How Does Mary Shelley Use Personification In Frankenstein

489 Words2 Pages

Prometheus crept forwards to the gigantic anvil and the blazing fire of the hearth, he took a single spark of the gods’ fire and stored it within a vessel he had made inside a hollow stalk of fennel.” Victor Frankenstein is a scientist who is way over his head with the pursuit of knowledge, in hopes of creating something that was only meant for the gods, life. In the Gothic novel Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus, Mary Shelley uses the literary elements of alliteration, personification, and hyperbole, to convey that there are negative effects of being overly ambitious and that abandonment can lead to the development of anger. Mary Shelley uses the literary elements of imagery and personification to reveal the consequences of Victor Frankenstein’s ambition to create life. …show more content…

He often reflects on how this one moment in time shaped his fate. In chapter two, readers come across one of these instances when Victor states, “For when I would account to myself for the birth of that passion, which afterward 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.” (pg 20) Shelley uses a simile to compare Victor’s obsession and ambition to a mountain river, which started off slow from “forgotten” origins, of his hope and a sigh of hope. This highlights the theme of ambition and its consequences, as Victor's ambition grows beyond control, stemming from his obsession with knowledge, and his inability to control himself. Victor realizes the consequences of his actions and the impact they had and will continue to have on his life. Victor is aware of his actions, and how his over ambition will continue to lead him down a bad