Expressed throughout the novel are several key points that can be considered significant in the plot. Of all these points I believe chapter 5 is the most crucial for numerous reasons. Firstly, the most obvious being when Victor’s creation is successfully completed and given new life from old, as this is when we finally meet a new main character. At the moment when he shows regret at what he has created we finally see Victor realise that he should have thought through the consequences it could ultimately have had on other people or the creature etc. (should I? not can I?).
Surprisingly, this moral aspect of the chapter is thought out by the character of Victor, as up to this point its only been considered by the reader. The chapter can also tell us a lot about 19th Century life and that society had concerns about where science and the advancements made were going. This also links to modern day matters such as with our debates over stem-cell research and where to draw the line.
In this chapter we see Victor becoming increasingly ill through his lack of sleep and exhaustion. He became so consumed with his creation that he unknowingly neglected his life, family and friends. The tolls of Victor’s labour however seem finally to be released when the creation is successfully given life. Yet when realisation finally dawns on him, Frankenstein attempts to abandon the creature.
Victor's enthusiasm for creating the monster seems dignified. His sorrowful experience with death on his mother’s behalf sprung the thought of creating life and bringing back those who had unjustly had life stolen from them. With this in mind and considering the alternative title of this novel is "The Modern Prometheus" it would appear that the two share a connection. Prometheus was a Greek who, with naivety, believed that he was giving man a helping hand by bringing fire to civilisation. Fire did undeniably help humans in survival but with it, came destruction and death.
In Victor’s arrogance, he firmly believes he can create life, a beautiful being, much like gods creation, of which results in quite the opposite and with a monstrosity. He puts no thought into what consequences his investigation may bring and assumes he can take it. However, when life is successfully given to his creation he hastily flees, with no concern of what may happen to the monster he has created. In his escape attempt he stumbles upon Clerval and completely forgets the creature that he is morally responsible for. Now similarly, much like Prometheus, Victor has set free something he intentionally meant for good, but will consequentially bring devastating effects to himself, his family, and others.
In studying medical science it would seem Victor sought to prevent death and destruction, instead it results in quite the opposite. There are many reasons that could explain this, his family for instance, hold victor in high regard which builds the expectations he’s expected to live up to. This puts Victor under a lot of pressure to ‘achieve’ more.
In chapter 5 the reader and the character of Victor both begin to consider the importance of his actions. It is in Victor’s feelings on the monster’s appearance when the first traces of uncertainty begin to show. His creation is constantly on his conscience and the tolls are expressed through mental and physical exhaustion and dreams, all involving the monster, and remind him of the constant mental torment that he suffers and cannot escape. It is the moment in chapter 5 when Victor finally realises that there will be consequences for what he has done, a revelation he cannot alter nor flee from, which therefore impacts the rest of the novel in that his future from here onwards will only get worse.
Chapter 5 reveals a lot about the character of Victor Frankenstein. Up to this point in the plot Victor’s ambitions and dreams have remained just that, however it is at this moment in the novel that his aspirations are realised and the creation is brought to life. Victor’s character gains full attention at this point as the chapter focuses upon his reaction.
We begin to notice qualities that were previously only shown in small quantities. We see his innocent fascination in natural philosophy progress into obsession, which further goes to reveal traits such as determination, impatience and agony. “With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, collected the instruments of life around me that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet.” This sentence contains two possible meanings firstly it suggests that Victor is in no healthy bodily state. Through his sheer determination he is feeling exhaustion, agony and has a sense of unease by the potential outcome that all his effort has been down to. Another meaning is less literal, and the same traits could be applied to his mental state, which further goes to show that his mind is restless and not sound. “I thought I saw Elizabeth in the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her; but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel.” Again this disturbing dream tells us, the reader, that the continuance of his work is taking a toll on him causing his mind to feel restless it also serves as a revelation for the events that are to shortly follow which are to involve his beloved Elizabeth and all that Victor holds dearly as the creature seeks vengeance on his creator for being brought into the world without consent and then hastily deserting him leaving the creation to fend for himself with no guidance.
At points in chapter 5 we see hints of insanity and madness. Victor’s aspirations to be ‘god-like’ or to achieve a ‘hero-status’ is solely due to him gaining praise for his ability to create life. Though it seems that Victor is entirely responsible for his obsession to build his creation, his family could also be partly to blame for his insanity. They all favour Victor and often praise him on his achievements, however it is possible that through their high expectations that Victor aspires to achieve so much, all in order just to live up to their high expectations.
Shelley effectively uses language to both interest and engage her audience. Her greatest result appears to be the language used to depict the mood and atmosphere in chapter 5, as Victor is successful in his experiment.
The impression of darkness and horror that surrounds this chapter is cleverly developed through Shelley’s use of various devices. Two of these devices include imagery and repetition, language such as “dreary”, “dull”, “comfortless”, “disgust”, “miserable” and “demoniacal”, are used and repeated throughout and only continue to further add to the effectiveness of the visual image painted, creating feelings of repulsiveness and disgust. Another example which continues to emphasise the effectiveness of this is when Victor describes a disturbing dream he has. “I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel."
