Drama Frankenstein Foreshadowing, Metaphors & Similes by Mary Shelley
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Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a significant element in Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein repeatedly and explicitly foreshadows the tragic events that will come later by saying things like “Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.” is also heightened through references to fate, destiny, and omens, which gives the impression that Victor’s story was doomed from the start. This use of foreshadowing might be yet another way in which he obscures his failed moral responsibility by making it sound as though no alternative were ever possible, when he actually could have chosen different actions at many points.
The death of JustineThe death of Justine is foreshadowed in several ways. Before William’s murder, Elizabeth introduces the character of Justine in a letter to Victor, which foreshadows that she will play a significant role in the plot. Despite Elizabeth clinging to hope that Justine will not be executed, previous events in the novel have foreshadowed that Justine’s innocence will not protect her. William was a totally innocent child, and was still brutally killed. The monster was innocent at the moment of his creation, and he was still abandoned. If anything, these previous events signal that Justine’s innocence and kindness make her even more likely to meet a cruel death. Moreover, since Justine’s life rests on Victor’s willingness to be honest, and he has so far only shown himself to be deceptive, his past behavior foreshadows his refusal to speak out on her behalf.
The death of ElizabethElizabeth’s death on her wedding night is heavily foreshadowed. Immediately after the monster comes to life, Victor has a nightmare involving a vision of Elizabeth lying dead, and then transforming so that “I thought I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms.” This vision foreshadows that Elizabeth will die, and that her death is in some way connected to the monster. The foreshadowing continues when the monster, enraged that Victor has destroyed the female mate, vows “I will be with you on your wedding night.” This comment foreshadows the danger awaiting Elizabeth, as does the action Victor has taken: he has effectively murdered the creation that was going to be the monster’s bride, so now the monster will murder his.
Chapter 2
The saintly soul of Elizabeth shone like a shrine-dedicated lamp in our peaceful home.
In this simile, Victor compares Elizabeth’s presence to the light of a lamp in a shrine, suggesting she projected an air of holiness wherever she went.
Chapter 3
. . .one by one the various keys were touched which formed the mechanism of my being; chord after chord was sounded, and soon my mind was filled with one thought, one conception, one purpose.
As Victor listens to Professor M. Waldman’s lecture, he compares himself to a piano on which the professor plays musical chords, his various ideas harmonizing to form a singular composition in Victor’s mind.
Chapter 7
. . .vivid flashes of lightning dazzled my eyes, illuminating the lake, making it appear like a vast sheet of fire;….
As Victor walks toward home at night through the countryside, he compares the way the lake looks in a lightning storm to a huge patch of flames.
Chapter 8
But I, the true murderer, felt the never-dying worm alive in my bosom, which allowed of no hope or consolation.
In the presence of innocent Justine, Victor’s guilt is a “worm” in his chest that eats away at him endlessly.
Chapter 9
I feel as if I were walking on the edge of a precipice, towards which thousands are crowding and endeavouring to plunge me into the abyss.
In this simile, Elizabeth compares the peer pressure to condemn Justine, whom she believes to be innocent, to being pushed toward a cliff by thousands of people.
Chapter 11
I began also to observe, with greater accuracy, the forms that surrounded me and to perceive the boundaries of the radiant roof of light which canopied me.
As the monster explains how the world gradually came into focus after he was created, he compares the sky to a roof made of light.
Chapter 15
Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence . . .
After reading Paradise Lost, the monster likens himself to Adam, who was the only one of his kind before God made Eve to be his companion.
Chapter 21
Of what materials was I made that I could thus resist so many shocks, which, like the turning of the wheel, continually renewed the torture?
Victor likens his emotional suffering after Henry Clerval’s death to being tortured on the wheel, a Medieval device used to slowly break the bodies of the condemned.
Chapter 22
Sweet and beloved Elizabeth! I read and reread her letter, and some softened feelings stole into my heart and dared to whisper paradisiacal dreams of love and joy; but the apple was already eaten, and the angel's arm bared to drive me from all hope.
In this metaphor, Victor compares marrying Elizabeth to a paradise from which he will be driven out like Adam and Eve after they ate the forbidden fruit.
Chapter 24
Even the sailors feel the power of his eloquence; when he speaks, they no longer despair; he rouses their energies, and while they hear his voice they believe these vast mountains of ice are mole-hills which will vanish before the resolutions of man.
In this metaphor, Walton explains that Victor is so motivational for the worried sailors that when he speaks, they believe they can overcome the Arctic “mountains of ice" as if they were mere "mole-hills.”
