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 mountains wall's is shown accentuate the largeness of the creature, and how its physical strength is so unhuman, as it has the ability to scale the mountain in mere moments.

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 prepared him for his Arctic Voyage. This proves just how much the continuous act of discovery means to him.