One way in which the novel blends and comments on Enlightenment and Romantic philosophies is through its characters. Initially, Victor is very much aligned with the Enlightenment while his childhood friends, Elizabeth Lavenza and Henry Clerval, are much more associated with Romanticism. Victor is interested in discovery, with learning about the natural world and how it works. As a child, Henry writes his own fairy tale and is interested in fictional tales of knights and chivalry while Elizabeth prefers to create her own worlds and stories. Both Henry and Elizabeth are more passionate, but their passions are more short-lived; Victor doesn't burn with same emotion, but his ambitions are of longer duration. When Victor goes to Ingolstadt and turns his attentions toward the creation of a human being, his interest in discovery and experimentation (and personal glory) outstrips even his human nature which he claims "turns with loathing" from his activities (stealing body parts and dissecting creatures). In other words, Victor's association with the Enlightenment and obsession with scientific discovery far outweigh any emotional concerns, relationships, or even professional ethics, and Mary Shelley seems to imply that this sort of science, science without forethought, can be dangerous.

The creature, with whom we seem meant to sympathize (at least, at times), is born a tabula rasa (a blank slate): we seem him testing out his senses, learning to distinguish between them, developing an understanding of his emotions, reveling in nature's sublimity, and developing a moral code of his own (helping the DeLacy family, sympathizing with their sufferings, and so forth). His beginning as a blank slate seems to indicate that Shelley doesn't condemn Enlightenment ideas out of hand (as John Locke, the philosopher who coined the term, was of this movement); she seems to convey that our emotions and logic are of equal importance to our humanity and that, as we see from Victor, if a person's drive for discovery strips them of everything else, it becomes destructive. On the other hand, when the creature allows himself to become totally driven by his emotions, he also becomes destructive and unsympathetic in his maliciousness. Shelley seems to claim that a balance of humanity's emotions and intellect is best: one should not take precedence over the other, and it is to our and humanity's detriment if one does.

Captain Walton, however, seems to be associated with both Enlightenment (his quest to discover the secret of the compass and find the Northwest Passage at, perhaps the cost of his own life) and Romantic values (as a child, he wanted to become a poet, he is affected by nature, and his most significant desire is companionship -- a need he associates with the heart). Hearing Victor's story eventually compels him to give up his quest for discovery (unlike Victor) and protect the lives of his men. He exercises forethought and places the well-being of others before his own desire for personal glory. Though he is deeply frustrated and disappointed, he allows his heart to check his head -- his Enlightened ambitions do not run away with him.