Frankenstein: Neither One nor the Other

Everything changes with time. The things that are important to society today are things that may have not even been around two generations ago. This is true today and was true during the past. The Romantic Age and the Victorian Age are two different periods in which opinions and preferences changed greatly. They differed in many aspects, including the opinions on nature, and the experience of mankind. The novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley touches on many of the things that the Romantic Age and the Victorian Age are known for, and shows how two different time periods can take such contrary routes in searching for the answers to the same questions.

The first thing in the novel that shows the differing views of the two periods is the way that the novel looks at nature and how man interacts with nature. Many instances in Frankenstein describe nature as a retreat that Frankenstein goes back to in order to find peace of mind and healing. There is one instance in which Frankenstein is heading back to Geneva after finding out that his little brother, William, has been murdered. He dreads the thought of arriving home to this tragedy and so decides to spend two days at Lausanne. There, he "[contemplates] the lake," where "the waters were placid; all around was calm..." (Shelley 47) and says, "By degrees, the calm and heavenly scene restored me" (Shelley 47). On this occasion, nature was able to calm Frankenstein and give him courage to face his family and the death of William. This goes back to the Romantic reverence towards nature. The Romantics were all about the contemplation of nature.

They believed that nature had a healing effect on man and that man needed to get back to the simplicity of nature, especially after seeing the effects of urbanization and the overcrowding of cities. In addition, the Romantics believed that there is a relationship between man and nature, in that man's mood reflects nature and vice versa. This is seen clearly on the night in which Frankenstein finally completes his experiment and brings the creature to life. In accordance to the horror that Frankenstein feels at his creation, the night is described as "dreary," (Shelley 34) and the morning, "dismal and wet" (Shelley 35). The anguish of Frankenstein's realization that he has created a monster is reflected in the bleak weather.

Another example of this is when Frankenstein arrives at Geneva to find that the gates have been shut for the night. He decides to visit the spot where William was killed. As he nears the spot, a "violent storm" comes up and Frankenstein is in the midst of it (Shelley 48). This storm mirrors the turmoil that Frankenstein feels within himself, especially after he sees the creature and realizes that it was his own creation that had murdered William. The views on nature in these instances are good examples of Romantic thought and Shelley does a good job of describing this to the reader.

However, in looking at Frankenstein and his creation, there is an obvious Victorian feeling toward nature. In contrast to the Romantics, the Victorians looked at nature as something to be conquered. This is seen in the outbreak of technological advances during the time. Things like bridges, ships and mines enabled man to feel superior to nature because they were now able to overcome many of the obstacles that nature had put in their path on the road to gaining more knowledge in things like science and geography. The way in which Frankenstein shows this conquering of nature is in the actual creation of the creature. Frankenstein bestows life on an inanimate being. He plays the role of God in his desire that "a new species would bless [him] as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to [him]" (Shelley 32). He takes on the role of God and doesn't take into account the consequences of his actions. According to Anne K. Mellor, "Frankenstein has eliminated the female's primary biological function," and has, "for the simple purpose of human survival... eliminated the necessity of have females at all" (Mellor 274). This may also be the reason that all of the females in his life die; his mother dies, Justine is executed, and the creature kills Elizabeth on their wedding night, the night that they should have consummated their marriage and, in effect, started the reproduction process. He has fought against nature and won the battle to create something unnatural, which ended up causing havoc and chaos in his own life. Frankenstein's own nature led him to try and be the best, and this hubris ultimately leads to his downfall. By overcoming nature, Frankenstein lets loose a chain of events that he had no way of foreseeing. This parallels later Victorian thought in the way that they started to question the benefits and costs of technological and scientific progress. In looking at Frankenstein and his relationship to nature and the creature, Shelley is able to capture this Victorian thought of nature as something to be conquered, as well as the Romantic thought of nature as something to be contemplated and revered.

