How Shelley uses language to create an atmosphere of gothic horror?

Shelley uses strong imagery to create an atmosphere of gothic horror. She started off the chapter with ‘… a dreary night of November’. This gives the impression to readers that Frankenstein has been working on his experiment for a very long time and he is starting to get tired of it. ‘November’ is when the long and cold winter starts and can be related to death as some plants, which are unable to stand the cold, wither and die, while some animals hibernate. Her liberal use of descriptive words like ‘dun white sockets’ and ‘shrivelled complexion’ creates and gives the impression to readers that the monster instils fear in everyone who sees him.

The fact that she made Frankenstein, the creator, actually afraid and horrified at his creation seem to further creates a strategic atmosphere of horror. Frankenstein’s horror can be clearly seen through the line ‘… walking up and down in greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound…’. Frankenstein is very ashamed of the creature that he has created and unlike any new proud parent, Frankenstein despises the creature that he has created. This can be seen through Frankenstein’s referral to his creation as a ‘catastrophe’, ‘wretch’, ‘creature’, ‘accident’ ‘it’, ‘inanimate body’ and ‘daemonical corpse’. Even the creator himself is afraid of his creation, shouldn’t we the readers be more shocked and horrified at the creature?

Besides that, she also uses pathetic fallacy like ‘dreary night’ and ‘dim and yellow night of the moon’ to set the atmosphere of the story. Right at the beginning, personification is fused together with pathetic fallacy ‘the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out’ to set the eerie atmosphere of the story. This is rather an ingenious way of setting the atmosphere without the readers directly knowing it. With pathetic fallacy, readers are brought on an emotional rollercoaster ride ‘by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open’. Shelley effectively uses pathetic fallacy to create that eerie atmosphere during the ‘birth’ of the creation.

Shelley also uses contrast in the second paragraph to highlight and shed a horrific light on the creature. The sharp contrast between ‘beautiful’, ‘lustrous black, and flowing’ and ‘his teeth of a pearly whiteness’ and ‘watery eyes’, ‘dun white sockets’, ‘shrivelled complexion’ and ‘straight black lips’ injects a feeling of freakiness into readers. At first the creature is described to be perfect and divine, but Shelley used the first impression Frankenstein gave us for his creature to further contrast how horrific his creature looks like. To me, this way of describing the creature in this manner has a much more profound impact on readers, particularly on readers back then where it was unheard of for the dead to come back to life. Contrast is also used when describing Frankenstein’s feelings before and after creating his creature. ‘I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I finished, the beauty of the dream vanished’. This tells readers that even Frankenstein himself is disgusted and horrified at what he created.

Furthermore, Shelley also used allusion to aid her create an atmosphere of horror. For example, ‘it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived’. Back then during Shelley’s period, Dante was also another gothic horror novel author. Readers back then would know that Dante was the author to ‘The Divine Comedy’ and Shelley was using this to depict the creature being worse than Hell itself. This is more effective and has a better impact on readers back then compared to the readers today because they are more familiar with Dante.

In conclusion, Shelley has effectively used a variety of techniques ranging from imagery, contrast, allusion and pathetic fallacy to aid her in setting an atmosphere of gothic horror in Frankenstein.

Chapter 4: Horror and childbirth.

Close focus on the end of chapter 4. How does Shelley create an atmosphere of horror and dread around Victor’s experiments? Note also words from the semantic field of birth (‘conceive’, ‘labour’, ‘bore’) – why might Shelley use them?


Shelley creates an atmosphere of dread and horror around Victor's experiment by providing a very descriptive, detailed insight to his experiments. 'Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil, as ... the grave, ... tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay?' shows the horrific methods in which Victor undertook to obtain different 'parts' for his monster. Her vivid description of the organs 'my eye balls were starting from their sockets in attending to the details of my employment' is also a technique to instill horror. The names she created for Victor's various rooms, such as 'dissecting room' and 'slaughterhouse' have the ability to send chills down one's bones by itself. This has a visual impact on readers and as it registers in readers' mind, readers feel disgusted and horrified at Victor's methods of obtaining 'parts' for his monster.


Besides that, Shelley made Victor into a character who is intently obsessed about his experiments. Words like 'unremitting ardour' and 'lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit' shows that Victor's obsession in his work is very intent to the extent that 'my cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement'. It is hinted that Shelley thinks that Victor's obsession is unhealthy. Shelley describes Victor into a character that is trapped with his experiments. Besides the fact that Victor could not 'tear my thought from my employment ... swallowed up every habit of my nature', his passion and nature was so intense that he 'pursued nature to her hiding-places'. He shuts himself away in his 'cell' and alienates himself from his family and friends.

Shelley also uses words from the semantic field of birth because she likens the creation of Frankenstein's monster like a nine-month gestation period. 'Winter, spring, and summer' passes, Victor's 'enthusiasm was checked by my anxiety' and he was rather anxious for his creation to be finally completed. Perhaps Shelley wanted to pen down the anxiety and apprehension that soon-to-be mothers go through as she herself, though at a young age of 18, has already been through two pregnancies. She wanted to tell her readers the fear that women go through during the gestation period.