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A Gothic Novel is a story in which supernatural terrors and an atmosphere of mysterious horror infiltrates the action. Often the setting is dark and menacing, to reflect the mood of the novel. “Frankenstein” is a good example of a Gothic novel. Written in 1816, by Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein” has become one of the most widely known examples of romantic literature and Gothic novels to date.

The novel is about a young Swiss student (Victor Frankenstein), who discovers the secret of how to create life. Frankenstein carefully assembled body parts of human corpses in the hope of creating something beautiful. But on the contrary, he creates a monster that disgusts him. Rejected by his maker and society, the monster vows revenge on the human race, and more importantly, his creator – “I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind”.

One of the common characteristics of a gothic novel are the lonely frightening settings. “Frankenstein” is no exception. Mary Shelley uses these settings to emphasise the solitude and isolation from people the monster feels. We can see how isolated the monster feels when he says, “The desert mountains and dreary glaciers are my refuge. I have wandered here many days; the caves of ice, which I only do not fear, are a dwelling to me, and the only one which man does not grudge.”

This also shows how he has been rejected by mankind and was forced to migrate to the secluded mountains, away from the judging eyes of humans.

The monster described himself when he was just created, like this, “I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity.”

This shows that the creation loved everybody and did not judge people, but because people hated him and judged him based on looks alone he became full of hatred. The monster felt rejected and formed the opinion that men are his enemy. I find it ironic that in this novel, the normal-looking humans have the ugliest qualities, but the creature that is supposedly the ugliest thing alive had the most attractive qualities.

Around the time when “Frankenstein” was being written, science had been advancing rapidly, and there had been a lot of stories being told associating electricity with the key to bringing something to life. I think this will have been one of the main influences for Mary Shelley to write “Frankenstein”. We can see this when Frankenstein says, “I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet.”

Whilst creating the monster, Frankenstein became obsessed with verging deeper into the world of science than anyone had ever gone before – “I entered the diligence into the search of the philosopher”s stone and the elixir of life…’

This demonstrates how Frankenstein was trying to play the role of God, as God is the only being with the true power to give or take life. Throughout the novel the reader could get the idea that because Frankenstein is effectively cheating God, he is being punished.

The novels subtitle is “The Modern Prometheus”, this is because Victor Frankenstein can be compared to Prometheus, a figure in Greek mythology, who was a man who stole a fire from the Gods and used it with clay to make humans. This is because both men used abilities that were not meant for mankind, so they got punished for their actions, “It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn.”

The monster yearns for company and love. He persuades Frankenstein to create a mate for him, but one night Frankenstein becomes disgusted that he is creating another monster, and destroys it. The monster then vows that he will murder Victors partner Elizabeth on their wedding night. Despite the monsters threats Frankenstein goes ahead with the wedding. I believe this is because the monster has destroyed everybody else important to him and she is his last chance of happiness and normality. But predictably, his creation is there on his wedding day and Victor finds Elizabeth dead. By murdering Frankenstein’s partner, the monster is putting Frankenstein in the same lonely isolated position as him.

The monster starts his life as a good all-loving being, but because of the immoral secluding way humans behaved towards him, he gradually becomes evil and vengeful. There is a section in the novel when the monster sees a young boy who he describes as “unprejudiced”.

He decides to take him, to be his companion and friend. But the child is repulsed by him and lets slip that he is related to Victor Frankenstein. Overcome with despair, that even a young pure boy was sickened by him, and thirst for revenge, the monster killed the young boy – “The child struggled, and loaded me with epithets which carried despair to my heart; I grasped his throat to silence him, and in a moment he lay dead at my feet.”

This sentence gives me the idea that the monster didn’t really want to kill the boy but he couldn’t bare the child being repulsed by him, and he felt he had to in order to get revenge on his creator.

Although built from human remains, the monster became far from a human, in both looks and manners. Perhaps if society had accepted the monster, he could have lived happily as a human, and never become the murderous monster he turned out to be. There are a few sections in “Frankenstein” that go so far as to suggest Frankenstein’s creation to be like the devil – “I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph…”

Mary Shelley uses an oxymoron in this phrase – “hellish triumph”, I feel that this means that the monster knows what he has done is wrong but he believes it to be a triumph against humans and his creator. Throughout “Frankenstein” Mary Shelley makes us question what it is to be human – is it the way we look or how we act? She suggests that humans are vain and fail to look beyond the boundaries of appearance.

Dreams and visions are another common trait in a gothic novel. After creating the monster, Frankenstein falls into a troubled sleep, and dreams about holding Elizabeth, but whilst kissing her she turned into the corpse of his dead mother – “but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death…”

This dream of Frankenstein’s gives the reader a sense of foreboding of the death and heartbreak to come. It also used Elizabeth turning into a corpse, to symbolise how the monster will progress to be evil.

In gothic novels women often get frightened by more powerful, impetuous men. In “Frankenstein”, Elizabeth gets scared by Frankenstein, “Elizabeth observed my agitation for some time in timid and fearful silence; but there was something in my glance which communicated terror to her…”

This tells me that at the time “Frankenstein” was written men were more dominant than women. Also that women were seen as nervous and fearful.

I believe that Mary Shelley’s intentions for “Frankenstein” was to stop people stereotyping things on looks alone. Also in her time women writers were not as noticed as men writers, so I think another of her intentions was to get women writers recognised. So, in conclusion, I think that “Frankenstein” is a gothic novel as it all the elements of one, but the novel also has aspects of romantic literature.