Important Themes in Frankenstein: A Literary Guide

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Discover the themes and motifs of this classic novel
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Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is one of the most influential novels of all time, warning of the dangers of attempting to defy nature. There are several other important themes found throughout the novel, as well. If you’re studying Frankenstein in school, we’ve got you covered. In this article, we’ll explain all the major themes, symbols, and motifs found in Frankenstein , as well as provide a brief summary of the plot.

What are the main themes in Frankenstein ?

  • Dangerous knowledge: Victor Frankenstein attempts to play God in the name of scientific discovery, only for his creation to destroy his life.
  • Revenge: Both Frankenstein and his monster seek revenge throughout the novel, ultimately leading to their downfall.
  • Isolation: Frankenstein shows us that isolation can be the cause of evil deeds as well as the consequences of those actions.
Section 1 of 4:

Themes in Frankenstein

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  1. The pursuit of knowledge plays an important role in Frankenstein, as Victor Frankenstein attempts to push past accepted human limits to discover the secret of life. However, this proves to be dangerous, as Victor’s creation ruins his life by destroying those dear to him. [1]
    • Another example is Captain Robert Walton, who attempts to surpass previous explorations by traveling to the North Pole. This results in him becoming trapped between sheets of ice.
    • However, Walton is a foil to Victor, so he ultimately pulls back from his mission after learning from Victor’s example.
    • Victor says, “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge.”
  2. 2
    Alienation In Frankenstein , Shelley suggests that social alienation is both the cause of evil and the punishment for it. The monster has been alienated from society and states that he became a murderer because of it, showing that the characters have a strong need for companionship to be emotionally fulfilled. Victor’s alienation also causes him to make bad decisions for which he is then punished. At the end of the novel, Victor is dead, and the monster is alone in the world, showing that the ultimate consequence of alienation is self-destruction. [2]
    • When discussing his murders, the monster says, “My protectors had departed and had broken the only link that held me to the world. For the first time the feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom.”
    • Victor creates the monster when he is working alone in a “solitary chamber, or rather cell.” Once the monster is finished, he becomes even more isolated as he can’t tell anyone what he has done.
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  3. The novel suggests that ambition has the power to become evil and is, therefore, dangerous. Frankenstein’s ambition leads him to create the monster and break existing human limits. He compares his work to the destruction of entire civilizations and himself to Satan, highlighting how large his ambition is. [3]
    • Frankenstein says, “If no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with the tranquility of his domestic affections, Greece had not been enslaved; Caesar would have spared his country; America would have been discovered more gradually; and the empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed.”
    • However, Frankenstein also suggests that ambition alone is not enough to cause pain and suffering, as Walton is just as ambitious as Victor but abandons that ambition out of duty to his crew.
  4. 4
    Revenge While the monster has an affectionate nature when he is first brought to life, he turns to revenge after suffering mistreatment from Victor and the De Lacey family. By taking revenge, however, the monster ensures he will never be accepted by society, dooming himself to a life of alienation. Both the monster and Victor commit monstrous acts in the name of revenge. [4]
    • After being assaulted by Felix, the monster says, “...feelings of vengeance and hatred engulfed my bosom…[and] I aimed my mind towards inflicting harm and murder.”
    • The monster also declares that revenge became “more precious than life or nourishment.”
    • When the monster takes his family, Victor swears to take a “great and signal revenge” on his creation.
  5. Frankenstein explores the nature of prejudice through the characters’ reaction to the monster. Most of the human characters assume the monster is evil based on his appearance, though, at first, he was kind and compassionate. The only person to accept the monster is a blind man, De Lacey, which implies that mankind is savage and blinded by biases. [5]
    • De Lacey says to the monster, “Do not despair. To be friendless is indeed to be unfortunate, but the hearts of men, when unprejudiced by any obvious self-interest, are full of brotherly love and charity.”
    • The monster then hopes the De Lacey family will overlook his appearance: “I persuaded myself that when they should become acquainted with my admiration of their virtues, they would compassionate me, and overlook my personal deformity. Could they turn from their door one, however monstrous, who solicited their compassion and friendship?”
  6. 6
    Monstrosity The novel follows Frankenstein’s “monster” and explores what makes him a monster. Because of his hideous appearance, he is rejected by society. The manner of his creation is also monstrous, as he is formed from stolen body parts and strange chemicals. However, his actions are also monstrous, as he goes on to kill many characters. The novel seeks to explore what monstrosity is and ultimately arrives at the conclusion that monstrosity isn’t just about appearance but can also be defined by one’s actions, choices, and how they’re perceived in society. [6]
