Setting
- Identify three key settings in the novel that help to establish the tone of isolation that is developed throughout the text. Analyse how language features are used to convey this tone in this setting to the reader and reflect on the purpose behind this.
The North Pole/Arctic. The North Pole is one of the most deserted and isolated places on Earth. There is no one who lives there. Mary Shelley chooses this to be the first setting of the novel, as it introduces readers to the theme of isolation, and strengthens this theme. The three main characters are found there, Robert Walton, Frankenstein, and the Creature, who each experience their own isolation.
The Swiss Alps is similar to the Arctic. It is extremely isolated and cold. It is also where Frankenstein meets the Creature. These characters have both experienced isolation as a result of each other, and it is ironic that they both meet in an isolated place. The isolation also hides the Creature. This idea of ‘hiding’ the Creature is also one of the reasons that Frankenstein isolates himself, to prevent others from knowing about him.
These isolated settings are lonely, cold and dangerous. I think Shelley chose these places to represent the feelings of isolation. Isolation can be dangerous because the further you hide from others, the harder it is for them to help you and understand you. It also means that by only being with yourself, you become unable to hear other peoples perspectives and knowledge, and make your own judgments on ideas without being able to hear others and adjust yours. You can become blinded by your own ideas and decide that you are better or worse than others that you are isolating from.
- Research the Enlightenment Period. Consider how a text such as Frankenstein emerged from a period of time when science was being established as a credible way of explaining the ways of the world.
The enlightenment period was an 18th-century intellectual movement. Its three central concepts were the use of reason, the scientific method and progress. ‘Enlightenment thinkers believed they could help create better societies and better people.’ The most important and original idea was that the methods of natural science could be used to examine and understand all aspects of life. The scientific method was capable of discovering the laws of human society as well as those of nature. In this period of time, people were transitioning from putting all their trust in their religion, to learning from science. Many ‘questions’ about life were being answered by science. People began to question their traditions and became more sceptical of religion.
Frankenstein was written during the Enlightenment period, and many of the ideas of this period are found within this novel. Victor Frankenstein is a key example of someone in this period who questioned what he knew and was fascinated with the idea of discovery.
During this period, as things were being discovered, people did not know the limits of science, so the idea of the Creature existing may not have seemed too farfetched or impossible. This would have added to the ‘horror’ of the novel, as the Creature existing seemed more realistic and possible.
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