Romanticism in Frankenstein

The novel depicts the romanticism that lies in nature. The romantic movement of nature is greater than any other movement in the world. Dr. Frankenstein was in the state of despair, rage, and fear as a result of his work by invoking nature. Alps help him overcome his fear of a monster. Frankenstein is an essence of romantic and Gothic elements and this combination makes the novel unique in its kind.
Dr. Frankenstein realizes the significance of industrial revolution at the time and his sole focus was on to make a creation without taking into account the consequences. His obsession prompted him to gain the knowledge of natural philosophy, which led him to live in isolation in pursuance of his objective. As the novel progresses, Frankenstein became more self-centered and irresponsible for his creation. The attitude of anti-Enlightenment is also found in Frankenstein as a romantic element. However, Romanticism emphasized sanity as the way to develop ethics, a good code of conduct in life, knowledge, reasoning, and aesthetics for peace and tranquility (Bloom 98). In reality, romanticism is acquiring the knowledge of life through personal experience and wisdom.

Considering his intellectual ability and passion towards work, Dr. Frankenstein turned extremist. He was self-driven and passionate about the knowledge of nature of philosophy and creation of the living thing. He seemed it as romanticism but in reality, it was his obsession.
His scientific creation which he brought into existence by using a dead body, got out of his control and turned monster. After being created monster became dark and wanted to bring destruction and death of everything around him. The beauty of the world around him made him jealous. The monster was not anti-humanity, he was revengeful though. Monster once saved the life a young boy and in return, he is shot, he describes his pain that the bone and flesh and bones are coming out the body (Bloom 76). He deplored all of humanity as a result of this incident. This event filled hatred and vengeance inside of him and he was ready to inflict harm to mankind.

The monster wanted to be seen and treated as human but everyone who saw him, hated him even a small child disapproved him. His physical and intellectual abilities went beyond to that of a normal person. Initially, he loved nature and natural beauty but once he turned anti-human, even beauty of nature didn’t inspire him and eventually, he became anti-romantic (Bloom 134). The beauty of the world around him made him jealous. There was a time when monster wanted to present himself to the world but this didn’t happen.
Frankenstein faced serious consequences as the monster murdered his loved ones. His bride on the wedding night fell prey to the monster, as he killed her brutally. This led Frankenstein to ultimate isolation.

Frankenstein is in the extreme conditions of Alps to get rid of the guilt of the death of his loved ones. He was also in the chase of the monster through Europe and Russia. The creature who brought destruction to his life. He realizes that his extravagant imagination prompted him to take up the subject that the society advised him to avoid. This was the time when he looked inside him deeply and performed his catharsis. He knew he deviated from nature and how serious are the implications that he is going through at that point in time. The story started with the search of Walton, who is searching for a new venue from Russia to the Pacific Ocean by means of the Arctic Ocean.
Further after several weeks the crew was able to find an abnormally weak and thin man, named Victor Frankenstein, who was floating on an ice flow and was close to death. He was able to get hold of the monster. A monster that appeared from the haze and who killed Victor and got disappeared again with a commitment to never been seen again ever. The Walton’s series of letter to his sister in England, narrated the tragic life story of Victor Frankenstein (Bloom 131). This story covers all the aspects of his early life, his college, his inspiration to explore the nature and how he created a living being that transformed into a monster.

Victor grew up in Geneva, Switzerland, he was a beloved child with an ability to learn things quickly. Victor was raised with Elizabeth, who was an orphan adopted by Victor’s family. At the time, when Victor was preparing for his higher studies at the University of Ingolstadt, both his mother and Elizabeth fell sick due to scarlet fever and as a result his mother died. Though, Elizabeth was able to get recovered from it.
During the first two years of his university, Victor impressed his fellows and teachers greatly and became involved with his studies. There he made a plan to create and restructure a dead body. He used the knowledge of chemistry, electricity, and alchemy for that purpose. This was his ambition which he wanted to bring to reality at any cost (Bloom 125). The creation then turned into a monster and brought devastation to the life of Victor Frankenstein.

Marry Shelly the author of this novel shows the romanticism of Victor Frankenstein the main character of this novel and also she discusses the passion of Walton, who seeks the new passage. There was also a sense of romanticism in the monster as he loved the nature initially but later the attitude of a human put him off and the romance turned into fierce rivalry and vengeance.

The writer emphasis on the point that romanticism should remain within nature if it goes beyond, it invites many troubles and inflicts severe destruction to human. Before pursuing dreams, one should analyze the implications in case passion turns into obsession.

Works Cited

Bloom, Harold. Frankenstein. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004. Internet resource.