Literature and the individual

11 October 2018

Mary Shelley, A Wary Inheritor of Romanticism

Originated in Europe at the end of the 18th century, Romanticism dominated most areas

such as visual arts, music, and literature from 1800 to 1850. In reflecting the objective reality,

Romantic literatures focus on the subjective inner world, one’s ardent pursuit of the ideal world,

emphasis of individualism, and worship for nature. Romantic movement gave rise to many

prominent writers in the 19th century. Mary Shelley, one of the influential English novelists at

the Romantic period, was known for one of her novels Frankenstein. One main character Victor

Frankenstein, who is fond of nature philosophy, creates a creature, but is then terrified by the

creature’s ugliness. The creature, longed for a companionship, fails to convince Victor of

creating another female companion for him. The creature then kills all of Victor’s love ones for

revenge, and ultimately perishes together with him. Based on the characters’ Romantic

personality, the healing power of nature, and the concept of “Noble Savage” in the novel

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley was a inheritor of Romanticism, who was profoundly influenced by

the Romantic thoughts that peaked at her period. However, what makes her unique is her

wariness about the consequence that might be brought by excessive romantic passion.

Romantic passion is one of the main themes at Romantic period. In the novel, main

characters such as Walton, Victor and the minor characters such as Clerval, are all harbored a

zealous Romantic passion. This passion mainly manifest as being interested in exploring the new

things, breaking the stereotype, and yearning for exploring the unacquainted and miraculous area

where has not been reached by people before. Walton reveals in his letter to sister Margaret

Saville that his voyage to the North pole is mainly resulted from his “ ardent curiosity with the

sight of a part of the world never before visited”, and his desire to “tread a land never before

imprinted by a foot of man”(1). Walton further admits that “there is a love for the marvellous,
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intertwined in all [his] projects, which hurries [him] out of the common pathways of men, even

to the wild sea and unvisited regions [he is] about to explore” and “there is something at work in

[his] soul should which [he does] not understand”(6). It shows that he is completely a passion-

driven person who does not make decision through rationality, but through his “love for the

marvellous” and “ardent curiosity”. Victor is also a classical Romantic thinker, as he is keen on

breaking the rule of nature. He is preoccupied by ideals that out of ordinary, and he states that

“[life] and death appeared to [him] ideal bounds, which [he] should first break through, and

[pours] a torrent of light into [human’s] dark world(32)” after launching his work to create a new

life. His belief of being able to give the “dark world” a “torrent of light” indicates that Victor is a

dreamer with Romantic striving against customary limitations of human beings. In this sense,

Victor is undoubtedly romantic. Clerval is another example of Romantic character in the novel.

He has strong emotional connection with nature as he is “alive to every new scene” and is

“inquisitive, and anxious to gain experience and instruction”(115). His desire of experiences and

love for nature drive him to continue his trips around the world and being “forever busy”(115).

Thus, Clerval’s active response to the natural scene during the trip as well as his thirsty for brand

new experiences give him a portrayal of Romantic thinker.

In addition to the characters’ Romantic personality, the concept of “Noble savage” in the

passage also serves as a evidence of Mary Shelley’s Romantic thoughts. “Noble savage” is an

idealized concept of uncivilized man who represents the inborn kindness of those whom have not

yet exposed to the noxious impacts of civilization. It is a dominant theme that has been

frequently used by Romantic writers. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley revealed this concept

through her sympathy toward the the creature created by Victor. The creature was depicted as a

completely pure one with innate goodness when he first comes to experience the world. His
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long-lasting observation of the cottagers first awakens the kindness in his mind, as he admits that

“This trait of kindness moved [him] sensibly” when he finds out the poverty is the cause of

sorrow for cottagers. He then stops stealing sustains from the cottagers’ store and “satisfied

