Figurative Language Revealed In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Who's the monster: When nature is no longer nurtured

In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley indicts man for his determination to master nature, suggesting that human arrogance will inevitably result in destruction and death. Using rich imagery, permeating symbolism, and consistent foreshadowing, Shelley has written a cautionary tale of man’s collision with the natural world that eradicates beauty and corrupts the human spirit.

Life is idyllic before Victor Frankenstein determines to tinker with science and alter nature. Shelley uses lush imagery to confirm the harmony that exists between man and nature. "The majestic and wondrous scenes which surrounding our Swiss home - the sublime shapes of the mountains; the changes of the seasons; tempest and

calm, the silence of winter" not only fills Elizabeth's spirit with solace and peace, but enlarges Frankenstein's soul (38). Nature is calm and exquisite, and life unfolds at a leisurely pace. Shelley describes Victor Frankenstein's childhood amid the hills and lakes of Geneva as something close to perfect. Victor links up the beauty surrounding him with his happy childhood, commenting,“No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself” (39). He is aware of the security and love he has been given in his own home.

Shelley's figurative language lingers on Elizabeth for a specific purpose: to elevate her to a position that is more than mortal.

Frankenstein describes his adopted sister or what he calls “cousin” Elizabeth with warm, passionate approval, noting "Her hair was the brightest living gold, and despite the poverty of her clothing, seemed to set a crown of distinction on her head” (36). The imagery, especially the connection between "living gold" and "crown of distinction" draws a connection to heavenly gods. Frankenstein goes from describing the sheer contentment of his life to attributing the characteristics of a goddess to Elizabeth. Frankenstein's childhood is not only lovely and ideal, but even approaches something godly. Frankenstein, at least in the beginning of the novel, is leading an ideal life in an ideal family. Through her use of hyperbole, Shelley seems to be saying that acceptance of the gifts given to humans raises us to a new level and makes us as close to the gods as we can possibly be. We need to be passive and simply lose ourselves in the goodness that surrounds us. To try to improve on these gifts is

madness.

Descriptions of nature are subordinated to descriptions of dark, cramped human habitation once Frankenstein makes his fatal decision to embark on his unnatural quest to create the creature. Shelley focuses on the confined quarters in which Frankenstein works. His living space is vastly different from the green hills of Switzerland, showing that his choice to tinker with nature has literally and figuratively put him in an uncomfortable place, where he is isolated from natural beauty and human warmth. Shelley progresses from the description of his room to the description of the physical toll that his act exacts from him. His disturbance of nature makes him physically and mentally ill. On the night he creates his monster, Frankenstein explains, “It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet”(58). Shelley uses the darkness of the weather to symbolize that something dark is happening. She also describes what Frankenstein is feeling with not just anxiety but instead something that brings him aggressive pain--”agony." Using imagery and foreshadowing, Shelley suggests that the results of altering nature are grim. The use of words such as "anxiety," "agony," and "lifeless thing" contribute to a sense of dread, especially when combined with weather that is "dreary." Not surprisingly, all this takes place in the dark of night.

Frankenstein becomes physically ill from his endeavors to tamper with nature, reflective of his sense of guilt that he is violating something fundamental, and he can only lift his spirits by returning to nature.

The connection with nature is immediate, and it also links him to the innocence of his childhood. He says, "I remember the first time I became capable of observing outward objects with any kind of pleasure, I perceived that the fallen leaves had disappeared and that the young buds were shooting forth from the trees that shaded my window. It was a divine spring” (63). The "divine spring" contrasts with the "dreary night of November," showing that any tampering of nature will cause the loss of nature. Leaves sprout in the spring, but rot and fall in November, and humans need to make sure they don't disrupt nature and cause permanent rotting and death. As he recovers, Frankenstein seeks comfort in nature and the imagery makes the reader enjoy and love nature as well. Shelley is showing that nature is exquisite when not manipulated, but the moment man tries to change it and do something unnatural, we are left with disasters and ugly

things.

