Why Does Mary Shelley Use Of Personification In Frankenstein

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a gothic novel that tells the story of scientist, Victor Frankenstein, and his obsession with creating human life. This leads him to creating a gruesome monster made of body-parts stolen from grave yards, whom upon discovering his hideousness, the monster seeks revenge against his creator, causing Victor to regret the creation of his monster for the rest of his life. Shelley uses the literary elements of personification, imagery, and similes to give a vivid sense and visualization of Victor Frankenstein’s thoughts and feelings as well as to allow us to delve deeper into the monster’s actions and emotions. Throughout the novel, Shelley uses personification of various forces and objects to reflect the effect in Victor’s actions. In chapter four, Frankenstein describes his toil in creating human life. “...the moon gazed on my

Shelley describes the morning after Frankenstein creates the monster and runs away- "Morning, dismal and wet, at length dawned, and discovered to my sleepless and aching eyes the church of Ingolstadt…”. This dreary scene adequately depicts Victor’s miserable, downcast feeling toward the ugly monster he has just created. Shelley also uses the imagery element to bring into view Frankenstein’s painful emotions over the result of his creation. Immediately following the verdict of Justine’s death, a deep feeling of remorse washes over Frankenstein."The blood flowed freely in my veins, but a weight of despair and remorse pressed on my heart, which nothing could remove. Sleep fled from my eyes; I wandered like an evil spirit…” Shelley’s use of imagery in this situation gives over the feelings of Victor’s intense guilt at having been the cause of the death of an innocent girl. This also implies that in a sense Victor questions his own existence because of the weight of his actions “Press[ing] on [his]