Examples Of Individualism In Frankenstein

Romanticism concerns notions of nature, human emotions, individualism, and kindness for one another. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein these Romantic concepts, among others, are portrayed through events within the novel. There is an emphasis on science/nature and revolution/reform throughout the novel. An admiration for nature, belief in the power of the individual/imagination, and a desire to explore the unknown, are the main components that contribute to Frankenstein being geared to Romantic ideals, while also retaining an emphasis on modernity, specifically science and revolution.

Romanticism was an imaginative, emotional, and academic movement that originated in Europe at the end of the 18th century. The Romantic Movement was partly a response

Wherever the monster goes, he is chased away because of his revolting appearance. Mary Shelley is trying to portray, in an extreme light, that in society during this time, out casts were rejected. Whether it was because of appearance, values, or opinions. It is obviously not the monster’s fault that he is outright rejected. There is a sense of sympathy that Shelley creates for the monster that the reader feels. This sense of compassion and sympathy is a very romantic notion and even the reader gets to experience it. The monster says: “My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred…” Rejection causes the monster to avoid human contact, which, in part, contributes to him going mad and becoming violent towards humans. Throughout the novel, Shelley stresses the transformation of the monster because of his experiences of the treatment by Victor and society. The monster’s innate goodness is completely altered for the worse because of the cruelty he faces. Shelley has shown that there is a need of modernity in the form of revolution. By showing the result of being so outright rejecting to someone; Shelley, in part, stresses the need for the acceptance of others, a romantic

William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, specifically the poem The Tiger, is a perfect illustration of these characteristics. The questions that are presented, reach at ideas way greater then himself. He asks: “Tiger Tiger, burning bright, in the forests of the night, what immortal hand or eye, dare frame thy fearful symmetry?” Blake is trying to cope with the idea of god. He articulates the awe and beauty of nature and how something divine is at the forefront of it. He questions why god would create the terrifying animal, the tiger. The tiger is so beautiful, yet so deadly. Blake successfully leaves the reader with awe of the complexity of creation, a notion of the magnitude of the divine, and sublimity. Similarly, in the novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein’s pursuit to create something from nothing, and therefore, being god-like is also sublime and creates awe. After Victor Frankenstein successfully creates the monster he’s in awe. He says: “no one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success” Like Blake, Mary Shelley creates a feeling of sublimity throughout the novel