioning and interacting with the Romantic movement through her writing.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is hailed as one of the greatest novels dealing with the human spirit ever to be written. Shelley wrote this nineteenth century sensation after her life experiences. It has been called the first science fiction novel. Shelley lived a sad, melodramatic, improbable, and tragically sentimental life. She was the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, the brilliant pioneer feminist in the late eighteenth century. However due to complications in childbirth and inept medical care, Shelley's mother passed away soon after her birth. Later on, Shelley married the famous romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary Shelley's masterpiece, Frankenstein, was inspired partly by Milton's Paradise Lost:
The role of the imagination in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein is a vital when defining the work as Romantic. Though Shelley incorporates aspects that resemble the Enlightenment period, she relies on the imagination. The power of the imagination is exemplified in the novel through both Victor and the Creature as each embarks to accomplish their separate goals of scientific fame and accomplishing human relationships. The origin of the tale also emphasizes the role of the imagination as Shelley describes it in her “Introduction to Frankenstein, Third Edition (1831)”. Imagination in the text is also relatable to other iconic works of the Romantic Period such as S. T. Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria in which he defines Primary and Secondary imagination. The story as a whole is completely Romantic in that it is filled with impossibilities that seem to have come from a fairy tale. The imaginative quality of the plot itself is a far cry from the stiff subject matter of the Enlightenment period. Frankenstein is wholly a work of Romanticism both from the outside of the tale and within the plot. Shelley created the story in a moment of Primary imagination filling it with impossibilities that can only be called fantastical. Imagining notoriety leads Victor to forge the creature; the creature imagines the joy of having human relationships. The driving factor of the tale is the imagination: imagining fame, imagining relationships and imagining the satisfaction of revenge. Shelley’s use of the imagination is a direct contradiction to the themes of logic and reason that ruled the Enlightenment Period.
As a young writer, at just the age of 18 years old, Mary Shelley was able to become a gothic novel specialist. She was able to create a story that has an unbelievable amount of depth behind all of the events that happen between the characters. Her writing stays relevant in today’s society due to her focus on the creation of artificial life. Many of the characters in the novel Frankenstein have a deep love and desire for new discoveries. The characters like Walton, the Creature and Victor have the desire for ambition which they all become overly consumed in their works and end up in destructive situations. In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley is able to develop multiple characters whose ambitions lead to destruction;
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a gothic science fiction novel written in the romantic era that focuses on the elements of life. The romantic era was sparked by the changing social environment, including the industrial revolution. It was a form of revolt against the scientific revolutions of the era by developing a form of literature that romanticize nature and giving nature godliness. This element of romanticized nature is a recurrent element in Frankenstein and is used to reflect emotions, as a place for relaxation and as foreshadowing. Frankenstein also includes various other elements of romanticism including strong emotions and interest in the common people.
Within each book, authors express their own opinions and views. In Frankenstein, being written during the period of Romanticism, the author, Mary Shelley, expresses her own thoughts of the plot, through nature. Nature, in Romanticism, is seen as not only beautiful, but extremely truthful, also nature connects humans to a spiritual, God-like figure.
Walter Scott’s critique in the 1818, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine Review of Frankenstein, is that Frankenstein is a novel of romantic fiction depicting a peculiar nature that narrates the real laws of nature and family values. This review explains that Mary Shelley manages the style of composition, and gives her characters an indirect importance to the reader as the laws of nature takes course in the novel. In addition, Walter Scott appreciates the numerous theme...