Frankenstein Mood Analysis

When one normally thinks of the word gothic, an emo kid sitting in his basement and hating society is what normally comes to mind. However, the true meaning of gothic is much more romantic, dark and mysterious than anything we experience in society today. It evokes the images of dark castles, monsters and the mad scientists who made them. Graveyards and death, but mountains, flowers and life as well. When a work is gothic it shows the beauty in life, but the ugliness in it as well. The author wishes for the reader to value life, but see its faults as well. The reader sees how they may undervalue life, and fear the loss of it. They see how uncontrollable some things are, and how one small mistake may lead to your destruction. In Frankenstein,

Whether it was influencing character mood, or the weather mirrored character actions, the setting was an important feature to a gothic work. The term gothic was first used as an adjective to describe the architecture of the middle ages. The buildings were dark, pointed, mysterious, and generally frowned upon in the 18th century. Which is when the gothic literature started, being started merely in spite of the enlightenment period of the time to point out flaws in society, and scare readers (D1). Therefore the settings in a gothic work are normally dark and gloomy, but show powerful natural scenery as a foil to the graveyards, and castles that occupy the dark recesses of the mind. The aspect of natural scenery is an idea carried over from the romantic movement. The scenes are normally on mountains, rivers, or other desolate beautiful landscapes (B1). The characters in Frankenstein all are fascinated with nature and scenery. The Alps, Rhine, and other mountains and water bodies are prominent scenes in the novel, and the characters always comment on their beauty. To Shelley a human was to, by default, love nature and all things around them. Whether it is a bird song, or a flower blooming humans were to have an affinity for nature. In other words, the characters were affected by scenery around them, and it normally mirrored their actions, as discussed in “Romanticism” (B2). For instance, Victor heads home to Geneva and the weather is pleasant and warm, Victor then speaks to the weather saying it is mocking him since he is in a bad mood. While visiting William’s grave, a storm erupts over the Alps, Victor then becomes emotional and in a lightning bolt he sees the creature (E7). The restlessness in the storm reflects Victor’s unstable mood, and then the lightning bolt strike fear into Victor when he sees the creature. This theme is carried over again on Victor’s wedding day. At first both