The story is about a man called Victor Frankenstein who spends years of his life producing something that he thinks would solve this pain and anguish he suffered after the death of his mother. He believed that if he could bring an inanimate body life, than Frankenstein could maybe bring the recently deceased back into this world too. Frankenstein was trying to play the role of God and improve nature by creating a wiser, stronger and healthier human being.
In the first chapter of the book, family plays a very strong role. Victor has grown up around the love and support of his family; nurturing and caring for them all. Despite this important theme, slightly later in the book we begin to see Victor giving a lot his time to creating his product. Until finally it becomes clear to the audience that he starts to obsess over his ideas and abandon all the people he loves. This is cleverly linked to the start because Victor puts all his creative energy into making, what seems to be like, his own ‘child’. He strongly believes that he can succeed in creating life. In chapter 5 he says ‘I had worked for 2 years for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body.’ This shows us that Victor has worked so long, and neglected so many aspects of his life, that now failure is not an option. He feels that he needs to prove his worth and expertise to society, and also to the people he left behind.
In chapter 5, Victor has finished his masterpiece and is terribly anxious for he has no idea when, or if, he will awaken. It carefully explains how he carefully chose all the pieces that would make up the body. Victor gave him the most beautiful features and made a magnificent being that was compiled of the best. When the being awoke into conscious life, Victor suddenly realises what he has done. Frankenstein asks ‘How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe…?’ he quickly realises the magnitude of if his mistake; his dream doesn’t match the reality of what he is experiencing. He hasn’t created a super-being, he has created a monster; an unnatural and repulsive ogre. He describes the monster as ‘demoniacal’ that tells us that he believes it to be evil. Victor is immediately filled with overwhelming horror and regret and flees. This gives us more of an insight into the character of Victor Frankenstein. It shows us that he can see the moral fallacy and he realises that what he has formed is not captivating but just a grotesque caricature of a human.
The language used in this chapter helps the readers understand the mood and setting by creating an atmosphere of sombreness. This depressing ambience mirrors the pain and suffering that the monster is feeling and will be feeling for the rest of the book. Mary Shelley describes the rain as pattering ‘dismally’ and the night as ‘dreary’ which appropriately reflect the tone of the book.
Studying chapter 5 has given me a strong insight into the differences between 21st century and 19th century prose. Back then, the writing style used was definitely more melodramatic than writing now. It uses words and phrases such as ‘demoniacal corpse’. Nowadays, the language used by writers is less intense and more subtle. Some things that Mary Shelley wrote are not commonly used now and if they were written now then it would seem strange. For example ‘How delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form?’ is a phrase used by Shelley in the book. In the 19th century many of the books written had very theatrical and exaggerated manner which is undeniably contrastive to what we read today. Personally, I think that the writing now is a lot easier to read and understand but the writing in the 19th century was very creative and original, it made the English language seem more beautiful.
