In "Frankenstein," focus on the first paragraph and show how the dark, gloomy setting adds to the atmosphere.Give examples 'dreary night' 'candle...

It was on a dreary
night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost
amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me,that I might infuse a spark of
being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain
pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of
the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard,
and a convulsive motion agitated its
limbs.

This is the opening paragraph
to Chapter Five of Frankenstein. The mood (atmosphere) of the paragraph is
inevitably dark and gloomy, anxious and agonizing, and, above all else, frightening. One can see
Victor's mood mirrors that of the physical atmosphere around him. He is teetering on the edge of
blasphemy in his quest to create life. The details provided functionally and creatively fashion
the novel's atmosphere: Victor’s mood, and the, hopeful, anxieties of the reader as they follow
Victor on his journey.

The atmosphere of the paragraph is created
through Shelley's word choices: dreary, toils, anxiety, agony, lifeless, thing, dismally, burnt
out, half-exhausted, dull, creature, convulsive, and agitated.

These
words create an atmosphere which perfectly matches the original reasoning behind
Frankenstein's creation: a horror story.