Shelley is able to portray the change in Frankenstein's life by also tarnishing the godlike and spiritual things such as Elizabeth. Frankenstein is forced to carry around weapons on his wedding day in fear of the creature coming, “I carried pistols and a dagger constantly about me, and was ever on the watch to prevent artifice” (196). In a state of constant panic Shelley makes sure it is shown that Frankenstein can no longer live in any matter of comfort. But as Frankenstein finally gets settled in his honeymoon and Elizabeth has not yet been disturbed he starts to observe his surroundings, “The wind, which had hitherto carried us along with amazing rapidity, sunk at sunset to a light breeze; the soft air just ruffled the water, and caused a pleasant motion among the trees as we approached the shore, from which it wafted the most delightful scent of flowers and hay” (197). In this beautiful description it creates a false nirvana, one that will soon disappear. Following this the weather soon changes foreshadowing upcoming events, “The wind, which had fallen in the south, now rose with great violence in the west. The moon had reached her summit in the heavens and was beginning to descend; the clouds swept across it swifter than the flight of the vulture and dimmed her rays” (198). Shelley shows the evil coming in, the light of the moon disappearing and “the flight of the vulture” which is a bird that typically shows up after death to pick the carcass apart. With this detail it sets up the next scene which is Elizabeth being brutally murdered by the creature and Frankenstein being helplessly alone.

The novel concludes in a setting that no longer holds anything living, let alone anything beautiful. The arctic circle is barren, surrounded by pure ice. There is no sense of life or movement anywhere other than the creature and Frankenstein, each one trying desperately to kill the other. Here Frankenstein is pushing through his last moments, striving to finally face the thing he made. He lives now as the creature has always lived, with no friends or family for they have been forcibly killed by the hands of something he made. Shelley purposely uses the dramatic imagery of this isolation to show what happens when nature is manipulated. Frankenstein describes the chase, “I have endured misery, which nothing but the eternal sentiment of a just retribution burning within my heart could have enabled me to support” (210). He has lost his humanity, and his only drive is to find and kill the monster, for his life doesn’t hold anything else. He is trapped in a place that is literally and metaphorically freezing and lifeless, suggesting that anyone who tampers with nature will be destroyed. Even worse, the entire world will be destroyed, reduced to a lifeless, barren place without any shred of beauty.Frankenstein describes this horrid setting,“immense and rugged mountains of ice often barred up my passage, and I often heard the thunder of the ground sea, which threatened my destruction” (210). Shelley uses foreboding language to portray that nature is no longer a comfort to Frankenstein. Instead, nature works against Frankenstein, making his journey harder and harder “threatening his demise.”

Without any remorse at all Shelley finishes the chase with the cruelest way possible. Even though Frankenstein is still alive trying to strive for the creature the chase ends with, “But now, when i appeared almost within grasp of my foe, my hopes were suddenly extinguished, and i lost all trace of him more utterly than i had ever done before” (211). The taunting ends gives no bit of satisfaction to Frankenstein. His family has died,his creature has gone rogue and he never seeked the revenge he yearned for thus showing no guaranteed success for his manipulation of nature only utter and complete defeat.

With the use of imagery, symbolism and foreshadowing, Mary Shelley delivers a strong message through the novel “Frankenstein." She displays her conviction about the grim consequences that will inevitably result when man dares to transform nature to something that is no longer natural; nature ceases to be the exquisite and uplifting pattern of life that surrounds us and becomes, instead, something monstrous and lethal. By sending this message, Shelley warns readers to beware of extending man's control over nature. The novel also gives a 19th century perspective of how Shelley and others lived at that time. Industries were beginning to boom, but with that "innovation" came pollution and the destruction of nature. People became ill due to the conditions and many lost their jobs to machinery. It was a dark time with little hope, and the quality of life was going down. Frankenstein was a cautionary tale that balanced a warning about the realities of life during the Industrial Revolution with a chilling prediction of what life could be like in the future if man was allowed to continue to tamper with nature.