Frankenstein Research Paper

Victor sees his creation as beautiful and yet repugnant, versus the creation story taken from the Bible in which God sees his creation of Adam as ‘good’. The Gothic elements that can be found in this chapter are the grotesque description of the monster's features, the eerie environment (Victor's lab at 1 a.m.), and some type of psychic communication (Victor's feeling of being followed). Also, this chapter builds fear in the reader, another big part of Gothic writing. The monsters actions are slow and juvenile. ‘His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds.’ This suggests that Victor would have felt threatened against the monster because the monster is presenting itself as strong and troublesome. Victor would have felt danger against this monster as he just created it but does not know what it is capable of. This is why when the monster stretches his hand out, Victor Frankenstein runs away downstairs. ‘One hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs.’ Victor, at this point, might have felt scared and irresponsible that he can’t face up to his own actions. He would have felt regretful and stupid that he created something or someone without any thought and didn’t take paternal responsibility, like a loving father would do. He is neglecting his own ‘son’. He was too obsessed with science and didn’t think of the consequences.

popular at the time. The elements of a Gothic novel are, it is set at

“Romanticism glorified nature, emotion, and imagination [and] romantics sought out all that was wild fever and disorderly” (Hunt 659). Frankenstein, seen as a work of either Gothic or scientific fiction, is a story of imaginative horror by nineteenth century author Mary Shelley. When published, there was no story like Frankenstein. Shelley’s Frankenstein is a work that parallels her own life of knowledge and personal loss: Shelley was an educated woman who produced many stories and Shelley’s mother and children died.

The word “knowledge” was recurring many times throughout Frankenstein novel and attracted or forced the reader to find out the true definition of it. Curiously, I decided to look up the definition of knowledge from the Webster 's Dictionary. It defines, “Knowledge: n. Understanding gained by actual experience; range of information; clear perception of truth; something learned and kept in the mind.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) I realized this word is very straightforward, but has many useful and different meanings to all of us. It is also powerful tool to determine and control the result of our judgment. “Knowledge consists in recognizing the difference between good and bad decisions”. (Knowledge Intellectual

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly is definitely a Gothic themed novel. Frankenstein is a mad scientist who has created this monster with the body parts of dead people, and this monster causes him a world of problems. This novel has death, a bad omen, a mad scientist theme, and has a dark and gloomy setting. These factors influence many of the decisions that Frankenstein decides to make. One thing that makes this a Gothic novel is the setting that the story occurs in.

The above quote by Bloom is an explanation of the view that all the gothic novels are interpretation of psychological and social factors and this is especially true in the case of Mary Shelley. Shelley began her novel at the age of 18 when the most prominent materials in the consciousness and unconsciousness of Shelley were concerned with the conflicts stemming from the death of her mother. Frankenstein is the outcome of Shelley’s unresolved grief for the death of her mother which was the crisis she needed to work through to forget her own adult identity.

Levine’s main argument is that although Frankenstein is a gothic novel, it is not a typical gothic novel with many realistic ideas. It aims to generate terror in the reader like other gothic novels but does not involve the supernatural. The events that Mary Shelley writes out in Frankenstein are not far from ordinary and the commonplace. Levine’s more interesting argument is that Mary Shelley’s use of the Gothic tradition allows her to dip in the imaginative and subjective inner truths that a realistic novel would not allow. For example how the characters reflect or double each other. Also most of the characters represent aspects of Victor Frankenstein

Mary W. Shelley’s brilliant gothic story, Frankenstein, is one that emits the prevalent theme of light versus dark, in which possesses obvious characteristics of a novel written during the romantic era. The novel tells the account of the overambitious Victor Frankenstein, who created a monster in hopes that he’d be known for crafting something human from the body parts of corpses with physical and mental advantages in society, basically playing the part of God on Earth, but through the auspices of science. Instead of creating a “normal” human, his creation ended up being a disfigured creature who he then neglects. Upon his abandonment, the monster seeks revenge on Victor after being cast away by society due to harsh physiognomy in which

In Chapter five of Frankenstein’s, the details are very gothics. There is a dreary setting and very gruesome details. He describes how Frankenstein looks, he describes how he stole all of these parts from the graveyard and then describes how he looks. Then he describes how ugly Frankenstein is when he opens his eyes. Another gothic part is in victors dream. At first he sees Elizabeth in good Health, then it turns in to his dead mother, a very gruesome detail. Then it talks about worms. All of these elements suggest that Victors task is very dark, gruesome, and scary. Creatures following him. A Coach coming towards him that stops right next to him. Victor never tells Clerval what he has done, which is also very dark and Gothic. Victor looks

     The very first characteristic of a Gothic novel is its sinister setting. The opening sentence in Frankenstein sets the mood

There are many events within the novel that could be considered horrifying or terrifying. For example, the creation of the monster itself could be argued as horrifying. After creating the monster, Victor Frankenstein becomes ill. The execution of Justine could be considered terrifying as well. Justine is executed after being accused the death of william, Victor's brother. After the execution Victor and Elizabeth become very depressed. A final example of a horrifying event was when Victor was tried for the murder of his best friend Clerval and is found innocent. Aside from these three tragedies, there are many more grim events that make this novel very much like gothic

On the other extreme of Romanticism, Frankenstein can also be considered a gothic novel,"tales of macabre, fantastic . . . usually set in graveyards, ruins, and wild picturesque

The setting in Frankenstein is very stereotypically gothic. The wilderness, especially the arctic and mountain ranges, is pivotal in the setting of Frankenstein and is a large contributing factor to the mood of the story as a whole. For the most part, the story is set in Europe which is the birthplace of the towering and solemn gothic architecture present in many old buildings. In many modern film adaptations as well as artwork created that was inspired by Frankenstein the artist depicts the laboratory that doctor Frankenstein as a small dank abode with minimal natural light and rustic lab equipment cluttering the available space. The doctor studied at the University of Ingolstadt which has a very picturesque campus that mirrors the very doleful look that has become a staple in both gothic literature and architecture.

Even though it is mysterious and cannot be fathomed, just like Romanticism, the mystery in Gothic Literature is horrific, while in Romanticism it is beautiful. Gothic fiction relates to prudishness (especially in the Victorian era) as it focuses on taboo subjects, such as: sex, vice, and murder. Therefore, it is, to great extent, going beyond peoples emotional limitations. To add to that, the typical feature of Gothic Literature would be expressing nature in the threat of monsters, ghosts, or in other words, supernatural forces conflicting with humanity. On the whole, a great representation of these gothic and romantic influences would be the novel Frankenstein (or The Modern Prometheus) by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, which was published in 1818 and written during the Romantic Period.

In the novel, Frankenstein written by Marry Shelley, Victor had undoubtedly become relentless in pursuing the reanimation of life in an inanimate lifeless being. Victor could have inevitabely be called obsessed with his work. Victor Frankenstein had always been curious about the reanimation of human life. Until he attempted it and suceeded was when he knew he made a mistake. Victor Frankenstein was blinded by curiosity and obsession.