Gothic fiction is a “type of novel or romance popular in the late 18th and early 19 th c.

The word
‘gothic’ had come to mean ‘wild’, ‘barbarous’ and ‘crude’[…] The plots hinged on suspense and
mystery, involving the fantastic and the supernatural.”
Gothic literature wins wider circles of reader-ship; reading Gothic fiction becomes a
commonplace habit in Europe, and Mary Shelley is described as "one of the greatest practitioners
of the Gothic novel"(2). Meanwhile, Frankenstein is viewed as a landmark in English literature,
signaling the transition from the eighteenth-century Gothic tales, with all their mysteries and
ghosts and artificial horrors, to the deeply serious romantic novel of the nineteenth century.
The Gothic novel is "a kind of, novel with sensational and horrifying events, popular in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries"(6). The Gothic novel horrifies through the atmosphere of a
combination of the barbarous, the supernatural elements, and the locale.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the outcome of a dream that the 19 years old novelist
experienced. The novel was started in 1816 and completed in 1818. Mary and her husband Percy
Shelley visited Lord Byron and his personal physician John Polidori in Geneva. The guests and
their hosts gathered over a collection of German short stories and the spark of Frankenstein was
ignited in the novelist’s mind.
Victor Frankenstein is an ambitious scientist, who lusts for knowledge and power. As the story
unfolds, he realises the consequences of his scientific inquiry and he experiences great horror
due to his hubris. In her novel, the author resorts to abundant agents from the gothic genre.
Horror and dread are primary notions in the novel.
A primary gothic element in the novel is Walpole’s concept of the conflict between ancient and
modern and is embodied in various incarnations especially in the creation of a non-human body.
Obviously, the novel possesses an apparent juxtaposition regarding the interplay between old and
new. In Frankenstein, the setting is antiquated and the story unfolds through a series of letters by
Robert Walton written to his sister. The main protagonist uncovers his account of the great
scientific experiment while being in a ship surrounded by huge ice sheets in the Arctic. The
surrounding setting is isolated and old while it still preserves its ancient nature. The obsolete
environment remains untouched by humans, rather it forces them to adapt. In the story, the
actions take place in laboratories surrounded by the walled city of Geneva. One of the important
moments in the story is when Victor Frankenstein encounters his creature on a glacier, thus,
embodying the isolation and ancient setting in which the story ends. These antiquated locations
conflict with the modernity present in the novel. In his dark laboratories, the scientist endeavours
to perform something, which is very modern and advanced than any accomplishment achieved
by contemporary science. His achievement contrasts with the antiquity of the setting.
The setting is an important element in gothic fiction, as it helps evoking fear. Victor
Frankenstein describes his creature’s coming into life and the surrounding atmosphere of his
creation process. He states: “It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against
the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished
light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion
agitated its limbs” (Shelley 17). It is central to note that the description of the night and the
fading candle refers to the gloomy and antiquated setting. Moreover, the awakening of the
monster seems to be linked to the setting around him, thus, combining the modernity by which
he was produced with the antiquity of the setting wherein he was created. This description
further provokes a sense of gloom and mystery worked out by darkness. Following this scene of
creation and gloomy weather, the reader senses fear. In the laboratory, Victor undergoes a
process that is loaded with gothic motifs that arouse a feeling of horror in the readers.
Furthermore, the supernatural creation is a crucial element that Mary Shelley relies on to
implement horror within the layers of her narrative. Victor is determined on manufacturing a
being that bears a resemblance to the human body but with a large stature: “I resolved to make
the being of a gigantic stature, that is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionally large”
(42). He engages in his labour and gathers materials necessary. He says: “I collected bones from
charnel-houses and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame.
The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials” (43). The creature
is brought to life in the fifth chapter of the novel in a raining weather that is described as gloomy
and dark. The setting is strongly linked to the creation process. Also, it functions as a means to
aggravate the fear and mystery. Victor describes the awakening of his creature:
“It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the
accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the
instruments of life around me that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at
my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my
candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the halfextinguished light, I saw the dull
yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs”
(44-45).
