Summary Of The Novel 'Romantic Zombie'

Joseph Hoff

Professor Mitchell

4/21/2015

Frankenstein Romantic Zombie

The last thing people think of about the Romantic Era is that zombies would make possible their first appearance in written literature. Frankenstein is a classic novel first published in 1818 by Mary Shelley, a then 19 year old girl. The idea behind the book came after her, her husband and group of their friends finished reading German ghost stories. The friends then entered into a bet as to who could write the best stories. The book is about a man, Victor Frankenstein, a young man studying biology at Ingolstadt University. In his work he discovers how to give life to an inanimate body and uses his knowledge to create a man-monster. His truly believes that his discovery will lead to further scientific advances in biology.

Generally, Frankenstien is placed into the Horror genre, but Frankenstein more correctly fits into the Romantic genres. When the reader thinks about what the monster endures, being abandoned by his creator, not being taught language, not being named and being seen as different and spurned by every human the “wretch” meets in his travels. The story was exceptionally well told and is a push back against the Industrial revolution; women’s rolls, body image and the chase for the next discovery

Take into consideration this quote "it's about how ideas in society express themselves (De Vise 330)." Based on this quote and the early 1900's when Frankenstein was written and published. That it was very uncommon for a woman to be educated let alone equally or more educated than a man. For Mary Shelley to write this on a bet between herself, her husband and their friends in less than 6 months is a testament to how untrue these preconceived notion are and were. The best part of the story is Mary came out the victor, but also creating a