According to Edmund Burke in his treatise, Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful the sublime is "the strongest emotion that the mind is capable of feeling" and it is caused by the idea of pain and danger: not actual pain or actual danger, but the idea of experiencing themes. In the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelly sublime nature plays a big role. This essay will argue how nature is wonderfully restorative and refreshing for the soul and how removing it can be impactful. The novel Frankenstein deals with Victor Frankenstein, a promising young doctor who has brought to life a most irksome and horrible creature. This creature eventually will end up becoming Victor’s never-ending nightmare. However,
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Victor has created an abnormal and terrifying creature, which inflicts pain and sorrow unto him, so Victor ends up relying on nature to restore him and make him feel refreshed. One instance where sublime nature can be seen very clearly is when Victor finds out that William is dead. Victor decides to head back to his home. While on his journey back home, everything was fine until he started getting close home and states "I slackened my progress. I could hardly sustain the multitude of feelings that crowded into my mind... Fear overcame me; I dared not advance, dreading a thousand nameless evils that had made me tremble, although I was unable to define them" (Shelley 54). When this feeling was inflicted upon Victor he resorted to nature, so his spirits would be raised as they once were, he states "I contemplated the lake: the waters were placid; all around was calm, and the snowy mountains, 'the palaces of nature,' were not changed. By degrees the calm and heavenly scene restored me, and I continued my journey towards Geneva" (Shelley 55). Yet another instance where the healing powers of nature can be seen working in Victor is when he his father takes the whole family on a trip to go away from everything bad that has occurred to them, first William’s murder and then Justine’s injustice death. Victor states, “My heart, which was before sorrowful, now swelled with something with joy; I exclaimed ‘Wandering spirits, if indeed ye wander, and do not rest in your narrow beds, allow me this faint happiness” (Shelley
Victor has created an abnormal and terrifying creature, which inflicts pain and sorrow unto him, so Victor ends up relying on nature to restore him and make him feel refreshed. One instance where sublime nature can be seen very clearly is when Victor finds out that William is dead. Victor decides to head back to his home. While on his journey back home, everything was fine until he started getting close home and states "I slackened my progress. I could hardly sustain the multitude of feelings that crowded into my mind... Fear overcame me; I dared not advance, dreading a thousand nameless evils that had made me tremble, although I was unable to define them" (Shelley 54). When this feeling was inflicted upon Victor he resorted to nature, so his spirits would be raised as they once were, he states "I contemplated the lake: the waters were placid; all around was calm, and the snowy mountains, 'the palaces of nature,' were not changed. By degrees the calm and heavenly scene restored me, and I continued my journey towards Geneva" (Shelley 55). Yet another instance where the healing powers of nature can be seen working in Victor is when he his father takes the whole family on a trip to go away from everything bad that has occurred to them, first William’s murder and then Justine’s injustice death. Victor states, “My heart, which was before sorrowful, now swelled with something with joy; I exclaimed ‘Wandering spirits, if indeed ye wander, and do not rest in your narrow beds, allow me this faint happiness” (Shelley