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Nature And Setting In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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The novel Frankenstein has a unique way of expressing how the setting functions as a whole. Mary Shelley used an early 1800s setting in Switzerland and London to show how Victor made it through this extraordinary adventure. There were multiple themes that affected how the setting functioned in the novel. Nature, weather, and season all affect the mood of the characters. These things all have a great impact on the setting of the book. The references made to nature throughout the novel affect the characters mood. “The very winds whispered in soothing accents, and maternal nature bade me we know more” (77). This quotation from the book shows the impact that nature expressed to Victor that made him feel relieved and happy. “My spirits were elevated by the enchanting and parents of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the presence was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy” (96). Victor is trying to express how he can put the past behind him and go on with the present. He feels calm, happy, and hopeful at this point. “Of what strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind when it has once seized on it like a like a lichen on the rock” (101). This conveys how powerful nature can affect a person like when overcoming a sense of pain or death. “The cup of life was poisoned forever, and although the sun shone upon me…I saw around me nothing but a dense and frightful darkness, penetrated by no light but the glimmer of two

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