Frankenstein
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The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is unique and different in various ways from other horror novels. The story was written in a romantic tone and is not the modern day gory horror story. Her works can be compared to some of the great novels of H.G. Wells such as The Time Machine and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
The most obvious link between the works of Shelley and Wells is that they both have a dominant theme of science fiction. Shelley stresses science fiction through the character of Victor Frankenstein and his invention of the intellectual monster. Frankenstein portrays the issues related to science and humanity. Wells portrays science fiction through the effects of a time machine. In Wells classic The Invisible Man, can also be described to be parallel to Frankenstein. The claims attributed to science in these novels seem extreme, but today are not too unheard of.
Stoker’s Dracula is a more of a horror story and in written in a Victorian tone. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in a Romantic tone and stressed the elements of love, pain, and human weakness. In that aspect, the idea of a horror story does not seemingly fit Frankenstein. The style of writing portrayed in Dracula is similar to Frankenstein because it starts with the writings of a journal and Frankenstein starts with letters.
H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein both have characters who strive to be superhuman. They do not only stress the importance of science and man but the importance of man understanding they are distinctive among other men. The novels show men going against the norm and society’s reaction to people who are different. They portray that society feels indifferent to people who are not like them. Both novels show men striving to know more and disregarding commonsense. Wells and Shelley have their characters sacrifice a great deal for a wealth of knowledge and success in the science field.
Shelley and Wells were both influenced greatly by the world in which they lived. They both wanted to know more about society and its affect on good and evil. They were great authors because the put aspects that society can relate to in their writing and also have a very scientific aspect as well.
I feel that the novel Frankenstein is better then most of the other novels in the 1800’s because she wrote a classic romantic story. It had eerie elements without