MSSU ENG272 - Fall 2025

Perth acts as the last place where Victor is still part of civilization. It’s the place where he and Clerval part ways so that Victor can build a female version of the monster. It’s symbolic because Perth is a place of division “between highlands and ‘civilization’” (“Perth, Perthshire, Scotland”). This basically means that Perth was the last place where Victor went before going abroad…

St. Petersburg had a lot of symbolic meaning when it came to its presence in Frankenstein. It was the place where Victor boarded the ship to Archangel with Walton. The reason it had so much meaning is due to the care that Walton showed for Victor on the ship while he was sick, and how it symbolized the “pearly gates” of heaven as it acted as the ending point for Victor’s life and hunt…

Tartary was a place that Victor traveled through on his hunt for the monster he created. The role it plays in the story is portrayed by its use from the 13th to 19th centuries as it was used to describe “the land of the Tartars” (Raines). This refers to a group of Turkish people from the western side of Russia; however, the word “Tartary” appears at many different locations on…

While Thonon was only mentioned once within the novel, this location played a very pivotal role in how Victor Frankenstein turned out. In fact, it was the place where his abstract scientific ideas began as he went swimming by Thonon as a child. It was when he discovered a man named Cornelius Agrippa who had ideas about science that were far outdated by modern science that Victor’s…

In Frankenstein, the creature finds refuge in the hills where it runs to after killing William, as the creature climbs near perpendicular walls of mountain to escape after. This is a pivotal moment in the book, as the creature is looking for comfort in the innocence of a child, left feeling rejected and abandoned again, when William exclaims at it hideousness. The steepness and vastness of the…

Ireland has significance in Frankenstein as it is where Victor Frankenstein washes up to shore after destroying the female creature, he was working on in the Orkney Islands. Upon his arrival, Frankenstein is accused of murdering his friend, unbeknownst to the town folk, Clerval. Victor spends his time in a jail cell, in relative comfort, while he is constantly struggling with…

Greenland appears very early in Frankenstein in Walton's first letter to Mrs. Saville in the first volume. He writes "Twice I actually hired myself as an under-mate in a Greenland whaler, and acquitted myself to admiration" (Volume I Letter I). Walton is trying to show here how far he is willing to go when he sets his mind to something. Greenland's environment is cold and dangerous which…