Texts in Time – Frankenstein

“It is through the texts produced in a particular

society that we can understand that society’s
concerns”

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein conveys the values of the early 19th century of
European society. Through Shelly’s novel the concerns of the time are
strongly conveyed through the use of descriptive vocabulary and constructive
language devices. The value of a pure, untouched natural world is a concept
that through Mary’s Romantic influence is significant. The unrestrained
exploration of science is also highly valued in the early 19th century European
society and is conveyed through Shelly’s Frankenstein. The importance of a
strong family relationship is also a value that is highly valued in that society of
the time.

Mary Shelley highly values the aspect of the purity of nature and this is seen
strongly throughout the book. The Romantic movement of the time is a
significant influencing factor that contributed to the value for the natural world.
The Romantic’s valued the physical nature and its perfections with very high
regards, which goes in saying that is it is one of the most wrote about topics in
Romantic literature. The first page of Frankenstein, Captain Walton’s first
letter to his sister is full of contraptions to do with nature. She personifies
nature though Walton’s description, “I [felt] the cold northern breeze play upon
my cheeks”. This personification adds a powerful element to nature. It also
shows the comparison of nature and its connection with the human condition
and the purity of man. Also, Walton talks about on the first paged is, “the pole
[being] the seat of frost and desolation; it ever [presenting] itself to [his]
imagination as the region of beauty and delight”. Here Shelley presents to the
reader the true untouched nature of the world in the 19th century and the
“beauty and delight” which it portrays to the characters and person of the time.
It is also a balanced sentence, which empathises the meaning of the sentence
as well as the contrasting phrases. Also later on Walton say’s, “I shall satiate
my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited,
and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man.” This shows
the reader directly what Walton values in his journey of exploration; the drive
to go to the place where only the purity of nature and its perfections are seen.

The value for the unrestrained exploration of science is a value valued highly
by Frankenstein and one that is drives the novel forward. In the 19th century
the study of science was valued highly among the people of the European
world. It was a revolutionary time when people like Charles Darwin where
pushing the limits, pushing the refines of the church. This can be seen to have
a direct influence on Mary Shelley and her writing of Frankenstein. Victor
Frankenstein is altruistic in this pursuit of science saying that, “wealth is an
inferior object; but the glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish
disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a
violent death”. This quote shows Victor’s motivation in the unrestrained
exploration of science. He wants the glory that comes with the discovery for
the betterment of humanity. The latter is also foreshadowing the “daemon”
which he is later to produce, a creature “invulnerable to any but a violent
death”. Frankenstein values the unrestrained exploration of science and
Shelley shows this but what she also shows the consequences of knowledge
that is ahead of its time. Through an exchange between Walton and Victor, he
says, “how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much
happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, then he who
aspires to become greater then his nature will allow”. This is a warning to
Walton who also is in the pursuit of some for the betterment of humanity.
Through the extended sentence Mary presents to the reader the truth of the
exploration of science and its consequences. Mary also through diction,
“dangerous”, warns the reader and the Walton of the consequences of
unrestrained exploration of science.

The other value seen throughout the novel is that of the importance of a
strong family connection. In the 19th century families were an important aspect
of life and the parents strongly influenced, through their own values the life of
their children. The Childhood experience was also a strong aspect of the
Romantic period hence it features strongly in Frankenstein. Victor portrays
this value through the recollection of his childhood experiences. He say’s, “I
received a lesson of patience, of charity and of self-control, I was so guided
by a silken cord that all seemed but one train of enjoyment to me”. This shows
the values that are valued highly by his parents which are in turn passed
down through to Victor. The diction of the sentence suggests the values that
combine together to create a strong family connection. The Delacy is another
strong representation of a strong family relationship. The creature describes
them as he sees them trying to understand the emotions which families bring;
“smiled with such kindness and affection that I felt sensations of a peculiar
and overpowering nature: they were a mixture of pain and pleasure”. Here the
creature, who has no idea of a family or anything close to one sees the
emotions which are portrayed. He values the Delacy family for the structure,
practices and duties of domestic life and he values the emotions that are
aroused by the domestic context. All these values tie in the strong family
connection which is portrayed by the Delacys.