Shelley uses nature as a therapeutic agent for Victor Frankenstein. While he appears to be overwhelmed with sorrow by the murders of his friends and family, he frequently avoids mankind and inquiries nature for health, recreation and to recover his spirits. Moreover in the beginning chapters of the novel, Shelley utilizes natural similes to explain Frankenstein's youth. "I feel pleasure in dwelling on the recollections of childhood, before misfortune had tainted my mind, and changed its bright visions of extensive usefulness into gloomy and narrow reflections upon self ... I find it arise, like a mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources...." The application of a mountain river to represent Victor’s feelings is the start of a theme that is maintained during the story. The display of a …show more content…
By chapter five of the first volume, Shelley builds a connection between Frankenstein and nature. Rather than explaining his feelings with similes, as in earlier images, she details his rehabilitation from grave sickness through his connection with nature. Though aided by his dearest friends, it is the breathing in of the outdoor space that ultimately provides him strength. "We passed a fortnight in these perambulations: my health and spirits had long been restored, and they gained additional strength from the salubrious air I breathed, the natural incidents of our progress... (pg 43)". The air is not only essential for life; Frankenstein is so fascinated with it that he obtains power from it that he had not had before. The use of the word salubrious, which means "to bring health," strengthens an aim to improve air, and through the conclusion, nature, as a therapeutic agent. Throughout the novel, it is nature, not other characters which keep Frankenstein powerful enough to maintain living a moderately healthy
The environment around him reflects Victor’s emotions, when he enters the mountains his mood lightens at the magnificence of the mountains and the knowledge that God could have only created these “-and I ceased to fear, or to bend before any being less then almighty than that which had
In the novel of Frankenstein, Mary Shelly shows that she thinks nature has the ability to heal. Has a cleansing effect on those who indulge in it. It restores a broken soul and heals the body as well as clears the mind. This is shown in the text when Victor says”...the thunder sound of the avalanche or the cracking,reverberated along the mountains, of the accumulated ice, which, through the silent working of immutable laws,was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything in their hands. These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving”(Pg.99) This shows that the essence of the nature that surrounds him is making his thoughts clearer and cleansing him in a way. That her thoughts of nature that it is pure even when the things around you are corrupt and
Nature is an important part of both Frankenstein and his creation’s life. Often Nature is used to describe certain points in victor’s life, for example, Marry Shelley uses metaphors in nature to describe Frankenstein’s youth. “I find it arises, like a mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys.” The use of nature to describe Frankenstein’s feelings is a prominent part of the book. Nature is also used as a calming technique for Frankenstein. After Frankenstein finds that his creation has murdered his brother he retreats to nature to calm himself and regain strength. “By degrees, the calm and heavenly scene restored me". Nature is also used as an escape for Frankenstein. After the execution of Justine, a dear friend to victor, the Frankenstein family takes a trip to Belrive to try to put their minds at peace. While there, victor took a boat and sailed in the water to pass the time and get his mind off recent events. “And I the only unquiet thing that wandered restless in a scene so beautiful and heavenly”. Similarly, the monster also shares a deep appreciation for Nature. After the monster was created Frankenstein fled from his house, leaving the monster to
Frankenstein is about a doctor named Victor Frankenstein, who works to create life. When he finally brings a body to life, his creation brings havoc to Victor’s life. After the monster kills many characters, Victor tracks down the unnatural daemon. Eventually, Victor dies in the chase, and the sorrowful creature is found with his body. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley utilizes the theme of nature to show the meaning of peace within Victor, and to show how peace is interrupted by the unnatural monster. In the first place, Victor is at peace with nature. He says, “Nature bade me weep no more,”(Shelley 65). Victor has been disturbed by his brother’s death and has decided to take a walk to calm down. The cool breeze and light sounds soothe him, which
This is one of the ways in which Shelley, then, both embraces and simultaneously contests this particular romantic ideal. The moment which Shelley describes in Frankenstein is neither a moment recalled from her personal experience, such as a contemplative moment in nature, nor is the narrative voice her own, yet she is still portraying a particular quest to achieve the sublime. That quest, of course, is Victor Frankenstein’s effort to create a living being out of raw material in his laboratory. It is particularly curious that this quest occurs within the confines of Victor’s private, secluded laboratory, which is unlike the natural, pastoral environments of so many romantic texts. Yet, note the nature imagery in the following line, in which Victor expresses his feelings about the undertaking in one of the important quotes from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley : “No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success," he tells the reader, recalling the heady project in his lab. “Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through…. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me" (Shelley 51). Victor Frankenstein is aromatic character to the extent that he reflected the romantic writers’ emphasis on a new way of seeing. The romantics believed that it was individual and
In 1818 Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley. In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein brings a creature to life. The creature kills William, Henry Clerval, and Elizabeth. Victor had promised to make a female creature for the creature, but he did not fulfill his promise. This makes the creature enraged. The creature runs away and Victor follows him. Victor gets on a boat with Walton. Victor dies and the creature comes and is very sad that his creator has died. The creature says that he must end his suffering and he jumps into the ocean. In the novel Frankenstein, Shelley uses the theme of nature to show how it is like the characters of the story and how it affects the characters.
