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Light And Darkness In Frankenstein And The Scarlet Letter

1381 Words6 Pages

Romanticism was an intellectual and artistic movement that began in Europe which then drifted across the United States during the 18th century. It represents a paradigm shift from rational and empiric Neo-classicist thinking to new ideologies that valued individualism, imagination and the pantheistic view of nature. Romanticists reveal how in order to bring about political, social and economic change, the dichotomy of light and darkness in its any forms must be considered. Mary Shelley’s 1818 gothic novel ‘Frankenstein’ and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 American romance ‘The Scarlet Letter’ both demonstrate to a great extent how light, both metaphorically and physically, can only be understood with the wisdom of darkness. In ‘Frankenstein’, the ambitious pursuit for knowledge and the exploitation of justice all demonstrate the innate link between light and darkness just like the …show more content…

Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ encompasses how the continuous thirst for knowledge, a characteristic of human nature can bring about worldly change when the relationship between light and darkness is understood. During Shelley’s time, the Enlightenment period, new technologies and scientific advancements arose due to developments of the Industrial Revolution- these progressions were believed to bring new lights to civilisation; the ‘progress of man’. Her novel challenges these established values through her portrayal of Victor Frankenstein, the flawed protagonist. Throughout the novel Victor overtly seeks power derived from scientific knowledge, disregarding darkness and its potential dangers and consequences. The divine imagery used in “It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn,” typifies Victor’s arrogant

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