Atmosphere, Action, and Supernatural

Of the three elements - atmosphere, action, and supernatural - in the story Frankenstein, I feel that atmosphere is the most effective. I say this because atmosphere is everything in a book. If the setting (atmosphere) was not described, readers would not be able to understand the story as well. If mood (atmosphere) was not in the story, the characters would not be understood as well as if mood was in place. Atmosphere is everything. Here are a few examples of atmosphere in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

"It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs."

This scene creates a very vivid picture of what is going on. It is a rainy night, November (probably cold weather), and dark. Victor, quite mad at this time, has a dead monster that he created lying at his feet. After infusing it with electricity, the monster awakens...

"It was completely dark when I arrived in the environs of Geneva; the gates of the town were already shut; and I was obliged to pass the night at Secheron, a village at the distance of half a league from the city. The sky was serene; and, as I was unable to rest, I resolved to visit the spot where my poor William had been murdered. As I could not pass through the town, I was obliged to cross the lake in a boat to arrive at Plainpalais. During this short voyage I saw the lightning playing on the summit of Mont Blanc in the most beautiful figures. The storm appeared to approach rapidly, and, on landing, I ascended a low hill, that I might observe its progress. It advanced; the heavens were clouded, and I soon felt the rain coming slowly in large drops, but its violence quickly increased."

This scene creates imagery for what Victor had to go to once he arrived at his hometown. The gates were closed, so he was not getting in. He had to return to a village a little ways away from the city for the night. The sky was stormy, and he could tell that the weather was about to get really bad.

"I spent the following day roaming through the valley. I stood beside the sources of the Arveiron, which take their rise in a glacier, that with slow pace is advancing down from the summit of the hills to barricade the valley. The abrupt sides of vast mountains were before me; the icy wall of the glacier overhung me; a few shattered pines were scattered around; and the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial nature was broken only by the brawling waves or the fall of some vast fragment, the thunder sound of the avalanche or the cracking, reverberated along the mountains, of the accumulated ice, which, through the silent working of immutable laws, was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything in their hands."

This final quote really sets the mood for the story. You can tell that Victor has gone to a place where very few or no men have been before. It is deserted and beautiful. It takes so long to just describe the setting before we can get to anything else. This really helps the readers understand the setting, and subsequently, the story better.

If it was not for atmosphere, this book would have been quite dull, hard to understand (due to the lack of settings), and shorter. Much of the story is Victor describing the setting so we understand it. Atmosphere is the most important of the three elements.