    • Some also argue that Victor is also monstrous, as his ambition, secrecy, and selfishness isolate him from society. He may look normal on the outside, but he is consumed by an obsessive hatred of his creation.
    • Many also state that the text of the novel itself is monstrous, as it includes different voices, texts, and tenses.
    • The creature says, “When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I a monster, a blot upon the earth from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?”
  7. Family is an important theme in Frankenstein , as family relationships are presented as central to human life. Families like the Frankensteins and the De Laceys are idealized, and most of the suffering that occurs throughout the novel is caused by characters losing their connection to their families or not having a family in the first place. [7]
    • Victor blames his isolation from his family for his decision to create the monster: “If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections… then that study is certainly unlawful.”
    • The monster also blames his suffering on his lack of family: “I was dependent on none and related to none.” He argues that his lack of family relationships led him to become a murderer.
    • In a way, Victor is the monster’s father, but they spend the novel trying to destroy each other rather than acting as father and son should.
  8. 8
    Gender While Frankenstein mainly focuses on male characters, gender plays a large role in the story. Because the novel was written by a woman, its female characters are mainly depicted as meek and innocent, which was the norm for the time. However, the story also flips gender norms as Victor creates life, metaphorically birthing his monster. Some view this as a critique of the patriarchal structure, as Victor’s ambitions ultimately lead to the downfall of many female characters. [8]
    • Some interpretations also view the monster as a representation of the feminine aspect of society. He is rejected and feared due to his differences from the established masculine norms.
    • Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a famous feminist philosopher, known for her work “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.”
    • Elizabeth is introduced as a “pretty present,” showing how women were objectified and didn’t have their own agency.
  9. Another prominent theme of Frankenstein is innocence lost. The story follows Victor, a young man who sets off to university with high aspirations. However, he becomes too proud and ambitious, and he creates a monster that reflects all the worst aspects of humanity and himself. As Victor and his monster seek revenge, it results in the death of many innocent characters, showing that innocence will either be given up or destroyed by the cruelty of human nature. [9]
    • Elizabeth is one of the many characters killed in Frankenstein. Victor describes her as an innocent character whom everyone loves: “Everyone loved Elizabeth. The passionate and almost reverential attachment with which all regarded her became, while I shared it, my pride and delight.”
  10. 10
    Sublime nature Romantic authors like Shelley often depicted nature as the strongest power in existence and used words like “sublime” to describe its grandeur. Feeling depressed and remorseful after the deaths of William and Justine, Victor goes to the mountains to lift his spirits. After a cold winter of feeling abandoned, the monster begins to feel better as spring arrives. However, Victor realizes the monster will haunt him wherever he goes, showing that man can not outsmart nature. [10]
    • Victor describes his trip to the mountains: “I remembered the effect that the view of the tremendous and ever-moving glaciers had produced upon my mind when I first saw it. It had then filled me with a sublime ecstasy that gave wings to the soul, and allowed it to soar from the obscure world to light and joy.”
  11. Victor’s obsession with creating life is shrouded in secrecy. He views science as a mystery and believes that, once uncovered, its secrets must be protected. Victor’s obsession with destroying the monster is also kept secret until he reveals it to Walton. In confessing, Victor finally escapes the secrecy that ruined his life just before he dies. [11]
    • Victor views M. Krempe, the natural philosopher he meets at Ingolstadt, to be an ideal scientist: “an uncouth man, but deeply imbued in the secrets of his science.”
  12. 12
    Texts and literature The novel contains many different texts within its own text, including letters, notes, journals, inscriptions, and books. These are sometimes nestled within each other or alluded to or quoted from. This emphasizes the importance of storytelling for the reader, as each character narrates their experiences. Literature also plays a large role in the story itself, as the monster learns to speak and read from observing peasants and begins to understand his identity through literary works like Milton’s Paradise Lost . [12]
    • For example, the entire story of Frankenstein is contained within Walton’s letters. Victor’s story fits inside the letters, the monster’s story fits inside Victor’s, and the love story of Felix and Safie fits inside the monster’s.
    • By reading philosophical and literary texts, the monster attempts to develop a moral compass and to understand human nature.
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Section 2 of 4:

