The first gothic novel was “The castle of Otranto” by Horace Walpole, published in 1754. The last gothic novel to be written was perhaps “Wuthering heights” by Emily Bronte, published in 1847. In between these two novels several other novels were published using the gothic story line. Some of these novels were “The mysteries of Udolpho” and “The Italian” both by Ann Radcliff, “Melmouth the wanderer” by Charles Maturing and the most famous Bram Stoke’s “Dracula”.
In gothic novels, the characters seem to bridge the human world and the supernatural world together. In “Frankenstein” the monster seems to have a communication between himself and his creator, Victor Frankenstein. The monster also moves with super human speed.
“Frankenstein” is not set in a dull and dreary castle, but you could say that where Frankenstein worked on his creation was a gloomy dreary room.
“Solitary chamber, or rather cell”. Most of these gothic novels are more likely to be set in a castle. Many of the elements previously mentioned appeared in Frankenstein. For example, nature is used frequently to create atmosphere. The bleak, glacial fields of the Alps and the mists of the Arctic, “the pole is the seat of frost” all serve to indicate the isolation of the two protagonists. The setting to a gothic novel is extremely important because it reveals a lot of information about what is happening and makes it easier to picture what is happening.
There is also a struggle between good and evil throughout the story, an example of this is seen in Frankenstein and his monster. We also get a lot of suspense around the person who is going to die example of this is before Elizabeth dies when Victor Frankenstein thinks he is going to die,
“While my right hand grasped a pistol which was hidden in my bosom; every sound terrified me, but I resolved that I would sell my life dearly and not shrink from the conflict until my own life or that of my adversary was extinguished.”
Here you can see Mary Shelley has used a long sentence to start to build up the suspense and she has also included “every sound terrified me” which shows Frankenstein’s anxiety. This novel even includes the supernatural element where the monster has “pale yellow skin”, which describes the non-human looks.
The weather features a lot in the novel as a reflection of impending doors and tragedy, such as the opening words in chapter 5, where the setting for Victor Frankenstein’s monster happens on a “dreary night of November”, with the rain, “pattering dismally against the panes”, of Frankenstein’s laboratory. Another Example of this is before Elizabeth’s death where “suddenly a heavy storm of rain descended”, this hints at what is to follow.
Chapter five starts off with a description of the weather and this sets the scene instantly. Before the monster awakes Victor Frankenstein says “my
candle was nearly burnt out”, which suggests he had given up and was going mad, but then we get the first introduction to the monster.
“I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated the limbs.”
From this first description you can start to imagine the ugliness of the creation Victor Frankenstein had created.
Victor Frankenstein tries to create a beautiful being, but is disgusted by its ugliness. This is where Victor Frankenstein abandons it at its birth when it
is most in need. Victor Frankenstein also feels guilt, but has no duty to the life that he created and shows no love. This is the first time in the story that we here of the monsters rejection, throughout the story he is unwanted by everyone he meets, therefore this makes him evil and hating every human in his way. Victor Frankenstein first realises that he has been creating evil and is sickened by what he has done. He also knows he should not try to act as God and his attitude had changed from a respected scientist to a possessed and obsessive person.
“Darkness had no effect upon my fancy, a churchyard was to me the receptacle of bodies deprived of life…food for the worm”
Victor Frankenstein has become so obsessive with creating life that he isn’t sleeping anymore and he has no moral left. He is so desperate to reach his goal that he is disturbing the dead by digging them up to use in his experiment. No one in their right mind would dig up bodies, but victor Frankenstein is so caught up in what he is doing that he doesn’t care.
He is that fixed upon the creation that he now believes that he is being “forced” to spend all his time in his laboratory.
Now that Victor Frankenstein had created the monster, he couldn’t bare to look at his own creations face, “the beauty of the dream vanished, and the breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.”, this also shows he wanted to make mankind and become God like. He is filled with regret and horror with his creation and then runs away from the room it was in, he also couldn’t sleep or compose his mind all night long;
“ At length lassitude succeeded to the tumult I had before endured, and I threw myself on the bed in my clothes, endeavouring to seek a few moments of forgetfulness”
Here Mary Shelley has used a long sentence to reflect the length of the night and alliteration to emphasis Victor Frankenstein’s complete exhaustion. Just after he had been struggling to sleep he got a fever and this is because he became ill whenever he was in contact with the monster and this happens throughout the story. This maybe some kind of retribution that God has given him because if you do bad it will come back to you. “I passed the night wretchedly”, to create more drama. When Victor Frankenstein fell asleep he had an awful nightmare of Elizabeth.
“I embarrassed 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 coarspse of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the funnel.”
