Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Employs Typical Features of the Gothic Tradition

Finally, the reference to sleeping, dreaming and the blurriness of reality faced by some of the characters adds eeriness and unrest, enhancing the gothic premise of the novel. These examples are all traits of which gothic literature consists of. Through this paper, I will prove that due to the use of darkness, the supernatural and the blurred sense of reality, Dracula is a prime example of gothic literature. Darkness is a main element in gothic literature. In Dracula, the darkness is projected on everything including characters and even the events that take place are all under a blanket of darkness.

Josh Barnette Honors English IV Mrs. Schroder 12/6/17 Frankenstein Essay Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was written in the early 19th century and contains many attributes of gothic characteristics in many different ways. Frankenstein carries many gothic characteristics, such as the mysterious and supernatural, the story taking place in a dark place, and the coming together of the mortal and the supernatural world. Shelley uses all of these gothic characteristics to her advantage when portraying the book as gothic and mysterious. Gothic Novels tend to focus on mysterious and supernatural things. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses strange circumstances for when Victor Frankenstein creates the monster.

Just before he starts to tell his story, he tells Robert Walton that his story has "unparalleled misfortunes" and that he has "memories of evil" this is meant to strike fear into the reader and into Robert Walton, it shows that Victor Frankenstein is deeply horrified with what has happened to him. There is also evil in this story a... ... middle of paper ... ...ypical through out all of the book. I believe that Frankenstein is definitely a horror story and that it is also a Gothic story, because it has many features that are typical of these genres. I do not believe that they are the main genres though, as the Romantic genre is a lot more dominant in this novel. I believe that this is mainly because of the time period that it was set in, as it was written in 1818, and this was when people were starting to discard the horror genre, and they were starting to believe in nature.

Frankenstein is perceived as a horror story. When we analyse the monster, however, the story becomes much more complex. Discuss this statement with close reference to Shelley’s presentation of the monster in the novel. Frankenstein is a novel with great hidden depths and a whole new outlook on life itself. Frankenstein was written in 1818 by Mary Shelley.

This is significant because the character of Elizabeth relates to Mary Shelley in numerous ways: the first being that Elizabeth's mother dies as did Mary's when both girls were still young. Secondly, Elizabeth then assumes the maternal role with regard to William her brother, who later dies; Mary also had a son named William who died. Monstrosity is apparent throughout the novel in different forms. Primarily the visual and physical appearance of the creation is repellant, but also the reaction of the creator and the characters encountered by the monster reflect an element of monstrosity. At the beginning Frankenstein is extremely enthralled with the idea of creating a being.

The Fulfillment of the Definition of Gothic Horror by Chapters 5 and 4 of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein 'Frankenstein' is a gothic novel, a type of novel most popular between 1760 and 1820. The main components of the gothic novel are mystery, horror, and the supernatural. The word 'gothic' itself has several meanings. It can mean harsh or cruel, referring to the barbaric Gothic tribes of the Middle Ages. However, gothic novels typically feature wild and remote settings, such as haunted castles or wind-blasted moors, and their plots involve violent or mysterious events.

“It is a hair-raising, chilling story of terror that more than an century and a half after Mary put down her pen still has the power to fascinate, frighten, and haunt its reader” (askwillonline.com). The Gothic elements can be found in Frankenstein through the atmosphere, Victor’s actions, and the creature itself. One way the Gothic elements are revealed in Frankenstein is through the atmosphere. For example,

This is coupled with the convention of transgressive, encroaching insanity, ubiquitous in Gothic literature. In The Tell-Tale Heart, a kind of psychological doubling is achieved by the narrator- an identification with the old man at the time of disturbing him in the middle of the night, and a psychopathic detachment, evidenced by the feeling of triumph and elation that precedes the murder in the extract “..so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror”. Hysteria is pertinent in Gothic texts, an... ... middle of paper ... ...matic Gothic convention of decay. With respect to the Gothic conventions present in The Raven, The Black Cat, and The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe’s texts are considered examples of Gothic literature. Through the use of literary techniques and devices, Poe has effectively conveyed thematic concerns of Gothicism.

Gothic novels have many different characteristics: they evoke terror both physical and psychological, they have character that keep themselves isolated in time or space from contemporary l... ... middle of paper ... ... Shelley’s Frankenstein truly displays the true essence of what a Gothic novel should represent through the many different characteristics of a Gothic novel. Mary Shelley takes these few basic characteristic and transforms them into a true representation of a Gothic novel. The transformations of these basic Gothic characteristics are what allowed Mary Shelley to create her outstanding and prominent Gothic novel, Frankenstein. Works Cited “Gothic Novels.” The World Book Encyclopedia. Ed.

Monster stories are stories that stir up a feeling of horror, and terror. The film Victor Frankenstein and the book Frankenstein; Dracula; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with an introduction by Stephen King, both focus on monsters. They all talk of a monster stories and their evils. However, despite this common topic, the evil displayed in the film and in the book is different and has its own intensity. A monster story is a story about a creature fashioned to evoke horror.