Extreme Landscapes
English Lit: Edexcel A Level Frankenstein, topic 6.2.1
Extreme Landscapes
Shelley uses many locations across the globe within her novel. There are symbolic reasons why Shelley choses these settings and they reflect many different things about the characters.
Extreme landscapes
- The Arctic sea.
- The Orkneys.
- The Alps.
Extreme
- These extreme settings reflect the extremes that the characters push themselves to in the search for knowledge.
Isolated
- They are also very isolated settings too, which reflects the bleak and desolate feelings that characters suffer from.
Sublime nature
- They could also be said to be sublime nature (see Burke in Philosophy section) in its purest form, expressing the fundamental power that the natural world has over humanity.
- In the novel, nature inspires intense emotions in humans, restores their soul or even threatens their life.
Test yourself on Extreme Landscapes
What's the significance of the extreme settings in Frankenstein?