The Theme of Revenge in Frankenstein

1135 Words5 Pages
In order to analyze Frankenstein, one must recall some elements of people's imaginary, as well as old scholars' concepts regarding this famous and ingenious work of Romantic literature. The background in which the author Mary Shelley was inserted to, as well as its importance in introducing readers to a certain type of moral dilemma that was dealt with by several authors of that era, aside from stamping a whole new genre in itself, which was science-fiction. This article briefly discusses the main thematic elements of the novel, inserted in a certain context, under a revenge and betrayal bias, which are ultimately the main triggers of the dramatic action. To start with, it is interesting to mention one of the richest elements of the story. The duality of Victor Frankenstein and its creation is obvious. Almost twenty decades after the first edition of the book was published, several people refer to (or even believe that) the horrendous beast as Frankenstein. Of course this is natural, once that the philosophical concept behind it involves precisely the duality between creator and creature. At this point we have two main keys to understanding the importance of the work: it features two themes that are held in high regard by Romanticism, which are the demiurge attempt of creating things, herein called “prometheanism”, blended to the idea of an ego having a double. More specifically, I draw the subject to the actual device that threads the story together, which is the rejection suffered by the monster by his very creator. The background was as follows: Mary Shelley was surrounded by iconoclastic and ingenious figures from every side. Her mother was a feminist, her husband a brilliant poet (if the adjective holds it enough), and her father a humanist philosopher. It is actually inevitable to state that Shelley's work responded to his parents' ideas, as
Open Document