The Supernatural In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

The supernatural is one of the elements of Romanticism. It may not be one of the more major ones such as nature or emotions, but it is a relevant one in Shelley 's novel, Frankenstein. It is very difficult to discuss only one of the traces of the romantic movement in a novel as they are all interconnected. The supernatural, for example, is very hard to distinguish from nature as an element in some scenes in the novel as there is a very thin line differentiating all the elements from one another. Furthermore, supernature can also be related to Gothic literature, which makes it hard to identify the exact genre of the novel.

The definition of supernatural according to various dictionaries is something that breaks the boundaries of nature, or something

He says that he “collected bones from charnel-houses and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame. In a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of the house, and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase, I kept my workshop of filthy creation; my eyeballs were starting from their sockets in attending to the details of my employment. The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials; and often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation, whilst, still urged on by an eagerness which perpetually increased, I brought my work near to a conclusion.” (Shelley

It is easy to interpret Frankenstein 's motives behind his creation as many things; his desire to play God, his want to create a breakthrough in science, a subject that he has been passionate about since childhood, or simply that he wanted to know for the sake of just knowing. All of these interpretations have traces of the supernatural element in them. However, in the previous quote from Shelley’s novel, it could be that the latter argument is the strongest; Victor was merely driven by the thirst for