"Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting The Banks Of The Wye During a Tour, July 13, 1798" in Frankenstein

   In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, she uses part of Wordsworth's poem "Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting The Banks Of The Wye During a Tour, July 13, 1798" to show the foil of Henry and Victor and to make her work more romantic in a sense. Tintern Abbey is about Wordsworth returning to a place he visited in the past and reflecting on the differences that time has had on his thoughts and feelings. In the novel Henry is depicted as being very close to nature. He seeks no deeper meaning into what he is viewing. Victor, however, seeks more from nature such as seclusion and contemplation. He needs more from nature than what he is seeing and experiencing. In this way Victor and Henry are foils of each other. Henry can simply accept nature for what it is, while Victor needs to find an inner meaning to it in order to appreciate it. Henry does not need to see beyond the external beauty of nature, while Victor feels that unless he can get something more meaningful out of it then it is useless. Victor can also relate to Wordsworth's younger self in a sense. When Victor was younger he was able to appreciate nature for what it was instead of having to find something in it. This is much like Wordsworth because when he was younger he was able to simply appreciate nature, but as time passed and events transpired his thought process changed and instead of just appreciating nature he needed to find something in it. Both Wordsworth's future self and Victor's future self seek seclusion in nature and it is an important theme in both the novel and the poem. They hope to find in their seclusion in nature tranquility and peace. When Victor creates his "monster" he is tampering with the very fibers of nature itself. He is corrupting its beauty to attempt to create life of his own and be known. This corruption of nature's purity and power ultimately leads to his downfall as the creature he makes turns out to be his worst enemy. The novel is filled with elements of the gothic novel and the romantic movement that was occurring at the time.. It is considered one of the earliest science fiction books and is also considered to be a horror and tragedy novel. She was inspired by many romantic writers of her time due to her writing her work during the time period of the romanticism movement. Tintern Abbey is found on pages 139 and 140 in chapter 18 and is put in a relatively calm scene. She puts the poem her for a variety of reasons. It helps to put the scene in a tranquil and calm light as opposed to one that is action packed or dismal. It is also used as a final thought on the spirit of Henry and how he related to nature. He did not seek anything from nature and as such was harmonious with it.