Frankenstein

and The Sublime

English 10: Dr. Gannon

THE SUBLIME
On page 163, Victor describes the valley of Chamounix (in
the Alps) as more wonderful and sublime, but not so
beautiful and picturesque as that of Servox.
In the late 18th and early 19th century, this word sublime
meant:
whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and
danger... Whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant
about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to
terror.
Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of

Mont Blanc by
J.M.W. Turner
(1810)

J.M.W. Turner, The Valley

of Chamounix (1808)

COMPARE THE SUBLIME & THE PICTURESQUE

THE SUBLIME

THE PICTURESQUE

-Nature as an everlasting power that will

always be greater than everything else.
Nature personified and alive, without
humans in it.

Sees a beauty in natures unchanged,

natural state.

-Nature replaces religion, an unknown

omnipotence rather than a Christian God.

Portrays nature as more powerful than

man, but nature is still a benevolent force
because it represents God.

-Nature is a spiritual (or sublime) experience.

-Nature and the supernatural are
-Nature is a spiritual
intertwined.

In paintings, man is depicted as a tiny

(or
sublime)
experience.
figure
in a landscape
(or is not there at all.)

-Nature is a secret, uninterpretable. The

human mind cant fully understand it,
which is why its so powerful. Wild rather
than serene (like the picturesque.

Nature is a spiritual experience of serene

sky and verdant fields (107). The
picturesque is calming, quiet, and
peaceful.

In Volume II, Chapters 1 & 2, Victor makes a trip to Mont Blanc, a place
that became the subject of both Mary and Percy Shelleys writing. Read
Shelleys Mont Blanc, and Volume I, Chapter 6, and Volume II,
Chapters 1 & 2 of Frankenstein. How do the Shelleys describe the

THE ROLE OF THE SUBLIME IN FRANKENSTEIN

What do these descriptions of the sublime reveal about
Victors character development?
What do they reveal about the themes of science, nature,
and religion?