Nature plays an important role in many romantic novels, acting as the bringer of life while also being an agent of death on many occasions. In Mary Shelley’s horrific novel, Frankenstein, nature serves as a docile yet powerful backdrop for the story, constantly reflecting the emotions of the characters, while also guiding them to their ruin. A key force of nature that appears as both good and bad throughout the novel is lightning. Lighting serves as a beautiful but powerful force that aids the characters and guides them, but also leads them to their doom. The first instance of lightning appearing in the novel can be found at the end chapter two when Victor Frankenstein remembers the first time he witnessed a bolt of lightning hit an old
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As Victor arrives at his home town, he “saw the lightnings playing on the summit of Mont Blanc in the most beautiful figures. The storm appeared to approach rapidly”, and discovers his creation standing in the distance (49). The imagery used in this scene is used to literally shine a light on the murderer of Frankenstein’s brother when “a flash of lightning illuminated the object…its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect, more hideous than belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it was the wretch… to whom I had given life” (50). This image of lightning aids Victor in discovering who killed his brother, while also demonstrating Shelley’s use of pathetic fallacy. Since Victor is grieving the unforeseen death of his little brother, the tempest surrounding him and his hometown of Geneva mirrors his inner pain and turmoil. The last occasion where lightning occurs in the novel is toward the end of the novel where it is used to contrast the beginning and end of his quest for scientific knowledge (Ashley J. Cross, Manhattan College). In chapter nineteen Victor claims that he is “a blasted tree; the bolt has entered my soul; and I felt then that I should survive to exhibit, what I shall soon cease to be--a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity”, comparing himself to the blasted tree that ignited …show more content…
Victor says that he infused a “spark of being into the lifeless thing”, and although the novel does not specifically describe how Victor brought the being to life, it is heavily hinted that there was some form of electricity used (34-35). For example, when Justine is pleads guilty to murdering William even though she is innocent, Victor states, “Now all was blasted…I was seized by remorse and the sense of guilt, which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures, such as no language can describe” (61). Later in that chapter, Victor also remarks that Elizabeth’s “eternal woe and tears…was the just tribute she should pay to innocence so blasted and destroyed” (62-63). The significance of the word “blasted” in this citation is that Justine’s death mirrors the tree that was destroyed by lightning in the earlier chapters. Throughout the novel, Shelley uses nature to symbolize innocence, so it is only fitting that she would use this term for Justine, who like the tree, was destroyed while in a state of
As Victor arrives at his home town, he “saw the lightnings playing on the summit of Mont Blanc in the most beautiful figures. The storm appeared to approach rapidly”, and discovers his creation standing in the distance (49). The imagery used in this scene is used to literally shine a light on the murderer of Frankenstein’s brother when “a flash of lightning illuminated the object…its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect, more hideous than belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it was the wretch… to whom I had given life” (50). This image of lightning aids Victor in discovering who killed his brother, while also demonstrating Shelley’s use of pathetic fallacy. Since Victor is grieving the unforeseen death of his little brother, the tempest surrounding him and his hometown of Geneva mirrors his inner pain and turmoil. The last occasion where lightning occurs in the novel is toward the end of the novel where it is used to contrast the beginning and end of his quest for scientific knowledge (Ashley J. Cross, Manhattan College). In chapter nineteen Victor claims that he is “a blasted tree; the bolt has entered my soul; and I felt then that I should survive to exhibit, what I shall soon cease to be--a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity”, comparing himself to the blasted tree that ignited …show more content…
Victor says that he infused a “spark of being into the lifeless thing”, and although the novel does not specifically describe how Victor brought the being to life, it is heavily hinted that there was some form of electricity used (34-35). For example, when Justine is pleads guilty to murdering William even though she is innocent, Victor states, “Now all was blasted…I was seized by remorse and the sense of guilt, which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures, such as no language can describe” (61). Later in that chapter, Victor also remarks that Elizabeth’s “eternal woe and tears…was the just tribute she should pay to innocence so blasted and destroyed” (62-63). The significance of the word “blasted” in this citation is that Justine’s death mirrors the tree that was destroyed by lightning in the earlier chapters. Throughout the novel, Shelley uses nature to symbolize innocence, so it is only fitting that she would use this term for Justine, who like the tree, was destroyed while in a state of