Taylor Boesch
Mrs. Schroder
English IV Standard
7 December 2017
Frankenstein Gets Gothic
Mary Shelley wrote the novel Frankenstein, a unique story, at the time that gothic literature had been becoming more and more popular. Gothic literature is a modern genre, Frankenstein is not the first of this. This genre has been around since 1754 and Frankenstein was written in 1817. Gothic does not necessarily mean dark makeup and leather jackets, but more like castles, dungeons, creatures, or a damsel in distress. This genre of literature focuses on supernatural ideas, death, horror, mysterious conditions, or even romance and Mary Shelley clearly shows these aspects throughout Frankenstein.
Gothic literature began during the 18th century and grew very …show more content…
The gothic genre represents a way of writing more dark and disturbing stories, such as Frankenstein. In this novel Mary Shelley uses her knowledge of gothic literature and applies it to the story perfectly by using a man made creature as one of the main characters. This creature was developed by Victor Frankenstein. He originally created it to help serve mankind. However it ends up turning evil and began to kill people due to the fact that Victor would not create a companion for it and the creature was not liked by anybody due to it’s frightening appearance. One scene in particular where gothic literature clearly shines through is when Victor first creates the creature in his lab. During this part in the novel Victor collects up different body parts to assemble his new human like creation. This whole context screams gothic literature, the setting is creepy, there is a monster being made, it takes place in a science lab, and to top it all off, the creature rises from the …show more content…
The choice of characters, the way that the setting was thought out and the use of gothic literature made this novel well rounded and interesting. Shelley used such detail when it came to describing the events that took place throughout the novel, making it such a dynamic piece. If Mary Shelley did not use the precise details twisted thoughts, then Frankenstein would not have been the same. The gothic themes portrayed throughout this novel go above and beyond the stereotypical expectations of a scary story. This story was wonderfully horrific, mysterious in all the right ways and frightening just like a gothic novel should
Mrs. Schroder
English IV Standard
7 December 2017
Frankenstein Gets Gothic
Mary Shelley wrote the novel Frankenstein, a unique story, at the time that gothic literature had been becoming more and more popular. Gothic literature is a modern genre, Frankenstein is not the first of this. This genre has been around since 1754 and Frankenstein was written in 1817. Gothic does not necessarily mean dark makeup and leather jackets, but more like castles, dungeons, creatures, or a damsel in distress. This genre of literature focuses on supernatural ideas, death, horror, mysterious conditions, or even romance and Mary Shelley clearly shows these aspects throughout Frankenstein.
Gothic literature began during the 18th century and grew very …show more content…
The gothic genre represents a way of writing more dark and disturbing stories, such as Frankenstein. In this novel Mary Shelley uses her knowledge of gothic literature and applies it to the story perfectly by using a man made creature as one of the main characters. This creature was developed by Victor Frankenstein. He originally created it to help serve mankind. However it ends up turning evil and began to kill people due to the fact that Victor would not create a companion for it and the creature was not liked by anybody due to it’s frightening appearance. One scene in particular where gothic literature clearly shines through is when Victor first creates the creature in his lab. During this part in the novel Victor collects up different body parts to assemble his new human like creation. This whole context screams gothic literature, the setting is creepy, there is a monster being made, it takes place in a science lab, and to top it all off, the creature rises from the …show more content…
The choice of characters, the way that the setting was thought out and the use of gothic literature made this novel well rounded and interesting. Shelley used such detail when it came to describing the events that took place throughout the novel, making it such a dynamic piece. If Mary Shelley did not use the precise details twisted thoughts, then Frankenstein would not have been the same. The gothic themes portrayed throughout this novel go above and beyond the stereotypical expectations of a scary story. This story was wonderfully horrific, mysterious in all the right ways and frightening just like a gothic novel should