The Tightful Dream In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Mary Shelley incorporates a hopeful and lively tone at the beginning of Victor Frankenstein's dream; it then shifts to a living nightmare as Frankenstein wakes up to the monster he created looking over his bed. As he sleeps, Frankenstein dreams of Elizabeth, “in the bloom of health.” He is “delighted and surprised” and he embraces her. This creates a hopeful and lively tone because of the positive diction and sentence structure by using words like 'bloom, 'delighted and surprised', so you know that so far, this is a happy dream for Frankenstein. The pleasant dream immediately shifts in the same sentence from lively, happy and hopeful, to deathly and gruesome by using unpleasant diction, such as “her lips became livid with the hue of…show more content…
More of this ominous diction that Shelley uses is shown here and it provides very disturbing imagery. The creepy imagery that is used really makes one's stomach turn so they can see the gruesomeness of the monster, and the gravity of the situation that Frankenstein has put himself in. This also helps us know how he must’ve felt in that position! Obsessed with the pursuit of knowledge, Frankenstein ends up destroying his whole life. He now lives in fear that the monster will kill him. That is also foreshadowed by the quotes “....I escaped..took refuge in the courtyard...listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life”. These quotes show that Frankenstein is truly afraid of what he has created and he will continue to run for his life. The Story of Frankenstein is one of terror and suspense, so diction is a very important aspect of this book, and specifically this passage. Shelley is an expert at selecting the right words to provoke the desired reaction upon whoever is reading her book. In conclusion, Mary Shelley does not fail to make the reader quiver at the thought of this wretched monster and the creepy dream. She uses disturbing diction, tone to describe Frankenstein's situation and really
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