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

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