Romantic characteristics in Frankenstein

Some critics have argued that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is actually more intriguing and multi-layered than
the prose of other romantic writers, as this novel ‘initiates a rethinking of romantic rhetoric’ (Sarah Guyer). This
rethinking is achieved by Shelley’s espousing and simultaneously challenging the typical romantic tropes, which
results in the production of a novel that is ‘more complex than we had earlier thought’ (Jane Goodall ). The
infusion of Gothic elements into the Frankenstein text questions the facile assumptions of romanticism, thereby
redefining the ‘romantic text’. Hence it can be argued that Shelley through Frankenstein takes Romanticism one
step forward, almost into a morass of questions and contradictory ideas.
The romantic poets are always seeking a way to capture and represent ‘the sublime’ moment and
experience (P. B. Shelley in particular), and the more personal that moment is the better. [A simplistic definition
for your understanding: A key idea in Romantic poetry is the concept of the sublime. This term conveys the
feelings people experience when they see awesome landscapes, or find themselves in extreme situations which
evoke both fear and admiration. For example, Shelley’s reaction to the stunning, overwhelming scenery in the
poem ‘Mont Blanc’ (1816), and the moments of ‘bliss’ and realization in Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey.] But
Mary Shelley appropriates this particular romantic ideal: embracing it and challenging it The moment which
Shelley describes in Frankenstein is neither a moment recalled from her personal experience, such as a
contemplative moment in nature, nor is the narrative voice her own, yet she is portraya a particular quest to
achieve the sublime. That quest, of course, is Victor Frankenstein’s effort to create a living being out of raw
material in his laboratory. Curiously enough this quest occurs within the confines of Victor’s private, secluded
laboratory, which is unlike the natural, pastoral environments of the typical romantic texts. Yet, we must note
the nature imagery where Victor expresses his feelings about his venture: ‘No one can conceive the variety of
feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success.’ The moment of the
sublime is suggested in words like, ‘Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break
through…. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would
owe their being to me’. Victor Frankenstein is a ‘romantic’ character to the extent that he reflects the romantic
writers’ emphasis on a new way of seeing, (originality). The Romantics believed that an individual and
collective imagination would create a new understanding of the world leading to a more perfect version of
human beings and the societies in which they lived. Victor is the ultimate dreamer, preoccupied by otherworldly
concerns even when he is contrariwise most scientific in his approach to the dream.
Beyond character depictions, however, there are several important romantic themes and concepts that
are presented in Frankenstein. Nature for instance plays a mammoth role in Frankenstein, although to the
reader familiar with romantic poetry, it may seem that nature is somewhat given less priority despite the role it
plays. Nonetheless, from the novel’s opening, the importance of the reader getting a sense of physical place is
established by situating the text within a particular environment, the qualities of which will both reflect and
counterpoint the inner states of the main characters. Victor’s description of the Orkneys is cold, barren, gray,
and rough. In contrast, he describes the Swiss hills in true romantic style as covered with verdant vines and the
landscape as dotted with blue lakes mirroring the azure sky. The juxtaposition of the two places highlights the
stark and distinct differences between Frankenstein’s Creature and the human world. The Creature occupies a
world that is bleak, that is attacked on all sides by a harsh set of conditions. Victor, his family, and the De Lacys
occupy a world that has beauty, even when confronted with hard reality.. These appropriate pairings of
characters with their environments is recurrent in the novel. Natural surroundings always evokes contemplative
thought for Victor and the Creature.
