The Significance of Nature in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - Essay Example

The theme of nature figured prominently in 18th century novels as a critique of the uncertain and chaotic atmosphere of political and social life at that time. The French and American Revolutions served to redefine, recreate, and reestablish many of the institutions of the previous centuries. During this time, anxieties over the emergence of science and technology, shifts in gender and class ideologies, and the incessant urbanization that followed industrialization were echoed in public sentiments that feared that these transformations were causing a degeneration, rather than an elevation of humanity. Myths about the connection between man and nature were romanticized, and Victorian writers played on the rhetoric of a ‘better time gone by’ through their characters and plots. Throughout their works, natural imagery and metaphor abounded, in which spectrums of nature, from the most serene to the most devastating, paralleled the characters’ (mostly men) transition from nature to experience, which was often characterized as losing one’s true nature, or humanity, in the process of enlightenment. In this regard, “man, in passing from the state of nature to government, has moved from a natural to artificial society”(Dictionary of Literary Themes, 1988), a society that was perceived by writers of the Romantic period as creating a pervasive sense of isolation, corruption, and decay among the citizenry. In her novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley is one such author that covers her pages with the public anxieties of the time. Throughout her story, she relies heavily on nature metaphors to convey the central themes to the readers. Her central themes recreate the binary of good and evil, in which she depicts nature as simultaneously having a restorative and a destructive quality, as well as harboring the power to condemn and redeem. The reader is first introduced to nature and natural landscapes as a metaphor for restoration, invigoration, rediscovery, and rebirth. Robert Walton’s letters (1-4) discuss his voyage as difficult but hopeful of discovering something new and untouched; he writes to his sister that “it is impossible to communicate to you a conception of the trembling sensation, half pleasurable and half fearful, with which I am preparing to depart. I am going to unexplored regions, to ‘the land of mist and snow’” (Letter 2, 1993). In addition, nature is defined in relation to the idea of perfect simplicity, in which nature is untouched, and thus pure, unlike modern society that has been perverted by ambition. In a letter from Elizabeth to Victor, she states that their childhood home has remained natural, untouched by change; “little alteration, except the growth of our dear children, has taken place since you left us. The blue lake and snow-clad mountains – they never change; and I think our placid home and our contented hearts are regulated by the same immutable laws” (Chapter 6, 1993). Finally, Victor draws on nature to restore his sanity in periods of extreme psychological distress. In Chapters 7 and 9, Victor removes himself from social society and slips into the comfort of nature as a way to alleviate himself of the deafening guilt he is experiencing as a result of having created his monster. Victor’s reliance on nature as a form of therapy is also visible to Walton, who comments on the fact that “even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beautiful of nature” (Letter 4, 1993). However, Shelley uses nature as a double edged metaphor to equally express the moral fall of man. Imagery of a tumultuous and chaotic atmosphere, expressed through dreary weather, transitions from summer to winter, and powerful storms, parallel Victor’s cardinal sin – unnatural ambition. After witnessing a thunderstorm, Victor is hypnotized by the awesome power of nature, and it is at this point that he decides to challenge the rules of nature through some ungodly act of ambition; Victor recounts this fated moment to Walton, in drawing the picture of my early days, I also recorded those events which led, by insensible steps, to my after tale of misery, for when I would account to myself for the birth of that passion which afterwards ruled my destiny I find it arise, like a mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys. (Chapter 2, 1993). His obsession with the philosophy of natural science, as well as with the god-like powers of the Chemists and Mathematicians, leads to his demise because his ambitions extend beyond what is available to him as a mere man. This demise is captured in the atmosphere of the night after he has completed his creation, in which “rain shows the creation is borne into despair; sad atmosphere. It was a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils” (Chapter 5, 1993). Throughout the rest of the story, Victor’s fall parallels the bizarre occurrence in nature that foreshadows the impending tragic ending. This parallel is most clearly demonstrated as Victor and Elizabeth take a boat ride that is to end in their marriage; however, the threatening words of the monster, “I will be with you on your wedding night”, ring in Victor’s ear as the weather suddenly changes. The wind, which had hitherto carried us along with amazing rapidity, sank at sunset to a light breeze; the soft air just ruffled the water and caused a pleasant motion among the trees as we approached the shore, from which is wafted the most delightful scene of flowers and hay. The sun sank beneath the horizon as we landed, and as I touched the shore, I felt those cares and fears revive which soon were to clasp me and cling to me forever. The wind, which had fallen in the south, now rose with great violence in the west. The moon had reached her summit in the heavens and was beginning to descend; the clouds swept across it swifter than the flight of the vulture and dimmer her rays, while the lake reflect the scene of the busy heavens, rendered still busier by the restless waves that were beginning to rise. Suddenly a heavy story of rain descended. (Chapter 22 – 23, 1993) The storm parallels Victor’s psychological anguish while foreshadowing the coming of inevitable loss and pain. Nature as metaphor takes its final form as a judge that condemns and redeems the guilty. Victor has played god, created something wholly unnatural, and abandoned his child-monster while trying to evade responsibility for his participation in the endless murders. As a result of Victor’s choices, the monster has endured endless rejection at the hands of his creator-father, the cottagers, and the stranger who wounded him after he saved the woman. It is fated that Victor must suffer for his crimes again nature; first, in creating the monster, and second, in abandoning it when the monster needed Victor most. Therefore, as Victor assumed the role of creator, master, and judge in regards to his monster’s life, it is only natural for the monster to assume the same position in dealing with Victor’s crimes and, after months of chasing each other in the cold, they finally come face to face on Walton’s boat which, in regards to its surrounding of icy nothingness, seems a fitting place to swallow up the magnitude of the crime. After completing his task of killing Victor, the monster realizes that he must also die in order to literally and symbolically end the terrible story. As he was birthed in unnatural circumstance, the monster chooses to die in unnatural circumstance by fire; “I shall collect my funeral pile and consume to ashes this miserable frame, that its remains may afford no light to any curious and unhallowed wretch who would create such another as I have been. I shall die” (Letter, Sept. 12th, 1993). In this regard, the natural cycle of life has been complete, from birth to death and, finally, the monster returns to the earth from which it had been cruelly stolen away by Victor in his attempt to re-write the laws of nature. In the end, nature is quintessential to Shelley’s Frankenstein, in that it creates the mood, conveys the emotions, and teaches the lessons of the dangers of ambition, obscuring the boundaries between nature and science, and creating something without realizing the ramifications of one’s actions. Although it is difficult to clearly separate hero from villain, as both Victor and the Monster possess good and evil within their characters, it can be argued that the monster was more human in his capacity to express natural emotions and in his desire to belong. This is demonstrated frequently in the story in which nature acts as a cruel mistress who provides no comfort to the monster, especially after it is rejected by society. In the end, the monster presents himself as both thoroughly monstrous and thoroughly human to Walton through the sincerity of his emotions. In contrast, Victor uses nature as a way to escape humanity and as a way to cleanse his feelings of guilt. His frequent fleeing from responsibility into an arena that passes no judgment on him is unrealistic and, in the end, he pays for his crimes with his life. At this time, the massive expanse of rolling mountains and bottomless seas could not save him. With both of their deaths, the last pieces of evidence were “borne away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance” (Letter, Sept. 12th). References (1988). Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs: L-Z (J. Seigneuret, Ed.) (Vol. 2). (pp. 893-899). New York: Greenwood Press. Retrieved December 6, 2010, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=71916314 Shelley, M.W. (1993). Frankenstein. (Original work published 1818). 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Victor’s reliance on nature as a form of therapy is also visible to Walton, who comments on the fact that “even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beautiful of nature” (Letter 4, 1993). However, Shelley uses nature as a double edged metaphor to equally express the moral fall of man. Imagery of a tumultuous and chaotic atmosphere, expressed through dreary weather, transitions from summer to winter, and powerful storms, parallel Victor’s cardinal sin – unnatural ambition.

