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Frankenstein - The Restorative Power of Nature

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Throughout the entirety of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein, tensions between the natural and unnatural were the ultimate driving forces as the story unfolded. The overarching theme most apparently found throughout the novel is Nature and its relationship with man. Shelley juxtaposes the revitalizing power of Mother Nature with the dreadful portrayal of the man-made creation of the monster. This harsh juxtaposition drives the reader to consider the effects of crossing boundaries of the natural world. Romantic writers, like Mary Shelley, often depicted Nature as the most unadulterated and pronounced force in our world. Mary Shelley uses a great deal of natural imagery in Frankenstein, which is apparent even at the very beginning of the story. Early on, she establishes that Nature and all of its grandeur will play a major role throughout the entirety of the novel, “the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight. There, Margaret, the sun is forever visible; its broad disk just skirting the horizon, and diffusing a perpetual splendour” (Shelley, 5). While Shelley attempts to convey the profound power of Nature, she also contrasts this central theme with the characterization of Victor. Nature and its relationship with man is the leading cause, and resolution, for almost every conflict found in this novel. In regards to Romanticism’s notion that Nature is the epitome of perfection, Mary Shelley creates conflict through the implication that man is imperfect and can only be influenced by Nature where it is impossible to reverse that influence. An example that demonstrates my argument appears at the beginning of Volume II where Victor makes the dispute that people cannot help him. He then claims that he can always go back and seek out Nature for therapy, “I was now free. Often, after the rest of the family had retired for the night, I took the boat, and passed many hours upon the waterand I the only unquiet thing that wandered restless in a scene so beautiful and heavenly” (Shelley, 65-66). Here, Shelley indicates that Victor believes that he is healed by Nature and also strengthens my point that man is portrayed as imperfect in comparison to Mother Nature. Furthermore, this also displays the notion that Victor feels as if he cannot escape his family and only feels resolute when alone with Nature. On various occasions, Shelley alludes to the idea that Victor’s relationship with Nature is greater than that of any relation

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