The Criticism Of Romanticism In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

1. I N T R O D U C T I O N

“It’s alive! It’s alive!”
Although this line is nowhere to be found in the book, it certainly is one of the most iconic lines in a horror movie. Not least because it has been reused on various occasions for assorted reasons, which in turn certainly contributed to the popularity of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The point is, that Mary Shel-ley’s Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus is on the verge of turning 200 years old, yet we still seem to be unable to break away, from its story and its ideas. So, the question is, what exactly is it, that draws generation after genera-tion to basically a story of, how dead body parts are put together to then be revived?
It goes without saying that Mary Shelley’s

The novel is often recognized as the first work of science fiction, it is one of the greatest horror novels ever, additionally it is often called the greatest Romantic novel. It contains the idea that emotions like horror, awe and terror can be the center of an aesthetic experience.
For this paper, which has the purpose to show ……. I will start off with the literary current “Romanticism” to grasp the era in which Frankenstein came to be. This will be followed by an explanation of the term “Gothic”. The main sources therefore will be Romantic Gothic, An Edinburgh Companion, edited by Angela Wright and Dale Townshend, Romantische Kommunikation as well as Englische Romantik, eine Einführung both by Christoph Reinfandt.
In order to understand Frankenstein’s monster, I will take a short excursion on Mary Shelley’s life and take a look at how the Monster came into being in the first place. A short summery of the novel will also be included in this paper. In addition, I will elaborate on, to what extent Frankenstein's monster corresponds to the definition of a monster as in this case we deal with quite an intellectual monster. To exemplify this, I will draw comparisons to other monsters of literature (NENNEN WELCHE) Finally I will conclude with the development of the

I opted for Childe Har-old’s Pilgrimage as an example because the protagonist in it, is the perfect ex-ample for the “Byronic hero”. This poem is semi-autobiographical, which is why the protagonist is found to be smart, handsome and moody, with little to no re-spect towards figures of authority.
Another big author of the Romantic period is John Keats. He is the author of poems like ode to a Nightingale and Ode on a Grecian Urn, in which he makes use of all the big Romantic themes like Nature, the sublime, the ancient past, and of course emotions.
Percy Bysshe Shelley whose most famous work Prometheus Unbound (1820) is a play that was written to be read, not performed. The reader has to use his imagination to visualize it. His play is based on the Greek myth of Prometheus and tells the story of how Prometheus, stole fire from the gods to bring it to hu-manity and was punished therefore by being tied to a rock and tortured for eternity.
Which brings us to his wife Mary Shelley who also made use of the Greek Myth not only by putting it in her subtitle but also by creating an association between the Greek god and her protagonist Victor