?God Makes All Things Good, Man Meddles With Them And They Become Evil?. Show How Frankenstein Illus Essay, Research Paper
Mary Shelley
wrote the novel Frankenstein in the early part of the nineteenth century.? Frankenstein has been considered as possibly
the first gothic novel.? The novel was
written at a time when Mary Shelley and her husband Percy were staying at the
home of Lord Byron on the shores of Lake Geneva.? Mary Shelley was born in 1797 and, when her mother died shortly
after her birth, she was brought up by her father and stepmother.? As a child the idea of republicanism was
implanted into her by her father.? Her
mother had been an early women?s rights campaigner and had written several
books on the subject.? Her father, on
the other hand, was very interested in alchemy and Galvanism.? Galvanism was the idea of running electric
currents through a body to restore it to life, invented by Luigi Galvani. The novel came
to be written when Mary told the gathering of Romantic poets at Lord Byron?s
house, in Geneva, of a dream she had had.?
This scared and shocked the poets, who encouraged her to make it into a
book.? In the novel we see heavy
elements of the Romantic poets and the influence they had on Mary when writing
the novel.? For instance, when Victor
Frankenstein is walking through the mountains to meet with the monster after
the deaths of William and Justine, the beauty of the mountains and the views is
used to contrast his mood of distress and anxiety.? The description given and the contrasts are very typical of the
Romantic poets and the way in which they write. Another aspect
of Mary Shelley?s life that shows through in the novel is the idea of
Republicanism.? Mary uses a letter
written by Elizabeth to Victor Frankenstein to show her view of monarchies and
republics:?The republican
institutions of our country have produced simpler and happier manners than
those which prevail in the monarchies which surround it.?This novel was
written shortly after the French revolution when the monarchy was overthrown
and France became a republic.? At this
time, people were beginning to compare the monarchies of countries such as
Britain with the monarchy of France and people started to distrust the
monarchies and doubt their strength. Another element
of Mary Shelley?s life and childhood, which shows through the novel, is the
idea of parental rejection.? Because of
her mother?s death, Mary felt that she was rejected by her mother.? This is shown chiefly by the situation of
Justine.? Justine?s mother had several
other children who she loved and cared for, but she did not like Justine at
all.? Frankenstein?s family took her in
and cared for her and she became a happy girl.