Literary perspective

Literary movement: Romanticism

When she wrote Frankenstein, Mary Shelley was aware of the Romantic movement, which dominated between the late 18th century and mid-19th century. When she began the story, she was staying with the famous Romantic poets Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Romanticism was a literary movement that focused on nature and the emotions. The Romantic movement promoted individualism and more specifically valued independence, self-reliance, and self-expression. 

Frankenstein incorporates a number of elements of the Romantic movement. For example, Shelley uses vivid descriptions of dramatic natural settings such as the Alps and the Arctic in order to describe the emotions of the story. Shelley also appears to refer to the Romantic idea of the child as a fundamentally good blank slate who has not yet been corrupted by civilization. This can be seen in the creature, who appears to be born with a core of noble goodness, which is then twisted by Frankenstein’s neglect and society’s rejection. 

The creature can also be connected with the Romantic concept of the “no...