Part E: The Sublime

Mary Shelley involves the sublime in several different instances each attempting to describe the situation as best as possible to create a sort of thoughtful paralysis. She uses the sublime to not only describe the wonders of nature, but in turn to evoke the thoughts and feelings of the character, specifically Victor. Victor at one point in the novel is so miserable that hardly anything can make him feel alive again. He is not able to find any comfort in the beautiful scenes of nature because he believes its beauty mocks him, "Dear mountains! My own beautiful lake! How do you welcome your wanderer? Your summits are clear; the sky and lake are blue and placid. Is this to prognosticate peace, or to mock at my unhappiness?" It's as if he believes the calmness of the setting conflicts with his mental chaos.

"Nothing is more painful to the human mind, than, after the feelings have been worked up by a quick succession of events, the dead calmness of inaction and certainty which follows, and deprives the soul both of hope and fear." This quote from Frankenstein I believe means that with a natural picture of calmness and inaction, there is nothing to deprive Victor of his depressed thoughts, so when he looks at this scene he is only able to freely feel and act from the way he is feeling at the time.

The sublime in nature however is enough to give Victor a sort of paralyzed sense of joy. Edmund Burke says that size and height are two factors that can evoke the sublime which is why the simple plain beauty of the sky and the lake could not grasp the attention of Victor. The massive glacier of Motanvert however seized and froze his thoughts, "the effect that the view of the tremendous and ever-moving glacier had produced upon my mind when I first saw it. It had then filled me with a sublime ecstasy that gave wings to the soul and allowed it to soar from the obscure world to light and joy. The sight of the awful and majestic in nature had indeed always the effect of solemnizing my mind and causing me to forget the passing cares of life." Furthermore, Burke says that power can easily create the sublime and we see this when Victor is caught in the middle of the storm, "While I watched the tempest, so beautiful yet terrific, I wandered on with a hasty step. This noble war in the sky elevated my spirits.." The pure beauty and complexity of the lightning storm gave Victor speechless thoughts and was enough to distract him from his miseries. "Vivid flashes of lightning dazzled my eyes," more amazement is expressed by Victor in the chaos of the storm. So only the extreme factors of nature can offer Victor some sense of comfort before he once more sees the creature he has created.


Mary Shelley uses the sublime to explore the thoughts and emotions of Victor Frankenstein.