Question Home

Position:Home>Books & Authors> Familiar with 'Frankenstein' and the romantic era?


Question: Familiar with 'Frankenstein' and the romantic era!?
Im writing an essay on the importance of setting in the book Frankenstein!. I need to know the romantic era's impact on setting of Frankenstein!.
For example, how did the romantic era influence Mary Shelley to include so much metaphorical detail about the scenery in her book Frankenstein!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Frankenstein is the quintessence of romanticism!. The setting of a romantic work contributes to the overall tone and reflects the mood of the characters in the work!. In Frankenstein, the reader becomes very aware of the environment (think of the scene where Victor is creating the 'wretch' in his lab)!. Romanticism was an era that rebelled against the age of Enlightenment, and because Frankenstein is a romantic novel, it does too!. Frankenstein praises intuition and feeling over intellect, opposed to the Enlightenment's ideals of logic and reason!. Victor creates the wretch with logic and reason (science), but cannot uncreate it using either of these!. The whole purpose of the wretch's narrative, is to earn Victor's love and approval, but Victor is so overcome with his malevolent scientific creation (the wretch) that he can neither look at nor feel any compassion for it!.

Look for scenes throughout Frankenstein and im sure you can pull out at least some detail of the character's feeling that is reflected by the weather or scenery!. there are so many instances, it won't be a problem!

things to note:

Along with being a work of romanticism, Frankenstein is a gothic novel!. Gothic fiction is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance!.

Mary shelly was inspired while in Geneva, Switzerland (the main setting of Frankenstein)!. Shelly wrote the novel in the presence of Lord Byron, a British poet and a leading figure in Romanticism!.Www@QuestionHome@Com