After witnessing a thunderstorm, Victor is hypnotized by the awesome power of nature, and it is at this point that he decides to challenge the rules of nature through some ungodly act of ambition; Victor recounts this fated moment to Walton, in drawing the picture of my early days, I also recorded those events which led, by insensible steps, to my after tale of misery, for when I would account to myself for the birth of that passion which afterwards ruled my destiny I find it arise, like a mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys.

(Chapter 2, 1993). His obsession with the philosophy of natural science, as well as with the god-like powers of the Chemists and Mathematicians, leads to his demise because his ambitions extend beyond what is available to him as a mere man. This demise is captured in the atmosphere of the night after he has completed his creation, in which “rain shows the creation is borne into despair; sad atmosphere. It was a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils” (Chapter 5, 1993).

Throughout the rest of the story, Victor’s fall parallels the bizarre occurrence in nature that foreshadows the impending tragic ending. This parallel is most clearly demonstrated as Victor and Elizabeth take a boat ride that is to end in their marriage; however, the threatening words of the monster, “I will be with you on your wedding night”, ring in Victor’s ear as the weather suddenly changes. The wind, which had hitherto carried us along with amazing rapidity, sank at sunset to a light breeze; the soft air just ruffled the water and caused a pleasant motion among the trees as we approached the shore, from which is wafted the most delightful scene of flowers and hay.

The sun sank beneath the horizon as we landed, and as I touched the shore, I felt those cares and fears revive which soon were to clasp me and cling to me forever. The wind, which had fallen in the south, now rose with great violence in the west. The moon had reached her summit in the heavens and was beginning to descend; the clouds swept across it swifter than the flight of the vulture and dimmer her rays, while the lake reflect the scene of the busy heavens, rendered still busier by the restless waves that were beginning to rise.

Suddenly a heavy story of rain descended. (Chapter 22 – 23, 1993) The storm parallels Victor’s psychological anguish while foreshadowing the coming of inevitable loss and pain. Nature as metaphor takes its final form as a judge that condemns and redeems the guilty. Victor has played god, created something wholly unnatural, and abandoned his child-monster while trying to evade responsibility for his participation in the endless murders. As a result of Victor’s choices, the monster has endured endless rejection at the hands of his creator-father, the cottagers, and the stranger who wounded him after he saved the woman.

It is fated that Victor must suffer for his crimes again nature; first, in creating the monster, and second, in abandoning it when the monster needed Victor most. Therefore, as Victor assumed the role of creator, master, and judge in regards to his monster’s life, it is only natural for the monster to assume the same position in dealing with Victor’s crimes and, after months of chasing each other in the cold, they finally come face to face on Walton’s boat which, in regards to its surrounding of icy nothingness, seems a fitting place to swallow up the magnitude of the crime.

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