Mary Shelley, though is most well known for her novel “Frankenstein,” has a way of her own of incorporating the following themes into her works and making them the central topics of debate.

Gothicism is now classified in literature as the designation of the “the macabre, mysterious, fantastic, supernatural, and, again, the terrifying, especially the pleasurably terrifying,” presence that words have on the reader.

Romanticism was a kind of revolt against the typical ideas of the time, the enlightenment. Romantics stressed the idea that any emotion (and not necessarily those of love and compassion) could be viewed and experienced as aesthetically pleasing and can be taught or learned about or from.

The pursuit of knowledge and the consequences that come in return deals with the need to know scientifically or otherwise. Many times the need to know enough to satisfy the individual can drive them to madness or may lead to undesirable after effects.

In literature the appearance of biblical allusions may become so prevalent that it indeed becomes its own branch of a theme. In this case, the reappearance of possibly the most famous biblical story, “Adam and Eve” and their creation, become very relatable to som of Shelley’s works.

Alienation and loneliness refers to the point at which a character chooses to place ambition above their relationships with their family members and friends. It usually leads to the individual being alienated from society in a way that makes them the unwilling outcast.

The idea of nature versus nurture is especially common in Shelley’s “Frankenstein.” It questions the debate on whether or not a persons actions and beliefs are based and determined on their genetic makeup or based on the environment that they grew up in.