Bohn Donada, J: "Spontaneous Overflow of Powerful Feelings"

"Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay / To mould me man? Did I solicit thee / From darkness to promote me?" (John Milton, Paradise Lost) Thus opened the first edition of Frankenstein in 1818. Through Milton‘s words, Mary Shelley points to less celebrated themes of Frankenstein: its highly compelling portrayal of man‘s struggle to live in society and its close relationship with classic works of literature. This book deals with both themes. Through a study of the structure of imagery in Mary Shelley‘s first novel, this work looks at its relationship with Romantic and classic literature, such as the works of poets Milton, Byron, Shelley, Wordsworth and Coleridge and writers Goethe and Rousseau. The study of the myths in the novel illuminate Mary Shelley‘s treatment of the issue of man‘s nature. Together with the already world-famous Gothic horror and Romance, this book investigates a world of poetry, philosophy, science and revolution!