I don't get it, was Mary Shelley bagging out the Romantics or the Enlightened? (1 Viewer)

[emilios]

It seems like with the heavy emphasis on defying nature by 'attempting to unlock its secrets', Mary Shelley makes it fairly clear that she is against the Enlightened attitude that everything is subject to scientific rationalism and experimentation. This would lead us to assume that she is a follower of Romantic ideologies, such as believing in the sublime power of Nature (which embodies even the divine itself).

However, it is undeniable that our protagonist, Victor holds these same Romantic perspectives, often receding into the natural environment to find inner peace within himself. So what was the purpose of Shelley utilizing Victor, a Romantic character, to express her disagreement with ideas of the Enlightenement?

Or is this just a grey area?

 

[Kiraken]

Victor's over-ambition and heavy reliance on science means that his flaws are representative of the flaws of the Enlightenment

the fact that he retreats to nature for peace is simply an example of the power and beauty of nature which emphasises the Romantic ideals Shelley had

Most characters aren't just black and white projections of one viewpoint, rather than associating Victor with Romanticism or Enlightenment in terms of his actions, explore what certain actions he does represent and how they are represented

 

[strawberrye]

Try to avoid focusing only on one part of the text-because then, you are not showing much textual integrity in your analysis, try to look at the overall whole-taking into consideration the main features of the romantic and values of enlightenment, Shelley is basically condemning Enlightenment ideals and celebrating Romantic ideals... (one of the major enlightenment value she was criticizing is that the promotion of using the scientific method to discover things can lead to excess scientific hubris which can have detrimental consequences).