The role of the imagination in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, Frankenstein, is crucial when defining the work as romantic. Although Shelley incorporates aspects reminiscent of the Enlightenment period, she relies on imagination. The power of the imagination is exemplified in the novel through both Victor and the Creature as each embarks on achieving their separate goals of scientific fame and realizing human relationships. The origin of the tale also emphasizes the role of imagination as Shelley describes it in his "Introduction to Frankenstein, third edition (1831)". The imagination in the text can also be linked to other iconic works of the Romantic period such as ST Coleridge's Biographia Literaria in which he defines primary and secondary imagination. The story as a whole is completely romantic as it is full of impossible things that seem to come from a fairy tale. The imaginative quality of the plot itself is a far cry from the rigid subject matter of the Enlightenment period. Frankenstein is entirely a work of Romanticism both from the outside of the tale and within the plot. Shelley created the story in a moment of Primary imagination by filling it with impossible things that can only be called fantastic. Imagining notoriety leads Victor to forge the creature; the creature imagines the joy of having human relationships. The driving factor in the tale is imagination: imagining fame, imagining relationships, and imagining the satisfaction of revenge. Shelley's use of imagination is a direct contradiction to the themes of logic and reason that governed the Enlightenment period. ST Coleridge divides the concept of imagination into two separate parts: primary imagination and secondary imagination. The primary image... at the center of the sheet... exposes the themes of reason that dominated the Enlightenment period. Works Cited Brother Jonathan, OSB "Mother Frankenstein: Thoughts on the Creation of Mary Shelley." Frankenstein (original 'uncensored' edition from 1818). PlanetMonk Books, 2013. 2938 2939. Kindle edition.Coleridge, S.T. “From Biographia Literaria (1817).” Romanticism: an anthology. 4th. Ed. Duncan, Wu. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.711-712. Print."reverie, n." OED online. Oxford University Press, March 2014. Web. 22 April 2014. Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein: text, contexts, criticism of 1818. Ed. J. Paul Hunter. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 5-161. Print.Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. “Introduction to Frankenstein, third edition (1831).” Frankenstein: text, contexts, criticism of 1818. Ed. J. Paul Hunter. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 165-169. Press.