Frankenstein settings Flashcards
Geneva, Switzerland
Significance: Geneva is the home of Victor Frankenstein and serves as the novel’s emotional center. It is a place of safety, family, and the past for Victor. However, it becomes tainted after the deaths of his loved ones, marking the transformation of his life from domestic bliss to tragedy. Geneva represents the domestic sphere that contrasts with the wild, uncontrollable settings Victor later encounters.
Theme Connection: The setting underscores the theme of familial bonds and the breakdown of these bonds due to Victor’s neglect and obsession with his scientific pursuits.
Ingolstadt, Germany
Significance: This is where Victor attends university and conducts his experiments. It is the birthplace of the creature and where the dangers of unchecked scientific ambition begin. Victor’s isolation here marks the beginning of his obsession with creating life.
Theme Connection: Ingolstadt is central to the novel’s exploration of the consequences of scientific ambition and playing God. The isolation of the laboratory highlights Victor’s detachment from society and humanity.
The Swiss Alps
Significance: The sublime beauty of the Alps contrasts with Victor’s inner turmoil. This setting is where Victor meets the creature for the first time after its creation, near Mont Blanc. The Alps reflect the theme of the power of nature, both in its beauty and in its capacity to inspire awe and fear.
Theme Connection: The Swiss Alps embody the Romantic fascination with nature’s sublimity. They also provide a stark contrast to the artificial nature of Victor’s scientific work and his hubris in trying to control natural forces.
The Arctic
Significance: The novel begins and ends in the Arctic, where Captain Walton meets Victor, and where Victor’s pursuit of the creature culminates. The harsh, desolate environment mirrors Victor’s obsessive quest and his physical and emotional desolation by the end of the novel.
Theme Connection: The Arctic symbolizes extreme isolation and the dangers of unrestrained ambition. It also emphasizes the theme of exploration, both in scientific and geographical terms, as Walton’s journey parallels Victor’s desire to push beyond the limits of human knowledge.
Scotland and the Orkney Islands
Significance: Victor travels to Scotland to create a companion for the creature but ultimately destroys it. The remote, bleak Orkney Islands reflect Victor’s growing sense of dread and moral conflict about his work.
Theme Connection: This setting reinforces the theme of isolation, both literal and emotional. It also highlights Victor’s moral struggle and foreshadows the further destruction that follows from his choices.
The De Lacey Cottage
Significance: This small, rural cottage in a forested area becomes the creature’s refuge for some time, as he observes the De Lacey family. The family represents the ideal of domestic happiness and community, which the creature longs for but is ultimately denied.
Theme Connection: The De Lacey cottage represents the creature’s yearning for connection and belonging. It underscores the theme of isolation and the consequences of societal rejection. This setting also highlights the contrast between natural human relationships and the creature’s unnatural existence.
The Graveyards and the Laboratory
Significance: Victor’s study of death and decay begins in graveyards, where he collects materials for his experiments. His laboratory, where the creature is brought to life, represents the seat of his dangerous and unnatural pursuit of knowledge.
Theme Connection: These settings symbolize the boundary between life and death, and Victor’s transgression of this boundary. They are central to the novel’s themes of playing God and the dangers of scientific hubris.
