During Gothic narratives, characters often, due to inescapable events which transpired previously, find themselves in an inevitable hellish nightmare from which there is no escape. This concept of inescapable doom adds a nightmarish atmosphere and contributes to the terror as there is the idea that the characters cannot escape their fate. Examples of these events where fate conspires against characters are common throughout Frankenstein where it is clear to see, looking at Victor’s past, that he was destined to create the monster and eventually die with nothing. This pathway of sorrow begins the day “the inclemency of the weather obliged us (Frankenstein’s) to remain a day confined to the inn”. This in itself could be looked upon as no more than a coincidence; however when young Victor finds a “volume of the works of Cornelius Agrippa”, a Roman alchemist who attempted to turn tin into gold and men into lions, in but a humble inn, the reader begins to feel that Victor is bound to a single, tragic path. Perhaps, Victor’s father’s dismissal of the book as “sad trash” further still reinforces desire to pursue its claims, and so is also evidence of Victors inescapable fate. The death of Caroline from the scarlet fever ensures that Victor and Elizabeth will eventually be wed, meaning Elizabeth can be taken away from Victor, leading onto his hellish existence. On top of this, his mother’s death also fortifies Victor’s resolve to pursue the goal of bestowing life on an inanimate corpse. The following events at Ingelstadt involving M.Krempe and M.Waldman seem to also prompt Victor along his destined path as he even explains that “chance- or rather the evil influence, the Angel of Destruction” influenced him. Krempe’s rejection of Victors scientific idols being “as musty as they are ancient” further still enforces his desire to prove him wrong, and also leads Victor to Waldmen, who agrees with Victor and encourages his aspirations, with the views that scientists should be made Gods. With Waldmen’s guidance Victor aims to “penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her hiding places”. He proceeds to “spend days and nights in vaults and charnel houses” and becomes completely obsessed and infatuated in his works. At this point it is clear to the reader that he will either succeed in his goal of creating life or die trying: either way, sadness is inevitable. Later in the novel, we are again given the opinion that there is no escape for Victor when he is creating the monster’s female partner. Because the monster is overseeing the operation, he has little choice but to continue the vile act, and cannot escape. When Victor “tore to pieces the thing”, it is made clear that he was never going to actually complete his second creation and so the dispute between himself and the monster was always going to continue. The threat of the monster (“I will be with you on your wedding night”) gives the reader a huge sense of dread as to what the sinister threat will equate to. It also adds to the sense of inescapable doom and that there is no way Victor can rectify or escape the nightmare world he has created for himself. Victor and the reader finally realise the monster’s intentions when Elizabeth is found “lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed”. This horrific image is made doubly terrifying by the likely idea that there was no way Victor could have escaped this outcome, and following it Victor is left with absolutely nothing but the bitter desire to end the monsters existence. Featuring frequently throughout the book, basically every time the monster appears, is the ominous symbol of the moon. Whenever it is seen, a lurch is felt in the reader’s stomach as the arrival of the monster is imminent, and indeed inescapable.
Another important aspect of the gothic is the emphasis on physical horror; that is our primitive fears that the body is mortal, susceptible to decay and the uncontrollable change or pain the body plays host to. Despite our obvious intimacy with our bodies they can often seem alien to us and so physical horror can be the root of a terrifying Gothic novel. Frankenstein has many examples of physical horrific sequences; one of the most repulsive of these is just before creating the monster, whilst Victor is learning about the decay of human flesh in the charnel house. Victor explains to Walton how “I (he) saw how the fine form of man was degraded and wasted; I beheld the corruption of death succeed to the blooming cheek of life; I saw how the worm inherited the wonders of the eye and brain” which is a very nauseating set of images. Consequently, for readers of the time when Frankenstein was published (1818), this was absolutely terrifying and so Gothic. Perhaps most notably of all the episodes of physical horror throughout the novel is the creation of the monster, where Victor, using various body parts stolen from corpses, attempts to bestow life. The “convulsive motion which agitated its limbs” is a nasty image, almost as though the monsters limbs are not supposed to be moving again and so they are “agitated”. Also, a violent “convulsive motion” is the monsters first movement, perhaps a warning of the violence the monster will later bring in its wake. His “yellow skin” which “scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries” is a revolting thought, and the unnatural shade of the skin is perhaps a symbol of the whole operation, as is his “dull yellow eye”. Indeed this repetition of using the same colour for the moon, skin and eyes is a key feature in the Gothic. The few luxuries which the monster does have, including his “lustrous black” hair and his “teeth of pearly whiteness” serve only to form a “horrid contrast” with his other features, and so the reader is presented with a disgusting image of the monster. Following this sequence, Victor has a dream which can also be classified under physical horror. At first, he sees his sweetheart Elizabeth “in the bloom of health”, however on embracing her, a revolting change occurs. On kissing her lips, they “became livid with the hue of death”. Victor then thinks he holds the corpse of his dead mother and sees “grave worms crawling in the folds of the (her) flannel”. This nightmare is obviously riddled with physical horror, each item more horrific than the last. The reader almost feels as though they are sitting beside Victor in the dream, the description is so vivid, and so this scene is terrifying. The inclusion of his dead mother also makes the reader feel sorry for Victor, despite his shortcomings. Those who have read the novel already would know that there is some truth in the nightmare, as Elizabeth is eventually killed, and this truth contained within makes it seem all the more horrific. The horror of the monster is escalated even more as throughout the novel he remains nameless, mainly being referred to as the “wretch”, meaning he is less easy to relate to. Other accounts of physical horror during Frankenstein include the monster’s “supernatural speed” as well as his fiendish “grin”. The speed is daunting as it further adds to the idea that the monster is greater than human and corrupting the laws of the natural world. The grin in many cases lends the monster a sinister dimension which cannot be achieved solely on his appearance. All these accounts are clearly Gothic and help to terrify the reader, as well as enhance the novel overall.