[himself] with berries, nuts, and roots … ”(78). The list of foods here serves as a strong

dichotomy to the creature’s figure which described by Walton as “gigantic in stature, yet uncouth

and distorted in [his] proportions”(163), emphasizing that the creature’s original goodness is

regardless of his ugliness externally. However, after being rejected by his beloved cottagers and

attacked by a man when he intends to save a girl from near-drowning, the creature is increasingly

bitter and spiteful, and ultimately becomes a monster with desire of vengeance. In the passage,

Mary Shelley used the first person view of the creature to demonstrate how the goodness of

creature is slowly destroyed by the corrupting influences of civilization. The creature states that

“if [he] cannot inspire love, [he] will cause fear”(104), indicating that the creature’s lack of love

is a direct trigger of the murders he exerts. The creature further uses questions like “why [he]

should pity man more than he pities [him]?” and “Shall [he] respect man when he condemns

[him]?” to speak for himself at the end of the novel(104). These emotional-charged questions

force readers to ponder over the real cause of the creature’s moral degeneration. And this cause

is exactly society’s indifference and cruelty toward the creature, whom is continuously being

condemned for his origin. All in all, Mary Shelley illustrated the concept of “Noble Salvage” to

indicate that the real cause of the creature’s vengeance is the human civilization. It thus shows

Mary’s admiration and approval to this aspect of Romanticism.

Another evidence for Mary Shelley’s inheritance of Romanticism in Frankenstein is the

healing power of nature. To Romantic writers, nature is powerful and sublime, and it has

capability to protect human from contaminating by science and technology. The nature depicted
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by Mary Shelley reflects a strong Romantic thought, as it serves as a restorative agent for the

Victor. He states that“ [the] very wind .. and maternal nature bade [him] weep no more” when he

first goes back to the hometown after creating the creature(65). The adjective “maternal”

explicitly demonstrates the sense of security that Victor acquires from the nature. Serving as a

placebo for Victor, nature scenes give him “additional strength”(45), and this strength

temporarily recovers him from the grief about his death of William. Furthermore, nature is a

healing place for the creature as well. The creature states that “the desert mountains, the dreary

glaciers are [his] refuge”, and “the caves of ice, which [he] only [does] not fear, are a dwelling to

[him], and the only one which man does not grudge”(69). He feels that the nature is the only

acceptance for him where the creature is able to escape from the grudge he continuously suffered

in the society.

The Romantic elements above work together harmonically, showing that Mary Shelley

was a inheritor of Romanticism. However, what makes Mary Shelley distinctive from other

Romantic authors is that while she conveyed Romanticism thoughts in her work, she also

revealed her concerns about the potential drawbacks of Romanticism to the society.

Individualism is always praised highly by Romantic authors, since both Romanticism and

Individualism convey the significance of the uniqueness of individuals. Despite of Mary

Shelley’s widely using of Romantic elements in Frankenstein, a great sense of worry toward

Romanticism emanates from her novel Frankenstein. In the passage, the synonyms of the word

“passion” such as “enthusiasm” and “ardency” are used widely for Victor to describe his passion

of natural philosophy. However, his addiction of this excessive passion ultimately leads him to

“forget those friend who were so many miles absent, and whom [he] had not seen for a long

time”(33), making him to be indifferent to family affection and increasingly individualistic. The
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drawback of this individualism is explicitly presented in passage as Victor claims that “how

much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to

become greater than his nature will allow”(31). It shows that this individualism, resulted from

the excessive romantic passion for being “greater than [human] nature will allow”, deprives

Victor of the happiness.

In a nutshell, Mary Shelley was a unique inheritor of romanticism because of her

wariness. While Mary Shelley inherited the uniqueness of romantic novel such as emotional-

driven personality, healing power of nature, and the concept of “Noble Savage”, she was able to

look through the magnificent mask of romanticism, and caught the hidden face of romanticism

that might takes its tolls to the society. Through Frankenstein, we are not only presented with a

classical romantic literature, but are also cautioned about the duality of literature movement and

the imperfection of romanticism.

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