To what extent was Romanticism a progressive or reactionary movement?

By Claudia Elphick

In this essay, I will be focusing on Romantic literature and how it is underpinned by a class structure,
particularly with a focal point of working-class narratives in comparison to Metaphysical literature. This
essay is focused on how literature responds to a class structure which fits to the idea of progression as
new narratives focus on different themes, for example, Romantic literature was heavily focused on
themes of nature and the sublime. Metaphysical literature is regarded as ’an upholder of traditional
morality and religion...at a time of social transformation and crisis’ 1 and took place as a literary
movement during the 17th Century. Romantic literature is defined as being ‘inspired by opposition to
the aesthetic doctrines of classicism, to the rationalism of the Enlightenment or to the political ideas of
the French Revolution’2. Furthermore, progression shall be defined as a continuation and reactionary
shall be defined as a change or radical break from the previous literary movement. Was Romanticism a
progression from Metaphysical literature?

According to Cannon ‘literature records this process (man’s evolving relationship to the means of
production), and since literature reflects the social conditions of the world in which it is written, it
cannot but record the emergence of classes and the corresponding relations between them’ 3. The epic
poem, Paradise Lost, asserts Cannon’s statement that literature reflects the social conditions of an era
as Milton’s central concern is with the ‘ethical imperatives of political and social behaviour’ 4. Paradise
Lost mirrors the English Civil War through the re-telling of the fall of Adam and Eve as chaos ‘is
represented in violent images of the colonial world and the English Civil War and the cosmology of the
Scientific revolution’5. The epic form in which the poem is written stems from the tradition of Ancient
Greece and Ancient Rome thus reflecting the revival of classicism during the Enlightenment period.
Furthermore, the characters within Paradise Lost are depicted as monarchs for Milton to reject the
monarchy as an institution6. Thus, the poem has an aristocratic narrative which is a characteristic of
Enlightenment literature7.

In contrast, Romantic literature reacted to Metaphysical literature with a revival of the Medieval and
focused predominantly on working-class narratives as the canonical poets, such as Percy Shelley,
supported the French Revolution. A key Romantic gothic novel, written by the putative mother of
science fiction, is ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley whose narrative is often analysed as being a ‘critique of
the bourgeois family’8 as the maternal role of Justine is conflicted by her status as a servant 9. This is a
change from Milton‘s monarchal narrative as Shelley focuses on the emergent middle class families and
1
Michael Morgan Holmes. Early Modern Metaphysical Literature: Nature Custom and Strange Desires. Palgrave:
London. 2001. 1.
2
Hugh Honour. Romanticism. Routledge: New York. 2018. 14.
3
Lalkar. Issue 252. Lalkar: Birmingham. 2019. 10.
4
Stanley Fish. Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost Second Edition. Harvard University Press:
Massachusetts. 1998. 1.
5
Tad Graham Fernee. Tolerance or a War On Shadows: John Milton’s Paradise Lost, The English Civil War, And the
Kaleidoscopic Early Modern frontier. 2017. 56.
6
Michael Bryson. The Tyranny of Heaven: Milton’s rejection of God as King. University of Delaware Press: Newark.
2004. 11.
7
Karen O’Brien. Narratives of Enlightenment: Cosmopolitan History from Voltaire to Gibbon. Cambridge University
Press. 1997. 36.
8
Robert Anderson. Nineteenth Century Contexts: Volume 24. Routledge: London. 2002. 417.
her narrative is underpinned by shift of class structure. According to Smith, the Creature is regarded as
being the proletariat as English working people had grown to be ‘militant and combative towards the
middle class as well toward the aristocracy’10 during the era in which the novel was written. Victor
Frankenstein as being a member of the aristocratic classes as Victor states that his family is ’one of the
most distinguished’ families in Geneva11. According to Michie, ‘Shelley depicts the relationship between
Victor and the thing he makes in a way that anticipates, with uncanny accuracy, Marx’s description of
the relation between worker and product’12. Frankenstein relates to Paradise Lost directly as the gothic
novel begins with an epigraph from Paradise Lost, furthermore when the Creature begins educating
himself, he reads Milton’s poem13. Moreover, there is a continuation of metaphysical perspectives
within the novel as there is an aristocratic narrative through the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein.

As Romanticism became a literary genre, a great social shift led to anxieties amongst the working-class
over the security of several professions as ‘they saw their ordered society of craft and custom and
community begin to give way to an intruding industrial society’ 14. According to Jones, Frankenstein and
his creature became part of a ’fundamental literary myth of neo-Luddism, a tale about the dangers of
technology ‘15. The Romantic themes of nature and the sublime within the novel emphasise this as Victor
wants to ’penetrate, transform and conquer nature, gaining power of it ‘ 16 thus Frankenstein represents
the bourgeois Industrial Revolution. Furthermore, Michie states that the Creature ’like a commodity, is
made from nature and thereby alienated from nature’ as Victor’s dealings with the Monster create what
Marx describes as alienated labour17. Thus, Frankenstein is a reaction to the Luddite rebellion as the
novel reflects the technological anxieties facing the working-class as it highlights the dangers of
technology through the genre of science-fiction. In contrast, the themes present within Paradise Lost
are subject to the importance of obeying God as the poem was composed during a time of ’great
political turmoil and transition’ which Milton was resisting during the ’oncoming Restoration and
lamented its inevitable realisation’18.

In conclusion, the canonical Romantic novel Frankenstein presents a continuation of elements of

Metaphysical literature as its narrative is predominantly aristocratic, yet it predominantly reacts to an
emerging class structure during a period of anxiety over the oncoming Industrial Revolution.

Bibliography

9
Harold Bloom. Bloom’s Major Literary Characters: Frankenstein. Chelsea House Publishers: Philadelphia. 2004.
218.
10
Johanna M. Smith. Frankenstein: Complete Authoritative text with Biographical, Historical and Cultural Contexts,
Critical History and Essays from Contemporary Critical Perspectives. Basingstoke: Macmillan. 2000. 380.
11
Mary Shelley. Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus. Sever Francis and Co: Boston and Cambridge. 1869. 27.
12
Elsie B. Michie. Nineteenth Century Contexts: An Interdisciplinary Novel. Volume 12. Routledge: New York. 1988.
27.
13
Clive Bloom. Gothic Horror: A Guide for Students and Readers. Second Edition. Palgrave MacMillan. 2007. 56.
14
Kirkpatrick Sale. Rebels against the Future: The Luddites and Their War On the Industrial Revolution: Lessons For
The Computer Age. Perseus Publishing: Massachusetts. 1996. 3.
15
Steven E. Jones. Against Technology. Routledge: New York. 2006. 106.
16
Stanley Finger, Dahlia W. Zaidel, Francois Boller, Julien Bogousslavsky. The Fine Arts, Neurology and
Neuroscience: New Discoveries and Changing Landscapes. Elsevier: Amsterdam. 2013. 176.
17
Elsie B. Michie. Nineteenth Century Contexts: An Interdisciplinary Novel. Volume 12. Routledge: New York. 1988.
27.
18
Thomas N. Corns. A Companion to Milton. Blackwell Publishing: Oxford. 2001. 348.
 Anderson, Robert. Nineteenth Century Contexts: Volume 24. Routledge: London. 2002.
Bloom, Clive. Gothic Horror: A Guide for Students and Readers. Second Edition. Palgrave
MacMillan. 2007.
Bloom, Harold. Bloom’s Major Literary Characters: Frankenstein. Chelsea House Publishers:
Philadelphia. 2004.
Bryson, Michael. The Tyranny of Heaven: Milton’s rejection of God as King. University of
Delaware Press: Newark. 2004.
Corns, Thomas N. A Companion to Milton. Blackwell Publishing: Oxford. 2001.
Fernee, Tad Graham. Tolerance or a War On Shadows: John Milton’s Paradise Lost, The English
Civil War, And the Kaleidoscopic Early Modern frontier. 2017.
Finger, Stanley. Zaidel, Dahlia W. Boller, Francois. Bogousslavsky, Julien. The Fine Arts,
Neurology and Neuroscience: New Discoveries and Changing Landscapes. Elsevier: Amsterdam.
2013.
Fish, Stanley. Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost Second Edition. Harvard University
Press: Massachusetts. 1998.
Holmes, Michael Morgan. Early Modern Metaphysical Literature: Nature Custom and Strange
Desires. Palgrave: London. 2001.
Honour, Hugh. Romanticism. Routledge: New York. 2018.
Jones, Steven E. Against Technology. Routledge: New York. 2006.
Michie, Elsie B. Nineteenth Century Contexts: An Interdisciplinary Novel. Volume 12. Routledge:
New York. 1988.
O’Brien, Karen. Narratives of Enlightenment: Cosmopolitan History from Voltaire to Gibbon.
Cambridge University Press. 1997.
Sale, Kirkpatrick. Rebels against the Future: The Luddites and Their War On the Industrial
Revolution: Lessons For The Computer Age. Perseus Publishing: Massachusetts. 1996.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus. Sever Francis and Co: Boston and
Cambridge. 1869.
Smith, Johanna M. Frankenstein: Complete Authoritative text with Biographical, Historical and
Cultural Contexts, Critical History and Essays from Contemporary Critical Perspectives.
Basingstoke: Macmillan. 2000

Grade: 1st Class