ture a form that was only just becoming popular in England at the time of its publication. The Gothic mode was a reaction against the humanistic, rationalist literature of The Age of Reason.(worldonline) Frankenstein might be seen as a compromise between the Gothic approach and the Romantic one. It addresses serious philosophical subjects in a fantastical manner though it confronts recognizable human problems, it can hardly be said to take place in a rational, comprehensible, recognizable natural world. (Worldonline)
             As the prejudice against women writers was quite strong, Shelley was determined to publish the first edition anonymously. (Encarta 99) Despite this fact, the novel's unprecedented success paved the way for some of the most prominent women writers of the nineteenth century, including George Eliot, George Sand, and the Bronte sisters. All of them owed Mary a tremendous literary debt. Without the pioneering work of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, a great many female authors might never have taken up their pens; they might never have felt free to exhibit dark imagination, nor to engage in philosophical reflection. (Encarta 99) Without her, and the women whose work she made possible, English literature would be unquestionably the poorer.
             Similarities between Victor Frankenstein and Robert Walton
             Victor Frankenstein, like many Romantics, relies upon his unusual capacity for sensitivity and creativity to aid him in his ambitions.(Harwood 54) In contrast to Robert Walton, who ventures to the North Pole to find "beauty and delight" (Shelley 17) amidst desolation, Victor desires to create a better race as a gift to mankind. Although he and Walton appear to be undertaking entirely different paths, the underlying motive is the same: both men long for spiritual exaltation as well as the elevation of their minds and souls above those of other men.
             The characters of Walton and Frankenstein are shaped by Romantic idealism, as...