Shelley’s Frankenstein and William Shakespeare’s The Tempest are texts that have very distinct styles of writing that are popular for their time period. William Shakespeare wrote The Tempest, a romance, in the 1600’s as one of his final plays. In The Tempest, the plot starts with the main characters, Prospero, Miranda, and Caliban, who have been alone on an island for twelve years. Prospero, the main character, portrays many characteristics of a Shakespearean romance such as magic, loss and recovery, and a happy ending. Very different from The Tempest, Frankenstein is a very popular Gothic novel. Gothic novels usually include an element of the supernatural, madness, and death. The main character Victor, depicts all of these characteristics. Both Prospero and Victor approached education in a very similar way but their outcomes are very different because they are from different style genres of texts.
Although from different genres of texts both Prospero’s and Victor’s educations are very similar in that they are both self taught. They don’t study the same things, nor have the same interests, but they are both very passionate about their subjects. Prospero, the main character of The Tempest, studies magic, which is a common motif of a Shakespearean romance. He describes his magic as more important than his dukedom by talking about his books and saying “From mine own library with volumes that/ I prize above my dukedom”(1.2.197-200).
When Prospero was Duke of Milan before he is banished to the island, he was so dedicated to magic. He studies from spell books, which is how he conjures up this magic. He becomes so involved that it consumes all of his time, and he isn’t putting in any effort to his dukedom. When Prospero and Miranda get to the island, Prospero becomes ruler of the island, making him very powerful. He creates a helper for himself, Ariel, and he can also change the course of nature, as well as manipulate people in many ways. Like Prospero, Victor is self educated as well. However, Victor has a very different upbringing. Victor grows up in a family where he isn’t forced to study anything in particular and he has lots of freedom in his studies. Growing up Victor is interested in Alchemy and he would read a lot, but mostly works by Agrippa Cornelius.
127 our experts are availableright now
When Victor leaves to study at the University of Ingolstadt, his passion for human philosophy grows and he admits, “Study had before secluded me from the intercourse of my fellow-creatures, and rendered me unsocial” (45). His professeurs don’t teach him but they encourage his passions and keep him going on the right path. M Waldman says, “I am happy… to have gained a disciple; and if your application equals your ability, I have no doubt of your success” (29) Victor continues his study of human philosophy and chemistry on his own and his works lead to to his discovery to “ renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption” (33). Because both Prospero and Victor studied so much and taught themselves everything they know, they ended up secluding themselves from their loved ones.
It is very common in a Shakespearean romance for the plot to thicken towards the middle of a characters story, and for a Gothic novel the plot is mostly always tense. When both of these characters follow their studies, it doesn’t lead to good outcomes for either of them. Prospero becomes so engulfed with learning magic that he neglects everything around him. Considering he was Duke of Milan, this put him in a bad situation. When Antonio, Prospero’s brother, notices his absence because of his studies, he betrayed his trust and overthrows Prospero’s position as duke. When Prospero describes what Antono did to him he says, “He was indeed the Duke, out o’th’ substitution/ And executing the outward face of royalty” (1.2.123-125). Prospero and Miranda were then forced on a ship banished from Italy. This occurrence leads Prospero to loss, which is another theme of Shakespearean romance.
In Frankenstein Victor’s education in Ingolstadt and his discovery of creating new life leads him to seclude himself from his family and friends to complete his studies. He says he is “so deeply engrossed in my occupation”(35). He is so occupied with his creation that he becomes ill and it leads him to madness. When Victor finally finishes his creation, he becomes even more crazy. When the monster first opened its eyes, Victor recalls “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe”(35). When Victor is saying this he is talking about the monster whom he created, calling it a catastrophe. Victor and Prospero both get themselves into bad situations because of their dedicated studies which also ties back into the genre of their texts.
How most Shakespearean Romances come to an end is recovering from a previous loss and experiencing a very happy ending. Prospero’s long journey follows this same pattern. Although he goes through a brief period of time in the play where he is experiencing hate towards his brother and sadness from being banished from his home, he ends up back on top in the end. Prospero turns his life back around, and his previous loss is recovered. He forgives his enemies, he regains his dukedom, and he leaves the Island to the former enslaved, Caliban. Prospero states in the epilogue,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardoned the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell,
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands.(epilogue 6-10)
Prospero comes to his senses and realizes that holding grudges and using magic against people doesn’t benefit him, and in the epilogue by saying his goodbyes, it signifies that he won’t continue magic and will carry on with his dukedom. To prove this point further he breaks his magic staff. However, Gothic novels usually end with death. In Frankenstein, the monster ends up ruining Victor’s life and killing the majority of his friends and family. Victor says, “ Know that one by one, my friends were snatched away: I was left desolate”(142). The creature also leads Victor to feeling depressed. He feels so guilty that he is responsible for the killings of his own friends and family. Those feelings begin to feel worse and worse because the more people the monster kills, the guiltier he feels. In the end, Victor tries to get revenge on the creature for his family and his friends. He ends up chasing the monster all the way up to the north pole. He has plans to kill the monster but he died trying and never gets the revenge. For Frankenstein death is a common ending for gothic novels and the way Prospero went through loss and recovery is also a common storyline for a Shakespearean romance.
In both of these texts, exhibited through Prospero and Victor, the beliefs on education and how the story moves along are very different. The type of genre plays a large factor in Prospero’s and Victor’s story. Gothic novels were very popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Frankenstein is a very popular gothic novel, alike Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. According to Sparknotes, Rebecca takes place at a large mansion house called Manderley, which is a very foreboding atmosphere. The plot thickens when we find out that Rebecca, Maxim’s dead wife, was really unhappy in her marriage and in a sense, was going mad. She was a malevolent character who had a secret life of affairs as well.
Maxim ends up murdering Rebecca because he doesn’t want the fake life that she wants. (Rebecca) Frankenstein and Rebecca are written around similar times and they were both written by women at young ages. They both include dark sceneries and elements of craziness and death. This is very different from The Tempest and most Shakespearean romances which have elements of magic, adventures, and mostly happy endings. They also normally have music to lighten the mood of the play whereas gothic novels have a lot of descriptive imagery to make the situation feel more heavy. The genre of the text will always give a preview of how the text will be written and The Tempest, Frankenstein, and Rebecca are very representative of their genres.