This is a long sentence that helps to build up tension, which helps create drama and atmosphere. The long sentence makes you, the reader run out of breath physically and this is to feel and give you an idea about his nervousness now that he has created this monster. This sentence also hints at what is to happen to Elizabeth as later on in the novel she is killed by the monster on there wedding night and in the sentence Mary Shelley has used the alliteration of “folds of the funnel” to emphasise the death element.
Victor Frankenstein is the main character and creator of the 'monster', is obsessed with a quest for knowledge. The 'monster' is also on a search for knowledge. For example, who is his father? Where does he come from? Why was he created? However, he discovers the answers only bring heartache
and misery. Walton, the captain of the ship that finds Victor Frankenstein in the Arctic just before his death, is attempting to find the passage through the
Arctic and nearly leads his crew and himself to their graves in the icy waters. It is this passion to discover the unknown that leads to his own destruction and provokes him to use his place as a scientist to create a new life form. Here we see once again the 'abuse and misuse of science', but maybe even worse, we see the character trying to be God. Victor Frankenstein, perhaps not so innocently, took on the role of God and it ended in tragedy. Victor Frankenstein does not believe that there is a need for anyone to die. His mother died giving birth to his younger brother William, who later on in the book is murdered by Victor's own creation. Then, further death is introduced into Victor Frankenstein’s life when Justine, a girl who has lived with her mother in the Frankenstein’s home since she was born, is hanged wrongfully for the murder of little William. Elizabeth, Victor Frankenstein's adopted sister and lover, is also murdered by Victor Frankenstein's monster. So, it is out of Victor Frankenstein's passion to cheat death and create a perfect being, trying to take on the role of God, that most of the misery and death that occurred in his life was born.
It can easily say that Victor Frankenstein and Robert Walton have one thing in common. They both share desire. Both have given up their family, and life all together to achieve their ambition. Where as Victor Frankenstein wanted to be God and create life, an outstanding achievement, Walton is trying to reach the North Pole.
Walton is an ambitious man and is portrayed as emotionally volatile and unpredictable. He opens the novel joyfully and passionately when he tells the reader how he imagines the North Pole, is offset by his claim that “his spirits are often depressed”. His letters alternate between hope and gloom. Despite this, he is a determined character, just like victor Frankenstein, whose “resolutions” are “as fixed as fate”. At the end, his need to succeed on his voyage blinkers his understanding of his crew’s threat of mutiny.
Walton is a romantic man. His strong imagination may be a danger. Poems, books and childish fantasies first inspired his desire for exploration. He is conscious that his “daydreams” need to be controlled and yet appears incapable of controlling them himself. This incapable sea captain is prepared to sacrifice “one man’s life or death” in order to achieve his aims.
The monster is an oversize creature that has been made from a variety of different body parts. When he is brought to life Victor Frankenstein achieves the impossible. The monster’s unnatural creation, his ugliness and power are reflected in Victor Frankenstein’s first descriptions of him as a “daemon” and a “demonical corpse”. Victor Frankenstein portrays him as other worldly later when he sees the monster coming at him at “superhuman speed”. The monsters strength is seen in his physical endurance. Mary Shelley uses satanic imaginary to depict his emotions reveals him to be an evil character that should be feared. This is following the ingredients for a perfect novel because you need a bad, hideous monster to rebel against the good.
It is safe to say that “Frankenstein” is a typical gothic novel, but it can also be seen as a science fiction novel because in a science fiction novel you have the image of people doing superhuman manners, and in “Frankenstein” you have the acts of super human abilities.
It can also be portrayed as a romantic tale because the novel explores the tragic ruin of two heroes. Victor Frankenstein and the monster become
powerful symbols of loneliness and are destroyed by their own talents and needs. For Victor Frankenstein to achieve this ha gave up his love for Elizabeth, but after he accomplished what he intended to do he went home to his loving wife to be Elizabeth.
This gothic novel used all of the typical ingredients, which make up an admirable gothic novel. Mary Shelley made up a creation that was supernatural and this monster was opposite to humans as it had unnatural strength and its looks where just to horrifying to be human. Mary Shelley included long sentence, which built up suspense, and tension that made the reader feel more frightened and scared. She included the struggle between
good and evil through the protagonists and she varied their views. Death was also a major part as we seen death all the way through, starting with a cholera epidemic and Victor Frankenstein raiding graveyards for the various parts of the human body, then later the murders of his family and friends by his creation. I think the atmosphere was built up mainly by the use of the weather and how it always reflected his feelings and what it was trying to hint at. Atmosphere was there to frighten the reader and build up the fear. Thus, Mary Shelley combines several ingredients to create a classic, memorable novel in gothic tradition.