1st Baron Dowding

The Romantics were obsessed with the natural world. Nature to them acted as a spiritual spring, an eternal source of inspiration from which they drew to motivate their writing. Likewise, Shelley’s Frankenstein shows a fascination of nature characteristic of the Romantic Era. However, Frankenstein’s secondary themes also include the progression of science and technology, as well as exploration and discovery. Shelly unites these two themes with the concept of awe. As Victor Frankenstein…

The Philosophy of Romanticism in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Science, and scientific ambition is a central theme that is explored in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Mary Shelley demonstrates through her story that scientific advancement often comes at a cost to both society and more specifically to the personal lives of those affected by scientific achievement. This can also be reflected in the time period that she lived in, and the rise of the ideology of romanticism. In the novel, Shelley uses…

Mary Shelley's Impact on the Romantic Period During the early nineteenth century, the Romantic Period was beginning to shine its light on the people of the world. This period is characterized by a reaction to the previous Enlightenment Era. The Romantic Period emphasized emotion and individualism, and created a rise in radicalism. During this time, many authors began to write gothic pieces that expressed individualism. Mary Shelley was no exception. Author of Frankenstein, among others, Shelley…

“Workshop of filthy creation”: Muddled gender and bad art in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Taryn MacKinney ENGL-102.001, Monsters in Film in Literature Fall 2015, Professor Yang In her book Monstrous Imagination, Huet outlines two phases in literary history. In the first, mothers were believed capable of creating monstrous progeny from imagination – or more appropriately, from a skill-less mimicry of reality. In the second, Romantic writers redefined imagination as a “masculine attribute”…

In the poem “Don Juan Canto One” by Lord Byron, the question can be asked of whether Don Juan is a funny piece like Byron says or if it is not a very funny piece like his publisher John Murray believes. The first canto can be divided into three parts. Part one is where Bryon describes Don Juan’s parents and their relationship. The second part Byron shows Don Juan at age sixteen and Don Juan sleeping with a married woman named Julia. The third and last part Byron shows the aftermath of Don…

Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace Ada Byron, born Augustus Ada Byron in London, England in 1815. Her parents were Anne Isabella Milbanke and the famous Lord Byron. Ada father left Britain leaving her mother and her alone when Ada was just one month old. Ada never saw her father again and she never got to know him. Fearing that Ada would become like her father whose personality was a bit unstable; Anne saw that Ada received the best education using her aristocratic advantages to see that she…

Throughout the first volume of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, I was able to absorb most of the text during the first readthrough. Essentially, I picked up on the main points of the plot and any major events or details that happened. What I didn’t pick up on through the first reading though was many smaller, underlying themes that required some thought/analysis. For the most part, this was lots of Romantic themes and ideas and how they were applied. For example, in Chapter 2, Victor is described…