It seems to me that every author in the planet writes novels that contain extreme amounts of imagery whenever a scene takes place in nature. I still remember reading the House of Mirth and writing one of my first blogs on this same topic ( here's a link (: ) . Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is no exception. Nature seems to be something which Victor mentions quite often in his accounts of his life. Mount Blanc seems to be mentioned especially often. Sadly, I don't have much of an idea why. My closest guess would be the contrast utilized theme which I discusses in my previous blog. On a happier note, I do know that Victor's description of nature contain many examples of imagery. Look at this passage:
"The abrupt sides of vast mountains were before me; the icy wall of the glacier overhung me; a few shattered pines were scattered around; and the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial Nature was broken only by the brawling waves or the fall of some vast fragment, the thunder sound of the avalanche or the cracking reverberating along the mountains, of the accumulated ice, which, through the silent work of immutable laws, was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything of the hands (p 65-66)".
Wow! This passage uses sight (shattered, scattered, brawling, rent and torn), sound (solemn silence, thunder, cracking, reverberating, silent, immutable), and even touch (icy) to portray the beauty and destructive power of nature. The amazing thing is that this is only a small portion of the imagery used in this particular section, not to mention the whole book. It seems to me like there must be some sort of reason, but I suppose it could just be simple description of the setting which sets the stage for Victor's encounter with his creature.
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