Genre and Frankenstein
Mary Shelley was a contemporary of the Romantic poets (Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Keats,
Percy Bysshe Shelley (her husband)), and although her dark and frightening work does not mirror
the positive tones and subjects of most Romantic pieces, she was deeply influenced by the
Romantics and their ideas.
Remember: Romanticism was a movement in art, literature, and music dating from the late 1700s
to the mid-1800s. Romantics emphasized imagination over reason and logic. Romantics placed a
high value on “intuition,” or feeling and instincts, over reason. Thus, emotions were hugely
important in Romantic art and literature. Romantics were also idealistic – they were very
optimistic about life and human possibility. They believed it was more important to follow your
feelings and impulses than to try to get things exactly correct, or technically perfect, and they
believed people should listen to their own feelings and their own moral compass to guide their
actions and to find what is good and right, rather than just following what society dictates.
Mary Shelley both draws from and challenges Romantic rhetoric. In using Romantic elements,
Mary Shelley is able to bring up certain Romantic notions and ideals. Then, by injecting Gothic
elements into her novel, Mary Shelley is able to question the simple (and perhaps naive)
assumptions of Romanticism.
Romantic poetry and prose was intended to express the imagination. The Romantic poets sought a
way to capture and represent the sublime (that which is profoundly awe-inspiring). Victor
Frankenstein’s effort to create a living being out of raw material in his laboratory is in some ways
a Romantic quest to achieve the sublime. Victor Frankenstein is a Romantic character to the
extent that he reflected the Romantic writers’ emphasis on a new way of seeing. The Romantics
believed that it was individual and collective imagination that would create a new understanding
of the world and lead to a more perfect version of human beings and the societies in which they
lived. Victor is the ultimate dreamer, preoccupied by otherworldly concerns and unattainable
ideals. In this sense, he is highly Romantic.
Additionally, nature (a favorite subject of the Romantics) plays an important role in Frankenstein.
Readers should pay close attention to place and environment, the qualities of which both mirror
and contradict the inner states of the main characters. Significant pairings of characters with their
environments are emphasized again and again throughout the novel, and the physical qualities of
the environments provoke contemplative thought for most of the main characters, especially
Victor and the Creature.
On a more symbolic level, Frankenstein is clearly a novel about Romantic striving against the
customary boundaries or limitations placed on man’s 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. 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 is inevitably
frustrated, as it must be, by the fact that overstepping human boundaries has significant
consequences (this is where Mary Shelley’s criticisms of some Romantic ideas and ideals
emerge).
Victor Frankenstein is not the only character to strive against and challenge traditional
boundaries, however. The Creature that Victor makes is engaged in his own struggle to
experience sublime connection with his environment and with other living beings. The Creature
makes multiple attempts to connect with other beings, especially before he realizes that he is
different from them. Almost all of his efforts are in vain, however.
In a twist on the typical Romantic text, which, if it does not end happily, ends on a thoughtful,
meditative note, this novel ends with the characters having effected no significant resolution
amongst themselves. They have all realized the impossibility of striving against the roles to which
they have been assigned in life, and they do not seem to be able to identify any other options for
themselves. The novel is exemplary of the Romantic period in that it uses a highly stylized and
dramatized frame, and in that it is concerned with the realms of the fantastic; however, it
challenges the Romantic in that it presents the problems that arise when one pushes Romantic
thinking and ideals to their limits.
How does Shelley do this so well? By masterfully appropriating elements of the Romantic and
combining them with characteristics that were clearly Gothic, she is not only expanding the
possibilities of both genres, but is also using juxtaposition to its greatest effect. The Gothic plays
off of the Romantic, questioning and subverting the ideals of the latter movement.
Gothic literature arose around the same time as the Romantic movement (1754-1847), and both
Gothic and Romantic writers were reacting to the Age of Reason. Both wanted to free the
imagination. However, the Gothics saw failure and potential evil in the individual, while
Romantics saw hope and triumph within the individual.
Gothic Conventions include specific settings: ancient castles, decaying estates, weird or haunted
places, and strange or isolated places. They tend to include strange and terrifying events,
supernatural events, and extreme situations (murder, torture, revenge). The Gothics believed that
These situations brought out man’s true nature, and his true nature is not good. Gothic characters
include supernatural characters like ghosts, demons, and monsters (such as werewolves or
vampires); insane male characters; and kind, gentle, beautiful women who are dead, dying, or in
danger. Stylistically, Gothic literature is macabre, which means that it includes gruesome and
horrific details of death and decay; it includes an imaginative distortion of reality; and a dark
atmosphere/mood.
In Frankenstein, Shelley uses mysterious/supernatural circumstances surrounding the creation of
the monster; she employs the supernatural elements of raising the dead and macabre research into
unexplored fields of science unknown by most readers. She develops a sense of revulsion, horror,
and dread through her depictions of the creature, and through her selection of subject: raising the
dead.
She employs a Gothic setting by using far away places that seem mysterious to the readers.
Frankenstein is set in continental Europe, specifically Switzerland and Germany, where many of
Shelley's readers had not been. Further, the incorporation of the chase scenes through the Arctic
regions takes us even further from England into regions unexplored by most readers. Finally,
Victor's laboratory is the perfect place to create a new type of human being. Laboratories and
scientific experiments were not known to the average reader, thus this was an added element of
mystery and gloom.
Finally, in Gothic novels, the characters seem to bridge the mortal world and the supernatural
world. The Frankenstein monster seems to have some sort of communication between himself
and his creator, because the monster appears wherever Victor goes. The monster also moves with
amazing superhuman speed with Victor matching him in the chase towards the North Pole.