Suspense is a Powerful Thing! Frankenstein Part 2- Blog 2

    What causes a reader to not only keep interest but keep reading and reading clinging to every new piece of information? That would be suspense. Mary Shelley does a most excellent job in incorporating this tool into Frankenstein, keeping readers on their toes and begging for more. While this is utilized in the first part of the novel, it is much more prevalent in the second part. "Sometimes I thought that the fiend followed me, and might expedite my remissness by murdering my companions," (Shelley 118). Victor is constantly worried that the creature sees everything and that he might strike again; his history would suggest that as a possibility. Victor is living in constant fear of the next attack, especially after he decides to destroy the new creature he had been working on. After the murder of Henry and the trial, readers learn of Victor's nightmares and illusions. In these nightmares he could feel, "the fiend's grasp in my neck, and could not free myself from it..." (Shelley 135). As Victor is struggling with all of this emotional distress, readers cannot stop reading, knowing that the end is near- the desire to figure everything out continues to increase.