The Appeal of Contradictory Conflict

      Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was clearly a Gothic-Romanticist novel--however, elements of Enlightenment are present as well. It's especially interesting noting that the main protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, distinctly belongs to the Enlightenment movement. Victor boasts that as a child "the world was to me a secret which I desired to divine" (Shelley 25). "Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature … are among the earliest sensations I can remember," Victor claims (Shelley 25). By sharp contrast, when the monster initially awoke "a strange multiplicity of sensations seized [him]"  (Shelley 87). While Victor earliest memories are clear in a seemingly fundamental "eager desire to learn," the monster's earliest memories are "confused and indistinct" (Shelley 26, 87). Victor is adamant in distinguishing that he, unlike children, was not interested in "childish pursuits," but rather in "the secrets of heaven and earth" (Shelley 26). As other Enlightenment partisans, Victor is convinced that all secrets of nature can be discovered and revealed.
       On the other hand, the monster, the creation of Victor's Enlightened philosophy, goes against everything he believes concerning beauty and appearance. Such an ugly creation, brought to life, could not possibly be human or alive, but only a monster. However this monster, although not nearly as rational or scientifically interested as Victor, is extremely on humans. Humans with their feelings and language,"[the monster] looked upon them as superior beings" (Shelley 98). The monster is deeply influenced by a novel he read while watching De Lacey's cottage, Paradise Lost by John Milton, and compares himself to both Adam and Satan in a comparison that reveals the deeply emotional nature of the monster. He is both unwanted and unloved, and pure anger can take him by force in a swooping and fatal action as it did when he killed Victor's brother, William.
       Noting that the monster himself is an evident representation of the natural, emotional ideology of Romanticism, the conflict between him and Victor reflects the competition between the rising movement of Romanticism in the early nineteenth century and the older, natural philosophy-focused Enlightenment. Victor's death by the indirect attacks of the monster represents the gradual and slowly dying Enlightenment philosophy. The deaths of Victor's friends and family symbolizing the death of all of the Enlightenment's figureheads; seeing that, in Mary Shelley's reality, they are dead at this point.
       The appeal of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein lies in that she put into words a characteristic of humans we all know, but don't necessarily explicitly recognize--duality. Frankenstein's monster is a spearhead figurine in the recognition of human's dual nature. Compared to both Adam and Satan after reading Paradise Lost by John Milton, the monster reveals of himself the kindness and humane nature of his soul and the social inflexibility and pressure that molds his existence. The good and godly nature of Adam, but the unwanted and sinful nature of Satan coexist in him. This dual nature is something that we, as humans, disregarding our religion and race and all the labels that categorize us, all can relate to. This ubiquitous and indiscriminate acknowledgement of intrinsic human nature is what draws the appeal of human society in all ages in our eternal struggle of overcoming our differences to come together in peace.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Bantam Dell, 2003. PDF.