This description illustrates the ugliness of the creature. In addition, the dark setting and the
paranormal being are gothic elements that are used by the author to launch fear. The gothic
theme of ugliness is dominant in the novel. In Frankenstein, the creature is described as ugly and
hideous in appearance: “his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened,
and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks” (45). Also, “its
gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect more hideous than belongs to humanity” (60).
The ugliness of the creature horrifies the other characters. Even Victor, the creator, realises the
unbearable hideousness of his creation and states: “Oh! No mortal could support the horror of
that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that
wretch” (46). Further, the ugliness of the creature is displayed in the reaction of the cottagers
when they beheld him:
“At that instant the cottage door was opened, and Felix, Safie, and
Agatha entered. Who can describe their horror and consternation on beholding me? Agatha
fainted, and Safie, unable to attend to her friend, rushed out of the cottage. Felix darted forward,
and with supernatural force tore me from his father” (107).
The cottagers are frightened by the looks of the creature. His ugliness triggers their fear and they
feel threatened. The final description of the monster is provided in chapter 24, when Victor
Frankenstein is lying dead in the cabin of Walton, and the latter is dazzled by the appearance of
the creature and explains: “Over him hung a form which I cannot find words to describe; gigantic
in stature, yet uncouth and distorted in its proportions. As he hung over the coffin, his face was
concealed by long locks of ragged hair; but one vast hand was extended, in color and apparent
texture like that of a mummy” (173). He adds: “I approached this tremendous being: I dared not
again raise my looks to his face, there was something so scaring and unearthly in his ugliness”
(173). The horrific appearance of the monster is a key element in raising fear in the novel. His
ugliness horrifies Walton and readers.
Another feature of gothic fiction present in the novel is darkness. The atmosphere of obscurity
and doom is dominant in Frankenstein. In chapter five, Victor is surrounded by darkness and
rain. He is forced to escape due to heavy rain and ambiguity. He says: “I felt impelled to hurry
on, although wetted by the rain which poured from a black and comfortless sky” (46). The dark
and dreary atmosphere is connected with Victor: “grief and fear again overcame me. Night also
closed around; and when I could hardly see the mountain, I felt still more gloomily” (59).
Obscurity raises fear and anxiety in Victor. Furthermore, the wet setting, pervaded by the utmost
darkness, heralds the doom of the protagonist: “I foresaw obscurely that I was destined to
become the most wretched of human beings” (59). The dominance of darkness and rain is
embodied in the selected language by the author: “it was completely dark”, “the storm
appeared”, “the dark mountains”, “the darkness and storm increased every minute”, or “pitchy
darkness” (59). These statements, sometimes, precede the emergence of the creature. The author
uses wet and stormy weather, darkness and obscurity, which are elements from the gothic fiction,
to increase the suspense for readers and to arrange the appearance of the creature.
“While I watched the storm … I perceived a figure which stole from behind a
clump of trees near me: I stood fixed, gazing intently: I could not be mistaken. A flash of
lightning illuminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to me; its gigantic stature, and
the deformity of its aspect more hideous than belongs to humanity (60)”.
Following this, Victor seems to be surrounded by dark wet atmosphere. He, frequently, asserts:
“darkness then came over me” (80), “darkness pressed around me” (141). Darkness, as a motif,
borrowed from the gothic, arouses ambiguity, and, thus, triggers fear. Even the creature at the
end of the novel is swallowed by darkness and “was soon borne away by the waves and lost in
darkness and distance” (177).
Haunting is a crucial element in the plot. Jerrold E. Hogle states that “the hauntings associated
with the gothic often arise from the antiquated settings” (1). Victor is chased by his modern
achievement in antiquated and sublime landscapes like the Arctic and the isolated island. This
haunting represents his secret that escaped from the city laboratory and used the ancient setting
to grant his escapes. The haunting secret is a gothic feature and as Hogle notes: “Within this
space, or combination of such spaces, are hidden secrets from the past (sometimes the recent
past) that haunt the characters, psychologically, physically, or otherwise at the main time of the
story” (2).
Mary Shelley, in her novel, portrays the horrors that result from repressing one’s desires due to
social restrictions. In the light if this, the doppelgänger or the double symbolises the repressed
self. Therefore, an analysis of the doubled and the double is paramount to construe the process of
doubling. In addition, the analysis of the manifold operations of the gothic double, as employed
in the novel, is crucial for the understanding of the horrors it begets