The Theme Of Romanticism In Frankenstein By Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley lived and died in the romantic and gothic period, and it’s no surprise that the ideals of the period reflected in her work. Mary Shelley is an interesting person, in the fact that she can be identified as a romanticist and a supporter of Enlightenment and contemporary thinking at the same time, which is quite a contrast. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, begins with a series of four letters, that set up the book perfectly. In these letters alone, the majority of themes of Romanticism are present, let alone the rest of the book. The tale told in Frankenstein deals with many important matters of the era, and withholds themes such as childbirth, science, and politics. These are very similar to the ideals of Romanticism such as: Nature over man, Childhood, …show more content…
Mary Shelley wrote about Victor Frankenstein that “no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth” (Shelley 12). This quote conveys the sense of nature in Frankenstein and the true essence it holds. Victor Frankenstein is a mad doctor who is fascinated by the essence of life and overcoming it. To do that, he would need to perform and act of God, and when he succeeded, nature retaliated. Romantics believed that nature had ultimate power over man, and this quote reveals the vastness of it. On the cover of Frankenstein, a painting called “Traveler looking over the Sea of Fog” by Caspar David Friedrich resides. It shows a man who we assume to be Victor, standing on what seems to be a mountain peak with masses