The setting plays a fundamental role in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Nature is presented as having immense healing power: the beauty of the natural world heals Victor when he is too unhappy to find comfort elsewhere. The Arve ravine and the Chamounix valley exemplify the harmony and serenity of nature, which is in stark contrast to the chaos of Victor's troubled mind. This truce, however, cannot last: Victor has violated both divine and natural law in an attempt to appropriate the vital principle that is the exclusive prerogative of God. Therefore, not even nature can save Victor from his inevitable punishment. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay One of the best described settings in the novel is that of the Arve ravine, which leads Victor to the Chamounix valley. The ravine is "picturesque" with its quaint little houses "peeping through the trees" and castles "hanging on the precipices of the pine mountains". The landscape is rich in detail: the reader is presented with a rushing river, towering mountains, and a gushing waterfall. The Chamounix valley is bordered by imposing glaciers (including the magnificent Mont Blanc) and threatened by thunderous avalanches; Victor considers it the culmination of the "wonderful and sublime". Victor's journey through the ravine and valley and arrival at the mountain shows the reader the immense effect nature has on Victor's health and sanity. The idea of ​​the sublime is taken from the work of Immanuel Kant (a German philosopher of the Enlightenment) Kant, in his book Critique of Judgment, said that often, when confronted with a truly immense natural landscape (his examples include the ocean and a mountain), you experience a sensation that he called "sublime". This sublime sensation occurs because the immensity of the natural landscape implies the hand of God; that is, by looking at it, we realize that behind the composition of the world there is a strength and intelligence infinitely greater than ours. It is this intelligence that Victor offended in creating the monster. Throughout the novel, nature takes on the role of Victor's doctor. The setting of the ravine and valley are a perfect example of the nourishment that nature provides to Victor. For example, when Victor stays in the town of Chamounix, the sounds of the Arve River lull him to sleep, giving him a brief respite from the agony he endures in his waking hours. During the journey to the mountain, Victor observes that some natural phenomena along the way remind him of his childhood, when he was "carefree", carefree and full of joy. All the beautiful scenes Victor sees on his journey, even the sound of the wind in his ears, are enough to calm him and stop his tears. His current turmoil is made all the more poignant and heartbreaking when contrasted with a child's innocence and pleasure in the natural world. The Arve River and the Chamounix Valley offer the reader insights into Victor's changing character. At this point in the novel, it has become apparent that Victor prefers nature, which represents solitude, to human comfort. Victor feels he must abandon human society since he has inflicted such a terrible wrong on it by creating the monster. Even Victor's father and his beloved Elizabeth cannot free him from his misery, such is the immensity of his guilt. Victor admits that he "avoided the face of man; every sound of joy or satisfaction was torture to me; solitude was my only consolation, indeed, a dark solitude, similar to death." Thus, the uninhabited nature becomes the only place where Victor can find comfort; he says the "change of place" gives him a short.