Frankenstein: Rational and Romantic?

      Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, is an interplay of rationalism and Romanticism, but rationalism is clearly condemned by Romanticism. Victor spends years studying chemistry and anatomy, and as he tells Walton in the frame narrative, "[he becomes] capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter" (Shelley 31). However, his intense determination to find the secret of life leads to his downfall as the monster that he creates leads him to seek nothing but revenge on the monster. Shelley's story serves as a cautionary tale against rationalism, and the frame narrative with Walton, the arctic explorer, exemplifies the cautionary element because Victor tells his story as a cautionary tale himself. Victor, before he relays his story, warns Walton, "'You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that that the gratification of your wishes may not be the serpent to sting you, as mine has been... I imagine that you will deduce an apt moral from my tale...'" (Shelley 13). Victor warns Walton that knowledge might be the serpent to sing him. Shelley warns her readers with a cautionary tale just like Victor warns Walton with the same tale. Therefore, Victor's story of his downfall is an expression of Mary Shelley's condemnation of rationalism.
      The monster, however, is not rational. He only uses his emotions and, preferring irrational actions to rational ones. For instance, when the monster encounters Victor's brother, William, he becomes enraged and irrational, killing him without hesitation: "'Frankenstein! You belong then to my enemy- to him I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim'" (Shelley 102). Moments later, he kills the boy by strangling him. The monster commits the murder, and the murder of Victor's other loved ones, solely out of revenge and hatred. The monster commits irrational crimes in contrast to Victor's rational nature.
      The idea of these two characters resonates so clearly in popular culture. Almost everyone, even before reading the novel, knows the idea of Frankenstein. One reason for this might be because of the essential questions the novel raises: What is life? What makes one human? These basic yet essential questions are thought-provoking and make the reader wonder about human existence. Who is more human: the monster who seeks companionship and lets his emotions control his actions, or Victor who uses his reasoning and rationality drive his actions as he questions the very nature of life and death?

Work Cited

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein. New York: Dover Publications, 1994. Print.