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Inside Gothic Landscapes

"I pursued nature to her hiding-places. . . . I collected bones from charnel-houses; and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame.  In a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of the house, and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase, I kept my workshop of filthy creation" --Frankenstein

Skill Sets: By examining the relationship between character and background in Frankenstein, students learn a fundamental dynamic of literary texts.  As students look for spaces that have a similar dynamic and others that contrast with the student's chosen background, they learn how to compare and contrast spaces.  Additionally, they learn how to read not only the novel, but other students' projects.

Project: As in many gothic novels, space is important in Frankenstein.  Characters often find themselves in physical environments that complement their interior emotional states.  At other times, characters discover themselves in places that dramatically contrast with how they feel.  In both cases, places in the novel help the reader to understand more about the characters.  Environments are more than neutral backdrops for characters’ actions; space is the place where characters get defined.  In social and natural settings, characters answer for themselves the question the monster continually asks “Who am I? What am I? Why was I made?” Additionally, some characters are not allowed into particular spaces of the novel.  Either they do not know about the spaces, they do not like the environments, or they are not allowed in by other characters.  Exclusion from a space can tell the reader just as much as inclusion.  Finding out why a character does not fit or is not allowed in an environment helps explain the character's identity and dynamics between characters in the novel.  Finally, many environments of Frankenstein clash.  Domestic space contrasts with natural space, wild nature contrasts with natural serenity, private spaces contrast with public, and legal spaces contrast with illegal spaces. Since space mirrors interior states of the characters, contrasting environments reveal contrasting social and psychological forces in the novel.

The following exercise is devised as an interactive comparison and contrast by which students can trace the dynamic exchange between physical spaces and characters' psychological states.

Step 1.  Choose a Space
Pick an environment you think is important to the novel.  Some examples include the University, Victor’s Lab, Mont Blanc, the Frankenstein family home, Justine’s court room, Felix’s cottage, the monster’s hovel, the honeymoon inn, charnel houses, the Arctic Circle, and Walton’s ship.

1. Why is this environment important to the novel?
2. Which characters use this space and which characters do not use it or are not allowed in this space?
3. For those who use the space, how does this space make them feel?
4. For those who are not allowed to use the space, how do you think they feel about being excluded?

If you are having problems thinking of a space, roam around FrankenMOO and look at the variety of rooms and descriptions.

Step 2.  Recreate the Novel’s Environment
Create a room that describes the space you’ve chosen from the novel.  In your description include quotes from the novel. (See the online version of Frankenstein if you want to cut and paste).  For an additional descriptive and interactive quality to your room, you may create MOO objects that are part of the environment.  For example, Victor’s laboratory would have a variety of medical instruments and supplies.

Step 3.  Now Populate Your Environment
Create a MOO object and name it after a character in the novel who uses the virtual space you’ve created.  In the description of this object character, use your answer to step one question two (above) as well as any quotations from the novel you think are relevant.

Create a second MOO object and name it after a character in the novel who does not use or is not allowed in this space in the novel. In the description of this object character, use your answer to step one questions three and four (above) as well as any quotations from the novel you think are relevant. 

Step 4. Look and Dig It
Take a look at other students’ projects.  Find an environment that is not the same as yours but that causes characters to act in a similar way.  Dig a door to that room.  For example, you may find that Mont Blanc and the Arctic Circle cause characters to act in similar ways.  Digging a door makes a digital link between the novel’s two spaces.

Alternative to Step 4.  The teacher may instruct students to dig a door to an environment that is the opposite of the one the student constructed.  In this case, the door makes a link between contrasting spaces and forces in the novel.