On a more symbolic level, Frankenstein is clearly a novel about the ‘romantic’ struggle against the
customary limitations imposed on our existence. First, there is the obvious example of Victor Frankenstein
pushing against his limitations as a human being by striving to play a God-like role by making the Creature. The
distinction between Renaissance ‘over-reaching’ (seen in Dr. Faustus for example) and the Romantic striving
beyond limits is that the former often focuses on the ‘going beyond’ for its own sake, checking out as it were
what lies beyond the ‘beyond’, while the latter has a goal – the achievement of something original, a momentous
discovery which shakes the world. [This contrast itself can be a topic for a research paper. Both kinds of striving
of course ignores the ethical anchor of human action.] For Victor, it is not satisfying enough to simply study
philosophy and science and proceed on to a respectable profession. He must perfect the role of the scientist by
attempting to accomplish the impossible, a process which ends in failure simply because overstepping human
boundaries has severe consequences. In his Romantic quest for a scientific ideal (almost a contradiction in
terms) – the perfect human – he creates a Monster, who then must be held in check by man-made institutions
which may be based in reality than the creation of the monster and are equally imperfect. The author in
Frankenstein suggests that there is no such condition as perfection. Moreover there is no social/ scientific
experiment which will result in any ideal solution. [Ideal is ‘ideal’ because it is not ‘real’. No socio-political
structure of governance is therefore the ultimate solution for social evils. No ideology or philosophical thought
is the answer to human evil. Human beings with his so-called superhuman powers will only end up setting up
imperfect institutions and inventions. And still we dream, choosing that whish leads to human harmony.] Victor
Frankenstein is not the only character to strive against and challenge traditional limits, however. Walton goes
beyond spatial boundaries to discover new places even to the edge of death. The Creature that Victor makes is
engaged in his own struggle to experience ‘sublime’ connection with his environment and other living beings
(the humans). The Creature makes multiple attempts which inevitably end in failure. He lacks obvious physical
and behavioural traits that would make him more acceptable to human beings. The pain of constant rejection
impels him to say, ‘[T]he human senses are insurmountable barriers to our union…. [I]f I cannot inspire love, I
will cause fear….’
This novel has a terrible denouement. It ends with a twist on the typical romantic text with the
characters having reached no significant resolution amongst themselves. They have all realized the impossibility
of striving against the roles to which they have been assigned in society and life. While this novel is exemplary
of the romantic period inasmuch as it uses a highly stylized, dramatized form more focused on the fantastic than
the real, the fantastic story becomes an allegory (an exemplum) for emotions and struggles with which romantic
writers were deeply preoccupied.
What makes Frankenstein endure as an exemplary romantic novel is the fact that it deals with the
concerns that are so endemic to romantic writing and challenges how they are used. By appropriating elements
of the romantic and combining them with characteristics that are clearly gothic, Mary Shelley expands the
possibilities of both genres. To her credit, she avoids over-philosophizing or offering her own interpretation for
the reader to accept. Instead, she creates a novel that is far more complex and sophisticated than the work of
many of her contemporaries by provoking philosophical, ethical and moral questions that her contemporaries
and the reader have to grapple with. It opens up the scope for more conjecture and further exploration. Hence
the novel has no closure.
 Gothic elements in Frankenstein [This can also be used as an answer Frankenstein as a Romantic novel]

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein uses many elements of both Gothic literature and Romantic literature. Being
written in 1818 the novel was placed well in the romantic era. Frankenstein uses very descriptive language to
create beautiful scenery but also dark suspenseful settings. The novel works very well to balance out the true
gothic nature of the novel with the romantic period in which it is set in. Frankenstein has a very dark underlying
theme of death and revenge. There is also an incredible amount of emotion not only in the love Victor feels but
also in the hatred the monster lets fester. There are many things that make Frankenstein a romantic novel, but
the true underlying theme and the overpowering dark imagery is what makes Frankenstein a gothic novel.
Frankenstein uses dark scenery to build suspense and foreshadow the events to come. When Victor is
about to breathe life into the monster he describes how ‘it was on a dreary night of November’. This is a subtle
sign that things are not about to go as planned. The birth of the monster will be a turning point in Victor’s life
and one he will come to regret. Further in the same chapter the dark scenery tells the reader of Victor’s mistake.
