How To Compare Two Gothic Texts - A-level English Literature

How is the Gothic theme portrayed in Mary Shelley s Frankenstein and Macbeth by William Shakespeare?

Writers of Gothic literature often aim to incite the feelings of horror and terror in their readers in order to draw them into the excitements of the Gothic genre. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley focuses on the obsessive nature of her characters& the monster s transition from a being that is innately good to one that is malevolent and sublime settings in order to evoke fear in her readers. In Macbeth Shakespeare focuses on Macbeth`s overarching ambition as his tragic flaw ultimately leading to his death.

The protagonist Frankenstein is portrayed by Shelley as ambitious to the extent that he becomes obsessed with achieving his intellectual desires. Shelley depicts Frankenstein s keenness to cure death with scientific experimentation: A new species would bless me as its creator and source . Shelley s use of the verb bless is particularly empathetic in expressing a certain narcissism about Frankenstein. He seems to believe himself to be godlike and so is portrayed as being obsessed with obtaining glory whilst discounting his own human fallibility.

In Macbeth, act one scene one opens with Macbeth and his friend Banquo traversing the barren bleak landscape of Scotland. They are on a heath which evokes a sense of openness to nature and harm. When they meet the witches here we see that the `noble` Macbeth is actually very ambitious and takes the witches prophecy that he will be King seriously. In his asides to the audience he reveals that the prospect of treason makes his `seated heart knock at the ribs` (1.3). To a Jacobean audience this would have felt dangerously close to home as King James the first (the monarch at the time) had Scottish ancestry and to speak of killing the king was a taboo especially as society believed in the Divine Right of Kings (that royalty is ordained by God and thus sacred).

In conclusion, both texts delve into the psyche of their protagonists to reveal their foul motivations. Frankenstein is enticed by science and the truth although it leads him towards evil and shunning his own creation. There are many themes in Frankenstein which speak to human nature, nature vs nurture and the what it means to search for truth. The creature could even be seen as a metaphor for human vulnerability especially as he turns evil as a result of his interaction with humans and ideas about existence.