Breathless horror

Using frightening descriptions and language

Mary Shelley creates an atmosphere of horror in chapter five by using frightening descriptions and language. Her intentions were to write a ghost story that would make the reader's blood curdle and their heart beat fast. She uses gothic by using scientific discovery. Electricity was discovered round the time when Mary was alive and she shows that it creates life. Mary starts building up the atmosphere of horror from the beginning. She sets the chapter in the month of November which is a month of death and decay.

"A dreary night in November". The weather is also associated with the setting.

When weather is used to reflect what will happen in the story it is known as pathetic fallacy. Mary says "the rain pattered dismally". She uses words to describe the creature such as: "the accomplishment of my toils", "the lifeless thing", "a catastrophe" and "a miserable monster". Mary defines the creature as an IT and not as a human.

Get quality help now

Writer Lyla

Verified writer

Proficient in: Books And Reading

5 (876)

“ Have been using her for a while and please believe when I tell you, she never fail. Thanks Writer Lyla you are indeed awesome ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Also, Shelley's physical description of the thing is frightening. "beautiful -Great God! ". This is sarcastic as the creature is actually disgusting. It had "yellow skin" and its hair was "lustrous black". He had "teeth of pearly whiteness".

Dark and unpleasant colours

We are told these "luxuriance's" formed a contrast where they are good and his "watery eyes", "dun-white sockets", "shrivelled complexion" and "black lips" are bad. It's a contrast of beauty against ugliness. She uses colours which are dark and unpleasant, for example, dull yellow and black.

There is a contrast here where the creature is connected with black and dull yellow are in contrast with the white steeple of the church representing purity and good. The way Mary Shelley describes the movement of the monster is daunting. "A convulsive motion agitated its limbs."

Frankenstein has feelings of anxiety that almost turned to agony when he infused a spark of electricity into the creature to create life within it. Frankenstein had a wild dream that disturbed him. He dreams he sees Elizabeth and imprints the first kiss on her lips. This is supposed to be the kiss of life but instead it is the kiss of death. When he wakes up he sees the thing he produced is a "wretch" and "a miserable monster". He said the monster "muttered some inarticulate sounds. Shelley makes the creature seem terrifying as she says Frankenstein "escaped" it. As I mentioned before, Mary uses language associated with horror.

"Breathless horror"

"Breathless horror", "a hell to me" and "black and comfortless sky" are just a few phrases I chose from the chapter to show this. The dream, which was more like a nightmare, of the kiss of death is also eerie. She constructs horror by her use of anti-climax. "I had worked hard... I had deprived myself... I had desired... I had created... " This is emphasised by the repetition of "I had". Later it is said "but now I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished". The effect of personal pronouns reflects Frankenstein's ambitions. "I felt the bitterness of disappointment".

Furthermore, the way Frankenstein behaves builds up a chilling atmosphere. "I trembled excessively", "I felt the palpitation of every artery", "my teeth chattered", "every limb became convulsed". These are only some of Frankenstein's actions. They show he was frightened and make the reader feel this way. Mary Shelley uses irony because Frankenstein's physical behaviour and his actions mimic that of the creature who also moves in convulsions. In addition to this, Mary Shelley has descriptions of nature in chapter five that are very negative and ugly. "Dim and yellow light of the moon....forced its way through the window shudders".

The tone of chapter five begins by being a tone of dismal and disgust, but after Frankenstein's gruesome nightmare , it becomes apprehensive and cowardly. The way Mary uses repetition of words like "beautiful" shows sarcasm. I can conclude that having mentioned all her methods, Mary Shelley has created an atmosphere of horror in chapter five of her novel. By using language and negative descriptions she can make the reader feel frightened and scared like Frankenstein was after his nightmare. She has achieved her intentions of writing a petrifying ghost story.