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Frankenstein Research Paper

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confront their fears and anxieties by confronting the monsters in the novella ‘Frankenstein’ but perhaps also the monsters confined within themselves. Given her familiarity with Anne Radcliffe, who pioneered the gothic genre, Shelly’s ideas of horror and terror are clearly seen through the grotesque but also enigmatic nature of the creature. In the novella ‘Frankenstein’ Shelly showcases a distorted reality through the gothic tropes of the supernatural and she magnifies the challenges of reality through Victor’s hubris and scientific ambitions, who plays the integral role of the Byronic hero, whilst also challenging gothic tropes of early gothic literature. Shelly utilises the gothic trope of the supernatural through the creature. One example …show more content…

For example, ‘Caste of Otranto’ was set in a medieval castle and focused on horror, whereas Shelly sets ‘Frankenstein’ in Geneva. Shelly departs from early gothic literature as she focuses on terror rather than ‘bodily gore.’ Geneva represents rationality, which is a key aspect of enlightenment, so when Victor leaves Geneva perhaps his love for science has been suppressed by his psychological torment and foreshadows impending doom to the reader. Perhaps as a romanticist Shelly is suggesting it is time to transition from enlightenment to Romanticism, which favours imagination and individualism. Unconventionally, she also makes the creature more humane to challenge the reality of good and evil and convey its complexity and intertwined within us and also adds to the realism of ‘Frankenstein’ inflicting terror upon the reader. Subsequently, Frankenstein fits the role of a typical gothic hero but perhaps his selfishness causing the death of innocent people and inability to blame himself, as he blames ‘destiny’ for ‘decreeing his terrible destruction’, so it is difficult for the reader to empathise with Victor despite his redemption arc proving him to be more complex than a typical gothic hero challenging early gothic literature. Overall Shelly challenges the reality of early gothic conventions by illustrating the idea of a monster as complex and providing insight to the complexity of Victor as a gothic hero, also by focusing on terror rather than

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