Setting

Mitch Ewing, Emily Sacher, Lindsay Olsen

• Frankenstein was published in 1818.

• The novel begins from the perspective of Captain Robert Walton, whos ship has been stranded in the frozen waters of the Arctic yet then switches itself to the perspective of Victor Frankenstein.

• The narration takes us to 18th century Geneva, England, Ireland, Italy, and France.

Geneva

• Victor Frankenstein was born in Geneva, Switzerland. His childhood being happy and blissful.

• “Sublime shapes of the mountains, the changes of the seasons, tempest and calm, silence of winter, and the life and turbulence of our Alpine summers.”

• Note the parallel between the weather extremities and the diverse locations of the novel (Italy, northern Arctic)

• “Majestic and wondrous scenes” surrounded his Swiss home.

Creation of the Monster• “In a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of the house,

and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase, I kept my workshop of filthy creation.”

• “A dreary night of November; one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and the candle nearly burnt out.”

• The weather sets the tone and mood, as the rain foreshadows evil. The imagery of the burnt out candle symbolizes Victor’s desire and lust to create life, for this triumph will barely last. - “Oh, save me!”

Lausanne + Geneva• After Victor learns of his William’s death, he could “hardly sustain the

multitude of feelings that crowded into his mind”.

- Amazed at a sudden change had taken place, but “a thousand little circumstances, though with less alterations and more tranquilly, might not be the less decisive.”

• Victor’s “painful state of mind”, contrasts with the scenery surrounding him.

- The lake water was placid, all was calm, and the snowy mountains, which he described as, “the palaces of nature.”

- This specific scenery actually works to calm Victor.

• “The pines are not tall or luxuriant, but they are sombre and add an air of severity to the scene. I looked on the valley beneath; vast mists were rising from the rivers which ran through it and curling in thick wreaths around the opposite mountains, whose summits were hid in the uniform clouds, while rain poured from the dark sky and added to the melancholy impression I received from the objects around me.”

Lausanne

“Dear mountains! My own beautiful lake! How do you welcome your

wanderer? Your summits are clear; the sky and lake are blue and placid. Is this to prognostic peace or to mock

at my unhappiness?”

Mont Blanc“I saw the lightnings playing on the summit of Mont Blanc in the most beautiful figures.

The storm appeared to approach rapidly; I soon felt

the rain coming slowly in large drops, but its violence

quickly increased.”

“Mountains had then filled me with a sublime ecstasy that gave wings to

the soul and allowed it to soar from the obscure world to light and

joy.” (ch 10)

Orkney Islands• Described as “remote, with barren soil and scarcely affording

pasture for a few miserable cows, and oatmeal for its five inhabitants.”

• “With this resolution I transversed the northern highlands and fixed on one of the remotest of the Orkneys as the scene of my labors...It’s hills are covered with vines, and its cottages are scattered thickly in the plains. Its fair lakes reflect a blue and gentle sky, and when troubled by the winds, their tumult is but as the play of a lively infant when compared to the roaring of the giant ocean.”

• Compared to his apartment in Ingolstadt, the Orkney Islands are much darker, colder, and is completely opposite as opposed to the aesthetics of Switzerland. Victor’s appreciation of nature is somewhat strained by the lack of life found in the Orkneys.

Dumping the Female Creature

• “At one time the moon, which had before been clear, was suddenly overspread by a thick cloud, and I took advantage of the moment of darkness and cast my basket into the seal I listened to the gurgling sound as it sank and then sailed away from the spot. The sky became clouded, but the air was pure although chilled by the northeast breeze that was then rising.”

Upon Victor’s return to Geneva, his father’s presence gives him a sense of security, marked by the “dashing waves, the cloudy sky above, the fiend was not here...” It was a truce “established

between the present hour and the irresistible, disastrous future...”

Northern Arctic• “A ground sea was heard; the thunder of its progress, as the

waters rolled and swelled beneath me, became every moment more ominous and terrific. I pressed on, but in vain. The wind arose; the sea roared and, as with the mighty shock of an earthquake, it split and cracked with a tremendous and overwhelming sound.”

- The cold is symbolic throughout the book, but manifests itself in this freezing terrain. It parallels the absolute disgust for Frankenstein’s own creation, and eventually becomes both of the character’s graveyards in which they will forever be at rest.

- Empty and unexplored, yet the conditions won’t allow for much exploration (Frankenstein’s creation + Walton’s trapped ship)

- Is fittingly the monster’s self imposed exile because it is one of the few places on earth with no human contact.