Frankenstein is by no means the first Gothic novel.

Instead, this
novel is a compilation of Romantic and Gothic elements combined
into a singular work with an unforgettable story. The Gothic novel
is unique because by the time Mary Shelley wrote
Frankenstein, several novels had appeared using Gothic themes,
but the genre had only been around since 1754.
One of the most important aspects of any gothic novel is setting.
Mary Shelly's Frankenstein is an innovative and disturbing work
that weaves a tale of passion, misery, dread, and remorse. Shelly
reveals the story of a man's thirst for knowledge which leads to a
monstrous creation that goes against the laws of nature and
natural order. The man, Victor Frankenstein, in utter disgust,
abandons his creation who is shunned by all of mankind yet still
feels and yearns for love. The monster then seeks revenge for
his life of loneliness and misery. The setting can bring about
these feelings of short-lived happiness, loneliness, isolation, and
despair. Shelly's writing shows how the varied and dramatic
settings of Frankenstein can create the atmosphere of the novel
and can also cause or hinder the actions of Frankenstein and his
monster as they go on their seemingly endless chase where the
pursuer becomes the pursued.
Darkly dramatic moments and the ever-so-small flashes of
happiness stand out. The setting sets the atmosphere and
creates the mood. The dreary night of November (Shelly 42)
where the monster is given life, remains in the memory. And that
is what is felt throughout the novel-the dreariness of it all along
with the desolate isolation. Yet there were still glimpses of
happiness in Shelly's vivid pictures of the grand scenes among
Frankenstein- the thunderstorm of the Alps, the valleys of Servox

and Chamounix, the glacier and the precipitous sides of

Montanvert, and the smoke of rushing avalanches, the
tremendous dome of Mont Blanc (Goldberg 277) and on that
last journey with Elizabeth which were his last moments of
happiness. The rest goes along with the melodrama of the story.
Shelly can sustain the mood and create a distinct picture and it is
admirable the way she begins to foreshadow coming danger.
Shelly does this by starting a terrible storm, adding dreary thunder
and lightning and by enhancing the gloom and dread of her gothic
scenes. Shelly writes so that the reader sees and feels these
scenes taking permanent hold on the memory.

Furthermore, the setting can greatly impact the actions in a

novel such as this. Frankenstein's abhorred creation proclaims
that: the desert mountains and dreary glaciers are my refuge. I
have wandered here many days; the caves of ice which I only do
not fear, are a dwelling to me, and the only one which man does
not grudge (Shelly 84). The pitiful creature lives in places
where man cannot go for reason that the temperatures and
dangers of these settings are too extreme. But near the end,
Frankenstein's rage takes him all over the world in an obsessed
search for his doppelganger enduring terrible hardships, which
the monster, too, has endured. Frankenstein pursues his creation
to the Artic wastes, revenge being the only thing keeping him
alive. This serves only to thicken the strange darkness that
surrounds and engulfs them (Nitchie 274).
Here it seems as if Frankenstein may finally capture his
adversary, but nature thinks otherwise. The monster tempts his

enraged creator through a world of ice and the setting becomes a

hindrance as the wind arose; the sea roared; and, as with the
mighty shock of an earthquake; it split and cracked with a
tremendous and overwhelming sound. the work was soon
finished; in a few minutes a tumuluous sea rolled between me and
my enemy (Shelly 191). Because of this gothic setting amid the
Artic ice floes, the despair hits both Frankenstein and the reader.
So Frankenstein, Mary Shelly's strange and disturbing tale
personifies the gothic novel. With her compelling writing, she
creates the setting that sets the gloomy mood and causes as well
as hinders actions creating dramatic tension. The entire story is
mysteriously set in the cold Artic which adds to the dark and
foreboding atmosphere. Frankenstein pursues his monster there,
fails to destroy him, and dies appropriately in the cold of the Artic
that matches the cold of his heart. Likewise, Frankenstein's
monster dies on his own terms, springing to his ice raft, borne
away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance