Romance, Horror, and Feminism in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley is an incredible story that has been very well known throughout most generations. It has gotten so popular that they even made movies and changed up certain things. The original book isn’t just one genre, it actually represents many such as Romance, Horror, and also Feminism. The reasoning behind all of these genres in one book is because of the adversity Mary had to overcome during her lifetime.

Mary Shelley’s background played a huge part in writing this novel and it influenced Frankenstein to be one of the most iconic books ever written. Mary was always fascinated with science and that is what helped create the idea of Frankenstein. She had a wide imagination and she really used that to her advantage by creating such a brilliant plot. She was ahead of the game when it came to education and literature because she was surrounded by books and writing at a young age. Both of Mary’s parents were well known for literature and it influenced her to pursue that field. Throughout her journey in the literature world she came across an Italian physician who experimented with electrical currents named Luigi Galvani. She learned a lot from him and used some of his ideas to relate with Frankenstein’s origin.

The horror theme in Frankenstein was heavily influenced by Mary’s troubled life growing up. When she was young her mother passed away while giving birth to her. She took it better than expected with the help of her father who later on got remarried to a widow. Mary and her father were very close and her stepmother developed a hateful relationship filled with jealousy towards Mary. Their relationship didn’t last very long because her stepmother committed suicide while she was pregnant. Moving on to Mary’s own family. She gave birth to 5 children, however only one survived adulthood. Mary’s half sibling committed suicide as well, and her husband drowned at sea. Mary became a widow at age 25.

This influenced the book Frankenstein because in the story the monster who is a child does not have a mother and is unloved by his creator. Frankenstein just wants to be loved, but is denied by everyone that comes his way including himself. Since he was denied and unacknowledged by his creator he then wants revenge. Her terrible relationship with her stepmother is the reason why Frankenstein was a lonely monster would get jealous and seek revenge.

Mary grew up in the 17th century which was revolved around very high standards and it was a time where it was difficult for someone unique to be accepted. In the story Frankenstein is rejected by everyone and isn’t accepted by society. This shows in the book and reflects how much of an impact it had. Living through all these tragedies fueled her and gave her more ambition to write a novel like this. During this time, Mary was also influenced her feminist’s beliefs which were taught by her mother. She was even being considered to be one of the first writers to be a feminist. Mary continued her mother’s feminist practices along with the support of her husband Percy.

Percy was a married man once before and had children. He helped her write the book because he was also a writer. He then eloped with Mary and started a new family with her. She didn’t really have a relationship with many people because Percy eventually passed away and the only true relationship Mary had ever experienced was with her father. The death of Percy definitely took a toll in her life. Which makes sense because Frankenstein was sad when his creator died. That was the only time in the book where Frankenstein showed some type of emotion other than anger.

Most of the details in the book represent the time and personal life troubles in Mary’s life. Her life was filled with people judging her and not being accepted. She lost many people including family members who meant a lot to her which influenced the characteristics of Frankenstein. She created this novel based off of her life experiences and reflected on them through a jealous vengeful monster. Writing in general helped her get through the darkest times in her life and it definitely showed. You could see the great qualities that his book had in it influenced by Science, Horror, and Romance.

All of these correlate with Mary’s life and the impact her trouble life had. From reading this novel one can admire how strong Mary was mentally and that is what inspires many people in the world today. Frankenstein represented many of Mary’s characteristics considering Mary was felt unloved, alone, and not accepted.

The book was successful because the readers could connect with the book in a personal level and it relates with their lives as well. Mary being strong throughout the darkest times influenced a lot of people because she was able to use the negative things in her life and use them as fuel to write one of the most iconic books of all time.