Mood In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Words: 1208
Pages: 5

Unlike the Enlightenment, which focused on logic and reason over feeling, Romanticism stressed the value of not only feelings, but the association of those feelings with nature. This is especially seen in Mary Shelley’s classic Romantic novel, Frankenstein. Shelley’s protagonist, Victor Frankenstein continuously oscillates between extreme highs and lows as he deals with the rush of happiness when creating life and the devastating lows that come with the repercussions of that creation. His appreciation and awareness of his natural surroundings constantly reflect these highs and lows.
Some of the first signs of mood affecting nature in the mood would be at the beginning of Chapter 5. The chapter starts off “It was on a dreary night in November,
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The monster displays his personal and spontaneous emotions to both Frankenstein and to Felix’s father. This is part of Romanticism because it illustrates his closeness to nature when he has stressed feelings and emotion. He also seems to tie his emotions into the weather, such as the spring brings him happiness and a storm may depict his emotions when he gets angry about how Frankenstein left him or his agony that he doesn’t have anyone to relate to. This closeness to nature ties the mood, such as is its cold and dreary then the mood would be sad and ominous. The monster wants to be loved and cared for and be part of a family just like the DeLacey family. Once he tries to approach him and asking for kindness he discovers that most humans judge one another based on personal appearance, not by their character and personality. Thus Romanticism is seen throughout all of Mary Shelly’s, novel Frankenstein. Victor uses the appreciation of nature to deal with the aftermath of creating the monster. Various scenes in the book show Romanticism through word choice that illustrates nature and the imagery used to understand the contrast between emotion and nature. Not having to question everything and the appreciation of the surroundings bring out the Romanticism in Frankenstein and allow others to learn about it contrast to