Enlightenment In Frankenstein

Words: 1779
Pages: 8

Ideas are fundamental to society, especially in the construction, organization, and transformation. In which, when a society is already constructed and organized, the transformation of one becomes an important discussion, especially for the bettering of. The ideas of Enlightenment and Romanticism are no exception to this goal. Beginning around the 18th century, continuing to about the 19th century these two idea systems or paradigms were in exercise and development. Although the era of the advent of these paradigms are somewhat close and overlapping, they are literally opposites in perception and reality of growth and development. The purpose of this writing is to use writings or literary works from authors from both paradigms to highlight …show more content…
Shelley was the daughter of Wollstonecraft, the Enlightenment Philosopher that was briefly examined a few paragraphs prior. In this novel, a very young but very intelligent scientist, Victor, created a form of a human being, the Monster. After the creation of the Monster, Victor becomes very sick in his stomach in regards to his creation. The Monster is very empathetic and loving by nature. He has ambitions of a companion. The Monster expresses his ambitions to Victor. Victor does not comply with the Monsters request for a companion. This is the turning point for the Monster. This is very compelling because this novel attributes traits and paradigms from both sides of the scale, Enlightenment and Romanticism. This is relevant because Victor is very much an Enlightened thinking man. He is educated and a scientist. He seems to think that science can cure the world's ailments. On the contrary, the Monster is very much a Romantic. He reads poetry. His ambitions are typically emotional. He enjoys nature and is emotional in his decisions. The clash of these two ideologies resulted in the death of Victor’s new bride and the death of the Monster. Ironically, if Victor, Enlightenment, and the Monster, Romanticism, would have acted in corroboration maybe something beautiful could have been created. This novel is a hybrid of these two …show more content…
The labels that are concerning in regards to this writing are masculine and feminine. According to Dr. Rees of the University of Sciences and Arts of Oklahoma, some examples of masculine traits are reason/logic, technology, perfection/stasis, social/political, science, symmetry, and adulthood. Consequently, some examples of feminine traits are as follows; emotion/intuition, nature, change/mutability, individual, organic, poetry, and childhood. Of course, these are a few examples of a very vast area, but these are the most applicable in regards to this writing. (Rees