This section of “Frankenstein” shows us how Dr Frankenstein usurps the role of women by creating life or giving life to an inanimate object. It shows this with an abundance of natal diction and birthing imagery.
“how delineate the wretch whom with such
infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form”
Here, Frankenstein is saying that, after all the time he has spent planning and creating the creature, he finds it ugly and pitiful. This links in to the myth that when all mothers give birth, they are at first disappointed with their baby, because it is so ugly and wrinkled, which is not what they expect.
“I saw the dull eye of the creature open”
This passage constantly shows the bathos of the commotion Victor Frankenstein has made over the making of his creature, like in the quote, where he, instead of saying how dazzling the eyes could have looked, defiles the ‘monster’ and says that its eyes were a ‘dull yellow’.
The passage also juxtaposes light and dark, to show how something that is intended to be so good and revolutionary can turn out terrible, like the story in the Bible where Satan attempts to replace God.
Victor Frankenstein usurps the role of God, as well as that of women, by creating life, making the creature his ‘Adam’. However, Frankenstein sees the monster as a devil, and “a thing such as Dante could not have conceived.”
This imagery of God and Adam is shown when Dr Frankenstein says, “one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me”. This creates an image reminiscent of that on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, where Adam reaches out to God.
“I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation;
but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream had vanished”
This quote reflects the bathos of idealism in Mary Shelley’s time. It also shows us how disappointed and scared the idealists in Shelley’s life were that their actions did not work out for the best and turned into such terrible things. For example, the French Revolution, which was meant to be a good thing for the people of the country, turned out to be nothing but a blood bath.
In “Frankenstein”, a Chinese Box Structure is used, mainly to create a subjective view of the monster and the story. This is shown in this chapter, as Dr Frankenstein keeps describing the monster in a way in which no one else can contradict. This means that sympathy is created for him here and during the story when Frankenstein describes the creature as a “demonical corpse” that follows him around, trying to attack him.
“I started from my sleep with horror”
Many aspects of chapter 5 show connections to gothic horror, like the descriptions of the ‘birthing’ scene and the dream Frankenstein has.
“I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing”
However, other aspects of the story, especially the scenes in Frankenstein’s laboratory, connect the book to others in the science fiction genre, because the plot of Frankenstein bringing a corpse back to life in the way described is not possible.
