On a wet, dreary night at Villa Diodati near Geneva, Mary Shelley, her husband Percy, Lord Byron and Dr. Polidori challenge one another to see who can tell the best ghost story. Nineteen-year-old Mary spends days thinking of a story. After a night spent talking about reanimating corpses, she has a restless night. Frankenstein, called "The Modern Prometheus," is born of Shelley’s nightmares, and Geneva becomes the setting for this classic horror.
The Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory defines setting as "the where and when of a story." However, when setting is examined, it represents more than a place to locate a few characters. Most of the time, setting plays a pivotal role in moving the plot and even becomes a character. In Frankenstein, the setting pushes the plot and creates the essence of many of the scenes in this dark story.
Once Dr. Frankenstein decides to become godlike and steals a body, the setting helps us peer into his heart and experience his dark fascination. He looks down at the lifeless body and his instruments "on a dreary night of November" and "the rain pattered dismally against the panes." Thus, this dark setting in this scene serves as a window into the doctor's heart and exposes his intentions.
The bleak setting is a perfect backdrop, displaying the regrets and remorse the doctor feels after creating the hideous creature. It foreshadows the continuous dark tone of the story. This darkness is nurtured when the doctor becomes aware that his creation may have played a role in the death of two of his loved ones. It's a foggy night when he sees the monster and calls him a "Devil," opening a window into the heart of the monster, revealing the loneliness and anguish he feels about his unique existence.
He is angry at his creator for building him to live amid a world in which he doesn't fit. When the monster recounts his tale, many of the words he uses are dark. He talks about the changes from light to darkness, and he speaks of the disappearance of the moon. These analogies perfectly suit his inability to fit into society, in a world that is able to travel in daylight. The night is the only time he can be concealed from the fearful, disgusted eyes of others.
The setting illustrates the loneliness the monster feels about not having something with which to share his life. He begs Dr. Frankenstein to create a female monster. One gloomy night, the doctor reluctantly creates a woman while the monster watches in the shadows. Additionally, it's the darkness that dashes the monster's hope of having a companion when the doctor gets rid of the female.
The gloomy, dark setting acts as a character, drawing two lost souls together and creating a frightening tale of life, death and loneliness. It's no wonder that it's a night of unrest that gives birth to the monster.
Source:
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Penguin Classics. 2003.
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