Shelley's "Frankenstein"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that "Frankenstein", written by Mary Shelley in the first decades of the nineteenth century, is the story of man's desire to transcend his own limited and fallible nature and a warning of the suffering and punishment that comes from that effort. The author points out a dichotomy in "Frankenstein", the division between the natural and the unnatural, between what is possible to man and what is impossible--if Victor represents the unnatural, then his creature embodies the natural. The paper relates that the conflict within Victor and between the creator and the creature, is brought most sharply into focus during the creation of the she-creature. When the creature wishes for nothing but love and companionship, it demands a help-mate and threatens to unleash its fury on all those dear to Victor if its desire is not met.

From the Paper:

"Clearly, Shelley's warning is against meta-humanistic and not scientific knowledge. Even if we were to assume that her understanding of science had been so naive as to equate it with supernatural omnipotence, her understanding of recent history could not have been so fragmented. It is likely that Frankenstein's creature represents the chaos and turmoil that sprang from the French Revolution. It is significant that Shelley's novel takes place during the 1790's and yet there is no mention of this major event. Still more important is her brief allusion to the English revolt a century and a half earlier."

More papers on Shelley's "Frankenstein":

• Analytical Essay # 4240 : "Frankenstein" or the "Modern Prometheus"
• Analytical Essay # 14206 : "Mary Shelley "Frankenstein"
• Analytical Essay # 136064 : "Multiple Personas in "Frankenstein"
• Analytical Essay # 59395 : "Frankenstein" and Acquisition of Knowledge"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: