In The Art of Fiction, David Lodge describes using the literary element of weather to evoke a certain mood within a novel or story. He includes examples such as Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. Lodge’s example from Sense and Sensibility is when it starts snowing heavily during the party. This represents Emma’s flurrying emotions, and provides her a reprieve so that she can think over the events that have taken place. Dickens describes the bad weather in nineteenth-century London as “soot flake” and “death of the sun” (Lodge 87). He uses these descriptions to paint a very realistic picture of what it was like to be in London, in this era, in bad weather.
Weather can be used to evoke a number of moods or emotions from a reader, and certainly the representation of seasons in literature is significant as well. For example, in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, the passing of the seasons is a recurring theme. Sometimes it is just used to represent the passing of time, and other times it represents the birth of something new. This is particularly interesting because Victor Frankenstein creates his monster at the end of autumn, when everything is dead or dying. In earlier chapters, it is seen that Victor learns how to reanimate/create life by studying dead and decaying bodies. It’s a very interesting parallel.
In addition to the seasons, rain and storms are also a recurring theme in this novel. When Victor was fifteen and living with his family in Belrive, there was a huge thunderstorm. During the storm, lightening strikes on of the trees in the yard, and essentially disintegrates the tree. Victor’s fascination with the natural sciences begins at this point. Also, the night before Victor passes into his family’s village, he gets caught in a storm in Secheron. He decides to visit the place where his brother was murdered, and sights his monster in the trees. He blames the monster for his brother’s death, and in the following morning, continues on to see his family.
Other instances of weather in the story thus far include the night Victor created his monster and a couple years after that when he and Clervel are planning to return to Geneva. The night that Victor creates his monster, it is damp and dreary, and the candles are burning out. This description paints an eerie scene, which is completed with the monster waking up. After Victor recovers from his illness, he and Clervel plan on returning to Geneva to see the family again. Unfortunately, winter storms prevent any travel for the duo, and they stay put. During this time, Victor’s younger brother William is murdered.
There are many outside works that include symbolism. For instance, in C. S. Lewis’ the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Narnia is mostly covered in snow and ice. This symbolizes the White Witch’s hold on the kingdom, and when things start to thaw out, she loses her grip bit by bit. In The Odyssey, the Gods all try their best to keep Odysseus away from home, and do so by manipulating the sea and the weather so that he has to go on this ridiculously long and pointless journey in order to see his wife again. William Shakespeare frequently used weather references in his works to add mood to a scene. In his eighteenth sonnet, Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day, Shakespeare is comparing the calm beauty of summer to his love. And finally, in Pirate’s of the Caribbean: at World’s End, the crew releases Calypso. In doing so, she creates a massive storm, during which The Flying Dutchman and The Black Pearl face off in a head-to-head battle to the death. This really sets the mood for the battle, and adds a flair of intensity to the scene.