Frame Story

"I have resolved every night, when I am not imperatively occupied by my duties, to record, as nearly as possible in his own words, what he has related during the day"(Pg 29).

This is the point in the novel where the frame story seems to take control of the structure. Up until this page, the reader has read letters from Walton to his sister, Mrs. Saville. He records his plans, and the schedules of his days while being out at sea. However, these letters that tell Walton's story, soon begin to tell the story of Frankenstein, and why he finds his life so desolate. Technically, the reader is now four frames deep. There is the reader---> Mrs. Salville's letter ---> Walton's story ----> Frankenstein's story. The effect of a frame story for Frankenstein adds to the eerie or scariness. Shelley's technique makes it as if her story is becoming widespread, almost like tradition. It is as if the story of Frankenstein and his monster has been passed on and is something still haunting residence and children. A frame story ultimately provides that the story lives on.