This theme of darkness and horror perseveres throughout the chapter and is later further highlighted on the sudden arrival of Clerval. “We ascended into my room, and the servant presently brought breakfast; but I was unable to contain myself It was not joy only that possessed me; I felt my flesh tingle with excess of sensitiveness, and my pulse beat rapidly. I was unable to remain for a single instant in the same place; I jumped over the chairs, clapped my hands, and laughed aloud. Clerval at first attributed my unusual spirits to joy on his arrival; but when he observed me more attentively he saw a wildness in my eyes for which he could not account; and my loud, unrestrained, heartless laughter frightened and astonished him.” We witness the sorrow that previously lingered on Victor’s conscience quickly lifted as the scene describes Victor’s positive reaction of skipping over chairs, laughter and clapping. In this lies an example of where Shelley has used contrast as a device. The sudden switch of emotion to extreme delight highlights the bleakness of the previous scene, and the fact that this response is based solely in madness alone only further continues to accentuate the morbidity of the scene.
Chapter 5 stresses the persisting guilt, horror and disgrace that Victor suffers as a consequence of his scientific achievement. "How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form?" Oh! no mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch.” However it is too late to now to realise that the secret he uncovered through his obsessive devotion to science should have remained a mystery.
Shelley has revolved this entire chapter around fear and dread of the unknown. “I continued walking in this manner for some time, endeavouring, by bodily exercise, to ease the load that weighed upon my mind. I traversed the streets, without any clear conception of where I was, or what I was doing. My heart palpitated in the sickness of fear; and I hurried on with irregular steps, not daring to look about me” The creature's inevitable existence, which for Victor was inescapable, now dominates his life. He does not know what it is capable of what it will do.
The atmosphere is dominated by unease, further emphasising Victor’s disgust in his actions, and becomes ill both mentally and physically through anxiety and exhaustion. “I passed the night wretchedly. Sometimes my pulse beat so quickly and hardly that I felt the palpitation of every artery; at others, I nearly sank to the ground through languor and extreme weakness.” It is then later, after the creature is a success, when Frankenstein’s two lives, his exterior and interior life of concealment begin to battle. The monster, Victor's creation begins to demolish everything that exists and is held dearly in Victor's life.
Frankenstein is not just about the plot of a man that creates life. As intended by Mary Shelley it carries a message that her readers are supposed to learn from. It includes many principles on how society should and shouldn’t act. These beliefs were fashioned by various factors such as her rearing, relationships, and her influence of numerous famous writers and philosophers of her time. These principles can be summarised in the main themes of the novel, these include justice, prejudice and isolation.
Shelley clarifies that the Creation is one of many that fall under a victim of injustice. She sought to make her audience consider the injustices that existed in the world on a daily basis, and ultimately do something about it. Every character at some point suffers injustice, the monster for example, from the very beginning is deserted and left to fend for itself. Victor’s mother shows gentleness in adopting Elizabeth as one of her own and caring for her, especially when she falls sick. Injustice is done to her however when she later dies of the same illness after minding Elizabeth to a full recovery. Just like her mother, Mary strongly believed in social justice, meaning that as a society it is our duty to look out for one, regardless of status, class or wealth. Possibly, bearing this in mind it could be concluded that in the novel the most reasonable and reliable characters are female. But are treated with unjust retribution throughout and finally punished with whether it may be destiny, Victor’s creation, or in actual fact the entire organization of justice itself.
Prejudice, or having an irrational dislike of someone with little or no reason, is a persistent theme carried throughout. Interestingly, this also links to other various themes such as isolation, appearance, reality and morality. The first main occurrence of this is expressed when Frankenstein deserts his creation, immediately after giving it life. Those who stumble upon the monster are all instantly mislead by its hideous appearance into believing it will harm them, when in truth its intentions are completely pure and is just miserably eager to be loved. This makes us, the reader; question ourselves and how we have treated those solely based on their appearance when in fact it is may be us who should judge ourselves. Surprisingly Victor also experiences prejudice, when he is washed ashore in Ireland where he is instantly labelled as suspicious and treated aggressively. Here he is falsely accused of murder and called a ‘villain’. Similarly Justine the loyal minder of Victor’s young brother William suffers prejudice and is punished with death when she is heartbreakingly accused of murdering a child and her beloved William, no less.
Another theme expressed throughout is the suffering of physical or emotional isolation. Walton decides to isolate himself in this frozen wasteland, however soon shows remorse with the lack of a true companion on his expedition. Likewise Victor also chooses to separate himself, firstly when at university in Ingolstadt, when he cuts off all contact with his loved ones, in order to create life. Soon after, he neglects Elizabeth, his most affectionate, reliable friend, solely out of fear she will uncover his disturbing secret. Unlike Walton and Victor, the monster does not bring this upon itself. Instead, shortly after its birth it attempts to make contact with various individuals and connect with them, but wrongly continues to suffer abuse, which ends in self-imposed isolation in the dump next to the De Lacey’s cottage. Mary Shelley’s message here is that isolation, whether self-imposed or not, can only result in sorrow, the collapse of society and, in due course, disastrous consequences.
In reading and studying this chapter I have come to gain a better understanding and knowledge of to what extent literature was deemed suitable in pronunciation and style for the average reader during the 19th century. The density of the wording along with a wide vocabulary gives the audience an improved insight into society’s expectations for an educated reader. Furthermore, through exploring themes and characters included in this chapter gave me a greater appreciation into the nature of the conflict between man, god, nature and science that dominated society in the 19th century. Countless poems during the time of Mary Shelley reflect similar principles, thoughts and conflict which can be found in Frankenstein. The book also provides an introduction into a new Gothic Horror style that was to later be continued into the 19th century by famous authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and further into our modern day.
