In Shelley’s Frankenstein, it can be understood that Shelley uses Romantic ideals to move the novel's plot along. In this novel, Shelley starts off with her own ideas based on a story she creates. As the story progresses, the readers can see characteristics of Romanticism and Shelley’s own life in the characters and settings she uses.
Mary Shelley lives with her husband, Percy Shelley, and her friend, Lord Byron, on Byron’s estate. One night, they write and tell ghost stories to pass time on the estate. With her husband, Shelley has experienced many miscarriages and has a dream about reviving her lost baby by rubbing it over a fire. This inspires Shelley’s ghost story which then creates her ideas for the novel. Frankenstein uses the concept of creating life from something that has died, just like Shelley trying to bring life back to her dead baby. The Monster, which is the life created in the novel, is unnamed like Shelley’s baby, which shows how her baby inspires the Monster’s character. The story also takes place in Victor’s summer home next to the waters of Geneva. This is inspired by Lord Byron’s estate, which Shelley is living in when she writes
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This time is the Romantic Age and it focuses on nature, individualism, and human emotion. She takes her understanding of Romanticism and incorporates it into her novel. For example, Victor Frankenstein describes the beauty of nature and how it raises his spirits several times throughout the novel. After William and Justine die, Frankenstein climbs some mountains and states, “These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving. They elevated me from the littleness of feeling” (Shelley, 97). This shows the emphasis on the ideas of the beauty of nature and its effect on the individual that is promoted at the