Romanticism In Frankenstein Research Paper

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Giving the life to the dead, was it practical? For Victor Frankenstein, a tragic hero in the novel Frankenstein, the idea of creating life with his own hands was extremely powerful. The want and need to create an entirely new life was perpetuated into his mind. Frankenstein was completed in 1817 during a time in history called the Romantic period. Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, was influenced greatly by the time period in which she lived to create the novel. Romanticism was a very popular writing style to use in her time and Frankenstein represents a quintessential Romantic novel. Mary Shelley uses mostly two characteristics of Romanticism that is evidently found in Frankenstein. These characteristics include the idea of the noble …show more content…
This characteristic is described as nature having peaceful, restorative qualities and also containing an overwhelming amount of power. In Frankenstein, nature plays an important role on the characters; especially for Victor. “Vivid flashes of lightning dazzled my eyes, illuminating the lake, making it appear like a vast sheet of fire” (Shelley 59). In this instance, Victor is fascinated with lightning that has struck near his home. When he witnesses an oak tree obliterated by lightning, it indicated the destructive power of nature, furthermore showing an allusion to Victor’s future use of electricity and lightning in creating his creature. The description of nature in his life drastically changes from this point and is, instead of light and happy like his childhood, seen as morbid and dark, relating to Victor’s own aura of despair following his experiments. This idea of nature impacting Victor’s life returns when he seeks redemption. “and I resolved to ascend to the summit montanvert.” (Shelley 79). In this part of the novel, Victor is still very devastated over the death of William and of innocent Justine’s death. He hopes that nature will revive his spirits and that the beauty of it can have restorative powers. Being engrossed in the beauty that surrounds him seems to calm him as Victor enjoys the sublime of nature. Victor’s creature also experiences this power of healing that nature holds. “the day, which was one of the first of spring, cheered even me by the loveliness of its sunshine and the balminess of the air. I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure, that had long appeared dead, revive within me” (Shelley 120). The quote from the creature embodies the Romantic idea of nature's benevolence and how it was able to heal some of the creature’s sorrow. Inclement weather that involved snow had left the creature cold and with agony towards himself. Once he had awoken with the soft sunshine of
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