Frankenstein Mary Shelly Essay

   She is a reminder that even though he gave his monster life she is still dead. It is possible he feels responsible for her death on some level, and now he’s responsible for this monster. Shelly focuses the entire dream on death and those close to Frankenstein. It gives the impression that everyone close to Frankenstein’s heart is tainted even his child and creation. In this paragraph Frankenstein is described as being trapped, too scared to venture into his house. Instead he is confined to the courtyard, waiting with wide eyes to escape onto the streets. Shelly describes the morning just as dismally as the night; rain, cold, depressed atmosphere, but the light is growing. Morning arriving is a portrayal of hope. Once Frankenstein is released onto the streets he walks around quickly, with some unknown purpose. His eyes are ringed with sleep, he moves almost erratically, trying to find something and yet avoiding his monster. Shelly shows a paranoid man, running. He’s drenched and shivering from cold, on the point of breaking down. The picture is unwelcoming and uncomforting. Frankenstein is isolated by the rain and darkness of the black sky. Frankenstein’s aimless expedition continues, he speeds along pelted by rain, but time only trickles by. It seems he hopes that his stinging eyes and aching legs will numb his troubled mind. Mary Shelly quotes a poem â€Å"The Ancient Mariner†. It fits the story so perfectly it appears as though it could have been her inspiration for this description. It describes a terrified man scared of what’s following him. His follower is said to be a â€Å"frightful fiend†, like Frankenstein’s monster, close to him like a friend but evil, waiting to creep up on him. The poem itself is about sailors searching for land, searching for an albatross to lead them to safety. Frankenstein is also lost in the dark winding streets of Ingolstadt desperate for help. Mary Shelly brings the tension up almost as high as it can go in this section of the chapter. To keep the story flowing she cuts through the suspense with a stinger. Cleval arrives signifying the start of a new stage in the story. Frankenstein is on the point of breaking down when his old friend appears. Cleval’s arrival brings Frankenstein around and lightens the mood; soon the monster is almost forgotten. Shelly stops using oppressive descriptions and starts describing Frankenstein’s interactions with his old friend. The reader moves from Frankenstein’s shoes to an outsider, watching the story unfold. Frankenstein is twitching and restless, terrified that the monster is still in his apartment. He acts childishly in front of Cleval making him wait downstairs while he checks to see if his nightmare is gone. Frankenstein throws open doors and charges into rooms ready to confront his ghouls and demons. Once he realizes that the monster isn’t there he becomes giddy with joy. Mary Shelly procedes too describe him as feverish and unsettled. This is noticed by Cleval, alarmed by his ostentatious laughter and wild darting eyes. Frankenstein’s mind may be more at ease, like the reader’s, but he’s obviously feeling uncomfortable showing that the threat isn’t gone. Frankenstein had been malnourished and sleep deprived for many months, and in the last few weeks leading up to the reanimation of his assembled body his life was barely there. Mary Shelly shows Frankenstein as being delirious and senseless, almost wild in the way he moved and did things. Frankenstein is finally overcome by exhaustion and he breaks down, which in turn develops into a feverish illness that renders Frankenstein helplessly weak for months. Shelly allows the necessary time for him to recover which is vital for the story. She had made the story so tense but it needed to continue on, so Frankenstein’s illness allows the tension to simmer and the plot to progress onto the next chapter. As he slowly recovers things finally return to normal. Shelly gradually stops using depressing worlds like â€Å"gloom and â€Å"dismal† which were frequent occurrences in the winter months. Instead she describes the holly springtime and plants with buds growing symbolizing new life and a new beginning for Frankenstein. In conclusion, Mary Shelly uses numerous techniques to achieve the right amount of suspense and atmosphere in this chapter. She frequently applies gothic machinery to her descriptions. Shelly distorts the light the increase suspense and consistently describes drab and dreary weather to give an underlying base of gloom. Shelly continuously shows Frankenstein as being terrified, mad with fear yet relentless. His strange behaviour unnerves the reader. Shelly uses longer sentences throughout this chapter to make it appear that the time spent between the reanimation and meeting Cleval even longer. Shelly carefully uses the poem â€Å"The Ancient Mariner† (which mirrors the Frankenstein’s situation) to cut the tension in the middle of the chapter allowing it to peak then plateau. Shelly moves the reader from the point of view of Frankenstein to the point of an outsider several times, not literally, but by increasing the tension and allowing it to fall, the reader occasionally feels as though they are there with Frankenstein. Shelly does all of this seamlessly, not letting any style or technique stand out and draw away from the seemingly natural flow of the chapter, and still developing the atmosphere terrifically throughout.   Jessica Williamson English – 1574 24/10/2005 Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mary Shelley section.