Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are indeed very different novels. However, they share at least two commonalities: a significant deviation from the familiar use of nature imagery, as was used by the Romantic writers of the time, and the bold decision to delve into the human psyche and question human behaviors.

            Shelley’s imagery is hunting, vast, and unattainable. When the romantic poets of her time imagined nature, they assigned it an omnipotent influence, able to assist in the transcendence of human abilities through the imagination. Shelly shared this view, yet when she lay down to sleep, she couldn’t help but wonder at the mysteries and danger that lurk in the dark corners of our imagination. When Victor starts to become interested in the darker side of science, he witnesses a “most violent and terrible thunderstorm” (36). Victor watched this storm, with interest, come from the mountains of Jura sending a lightning bolt down to a beautiful oak tree and “nothing remained but a blasted stump… entirely reduced to thin ribands of wood”. This storm may have been a warning for Victor and a symbol for the risk he will take. He never “beheld anything so utterly destroyed”; consequently this is the perfect imagery for Victor during his last days. These types of illustrations follow Victor throughout the novel. Sometimes “the sound of the river raging among the rocks, and the dashing of the waterfalls around, spoke of a power mighty as Omnipotence” and made Victor feel at ease, unfortunately, he could not ignore the “mighty Alps [that] towered above” (84). Shelley was clear in her imagery; nature and the human imagination held a great deal of danger. She asked if we were prepared for the responsibility.

            In the Preface, Shelley admits she chose to create a world of impossibilities and terror because it “affords a point of view to the imagination for the delineating of human passions more comprehensive and commanding than any which the ordinary relations of existing events can yield” (11). Truly, when we read Frankenstein, we are led on an adventure through human behaviors and internal conflict; the plot and setting makes it prime for evaluating human behaviors on a grand scale. When Victor insists that “we are unfashioned creatures, but half made up”, he is talking about the ability to be driven by passion, yet lack the capability to harness and evaluate it (24). Indeed we find this to be Shelley’s polarized idea of the human imagination; what was typically seen as spiritual transcendence, in her mind was a terrifying journey into the unknown.

            Jane Austen, alternatively, evokes nothing from nature or the imagination. Her goal is not to illuminate the possibilities of the imagination or insist on the powers of nature, quite opposite, her goal is to paint an accurate picture of society and human interactions. Susanna Clarke’s essay, Why We Read Jane Austen: Young Persons in Interesting Situations, identifies Austen’s psychological use of nature. She says, “Her landscapes are emotional and mortal—What we would call psychological; they are not physical” (Clarke,7). The multiple settings of Sense and Sensibility are only briefly described. We get a slight idea of Norland Park but only as it relates to the inhabitants and the opinions of others; “Their estate was large… where for many generations they had lived in so respectable a manner as to engage the general good opinion of their surrounding acquaintances” (3).  Clarke goes on to say that “The liveliest, most revealing description of property in Austen generally comes at the point at which some young woman is thinking of marring the owner, because then it ceases to be part of the physical landscape and takes on an emotional significance” (Clarke,7). Indeed, Austen’s focus is the interactions between the characters; their relationships. Marianne describes Allenham in a most affectionate way, but the description is only needed to allude to her becoming the mistress of this estate and the implied relationship that she has with Willoughby. Moreover, it isn’t until Willoughby breaths life into the cottage that we get a full spectrum feeling for its humble beauty. We see the landscape and the settings through the emotions of Austen’s characters.

            For all their differences it is easy to know Mary Shelley and Jane Austen as Women that see some major flaws with their current ideals and willing to push the envelope to get their point across; both adding significantly to the future of literature. Bravo my ladies. I love you so!