Frankenstein: Weather, Seasons, and Emotional Symbolism Anonymous 10th Grade

Mary Shelley develops the character Victor Frankenstein, a young chemist who discovers the secrets of creating life, with an unending thirst for knowledge. His studies and desires lead him to build a Creature which wreaks havoc on Victor and all he loves. However, this tale is not one of steady decline, but a roller coaster of emotion, for both Victor Frankenstein and his Creature. Throughout Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses vivid descriptions of seasons and weather as a symbol for happiness and hope, or lack thereof, to demonstrate how each character faces the highs and lows inevitable in life.

Directly following his creation, the creature suffers unbearable pain and misery, continuing through the first two winters of his hopeless life. First off, as soon as the creature enters the world, he begins to feel cold; “Before I had quitted your apartment, on a sensation of cold, I had covered myself with some clothes, but these were insufficient to secure me from the dews of night. I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch” (119). The creature has no parent to care for him, and does not understand why he feels no warmth. Additionally, the gaping hole left by Victor’s absence creates a metaphorical cold in the creature’s heart. His...