Frankenstein realises that his experiment has failed and that the time and effort he had put in was all for nothing. An example of this is – “Now that I had finished the beauty of the dream vanished and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. ” These words show us in a powerful way how Frankenstein feels, and how he is extremely disappointed with the result of his toils and struggle with creating the perfect being.
When the words ‘horror and disgust’ are used they provoke us into believing just how anguished Frankenstein is and how much he despises the experiment. Shelley also makes the monster’s awakening seem very dramatic by using words like “catastrophe”. This shows Frankenstein’s shock and horror of the creature he had created and hoped would be beautiful, but turned out to be the opposite of what he wanted. This word shows is very powerful and tells us how everything has fallen apart for Frankenstein, including the one thing that was keeping him alive – the experiment.
After the monster comes to life, Frankenstein does not take responsibility for its creation, and tries to lose all contact with the monster to do so. For instance “endeavouring to seek a few moments of forgetfulness” shows us this, and also makes the reader feel more involved with the story, as they can all have their own opinions on how Frankenstein handles the events. The world ‘forgetfulness’ shows us the passion with which Frankenstein hates the monster, and wishes he had never started his research.
Another way that Mary Shelley makes chapter five seem extremely dramatic is by showing us how distraught Frankenstein is by what happened with the monster, and how he had failed at his life’s ambition. We are also shown how Frankenstein has disturbing nightmares such as this – “I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms” This is an extremely dramatic image and tells us just how disturbed Frankenstein has become, and also tells us of his greatest fear – death itself.
Shelley also uses a list of three verbs to describe Frankenstein’s reaction to the monster’s reappearance, “walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound”. This shows that Frankenstein is extremely distressed by the monster, and is also very effective at showing us Frankenstein’s feelings and agitation in coming face to face with the monster in a way that entices the reader into the story and almost makes the reader seem apprehensive of the monster.