Symbols in Frankenstein

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  1. In Frankenstein, light is a positive symbol that represents hope, knowledge, and discovery. When Victor realizes he can create life, he says, “Until from the midst of this darkness a sudden light broke in upon me.” This line also shows that darkness is a symbol for ignorance, as well as evil, emptiness, and despair. [13]
    • Walton introduces the symbol of light when he describes the North Pole: “the sun is ever visible… a region of beauty and delight.”
    • When Victor returns to Geneva after his brother’s death, he sees the monster on a dark, stormy night, and Elizabeth’s letter recounting William’s death speaks of “the dark side of human nature.”
  2. 2
    Fire Fire’s dual nature is highlighted throughout the novel. On one hand, fire can provide warmth and protection. On the other hand, it also causes pain, death, and destruction, like when the monster uses fire to destroy the De Laceys’ home. This is a metaphor for scientific knowledge, which can both help and harm depending on how it is used. The symbol of fire also recalls the Greek myth of Prometheus, who brought fire to humans. [14]
    • The creature says, “When night came again, I found, with pleasure, that fire gave light as well as heat; and that the discovery of this element was useful to me in my food.”
    • He continues, “I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain.”
  3. In Frankenstein , ice represents isolation and alienation due to its connotations of emotional coldness and lack of warmth. As Victor pursues the monster across the frozen north, it represents how his dangerous experiments have caused him to be completely alienated from society. The monster also states that he cannot feel the effects of the cold due to his nature. [15]
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Section 3 of 4:

Motifs in Frankenstein

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  1. Though Mary Shelley was the daughter of an important feminist, there is a distinct lack of strong female characters in Frankenstein . The women suffer in the background and eventually die. Caroline Beaufort dies taking care of her adopted daughter, Justine is executed for a murder she did not commit, and Elizabeth helplessly waits for Victor to return only to be murdered by the monster. [16]
    • Victor also begins to build a female companion for the monster but destroys her before she is finished because he is afraid he will be unable to control her actions once she is animated.
    • Some argue that Shelley created passive, poorly-treated female characters in order to highlight the obsessive and destructive behaviors of Victor and his monster.
  2. 2
    Abortion Abortion is a recurring motif, as both Victor and the monster are repulsed by the monster’s appearance and existence and wish to kill him because of it. The motif also appears literally when Victor destroys his work on a female monster (essentially “aborting” the potential for a new generation of creatures) and figuratively when Victor discusses his dissatisfaction with natural philosophy. Through these examples, the novel explores two definitions of abortion: the termination of a pregnancy and a “misshapen thing or person.” [17]
    • Upon seeing his creation, Victor says, “When I thought of him, I gnashed my teeth, my eyes became inflamed, and I ardently wished to extinguish that life which I had so thoughtlessly made.”
    • The monster also feels disgusted by his own existence: “I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on.”
    • When discussing natural philosophy, Victor says, “I at once gave up my former occupations; set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed and abortive creation; and entertained the greatest disdain for a would-be science, which could never even step within the threshold of real knowledge.”
  3. The Biblical story and the Paradise Lost version of Adam and Eve are woven throughout Frankenstein . When Victor plans to create the monster, he imagines a new race that worships him, positioning himself in the role of God in Adam and Eve’s creation. His monster also becomes obsessed with the dynamic between God, Adam, and Satan and wishes for Victor to make him a companion based on the model of Adam and Eve. [18]
    • The creature tells Victor, “Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed.”
    • The creature begs Victor to give him a female companion: “You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do, and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede.”
  4. 4
    Beauty In Frankenstein , beauty is often used as a motif to highlight the monster’s ugliness and isolation. He is constantly drawn to the beauty of nature and human relationships but is unable to participate due to his appearance. Beauty is also used as a catalyst for empathy, as when the monster encounters moments of beauty, he momentarily grows hopeful that he’ll be accepted, only for those hopes to be crushed when he remembers his appearance. [19]
    • One of the first moments of beauty the monster sees is the moon: “Soon a gentle light stole over the heavens and gave me a sensation of pleasure. I started up and beheld a radiant form rise from among the trees. I gazed with a kind of wonder.”
    • In the next chapter, the monster says, “Alas! I did not yet entirely know the fatal effects of this miserable deformity.” This shows that he has made a connection between his appearance and his treatment in society.
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Section 4 of 4:

Frankenstein Plot

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  1. follows a young scientist who creates a monster. Mary Shelley’s 1818 science fiction novel Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a man who discovers the secret of life and builds a creature from dead bodies. When the creature comes to life, Victor is horrified and runs away, vowing to destroy the monster. Readers also gain insight into the creature’s experiences while he searches for Victor. [20]
    • Fun fact: Frankenstein was the first science fiction novel ever published.
    • While Frankenstein follows the story of Victor Frankenstein and his monster, it is technically told by Captain Robert Walton, who writes it all down in letters.

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      References

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      2. ↑ https://studyrocket.co.uk/revision/a-level-english-literature-ccea/frankenstein/frankenstein-themes
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      8. ↑ https://www.apollonejournal.org/apollon-journal//the-female-in-frankenstein-mans-attempt-to-abort-femininity
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      10. ↑ https://open.clemson.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3853&context=all_theses
      11. ↑ https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/march-2018-mary-shelleys-frankenstein

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