While chasing the monster throughout Europe and the North Pole, strong-minded and in desperate hope of saving the world from the monster’s peril, Victor meets Captain Robert Walton whom he recites his traumatic story to. Tragically, shortly after, Frankenstein is killed by the monster. Robert Walton had promised Victor to eliminate the monster if ever the chance but the monster convinced him otherwise. The monster returns to the North Pole never to be seen again.
This novel would have really fascinated the Victorians. The story was written before the medical and technological evolutions in body alterations in science, so the mere concept of building a being from spare body parts was far beyond their understanding. It would also seem fantastic, but not improbable bringing the being to life by electricity from lightning bolts, as it had only just been discovered that lightning is static electricity. Victorians were also very interested in death and life after death and this is shown through all the murders that the monster commits and the use of spare body parts.
There are quite a few reasons why Shelley may have wanted to write a story about a man creating a new human being. One of the main themes in the novel is the conflict between science and religion and the results that can occur when you try to play God. What Shelley is trying to portray is that when you try and play God, things will turn out wrong – in Frankenstein this happens when Victor attempts to build God’s creation through the means of science. This relates to the fact that Shelley sadly had lost children, and how she must have wanted to bring them back to life which may have influenced the idea of creating a being.
Chapter 5 is the point in the novel in which Victor finally gives life to the monster, yet realises how grotesque the creature is. This moment is pivotal because he recognises what a huge mistake he has made in creating the monster in the first place and has spent so much time on such a thing. Victor knows that the monster should be destroyed however, as soon as he has the opportunity to do so, Victor runs away. He then meets up with Henry Clerval and explains what has happened. After all the stress he has been through he falls seriously ill and Henry looks after him.
Chapter 5 is an important chapter because it is the chapter where the creature is brought to life, a sort of climax to Victor’s hard work and interest. It is important that this part happens near the beginning of the novel so that all the disasters that are caused by the life of the monster can consume the reader afterwards.
Shelley uses many devices to captivate her readers’ imagination. She really captures the dark, creepy theme by using gothic descriptions.
“my bedroom was freed from its hideous guest.”
In the above example, Shelley uses the oxymoron ‘hideous guest’ which shows the clash of something revolting and something pleasant side by side. This adds to the gothic theme as Shelley turns something nice into something horrible.
“By the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open;”
Words such as ‘dreary’, ‘miserable’, ‘horror’ and ‘disgust’ are used often in descriptions and similes.
“Mingled with this horror”
“horror and disgust filled my heart”
The setting is very harsh and miserable. The light of the moon is ‘forcing itself’ through the window, not just shining through the window.
“by the dim and yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window shutters, I beheld the wretch – the miserable monster.”
In the first sentence of Chapter 5 Shelley describes the setting as a ‘dreary night of November’. November is a very dull time of the year due to a lot of wet and fog, which creates a spooky atmosphere. Shelley also states the time to be one in the morning – this is late at night and is a time when people feel tired and sombre.
The candles are also said to be burnt out, which suggests that Victor’s home is very dark which creates a sense of insecurity. His home is an old house which could imply it’s haunted and has many imperfections such as dampness, cracks, and creaking floor boards. The house has a courtyard, which means that the gate will not be open until six in the morning when the porter opens it. This makes Victor feel trapped inside his home – he can’t get away from the awful creature.
The fact that Victor can’t leave his home adds to the build up of tension for the reader, wondering if Victor and the monster will meet up again.
Shelley uses rhythmic styles and devices to create a tense and exciting atmosphere for her readers. This is shown by short and long sections within sentences by use of punctuation
“I did not dare return to the apartment which I inhabited, but felt impelled to hurry on, although drenched by the rain which poured from a black and comfortless sky.”
Personification is also used (‘comfortless sky’) to emphasize the fact that Victor feels as though nature is against him.
“Like one who, on a lonely road,
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And, having once turned round, walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.”
This quotation is written in poetic form and it delivers a message. It takes a universal fear and applies it to Victor’s situation.
“My hand was already on the lock of the door before I recollected myself I then paused;”
“I stepped fearfully in:”
In the above quotations Shelley applies colons and semicolons to show pause in reading to show tension and dramatic effect.
After reading Shelley’s descriptions, readers may feel revolted and terrified because she creates the atmosphere of a living nightmare. Readers would feel frightened for Victor as a result of the tension which is built up.
“I threw the door forcibly open, as children are accustomed to do when they expect a spectre to stand in waiting for them on the other side; but nothing appeared.”
The above quote relates to that of a child’s imagination and how children feel scared when their imagination runs wild. This shows how incredibly petrified Victor feels.
There is a message Shelley is trying to share with her readers about science and religion. The moral is that you can’t play god – you cannot create a being and expect it to be perfect because you are only human yourself, and you have flaws – nobody is perfect. The things you can achieve by science may be immoral and ethically incorrect.
The characters would appeal to a Victorian reader. Victor, although obsessed, is honest yet cowardly, but he admits his mistakes. During the Victorian era there was a psychology evolution. They are very interested in peoples’ emotions and reasoning for their actions. We get to see all of Victor’s emotions, and we get to see inside the character. Victor is also polite and thoughtful and Victorians would have approved of his gentlemanly nature, as Victorian societies were strict on etiquette.
The monster however, is thoroughly revolting but this would have appealed to Victorians because they adored horror, gore and death.
After reading the chapter however, Victorian readers would have been very scared. There was a strong belief that man could really create a human being made of spare body parts because of all the advances in technology at that time. They believed that something like this was not too far away in the future and this frightened them. Another thing which worried them more was where the bodies were coming from. In the novel, Frankenstein collects his spare body parts from the university he attended and in the 18th century, medical colleges and universities were in desperate need of bodies for dissection, as the only ones they could use were convicted murderers who had been hung. William Burke and William Hare discovered that they could make a lot of money by providing the colleges with dead bodies by snatching bodies from graveyards. However, when people began to notice what was going on, they began to protect graveyards with guards. Burke and Hare needed to find another source of dead bodies, and their simple plan was to murder people. As a result, this is what frightened the readers – if people were to begin making beings from spare body parts, they would need more bodies.
In conclusion it is clear that through her effective descriptions and use of language Shelley gives an insight into 19th century attitudes and develops tension and excitement for the reader.
This novel was very popular when it was first published and remains a classic to this day for a number of reasons. Firstly, Shelley’s use of language remains just as effective and engaging now as it was nearly two hundred years ago, helping to create vivid images in the readers’ imagination. Furthermore, the conflict between religion and science remains as contentious as it was when the novel was published. Finally, it has a very gripping and entertaining plot, and is a timeless classic.
