Victor’s creation elevates him to a godly status, which can lead us to compare his story to God’s creation story. God creates Adam and sees him as ‘good’, and admires him. Victor creates his being and is scared of it, directing intense hatred towards it. From a Romantic point of view, this shows how Victor’s God-fixation has resulted in a perverse creation story owing to the unnatural manner of how Victor’s being was created, thus showing the negative consequences of interfering with nature.
Shelley foreshadows Victor’s reaction to the creature by creating a sad atmosphere. Gothic elements are used in creating the atmosphere such as
“The rain pattered dismally.”
“ It was on a cold dreary night in November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils”
This creates tension and its makes the reader feel that anything could happen. This creates a Gothic setting for the monsters arrival. Shelley presents the grotesque nature of the creature when describing it. She does this by contrasting things like natural attributes and Gothic attributes. Mary Shelleys physical description of the monster describes its physical attributes allowing the reader that to create their own image of the monster.
“hair was a lustrous black hair and straight black lips”
This creates a hideous Image of the monster. It also reminds the reader that although Victor has been able to pick out desirable features for the creature from a range of corpses, he has not been able to stop them from decaying- hence the unnatural yellow and black colours found in his features. However, as disgusting as the modern reader may find the idea of searching through corpses disgusting, it should be noted that in Shelley’s time, grave-robbing was a common practice, as dead bodies were sold to hospitals to operate upon and use for research.
Shelley’s concentration on natural/unnatural features develops when she talks of the creature’s “watery” eyes. He has the eyes of a human being but there is something missing- “same colour as the dun white sockets”. The implications of the eyes being empty could lead the reader to the judgement that the creature has no soul- as the eyes are often seen as a window into the soul- and the creature’s eyes are empty.
The language used before and after the ‘birth’ of the creature symbolises the natural birth of a baby. Victor has been working hard for 2 years preparing for the creature, and had suffered health problems, much like a natural mother would. The description of the creature also reflects a newborn child-
“shrivelled complexion” is a physical aspect of a newborn child, which can be seen as a grotesque feature on an 8ft man, and “he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks.”
This reflects an ironic defenseless nature of an 8ft “monster”, and it shows that the monster is not barbaric by nature, it is essentially a victim of the modern world, and needs nurture. Therefore anything wrong it does in the future is a result of the creature’s nurturing, not because it has an evil nature.
Shelley is displaying reproachful attitude towards the rapid increase in the progress of science in her time. This story has obvious reflection of Frankenstein, who also tries to play God, and this is shown by Mary Shelley There is a clear message that what he is doing is wrong. The writer has warned the reader that no good can come from interfering with nature if there are no limitations. The science of Shelley’s age has a Gothic element in itself. It reflects the
Time and deals with the unknown as little was known about the technology used and the consequences it may hold. Victor’s laboratory has the same effect on the uneducated 19th century reader, as a laboratory was seen as an unknown, strange environment where ordinary people did not frequent.
Shelley grew up with the influence of Romanticism, which is obvious when looking at the ideals in Frankenstein. There are the advances of science, which have negative effects on humans, mentally and physically. The end of Chapter 5 sees nature as having restorative effects. Victor is not only physically restored, but also mentally. This supports the popular Romantic idea that dependence on modern technology confesses the soul. This is shown by the implications that the creature is soul-less, and that Victor only regains his soul via nature.
Shelley’s novel has strong elements of the Romantic and Gothic movements of the 18th/19th Centuries, yet also has distinct ideas about the advancements of science and technology. The ideas can be seen as a contradiction to each other, but Shelley juxtaposes them in a way that shows that they are both good, but that humans need limitations, especially when dealing with the unknown. The language is of a distinctly Gothic influence Chapter 5, owing to the fact that it was the beginning of what Shelley began writing while in Switzerland whilst partaking in a ghost writing competition. The moral and ethical questions raised about the limitations of science and the controversy of nature is shown through this chapter. Victor has made a huge mistake.