Frankenstein, written in the characteristically dramatic tone of a gothic novel, is full of descriptive emotion. Emotion is a large part of the story, and it is especially interesting to examine how emotion, especially love, relates to the characters as the novel develops. In the beginning of the story, Walton longs for a companion but loves his family (namely his sister, to whom he writes), and Victor Frankenstein’s story is dominated by the emotions and love he felt for his friends and family. As the story progresses, Frankenstein finds his monster, and the creature tells his own story. As the creature discovers the ways of the world, he is fascinated by emotions, especially love, but his relationship with love is very different from Frankenstein’s in the earlier part of the novel. In the first part of the novel, the characters are very familiar with love, so much so that when Victor is devastated by Elizabeth’s pain over William’s death, he says that “the very accents of love were ineffectual” (64.) He knows love well, unlike the monster. As the monster begins to tell how he found out the ways the world works and observed the actions of humans, he discusses his discovery of feelings and love. He explains that when he is staying at a farm, he observes the human residents, and “longed to discover the motives and feelings of these lovely creatures” (80). The creature is unfamiliar with love (or any feelings in fact), but he will soon come to know more emotions. The theme of emotions and feelings contrasts with the idea of science and technology in the novel. In Frankenstein’s story, he studied and worked to make scientific discoveries, while in the monster’s story, he notices scientific occurrences, but is very fascinated by feeling and emotions. He explains that “feelings… have made me what I am” (81). Emotions are a significant part in Frankenstein, because of the novel’s scientific aspects, and they also seem to be a critical part of gothic novel writing.
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