Frankenstein and The Romantic Period:

The Romantic period was an era unlike any other, it was a time that embraced nature’s prowess and explored social conflicts. This period began in the late 18th century and lasted through the mid eighteen hundreds. The Romantic period is well known for producing an abundance of notable musicians, scientists, artists, and writers. Among these great romanticists was an English novelist, Mary Shelly, who is responsible for writing one of the best horror stories and social critiques of all time. Her novel, “Frankenstein,” tells the tale of a brilliant doctor whose heavy ambitions cause disorder between the balance of life and death. More importantly this novel exploits the relationship that the growing industrial society has with the natural world. The Romantic period was revolutionary for science and innovation, however Shelly questions what toll it will take on ourselves and the environment. Will we ever draw the line between innovation and natural order, or will we eventually take things too far as Dr. Frankenstein tragically did in the novel.
Mary Shelly was born into the start of the romantic period in 1797 London. The daughter of a philosopher and a political writer, Shelly was an educated child who would have grown up observing the rapid expansion of industry and social hierarchies of classes. As a result of this movement, the theme of nature vs technology is prominent in Shelly’s “Frankenstein.” The clash between technological and scientific break throughs of the era and the sacred boundaries of nature is evident in the plot of the novel. One of the many cultural documents that illustrates this conflict is a picture from James Whale’s 1931 play of Frankenstein. This picture displays Boris Karloff as the monster in which he appears to be part human and part machine. He is constructed as a man, however has metal nodes protruding from his neck, along with stiches and scars on his head. This representation of the monster is symbolic of the conflict between modern society and nature. As Karloff illustrates in this picture, the natural composition of a human’s body is disgraced. The character of the doctor, Victor Frankenstein, chose to put his own ambitions and those of the scientific community above the natural order of the world. Not only did Frankenstein distort a human body but more importantly brought one to life through the use of science alone. The 1931 Frankenstein addresses a social issue that is far bigger than a play or novel. At the height of Mary Shelly’s career as a writer she observed a change in the way her traditional society had operated for centuries. The moral and ethical standards that seemed to be precedent for 19th century England were quickly being overturned. Values and religious beliefs regarding the dead and those included in scientific experiments were slowly starting to become accepted by many. Shelly successfully wrote upon the desensitization of society’s view on death and the new discoveries that arose from which. Shelly’s original novel already exploited this concept, however the 1931 play of Frankenstein only further supported this as the monster’s image became more machine. This image is perhaps the best portrayal of this clash between industry and the natural world.
Frankenstein is a novel that has been published by hundreds of different companies and performed as a play by even more. The way that a novel is performed as a play is so interesting because of the different factors that are included in the making of it. Very simply, this is what makes each play so unique. Depending on the conductor of the play or the actors, the portrayal of the same story can be changed dramatically, as a result the audience will receive a very different message at the end. The second cultural document analyzed in this essay is also pulled from a play produced in 1823. However, this play is from a much earlier time and was among the first ever produced about the novel Frankenstein. This document is a promotional poster rather than a picture, as photography was not invented at this time. This document is the title page from Richard Peake’s play of Frankenstein in the form of a romantic drama, in three acts. This illustration is very different than the picture taken from 1931, as it displays the monster in a completely different light. Rather than being aggressive, violent, and scary the monster in 1823 is depicted as a normal human. This could have been done for several reasons, and without seeing the play we would never know for sure. However, one of these reasons could be because props and costumes at the time could not support a character as a monster like we now know it. The biggest reason perhaps, is the fact that society had never seen a real horror story before. As Peake may have realized, a story is very different in text and being performed by real people. The story as described by Shelly in the novel is graphic and would have been breathe taking for many people of the time. The concepts of the dead and new science are profound enough, but a chain killing monster that is constructed from human remains would have been truly horrifying. Just as any horror movie has progressively gotten more gruesome with time to keep up with people’s thirst for thrill, Frankenstein’s monster did the same. If someone were to make a horror film about Frankenstein in 2019, it would be very graphic. However, even in the early 1800s, Frankenstein was a very scary tale as it was. To compensate for this and add his own interpretation, Peake decided to depict the monster in a way that would not frighten the audience completely. Just as the theme and motivation behind Shelly’s text can be interpreted in many ways, a play can be performed in just as many, further making Frankenstein one of the best horrors of all time.
As seen in the two cultural documents that were analyzed, Frankenstein is a novel that supports a great deal of interpretation across many platforms. However, the way that Frankenstein and its message applies to the Romantic period is very interesting. The era and the community that Mary Shelly lived in is reflected in not only the way she wrote the story but also in the way others performed it. Because of this wide range of interpretation and the significance to 18th century society it is considered to be among the best horror novels ever written.