Frankenstein
Prompt #25 · Frankenstein
Prompt Type: Theme + Device
Throughout the novel, Shelley uses personification to describe natural phenomena, scientific processes, and abstract concepts. Analyze how this device develops the theme of humanity's relationship with nature and the dangers of treating living beings as objects while treating objects as alive. Explain how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Quote 1
“They penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her hiding-places. They ascend into the heavens; they have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows.”
Chapter 3
Argument
Personification transforms nature into a feminine entity with 'hiding-places' and scientists into god-like figures who 'command the thunders' and 'mock the invisible world,' illustrating how treating nature as a passive object to be penetrated and controlled inverts the proper relationship between humanity and the natural world.
Quote 2
“The immense mountains and precipices that overhung me on every side, the sound of the river raging among the rocks, and the dashing of the waterfalls around spoke of a power mighty as Omnipotence—and I ceased to fear or to bend before any being less almighty than that which had created and ruled the elements, here displayed in their most terrific guise.”
Chapter 9
Argument
Personification grants the natural landscape agency—mountains 'overhang,' rivers 'rage,' waterfalls 'speak of a power mighty as Omnipotence'—positioning nature as an active, almost divine force that humbles Victor, contrasting sharply with his earlier treatment of natural materials as inert objects to manipulate.
Quote 3
“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.”
Chapter 9
Argument
Personification attributes human qualities to abstract concepts ('dead calmness' that 'deprives the soul'), treating emotional states as living entities while Victor simultaneously treats his actually living creation as an inanimate 'thing,' revealing the dangerous reversal at the novel's thematic core.
Quote 4
“By the sacred earth on which I kneel, by the shades that wander near me, by the deep and eternal grief that I feel, I swear; and by thee, O Night, and the spirits that preside over thee, to pursue the dæmon who caused this misery, until he or I shall perish in mortal conflict.”
Chapter 24
Argument
Personification transforms abstract concepts ('Night,' 'shades,' 'spirits') into active entities that Victor invokes and addresses, treating them as living witnesses to his oath, while his language reduces the Creature—an actual living being—to a mere 'dæmon,' demonstrating the dangerous inversion of treating the inanimate as alive and the living as object.
Quote 5
“Why did I not die? More miserable than man ever was before, why did I not sink into forgetfulness and rest? Death snatches away many blooming children, the only hopes of their doting parents; how many brides and youthful lovers have been one day in the bloom of health and hope, and the next a prey for worms and the decay of the tomb!”
Chapter 21
Argument
Personification grants agency to Death, which 'snatches away' children and makes lovers 'a prey for worms,' treating mortality as an active force with will and intention, while Victor's scientific project attempted to treat life itself as an inert material to be mechanically assembled, revealing the thematic tension between respecting natural processes as living forces versus manipulating them as dead matter.