Victor states that he ‘felt impelled to hurry on, although drenched from the rain which poured from a black and
comfortless sky.’ The sky is a representation of Victor’s wrong doing. He should not have created life so easily
and carelessly. Many gothic novels will have a setting like a castle to show that it is a gothic novel, but
Frankenstein is different. The novel requires the main characters to move around a lot and travel very far
distances. In order to make up for this Mary Shelley uses an amazing amount of descriptive scenery, like the
examples from chapter five, to show that it really is a gothic novel and not just a romantic one.
Another gothic element which the novel uses is ‘the supernatural’. The monster created by Victor is
made out of body parts which Victor had to collect and piece together. This makes the readers question whether
or not they agree with Victor’s taboo practices. It is too facile to think about Victor digging up bodies to steal
parts of them to use in a monster, but in reality, that would be horrific. This gothic element dealing with
necromancy is one of the dark aspects of Romanticism. Romanticism balances the sublime and the dark in such
a way that it seems to invite the application of Freudian concepts like ‘eros’ and ‘thanatos’. (In this connection
we can refer to the critique of Romanticism in The Romantic Agony in as early as 1938.)
Mary Shelley’s novel is not only a gothic and romantic novel but a critique and exploration of both. All
through the novel it is clear to see that Victor Frankenstein is a true romantic. He is overflowing with emotion
and in the end is consumed by it. Victor is always looking to achieve the impossible by creating life in his own
image so that man can conquer death. ‘Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break
through and pour a torrent of life into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator ... .’ In a
terrible appropriation of the creation myth Victor is seen as playing the role of God – he wants to create a new
species that looks up to him as the almighty. This may be a critique on the romantics’ point of view. It is okay to
look forward to a brighter future but what lengths would a man go in order to create or mould that future.
Through the novel, Victor’s whole life is torn apart by the monster which he created. In creating the future, he
destroyed his present. All this horror and death is set in a very hopeful and beautiful setting. The way that
Shelley describes the scenery is very romantic, but with the theme of death and revenge the setting becomes
more haunting and almost inappropriate through contrast. The novel is an obvious critique of the romantic ideas
and gothic elements; the novel goes a lot deeper than one might think at first glance.
Frankenstein was written in 1818 and it shows in the scenery and views on science. The way that
Victor creates the monster is a reference to Giovanni Aldini. Aldini used electricity to make a slaughtered ox
head spasm and appear to move like it was alive. Victor creates the monster in such a way but the monster
actually comes alive rather than twitching on a table. ‘With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I
collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at
my feet.’ Shelley wanted to create the same shock and horror that Aldini did when he made the ox head move in
front of an audience. This shows just how misunderstood science was by the general public. Since many
principles of science were misunderstood Shelley equated science to magic and it was believable.
But Victor is scared to reveal his creation for fear that he would be called a monster for bringing such a
horrific being to life. ‘I avoided explanation and maintained a continual silence concerning the wretch I had
created. I had a persuasion that I should be supposed mad, and this in itself would forever have chained my
tongue.’ Victor cannot get the monster out of his head, he feels it must be kept a secret and a burden only he can
bear. However, Victor is so caught up in keeping it a secret that everything he says sounds crazy. His own father
thinks he is mad and Victor knows this. He is afraid that he will never be thought a credible scientist again if the
world finds his creation.
The novel is a perfect gothic which relates itself to the society it was written for and the horror it looks
to instil. The dark theme and questionable actions of the main character truly bring out the gothic nature in this
novel. The way Victor tries to create the future he looks for is horrific and ultimately a failure. This is used to
show that the romantics are dreamers and reality will create its own future. One man cannot create life and toy
with the future so easily. Destiny cannot be escaped and dreaming of a better future is futile. The novel creates a
feeling of despair in the reader. One can only hope for a better future and trying to create one like Victor will
only end in catastrophe. This underlying, deeper meaning of the novel is what makes Frankenstein a true gothic
novel.