Frankenstein and Romanticism Research Paper

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Frankenstein & Romanticism

How Romanticism is Demonstrated in Frankenstein

In less than six years, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein will be 200 years old. This novel, indicative of the romantic period, is a compelling narrative with numerous themes and vivid imagery to consider. In the context of romanticism, Frankenstein is a worthwhile piece of literature to examine. Literature and art of the romantic period is characterized with an emphasis on intense emotional reactions, specifically emotions such as horror, terror, and awe. These emotions are central to the narrative of Frankenstein. Such emotions act as catalysts in the narrative and they serve to push the story on long after in has begun. This movement is also characterized by a return to the scientific and what is rational. Victor is, among other things, a devoted scientist.

Nicole Smith sees Mary Shelley as an author who retained a deep understanding of romanticism and also sees her as an author who pushed the envelope with her writing within the movement. Smith describes Victor as the "ultimate dreamer, who is preoccupied by otherworldly concerns and unattainable ideals. In this sense, he is highly romantic." (Smith, "Elements of Romanticism in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley") Victor is but a single example of romanticism at work in the novel. Smith considers that nature is an important symbol of the romantic in Frankenstein. Several landscapes are described throughout the novel including that of the Orkneys and of Switzerland. The ways in which these landscapes are described is romantic, besides nature having an inherent romantic quality about it already. Smith furthers points out the romantic in Victor's quest to design and create the perfect human.

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Victor is pursuing a romantic ideal in his creation of Frankenstein; he purses the romantic, scientific ideal that there is such a thing as a perfect human being and that he can make that person. Smith contends that what makes Shelley's piece an exemplar of romanticism is how nearly every character has and expresses deeply romantic desires that are both possible and impossible in conjunction with the characters concern for and engagement with the fantastical rather than the real. The characters fight against the roles they perceive society has outlined for them. Their romantic struggle is against preconception, the struggle for emotional truth, and to push themselves through what they are to what they wish to be.

Paul H. Fry writes to clearly define and explain the parameters of romanticism as he claims that too often the term is used without clear definition or regard for the true meaning. One of his key points directly responds to the character Frankenstein. He writes that a trait of romantic writers was to incorporate the use of prelinguistic sounds that comes off to the modern ear as rude, is a poetic metaphor. The lack of language, for Fry symbolizes the romantic urge to express what cannot be expressed and/or that what is romantic may be misunderstood or not understood at all by those not struck by the movement. Frankenstein, the creature, notably, has no language. He, like an infant, is unable to articulate his emotions or desires with words and faces challenges when attempting to connect with other creatures including animals and people.

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