Romanticism in Frankenstein exemplifies a movement in the arts, which embraces inspiration throughout the novel. From the beginning to end, this novel is decrypted to show us how Victor’s desire had become an infatuation in creating a piece of art titled. This novel illustrates the art of creation, the upbringing of a monster through visual aspects, and the desire of wanting to be “loved,” which in my conclusion is part of “romanticism.”
Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein in the late eighteenth century, which evolved around the era of romanticism and the commencement of the industrial period. During this time, the use of technology spiked as well as in the educational system. There were many new inventions being created, and for one person named Victor, creating was his dream.
People may disagree that “romance” during the romantic period did not mean “love,” but I can justify that Frankenstein is part is “love.” Victor had a desire in creating a creature, a desire that infatuated him over a period of two years, for “two years I had worked hard for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body.” The love that Victor had for over the course of two years had sparked a fire in him to create a creature that would exceed moderation. An example tied to our life is that, we create babies from the love we share with another human being, in which Victor was doing the same. Creating life is an act of “love” that is visualized the same way throughout the world. Victor had been waiting a long time to bring this creation to life, and that is what he did. Victor had created the most famous work of art known to literature, Frankenstein.
Creation in part being of the romance period and creating being an art of “love,” Victor took his time and patience to create Frankenstein. He had to physically go through hundreds and hundreds of dead bodies in order to obtain the right attributes for his creation. I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!--Great God!”. Upon locating these key attributes, the conception of Frankenstein became a reality through attributes such as, “yellow skin scarcely covering the work of muscles and arteries, beneath; his hair was a lustrous black and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness.” With admiration he stated, “I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!--Great God!”. He then had to assemble the creation carefully arranging the specific muscles and arteries and figuring out how to make the human creature come alive. This took years to accomplish.
As the years progressed, Frankenstein was developed into a human like creature. that didn’t know anything about “love.” He is taught to go find human interaction & to learn diverse mechanisms. Human interaction especially that of family, plays a huge role in looking, finding and feeling love. In search of human interaction, Frankenstein comes across the DeLacey Family. This is a family of three, a father, a son named Felix and a daughter named Agatha who live in a cottage. The DeLacey’s treat the human like creature with such kindness and actually helps the him feel a sense of love, love in which he wants to engage with. This family, in dealings with the human like creature, ends up assisting the human like creature define what a family is like. The DeLacey’s acquaint him on how to interact with the people you love, as well as, how family is supposed to love and care for one and other. The family exhibits this act by showing what the son and daughter do to assist their blind father and fight for each other in order to stay alive. Even though they are not the wealthiest family, the creature can tell that the kids do whatever they can to survive and maintain their happy little family. “Nothing could exceed the love and respect which the younger cottagers exhibited towards their venerable companion. They performed towards him every little office of affection and duty with gentleness; and he rewarded them with his benevolent smiles”. These examples of love creates a spark in the human like creature, that he will indeed find love and companionship. Thus creating a sense of journey, to find “love” and to be “loved.”
Frankenstein, the human like creature, thus far has come across a family that has shown him what love and companionship is like. The creature realizes that he truly cannot live without a companion, and he is going to do whatever he can to obtain this. With this in mind, he ends up returning to Victor, his creator, and confides in him to create a wife to be his companion. “What I ask of you is reasonable and moderate; I demand a creature of another sex,” someone I am compatible with, a creature of my own kind to feel loved. Even though he indeed saw love from the DeLacey family, and witnessed what love is supposed to be like, he wants to be able to feel it for himself, with a creation like himself. He believes that this creature, with the same features will automatically bond with one and other.
Victor, his creator, ends up not creating a wife for the creature in fear that he will start a new human race. The monster gets so offended that his only creator cannot give him his only desire in the world, he decides to kill Victor’s cousin Elizabeth on her wedding night. The creature acts like this because he wants to get back at Victor for not creating a wife for him, and for creating a monster like him in the first place. Saddened and upset, at that fact, he ends up killing, killing for “love,” as he would do anything for it.
Throughout the novel, the creature wanted to feel and be loved. After perceiving and viewing what love was from the DeLacey Family, he wanted to search high and low for a family, and for a companion. Having the ability to view others and reenact their movement just to love speaks volumes about the creature. This human like creature was made to love and be loved.
After reading the novel Frankenstein, I came to the conclusion that Victor made this creature out of pure “love,” a desire that compelled him to act and feel a certain way. He wanted to create a human like creature that would stand the test of time. Not knowing what this creature would look like at the end, he still chose to create his work of art, and bring his own vision to life. Moreover, anything that we choose to create in this world is a creation of love.
As humans in this world, we strive to find love just as the creature did. We want to feel that human connection, that human touch, that human interaction and will reach out to others in order to feel this. We come into this world feeding off love and companionship and are taught at a young age to seek love and to love one and other. In dealing with everyday life situations, when someone hurts our family or our partner, we are ready to defend each other and go to the ends of the earth for them. We feel what they feel and hurt when they hurt. So in relation to the main character in the novel, the creature was doing just that.
I can conquer that this creature was made out of love, to portray and react to love, and to find love for himself, just like the us, humans.
