Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray (1890) are two gothic genre texts that share similarities via their 19th century Victorian setting, philosophical questions about preservation, and superstitious themes and beliefs about immortality. The texts differ however, with Frankenstein using the theme of reviving the dead to bring up questions of existence and purpose while also using sacrilegious methods to proceed with these experiments. In contrast to this, Dorian Gray explores more of the themes and ideas of beauty and innocence to capture the essence of pure immortality. To sum up, although both texts differ a lot from each other, Frankenstein and Dorian Gray both share characterisation and adaptation of form to build up their plots and add depth to their character profiles.
In Frankenstein, the plot is set in the Enlightenment period (17th to 18th century) which was a tremendous time for…show more content… In wilde’s text, he explores the main idea of immortality of remaining beautiful and innocent forever. However, he switches up this idea, by adding the portrait to show Dorian’s true morals and soul to show his true ugliness. In contrast to this, Marysurname offers a darker option to immortality and gives the monster this curse, while allowing his body to rot and remain the same state. She also uses the ugly duckling technique, allowing the monster to ripen his knowledge of philosophy and language, to blossom as a beautiful and articulate creature on the inside.
All in all, both authors demonstrate a firm grasp on gothic fiction, using ideas such as curses of immortality in Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray, and using the idea of a more metaphorical body swap in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to show a much deeper and more moral breaking character readers can understand more and maybe even relate
