Edinburgh is a big and ancient city, better known for being the capital of Scotland. Located on the East Coast of this nation and, with that, northeast coast of the United Kingdom.

The city just appears on Chapter II of the third volume. By this point, Victor is under a lot of pressure for what happened on the previous volumes, specially for completing the promise of creating a female mate for his monster. At this time he was travelling with Henry Clerval, who was trying to help him with his issues (including depression). In this point they are travel throughout the United Kingdom, when they arrive to Edinburgh, which Victor describes like a beautiful city, where he liked its castles and environs. It actually help him to partially forgot about his problems for the brief time he was there. However, afte ra week they left Edinburgh and continue their travel.

Edinburgh appears for a little more than one paragraph of the novel, but it let us know that for the author and her contemporaries, it was a beautiful city that was interesting for them, to the point in which they actually romanticized it. Investigating a little I found out that by that point of history the city was becoming an important industrial centre, especially for industries like brewing, printing, rubber works, etc. Around that time, it was also developing an important commercial and shopping district.

This is actually coherent with the recent history of the city by that point. Around a century before Frankenstein, Scotland merged officially with England, therefore creating the Great Britain Kingdom. During the next decades, Edinburgh was considered one of the most overcrowded and unsanitary cities of Europe, but it was during the second half of 18th century that the Scottish Enlightment happened, with Edinburgh being at the center of it, turning the city in an important intelectual hub, with figures like Adam Smith, James Hutton and Joseph Black. This sensation of a rapidly growing city, the presence of prestigious scientists and thinkers, combined with the long history and beauty (both natural and architecthural), explains why British, especially on the literature circles, romanticized Edinburgh that much, explaining the brief both positive appeareance on the novel.

SOurces:

Ferguson, W (1987). Scotland, 1689 to the Present. Edinburgh: Mercat Press. ISBN 978-0-901824-86-8

"The modern city". Edinburgh. Britannica. Retrieved 23 July 2021.

William Robertson (1997). William Robertson and the expansion of empire. Cambridge University Press. p. 2. ISBN 9780521570831. Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2011.

Picture of Public Domain, recovered from: File:The Parliament Close and Public Characters Fifty Years Since.jpg - Wikimedia Commons