How Does Nature Influence Frankenstein

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Katherine Mansfield's "Miss Brill", and Percey Shelley's "To Jane: The Recollection", the authors depict nature's great influence on the individual through the use of various expressions of vivid imagery throughout the works. This is used in order to emphasize nature's keen ability to make the individual feel overwhelming sadness, its power to isolate, and its role as a healer to the individual.

In the literary works, the speakers frequently use desolate and haunting language and tone in order to describe nature's influences on the individual's miserable or regretful mood. This is shown through Mary Shelley's description of the eerie moment before Frankenstein's monster came alive:

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. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.

(Shelley 34)

This gothic imagery, evident in the use of words such as "dreary", "November", and "rain pattered dismally" influence Frankenstein to feel "anxiety, "agony", and paints the image of a dark and desolate scenery with Frankenstein surrounded by the monster he has created. The actions of the monster such as how he "breathed hard" and "a convulsive motion agitated its limbs", reflects the desolate and gloomy imagery around him and also serves to foreshadow how monstrous and evil the creature will become and the havoc he will spread. This is emphasized by his coming to life on a rainy night in November while almost in complete darkness, evident when the speaker says, "my candle was nearly burnt out…. glimmer of the half-extinguished light…." Shelley further uses imagery in nature in order to display the idea that through nature, the character is able to be alone with one's thoughts and that especially through dark imagery in nature, the individual has a moment of harsh clarity: "Yet, as

I drew nearer home, grief and fear again overcame me. Night also closed around; and when I could hardly see the dark mountains, I felt still more gloomily. The picture appeared a vast and dim scene of evil, and I foresaw obscurely that I was destined to become the most wretched of human beings." (Shelley 49) In this passage from the novel, Frankenstein comes to realize how monstrous a person he is by having created such a horrible creature. This is emphasized through the imagery of the "night" closing around him, the "dark mountains", and the "vast and dim scene of evil" causing him to feel "grief", "fear", "more gloomily" and forces him to be one with his regretful thoughts and sorrowful emotions. Furthermore, Mary Shelley's description of the scene after the monster's reveal in the woods, described when she says, "The thunder ceased, but the rain still continued, and the scene was enveloped in an impenetrable darkness" (Shelley 50), uses morose imagery evident in words such as, "thunder", "rain…continued", and "impenetrable darkness" in order to reflect on Frankenstein's feelings of disgust and hatred towards the monster. The image of Frankenstein being cloaked in darkness and soaking wet from rain emphasizes his miserable emotions and the wickedness he sees in the monster. In Percey Shelley's "To Jane: The Invitation", he uses examples of dark imagery in nature in order to show how the individual can appreciate the beauty around her through her recognition of the dreariness that nature can also emit. This is demonstrated when he says, "Until an envious wind crept by, - / Like an unwelcome thought, / Which from the mind's too faithful eye / Blots one dear image out." (Shelley 81-84) These lines from the poem serve to show the, at times, crueler side of nature that is not touched upon in most of the poem. The personification of the wind as "envious" and the simile used to compare it to an "unwelcome thought" shows how at times bleak and dull scenes of nature can distract the individual from the beauty and magnificence that nature can also emit. In Katherine Mansfield's "Miss Brill", the individual is continuously attempting to reject her feelings of sadness and loneliness through her rejection of hints of dreariness in the nature around her. This can be seen when the speaker says, "And what they played was warm, sunny yet there was just a faint chill – a something, what was it? – not sadness – no, not sadness…." (Mansfield). Here, the speaker attempts to ignore the "faint chill" in the music the band is playing in order to focus on the "warm, sunny" parts of the music. This chill in nature serves a metaphor describing the unhappiness and "sadness" she feels, but so persistently tries to hide. In these three works, the authors work to establish how nature has the severe ability to make the individual feel depressed or gloomy with the help of dark and harsh imagery found in scenes of nature.