Frankenstein Comparison to the Rime of the Acient Mariner...

Frankenstein is Mary Shelley’s famous, fictional work in which a man unravels the secret to creating life. The main character in this story is Victor Frankenstein. Throughout the novel he grows from a young, innocent boy into a vindictive, vengeful man. He oversteps the bounds of science by becoming the creator of a being that never should have lived. In the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, written by Samuel Coleridge, a man, much like Victor, takes the role of the main character. The ancient mariner, by killing the albatross, violates the laws of nature and has to repent for his crime. These two characters are very similar but they also vary in several key ways. Both characters have issues with knowledge. Frankenstein is†¦show more content†¦Victor travels multiple times throughout the story in order to be alone with his work. This is extremely apparent when he is creating the monster; he is paranoid and unsociable. The Mariner is obviously very isolated because eventually all his ship mates die and he alone is left alive to be tormented. This is shown when the mariner tells the wedding guest â€Å"O Wedding-Guest! This soul hath been/ Alone on a wide sea/ So lonely ‘twas, that God himself/ Scarce seemed there to be† (7.19.597-600). Both Victor and the mariner respond the same way to their isolation. Victor eventually goes mad and the mariner becomes a very bizarre and mysterious man after his journey. While Victor’s isolation is self-imposed and under his control, it is the Mariner’s curse which forces his alienation and compels him to continually relate his tale. Again, Victor’s situation is due to his conscious choice, while the mariner’s is the result of an impulsive, unthinking act. Both of these pieces of literature reflect the characteristics and values of the Romantic period in several ways. The elevation of Nature is represented in both works through the theme of the havoc that humans cause when they interfere with the natural order. It is very easy to tell that Mary Shelley was influenced by this value of the Romantic period when writing Frankenstein. In the story, Victor figures out the secret of creating life while watching nature. He also goes