Frankenstein

While I was reading the first volume of Frankenstein, I was most captivated with Shelley’s romantic style. I was first tipped off when I read through the Letters section and the narrator, Robert Walton, really emphasizes his emotions. Walton wants so badly to connect with someone intellectually and spiritually, which are keys to the male figure during the Romantic Era. Furthermore, romanticism is also revealed through Frankenstein’s commentary about connecting with nature, as he says, “When happy, inanimate nature had the power of bestowing on me the most delightful sensations. A serene sky and verdant fields filled with ecstasy.” (last page of ch.6) Though the story has several other functions, it certainly does emphasize how the natural world directly impacts man’s life. It is important to take note of this style because it really jumpstarts the emphasis of the narrator and looking inward at one’s emotions and inner feelings.

Because of this romanticism, the primary men in the story are taking on what is seen to be a much more feminine role. The men express emotion and voice their love for nature and beauty, and this is traditionally something women would do. Walton and Frankenstein don’t always fit the previous eras’ characteristics of what it takes to be a man, but both men are suitable men for the romantic age. This new ideology helps build the idea that emotion does not necessarily equate to lack of strength or intelligence.

I can’t help but ponder the idea that maybe one of the reasons women were able to gain more and more respect in society after the nineteenth-century is not because women were perceived to be stronger and more evolved, but because authors like Shelley reveal how men actually have many stereotypically female traits. Instead of lifting women up to meet men’s expectations, men were subconsciously brought down to the female level making it harder to argue natural superiority.