Definition of Mood
The mood of Frankenstein is overall melodramatic and somber, and is expressed primarily through psychological imagery that reflects protagonist Victor Frankenstein’s mental and emotional state at the time. This is exemplified in the following passage from Chapter 5, after Victor creates the Monster and leaves his apartment, horrified:
Morning, dismal and wet, at length dawned, and discovered to my sleepless and aching eyes the church of Ingolstadt, its white steeple and clock, which indicated the sixth hour. The porter opened the gates of the court, which had that night been my asylum, and I issued into the streets, pacing them with quick steps, as if I sought to avoid the wretch whom I feared every turning of the street would present to my view. I did not dare return to the apartment which I inhabited, but felt impelled to hurry on, although drenched by the rain which poured from a black and comfortless sky.