Frankenstein Mood Essay

In this excerpt of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the author employs the use of a dark and gothic atmosphere and tone with characterization to give readers more insight on Victor Frankenstein; a man with fiery ambition whose prolonged curiosity knows of no limits, eventually leading himself to transgress past the barriers of morality for the sake of erudition and prestige. Victor develops a fascination with the concept of how life is acquired; this strange interest may have been galvanized by his mother’s death. Since the passage is in first-person narrative, all of Victor’s thoughts and emotions concerning his enterprise are revealed, displaying his “supernatural enthusiasm.” The tone begins as inquisitive, as Victor professes his ample curiosity …show more content…
Victor’s opinions regarding life and death are boldly asserted as he ghastly suggests death as a “corruption,” while proclaiming of life’s “blooming cheek.” Shelley uses the metaphor of a “sudden light” to symbolize Victor’s realization; light is often associated with the enlightenment of truth, and “light” had eventually struck, illuminating the secret for Victor. Shelley uses dashes in the following quote, “a sudden light broke in upon me--...,” to further add emphasis to “light” before allowing it be thought of at a different level; creating a more powerful fusion of two thoughts. Imagery is also applied, as the light is recounted to be “so brilliant and wondrous, yet so simple,” illustrating Victor’s deep allurement to the supposed great magnificence of the secret. Until up to that point of the passage, the consistent tone shifts quite notably to a more thrilled, euphoric and boastful one as Victor recalls how he became “dizzy with the immense prospect which [the light] illustrated;” the “prospect” he was referring to foreshadows his intentions to create