The following is a critical essay of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" using Romanticism as a basis. I decided that I would pick those aspects of romanticism that I found most prevalent and interesting in the texts. After reading these stories, I realized that there were many ideas relating to Romanticism in the texts, some of them being variations of its definition; yet, they relate nonetheless.
Nature is a common theme in Romanticism. There is often an increasing interest or fascination with nature. This is shown in Jane Eyre, when Jane is fascinated with the moon. Nature can also be used to reflect the moods of the characters. It is used most frequently in the following two ways: as a powerful entity to convey some idea to one of the main characters, and as the counter force opposing the corrupting force of society. For example, the moon may convey ideas of comfort, a soothing force against the anger established by society.
English: Mrs. Reed torments young Jane Eyre in Suf...
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The Salutation public house in Higher Chatham Stre...Lightening, on the other hand, may serve as a warning, keeping the character on his proper path to enlightenment. In these two texts, nature shows its power many times to the main characters of Jane Eyre, Rochester, Victor Frankenstein, and the Monster. These characters both use nature as their one reference point, the one thing that will not change and will not turn against them. In these texts, nature is constantly refereed by feminine terms. This further supports the romanticism theory; in that, men are portrayed as the rough side of society, while women are portrayed as polished and refined side. The masculine society corrupts, while the feminine nature perfects.
In Frankenstein, Victor's main reason for creating the Monster was the death of Caroline Beaufort, his mother. Before his mother's death, nature I referred female...