Throughout Gothic literature, boundaries, whether they be physical or metaphysical, are crossed, and in witnessing this, we, the reader, question and doubt the world in which we live and in doing so lose our security and go into foreign areas. During Frankenstein, one of the main boundaries crossed is the line between human and animal. On a few occasions we see the monster degenerate to his primitive animal state; for example when Victor destroys the monster’s female companion, the monster lets out “a howl of devilish despair”. Another characteristic which also makes the monster seem less human is his supernatural speed; for example, having killed Elizabeth he flees “running the swiftness of lightning”. This not only scares the reader but also raises an important question in the readers mind; what is it to be human? To an extent however, it also helps the reader to relate with the monster as it is often easy to see animalistic elements in us and so perhaps we are not so different to the monster, even if we appear different physically. Another boundary is that between society and the monster. As we know, the monster is heavily detached from civilisation and there is a distinct boundary between them. Upon attempting to cross these boundaries and join society, the monster is always bitterly rejected and this leaves him with bitter thoughts about man. This is the case when the monster is born and Victor, suffering from ‘cold feet’, rejects and neglects him. We see this again when the monster enters “one of the best” homes in the village, only to be attacked and “grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons”. The monster is rejected yet again when he attempts to introduce himself to the De Lacys. Although yes, at first Father De Lacy accepts him, when the others see him he is “dashed to the ground and struck violently with a stick”. This rejection seems all the more harsh given that originally he was accepted by Father De Lacy. These examples oppose Victor’s view of the monster being an abomination as, rather than reacting to them and punishing those who are so wrongly prejudiced against him, the monster just retreats and wallows in his sorrow. This brings a question to the reader- who is the villain in the novel? Is it the monster, born innocent and eventually manipulated by things he has witnessed into committing evil, or man, warping the monster’s mind into an evil thing and rejecting him based on his appearance alone? During Frankenstein, the window is another more literal boundary, often used by the monster to gain access, for example when he kills Elizabeth. However, the window is also used by Shelley as a symbol, signifying the ease with which evil can enter into a good place and extinguish it. This is also the case when the originally good monster, contaminated by the evil events he has been involved in, and consequently becoming malevolent,
Another common feature in gothic texts is the double: there are inextricable links between characters, an idea which has been frequently used in gothic novels. It is used to give the reader a feeling that a supernatural link is present between the characters and for this reason many characters fates can be tied. This idea is often used to generate fear or sadness in gothic literature featuring in many novels including Emily Bronte's “Wuthering Heights” and Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. Over the course of the novel we see that the monster and Victor both share a number of characters and traits which contribute to the reader’s opinion that they are ultimately linked together. As we see from their various conversations, the Monster and Victor are both eloquent and well-spoken. They also both have the same habit of gnashing their teeth as Walton explains that Victor “sometimes he gnashes his teeth as if impatient of the weight of woes that oppresses him”, as does the monster. They also share the fact that they are outsiders, always detaching themselves from society and remaining outsiders. This detachment is obvious with the monster as he is always rejected when he tries to join society and, as for Victor, we are told “It was my (Victor’s) temper to avoid a crowd”, telling us he chooses to keep himself to himself. When Victor is convicted and “introduced into the presence of the magistrate” due to the prejudices the people have against him for being an outsider, yet another link is formed between them. The monster is also wrongly convicted by the villagers and the De Lacys for being an outsider, and so they have both experienced heavy injustice and prejudice. They share also in their love of nature, although granted, Victor loses his way; he regains it whilst recovering from his ‘breakdown’. We see the monster’s love of nature when, in his sections of dialogue, we get a glimpse into his inner feelings, for example when he exclaims “my food is not that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid to glut my appetite”. Due to these characteristics the monster can be considered a ‘noble savage’ or someone who symbolises the innate goodness of one not corrupted by the evil of society. Experiencing only bad events, it is amazing that he still retains his morals such as in the above quotation, and has a level of compassion. His helping of the De Lacys also supports this theory, in that after being rejected twice by man, he is still willing to help them, without any hope of reward. They are also linked through the idea of pursuit and flight as throughout the novel the role of the pursuer and fleer changes between them several times. This means that at one time or another they are experiencing the same feelings. Another common link the monster and Victor share is that, in the conclusion of the novel, they both finish with nothing, both having lost their female companions by the other. This shared fate links them to a greater degree as they both play host to the same variation of inner pain and suffering due to their dead partners. Also linked are Victor and Clerval due to their raw characteristics. To an extent, Clerval represents Victor’s humanist side, with a love of the Arts, whereas Victor has an ambition and lust for knowledge and power. Also linked slightly are Elizabeth and the Monster whom are both equally mistreated and rejected by Victor. While pursuing his goals, Victor saw very little of Elizabeth and showed her little of the love she deserved. Likewise, the monster was rejected by Victor on his birth when Victor should have taken the responsibility to care for him. In this way, they have both suffered due to the man who should have, by rights, cared for them.