Robert Walton, the captain of the ship that finds Frankenstein, notes “broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he [Frankenstein] does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions seem still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth” (Shelley 16). In the presence of the starry sky and the sea the thoughts of death escape him. On Victor’s last and darkest day the element of nature is brought into the scene suggesting the importance nature plays within the novel. Despite the monsters deformities and seclusion from society, nature is able to lift his spirits and bring him hope for a better future. Nature has the same healing effect upon the monster as with Victor, “…spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my [his] memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy” (Shelley 99). With spring comes hope, as the flowers blossom the monsters feels his spirits being elevated. Just as nature flourishes, the monster is growing as well.
“A tingling long-lost sense of pleasure often came across me during this journey” (Shelley 98). Frankenstein finds pleasure in the peacefulness of nature and temporarily forgets of the torture he felt from his guilt. Shelley uses the peacefulness in nature to represent how Frankenstein relieves his pain. The idyllic view of nature in the novel is used as a place of refuge for Frankenstein, and with that Shelley represents happiness and
The Romantic element of frequent personification communicates the theme of failure to preserve nature can result in the decomposition of humanity in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. This attribute of Romanticism can be noted in Chapter 9 when Victor Frankenstein spends time in nature after the untimely, and unjust death of Justine Moritz, his cousin. “A tingling long-lost sense of pleasure often came across me during this journey. Some turn in the road, some new object suddenly perceived and recognized, reminded me of the days gone by, and were associated with the lighthearted gaiety of boyhood. The winds whispered in soothing accents, and maternal nature bade me weep no more,”(Shelley, 82).
Shelley depicts the romantic’s love for nature and the desire to understand and acquire nature’s power. Frankenstein finds comfort when he is at his lowest, but at the same time, he is horrified by his creation and its quest for revenge.
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley asserts that nature is a blessing that people should appreciate. Henry Clerval is Shelley’s model for a man who respects nature; he contrasts Victor, who no longer gives reverence to nature.
First, she uses the weather to describe Victors appearances and actions. When Victor is growing up, he appreciates and admires nature in its natural beauty; however, when he lives in his isolated tower, he ignores nature. Because of this, he becomes ill and his family thinks he is dead. Frankenstein claims that during the process of finding success, “no one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane…the summer months passed while I was thus engaged…in one pursuit. It was a most beautiful season; never did the fields bestow a more plentiful harvest…but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature” (Shelley 81). Frankenstein compares his drive for success to the intensity of a hurricane. Hurricanes ultimately end in demolition and therefore Shelley uses nature to symbolize destruction. Also, Frankenstein states that his eyes have become “insensible” to the “charms of nature.” Nature is passing him by in the surroundings,though eyes are supposed to adjust to their surroundings and notice things around them however, his eyes no longer function well enough for him to notice or admire nature. After working like this for years, he inevitably becomes ill and stays away from society. Hence proving the common theme that Mary Shelley is trying to convince the readers of : Nature must not be ignored and
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley explores the fight between man and nature through the story of eager scientist Victor Frankenstein, who artificially creates life from the body parts of the deceased with disastrous consequences. By highlighting the intense power of nature, Shelley comments on the folly of attempting to subjugate nature to bend to one’s will.
He compares his life to the course or current of the river, and as the river flows into sharp rocks, his life flows into misfortune. This metaphor of the mountain river shows the relation of nature and human feeling. The metaphor used to relate Victor’s feelings and experience is a natural setting rather than intellectual description or by dialogue with other characters. This displays the romanticism and attractive image of a swelling mountain stream.
In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, man tries to tamper with nature. This is an enormous mistake, because his experiences prove that man should respect the omnipotent power of nature so man can be happy. Man should respect nature because if man goes beyond his limits, then nature lets man creates all types of consequences for himself which proves Shelley’s point to respect nature’s powers.When people look at nature, they are automatically healed just by its looks. This is a much more powerful force than anything man is capable of doing, thus nature is all powerful. Nature is constant, unlike man who is constantly changing, which shows that nature is always in control.