past and present

Frankenstein- Mary Shelley

Tintern Abbey- William Wordsworth

After Frankenstein promises his creature that he will create a female creature to accompany him, Frankenstein sets off on a trip with his best friend Henry Clerval. As they travel, they cross through majestic landscapes and breathtaking scenery, yet, while Clerval rejoices in the beauty, Frankenstein finds himself focusing on the gravity of the task he has agreed to complete for the creature. It is in this situation that Shelley inserts a section of Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” using the reflective voice of Frankenstein (Ch. 18). “Tintern Abbey” itself is built upon the foundation of a comparison between past experiences and how the same experience changes with time. In the quote that Shelley uses in Frankenstein, Wordsworth says, “Their colors, their forms, were then to him an appetite; a feeling, and a love, that had no need of a remoter charm.” He compares how his younger self views that same scenery to how his present self sees it, describing the former experience as more innocent, filled with pure joy, as compared to the “sad music of humanity” that tinges the experience of his present self.

Frankenstein finds himself in a similar situation, though in Frankenstein, the short experpt of the poem brings together comparisons between Frankenstein’s experience during his travels with Clerval and the reactions of Clerval, representative of Frankenstein’s younger self. Frankenstein describes Clerval as being “alive” and “joyful” at the opportunity to see such awe-inspiring scenes. Frankenstein even uses the phrase “transported to Fairyland” in order to describe the perfect world that Clerval resided in, much like the younger version of Wordsworth in “Tintern Abbey.” He was only able to enjoy the experience so simply, only taking in the beauty and joy, because the world he knew at that time was nothing short of perfect. Everything had a positive twist; negative feeling had no place in his experience. Just as Wordsworth said, in that perfect world, there was “no need of a remoter charm.”

This was directly compared to Frankenstein’s view of the experience, as he describes himself saying, “I [was] haunted by a curse that shut up every avenue to enjoyment.” Like the older Wordsworth, Frankenstein is unable to see the landscape as flawless in its beauty because he has become too familiar with the less perfect side of life. These views that he has become familiar with, particularly as a result of his association and interactions with the creature, have given Frankenstein an added perspective that changes how he interprets and reacts to the scenery in front of him, giving him an entirely different experience despite the fact that he is looking at the same thing that Clerval sees. However, he does not see the scenery as ugly because of his new perspective. He himself says, “Even I, depressed in mind, and my spirits continually agitated by gloomy feelings, even I was pleased.” He was still able to recognize the beauty of the scenery, just as the older Wordsworth was still able to enjoy the view of Tintern Abbey five years after his original visit. However, once again like the older Wordsworth, his perspective was changed to include a more diverse range of emotions that extended beyond happiness and enjoyment.

Shelley uses this poem to compare the experiences of Clerval and Frankenstein but also uses is it as a path to explore Frankenstein’s understanding of the world around him and to illustrate the dramatic changes that have overcome him as a result of his ambition and creation of life from inanimate objects.