Throughout Frankenstein, Shelley uses the fairly distinguished technique of writing the book in a fragmented format often used in the Gothic genre; that is, involving various accounts from different people to complete the novel and omitting an omniscient narrator. The whole story is pieced together via Walton’s letters to his sister, which contain Victor’s account, which in turn contains the monster’s tale which also includes that of the De Lacys. Shelley presents the novel in this way as it presents us with competing points of view which subsequently robs us of any certainty as to how the events truly occurred. This is opposed to having one narrator, for example Victor, who would give a false account of what happened and slander the role of other characters. If the story was solely narrated by Victor, we would have no insight into the monster’s thoughts and so we would think that he was the “fiend” Victor portrays him to be. The inclusion of the monster’s story also helps to raise the moral message of the book and means readers experience more empathy towards him as well. Without the fragmented presentation, we would not be able to see any connections between the monster and Victor and so the idea of the double would be diluted during the novel. As mentioned earlier, after reading Frankenstein readers question who the real villain is; however, had the book had an omniscient narrator this would not have been possible as we would not see the monster’s accounts and so would instinctively agree with the hearsay.
The Gothic often sets about exposing society’s dark hidden side, and for this reason it is considered subversive. During Frankenstein, the society of the day is portrayed to be deeply unfair and unjust. The originally benevolent monster who wished no one harm is savagely beaten down whenever he attempts to enter into the ‘civilised’ part of Europe. These vile attacks are based on prejudices against the monster based on his appearance alone, and although obviously there are no reanimated monsters transverseing the streets of London, people are still discriminated against solely based on how they look. The same can be also said of the maltreatment of the foreigners in Safie’s story as well as the unwarranted conviction of Victor. The execution of the innocent Justine highlights contemp
ory society’s hurry to spill blood over crimes, and not review the situation. The story also opposes the science of that age, in the form of Galvanisation. This was the science of sending electrical charges through inanimate corpses in order o agitate the movement of its limbs. Perhaps Shelley write the book purposefully to undermine the theories of these devilish scientists involved in such acts; certainly this would harmonize with the subtitle, “The modern Prometheus”, in that Shelley wanted to warn them to not overreach and explore areas which divine beings did not intend us to explore. Just as in the myth where Prometheus overreached and was punished for it, Victor Frankenstein ventures into regions which should have remained untouched. For this reason Victor pays the ultimate price, losing everything he cherishes, and in turn readers should consider themselves warmed.
In terms of moral significance today, Frankenstein contradicts many modern controversial ventures, for example cloning and genetic engineering. The book’s main moral message is ‘do not play god’ and therefore any act which puts a human in any role which is considered that of god, according to the book’s moral messages, is wrong. Fiddling with nature- for example engineering crops- will only turn out for the worst, as with genetically engineered plant you are more likely to sink into a famine as one problem can spoil the whole harvest. The debates raised by Frankenstein also apply to fertility treatments such as IVF as one could argue that is god’s role to bestow life upon whom he chooses. Also raised is the debatable regime of capital punishment. As we see with Justine, innocent people may have to pay the ultimate price for a crime they have not committed and so the system, according to Shelley, is fundamentally flawed and therefore morally wrong. Frankenstein also opposes all forms of racism and prejudice where people are penalised due to nothing more than their appearance as was the case with the monster.
Ultimately, the novel is Gothic in most respects in that it uses many of the features typical of Gothic texts, as well as a truly Gothic subject (a monster constructed of dead body parts) and generally frightening language. All these elements combined with a fluent overall style, are enough to categorise Shelley’s Frankenstein as a Gothic novel. However, to some extent it cannot be classed as a ‘typical’ Gothic novel as Shelley adds her own aspects to the mix, including science, relationships between characters, a sense of character psychology and the prevailing idea of alienation. Shelley wrote Frankenstein to include the dramatic sensationalism shared by most gothic texts but at the same time comforting aspects of everyday life, contrary to other Gothic writings. Through this method, Shelley adds a sense of realism to the book, meaning readers feel there may be a chance that they too could someday be involved in such events and as such intensifying every other aspect of the novel: this is perhaps the reason why the novel enjoys its role as the flagship of the gothic genre which it has retained to this day.