The Gothic Element of Overwrought Emotion in Frankenstein

Mary Shelly's Frankenstein has many gothic elements throughout. From its setting, to the damsels, and even the supernatural events. However, one gothic element that was the most prominent for me was the overwrought emotions. 

            Throughout the story, Frankenstein is full of dramatic and emotional monologues. They colored the book in many ways. For one thing, the characters, specifically the male ones, seemed homosexual for the way that they presented their emotions and how much of them they showed. The story begins with Robert Walton writing to his sister about how he longs for a male friend that he can connect with. He later meets Victor Frankenstein and talks about how much admiration and awe he holds towards him. Walton speaks of how he is sad that the one man he was closed to is reaching the end of his life and how Frankenstein’s emotions affect him so much. In the end, Frankenstein dies with Walton over him holding his hand and hanging on to each word he speaks.

            In the opening letters, Frankenstein can barely even tell of his misfortunes because they pain him so much. Frankenstein often looks to the stars and exclaims to them full of emotion. Frankenstein also swoons a lot, which is something I’ve never seen a man do in literature. Frankenstein goes down several times from being over-emotional and gaining a fever from his hysterics. He never gets over the death of William, Justine, Henry, and Elizabeth. It is this theme of revenge and emotion that carries on throughout the story.

            Frankenstein’s monster is also full of emotion. Before he can even speak, he experiences emotions from rage to sadness. One of the first things the monster does upon waking in the night is weep. He is also filled with a rage towards himself, his creator, and mankind. The monster also continuously goes on long rants about his emotions, usually when he is face to face with Victor Frankenstein and during his tale. On a side note, I very much enjoyed reading the chapters from the monster.

            In this story, overall the narration is highly sentimental. It made reading it fun. I found as I talked to those who have read the book that I was often saying how sad and emotional it was. The fact that the emotions run high in the book made my emotions the same as I read it. This technique of an emotion filled narration is something Mary Shelly did on purpose. Since gothic literature was written for women by women and in these times women were emotional and swooned, the emotions that run throughout this story are perfect for its target audience –women in the early 1800s.
           Going into this, I've never read Frankenstein, so I was shocked to see that the monster was actually an intelligent being. All of my life I thought that the monster was an innocent misunderstood creature and this book really shed light on the character and changed my view of it. I'm really happy to have read it!