Frankenstein is the powerful story of one scientist's desire to play god and reduce the miracles of the human body into its mechanical foundations, in the process learning what it means to be human and where the natural boundaries of man ends and the realm of god begins. ... As Evans declares, "It is in this light that many critics believe that Frankenstein is truly a reflection of Shelley's own beliefs on human nature in general. Humans are by nature greedy, selfish, prideful, and cruel" (81). It is believed that Frankenstein is therefore Shelley's own criticism of society a...

• Word Count: 3377
• Approx Pages: 14
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In her 1831 introduction, Shelley declares her desire to think of a story which would speak to the "mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror " one to "curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart". ... Nature and weather plays an important role in foreshadowing dark evil acts, events and confrontation to come in the novel. ... This aspect links the Gothicism of the novel to the Romantic period, a period closely related with nature. ... Through the setting, Shelley shows that if an individual tries to play God and mess the order of nature, it will deliver the c...

• Word Count: 2218
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Nature was also greatly used and admired during the Romantic Movement. ... During the novel Shelley poses the question are all humans born innocent and then changed and corrupt by society. ... After the creature's rejection from the DeLacy's he comes across William Frankenstein's young brother and believes the child to young to be corrupted and turned by society, ...An idea seized me, that this little creature was unprejudiced, and had lived too short a time to have imbibed a horror and deformity. ... Therefore Shelley subtitles her novel, The Modern Prometheus as Promethe...

• Word Count: 2951
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Shelley's novel was inspired while she was visiting Byron in Switzerland with her husband, Percy, in which they challenged each other to create a horror story. Many people think that this event happened but we cannot be certain, but the account of how Shelly came upon the story adds to the stereotypical image of the genre. ... Thus Frankenstein begins his morbid craft, he "collected bones from charnel-houses and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secret of the human frame", and this morose degradation of the science shows how far Frankenstein will go to create "life from dead...

• Word Count: 2019
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate