Besides, some critics delve into Mary Shelly’s philosophical ideas。 They discover that Mary’s educational ideas are closely connected with her father Godwin’s。 For example, through detailed analysis of the nameless creature’s educational process, Burton R。Polin maintains that the novel has a “respectable philosophical intent” (1965: 97-108)。 

Some other critics emphasize on Frankenstein’s cultural studies。 Many of them interpret the novel by digging up the underlying meaning of its subtitle-- The Modern Prometheus。 In their view, the tragic fate of the protagonist Victor roots in his reckless ambition of conquering nature。 Those critics gain inspiration from such literary works like Milton’s Paradise Lost, Marlowe’s Dr。 Faustus and Percy Shelly’s Prometheus Unbound。 George Levine finds out that “Frankenstein echoes the old stories of Faust and Prometheus, exploring the limits of ambition and rebelliousness and their moral implications” (Levine and Knoepflmacher, 1979:4)。 论文网

Another prevailing critical approach to Frankenstein is feminism。 Feminist criticism argues that the novel exposes women’s humble position in the patriarchal society。 In her Mary Shelly: Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monsters, Anne K。 Mellor interprets Frankenstein from the perspective of female consciousness。 Mellor presents Mary Shelly not as the lucky satellite of a circle of Romantic poets but as an author deserving attention in her own right。 William Veeder demonstrates that Mary holds that “women are no more immune than men to weakness” and “she insists self-justifyingly that women are less weak” (J。 Paul Hunter, 1996: 271)。

At home, Frankenstein has received wide attention since the publication of Liu Xinmin’s on Frankenstein。 Liu (2001) gives his comments from the angle of its artistic style and theme, which gives us a general impression on the novel。 

One branch of such comments focuses on the gothic and romantic heritage of the novel。 Zheng Boren (2003) gives a detailed analysis of the romantic ideas and gothic elements embodied in Frankenstein。 In An Analysis on Female Gothic in Frankenstein, Wang Yurong (2013) treats Frankenstein as a female gothic and analyzes it by comparing with the composition method of male gothic。 Jiang Yuan (2015) exclaims that Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein (1818) “has shifted from a traditional gothic novel into a ‘speculative fiction’”。 In his thesis, Jiang analyses the transformation of Frankenstein from three different perspectives: the aesthetic feature, the new literal form and the romantic thought。     

Narrative strategy is also a noteworthy highlight。 Many critics hold that this novel is not only a horror story, but also an excellent literary heritage with unique narrative techniques。 Li Weifang (2005) approaches the novel from two aspects: the narrative point of view and the narrative time。 He firmly believes that Frankenstein’s great literary charm lies in its unique narrative style。 Ruan Shiqin (2006) interprets Frankenstein from the angle of gendered narratologic by probing into “such narrative aspects as narrative form, narrative communication, character voices and narration of male narrator”。 Li Zeng and Long Ruicui (2007) reread Frankenstein to reveal how Mary present the unreliable narrator—Victor Frankenstein。 文献综述

Afterwards, scholars tend to criticize Frankenstein by applying various literary critical theories。 One of the popular critical methods is psychoanalytic criticism。 Freud’s and Lacan’s psychoanalytical theory are frequently applied。 With Freudian psychoanalysis, Luo Yi (2014) analyses the relationships between Victor and his family members and demonstrates the great impact of the Oedipus complex on people。 “Whereas, the Lacanian method is to analyze Frankenstein applying the theory of symbolic order, imaginary order and feminism of Lacanian psychoanalysis”(Du Wei，2016)。