Nature is not the only theme in Frankenstein that can be seen from both the Romantic and Victorian point of view. Many of the characters, including the creature, Walton, and Frankenstein are portrayed as solitary, lonely individuals. In his letters to his sister, Walton says, "I shall certainly find no friend on the wide ocean, nor even here in Archangel, among merchants and seamen" (Shelley 10). He desires a friend and a confidante to share his desires, disappointments, and success with. However, Walton fears that he will not find one in the vast expanse of land that he is exploring. The creature, like Walton, craves the acceptance and understanding of a friend. This is shown clearly during the time that the creature spends watching the De Lacey family. He grows to consider them as friends, and craves their acceptance saying, "The more I saw of them, the greater became my desire to claim their protection and kindness; my heart yearned to be known and loved by these amiable creatures: to see their sweet looks turned towards me with affection, was the utmost limit of my ambition" (Shelley 89). However, he is ultimately rejected by the family and turns to a life of solitude and vengeance. Unlike Walton and the creature, Frankenstein seems to choose to be alone, rather than forced to be alone. Susan Winnett says in her essay, "As if in anticipation of all the alienations his creature's alienation will cause him to share, he cuts himself off from friends and family for the duration of the project" (Winnett 195). He does it, not because he is alienated, but because he feels that while he is creating this "monster," he cannot be around those that he loves. Frankenstein says, "The same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me caused me also to forget those friends who were so many miles absent, and whom I had not seen for so long a time" (Shelley 33). He is so caught up in his experiment that he has lost contact with the people who mean the most to him. This solitary lifestyle that these men have is typical of the Romantic Period. The Romantics emphasized the reclusive or alienated individual. This had a lot to do with their longing to find their true identity and to contemplate and find peace with nature.

Unlike this solitary lifestyle encouraged by the Romantics, the Victorians looked at the duality of the human nature, or the inner conflicts as opposed to the outward expressions. In Frankenstein, this can be seen in the creature and Frankenstein himself. To others, Frankenstein has a normal, healthy life. His childhood was spent with his loving family. He was educated and given free reign of what he wanted to learn. In all aspects, Frankenstein's life was one of happiness and stability. For the Victorians, Frankenstein represents the normal outward appearance. The creature, on the other hand, represents the part of man that is capable of evil. The creature is described as hideous. Frankenstein states that "a mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch" (Shelley 35). The creature is seen as the ugly part within man that is struggling to get out. It is the part that man keeps hidden behind the normal exterior. In looking at Sigmund Freud, Frankenstein would be seen as the super-ego, the creature would be seen as the id, and the two together make up the ego. The id is impulsive and considers only its own desires. It doesn't see past actions to the consequences and, therefore, wants many things that may be unacceptable in society. The creature is like this in that he kills William out of fury and vengeance. He says, "You belong then to my enemy - to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim" (Shelley 97). He kills William because he wants revenge on his creator, but he doesn't realize the consequence of guilt that he has to live with after. In looking at the differences between Frankenstein and his creature, it is easy to see at work the Victorian theme of the duality of man. The creature acts out of passion without any regard to the consequences it may encounter while Frankenstein thinks things through logically before doing anything. This trait of Frankenstein is seen most clearly when realizes that he cannot create a mate for the creature because "she might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate, and delight, for its own sake, in murder and wretchedness" (Shelley 114). Even though it would be beneficial for him to create the mate, he can't do it because he is thinking about the rest of the world and what could possibly happen if he created a race of horrible, murdering creatures. In this way, Frankenstein represents the good part of man while the creature represents the passionate part of man that is capable of evil.

In looking at Frankenstein, the reader is able to see both Romantic and Victorian thought. Romantics valued individualism and saw nature as a healing force, and something to be contemplated and revered. On the other hand, Victorians saw nature as something to be conquered and overcome. They saw the duality of man in that there is a struggle between the good nature of man and the evil inside that is trying to escape. In this novel, Shelley is able to express all this in a way that melds each view together without contradicting itself. The reader is able to understand what it feels like to be, not only in Frankenstein's shoes, but in the monster's as well. They are able to see the healing forces of nature, and also what happens when nature is tampered with and becomes something unnatural.

Mellor, Anne K. "Possessing Nature: The Female in Frankenstein." Frankenstein. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1996.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1996.

Winnett, Susan. "Coming Unstrung: Women, Men, Narrative, and Principles of Pleasure." Frankenstein. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1996.