In closing

I am not going to lie, in the past I did not think highly of Frankenstein as a literary work. I was familiar with the source material and in the past heard the question kicked around in regards to whether the true monster is mankind or the beast, but beyond that I did not have a particular interest in it. Having said this I have gained an appreciation for the novel as a piece of Gothic literature and for the questions it raises about justice, nature over nurture, and what really makes the monster a monster(the answer is we did).

I appreciate the tale because it does not rely on creating tension through individual moments. What I mean by this is that the main narrative does not have a lot of suspense where the fate of characters is unknown and the situation is hazardous to the protagonist. When a character is in danger their fate is practically assured, so instead of placing emphasis on a series of small moments of danger the suspense of the story is in the arc of the creature and Victor. To simplify it all the more it is the difference between a movie that creates tension through a series of jump scares rather than through ambiance, setting and character. I feel like this is an excellent Gothic novel. The genre of Gothic largely deals with anxiety rather than panicked reactions, anxiety is typically a feeling rooted in something that manifests frequently and at varying intensities, and Frankenstein nails this sensation by constantly nagging at the larger anxieties that people experience.