Frankenstein as a gothic novel Essay -- English Literature

Frankenstein as a gothic novelThe gothic tradition highlights the grotesque, relies on mysteriousand remote settings, and is intended to evoke fear. All of these are intelligible in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, especially in chapter five.The settings in the novel are striking and distinctively gothic.Appropriately, the creature first breathes on a dreary shadow ofNovember, in a remote laboratory at Ingolstadt.The eerie atmosphere is typical of the gothic tradition. Victor,unafraid of the dark, spends his time in vaults and charnel-houses,he boldly visits the graveyard at the dead of night. details such asthe creaking doors, the soft blowing of the wind in the still of thenight, and the quiet footsteps in the house all touch to a feeling offear and suspense.On a certain level, Victors interest in creating life is an extensionof his desire to escape death. By assembling the corpse parts of thedead, Victor makes a monster, a massive, grotesque being, with themind of a new born baby a nd like a tormented spirit, the globehaunts Victors mind.Analysis Chapters 35The first three chapters give the reader a sense of impending doom,and chapter four depicts Victor on the way to tragedy. The creation ofthe monster is a grotesque act, far removed from the triumph ofscientific knowledge for which Victor had hoped. His nightmaresreflect his horror at what he has done and also serve to foreshadowfuture events in the novel. The images of Elizabeth livid with thehue of death prepare the reader for Elizabeths eventual death and wed it, however indirectly, to the creation of the monster.Victors pursuit of scientific knowledge reveals a great deal abouthis perceptions of sc... ...comments such as I fear, my friend, that I shall render myselftedious by dwelling on these preliminary circumstances both remindthe reader of the target audience (Walton) and help indicate the coition importance of each passage.Shelley employs other literary devices from time to time, includingapostrop he, in which the speaker addresses an inanimate object, absentperson, or abstract idea. Victor occasionally addresses some of thefigures from his early(prenominal) as if they were with him on board Waltons ship.Excellent friend he exclaims, referring to Henry. How sincerelydid you love me, and endeavor to elevate my mind, until it was on alevel with your own. Apostrophe was a favorite of Mary Shelleyshusband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, who used it often in his poetry itsoccurrence here might reflect some degree of Percys make onMarys writing.