viewpoint. However, it must be noted, that the vast majority of the novel is set as a sort of flashback because it consists of a character, Victor, relating the past incidents of his life in the first-person viewpoint. While this may not be considered a genuine flashback, it still deviates from the chronological order in which the novel is presented in the beginning, and thus contains some of the characteristics of a flashback. Setting: In Victor’s narration, most of the novel takes place in Switzerland, specifically Geneva, while some takes place in the British Isles. In actuality, the story is based on Walton’s ship, which resided in the northern ice fields of the Arctic. Shelley does not pay much attention to the setting in her novel, except to describe the beauty of the surroundings that Victor encounters. Except for the ice in the Arctic, this novel could have occurred almost anywhere in Europe, and thus does not play a significant role in the proceedings of the novel. The pursuit of seizing control over the possibilities that lay beyond human reality constitutes the fundamental foundation of the novel Frankenstein. There is a desire in the novel to achieve greatness through means that are not plausible, such that the attempt can only bring ruin upon those that strive to attain these goals. Two men in the novel, Victor Frankenstein and Robert Walton, pursue greatness through methods that prove both immoral and illogical, leading to the near death of one, and the untimely death of the other. Victor Frankenstein pursued a greatness that should never be attempted, and which cannot be endured. He strove to control what no human being has the understanding or the responsibility to comprehend: the ability to create another life. This role in humanity belongs solely to the Creator, whose authority is supreme over mankind. Victor believed that his ambition could place him among the heavens, parallel to life itself. His thirs...
