The Cryptic And Mysterious Mood Of Dr. Frankenstein

In Walton’s letters at the beginning of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the tone changes from excitement to distress over the course of his adventure using characterization, imagery, and setting in order to reveal the cryptic and mysterious mood that Dr. Frankenstein brings to the situation.

In letter one we come to learn about Walton. There are multiple examples of characterization this is to depict who Walton is as a person. One example in the writing is “I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man. These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to conquer all fear of danger and death.”. This show cases him to be a very driven, focused, and adventurous man. Not only that, but it also builds onto the passion he as for this voyage and finding something that no one ever has before. Then as we move on to letter two it says, “I have no friend, Margret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavor to sustain me in dejection”. He is venturing off into the unknown without so much as a companion to confide in, so he has so many overwhelming emotions. So, he is being portrayed as lonely, because even though he’s on this amazing voyage he has no one to share his thoughts, excitement, and hardships with. He seems kind of lost not having someone to confide in. The feelings and the personality of the characters influence mood and tone, because since it is the person or character’s story that is being told their personality and feelings are a big part of helping to set the mood.

A set of literary devices that helps to set the tone and mood are imagery and setting. Starting with an example from letter 1 “I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves, and fills me with delight.”. This part of the book just helps you to visualize what you’re reading, but it also helps you to feel what the character is feeling. The way Walton talks about things you’re able to pull his emotions from it, in the quote the way he is describing the weather makes the reader think that he enjoys the weather he’s in because of the words he uses to describe it. So, by doing this it makes the reader feel and connect with the emotions that relate to the mood and the tone. An emotion that he portrays in this quote is calmness or happiness towards the weather he’s in. Another example of imagery in letter 3 is “Why not still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element”. When reading this it makes you imagine that he could be headed straight into unknown danger. He describes the weather as “untamed yet obedient which makes you feel unsure about the weather and his surroundings. The way he makes it feel is kind of eerie. By having these in there it helps you to tie things in with the mood and the tone because it is showing how the character feels about what they’re describing. These examples of imagery help you to relate to and feel what the characters are going through. When you talk about imagery it also ties in with the setting of the book. One example of setting in letter one is “I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight.”. In this he is describing what the setting is going to be like later in the story, but the way he talks about the pole he feels as if it’s going to be an inciting place to visit. This affects the mood and tone because most people when they think about the pole, they don’t think of it as an appealing place to visit. Walton in his description depicts it an inviting place to go. Another example of setting in letter two is “How slowly the time passes here, encompassed as I am by the frost and snow!”. This not only describes the setting of the setting, but it’s kind of makes the reader picture the weather too. It makes you think to when it’s snowing and how your kind of stuck in time because there is nothing to really do when you’re surrounded by snow and ice. So, time seems to lag by when the weather is bad because you’re not able to do a lot or get much of anything done. Considering this is how mood and tone ties in with this part of the text because it makes the reader picture, feel, and understand the emotions that are being portrayed in the text.

In conclusion, characterization, imagery, and setting all tie into the mood and tone, because they all have that undertone of emotion associated with them. That is what supports the tone and mood that subtle underlying emotion that these have.

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