88 pages 2 hours read

Mary Shelley

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1818

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Symbols & Motifs

The Pathetic Fallacy

The pathetic fallacy is a literary device in which nature reflects the human world. In Frankenstein, Shelley often uses nature as a mirror of both Frankenstein and the creature’s feelings or events about to take place. 

When involving Frankenstein, most examples of the pathetic fallacy involve water. When Frankenstein returns to Geneva following William’s death, rain falls “in large drops” (60) as a storm gains strength. Frankenstein’s considering the “noble war” in the sky to be William’s “dirge” (60), illustrating how Frankenstein finds his emotions reflected in nature. Rain also falls “in torrents” (80) when Frankenstein sees the creature for the first time since abandoning him. When Elizabeth is murdered, the wind rises “with great violence,” and “a heavy storm of rain” descends (178). This use of water to showcase negative emotions and events extends to the creature; he awakens “on a dreary night of November,” when “the rain pattered dismally against the panes” (42).

However, just as nature reflects characters’ turmoil, its peace and rebirth reflect times of hope and happiness. When Frankenstein recovers from his fever, he notices “that the fallen leaves had disappeared and that the young buds were shooting forth from the trees” (47). The creature’s growing hope that the cottagers will befriend him is reflected in the onset of spring, when “[t]he birds sang in more cheerful notes, and the leaves began to bud forth on the trees” (100).

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By Mary Shelley