Frankenstein (Blog 9)
By: Mary Shelley

Shelley does an exceptional job of placing dramatic irony into this novel.  Dramatic irony is used in this book when Victor fears that the monster will kill him on his wedding night.  Victor promised the creature that he would create a female companion of him.  In the midst of his work, however, Victor realizes the risks of a second creature.  The first one promises that he and his companion will remain out of human sight, but Victor does not know that the new creature would keep this promise.  In addition, the two monsters could create a whole race, which would be even more of a risk.  At these realizations, Victor destroys the progress he has made with a second creature.  Angered by this, the monster leaves his creator a threatening note that reads, "I will be with you on your wedding night" (Shelley, 123).  Victor is worried that the monster is going to kill him on his own wedding night, and he does not want Elizabeth to have to deal with his death.  This is dramatic irony because the readers clearly know that Victor is not going to be killed.  Victor is telling his story to Robert Walton, so obviously he is not going to die!  The monster is hinting at the fact that he will kill Elizabeth, which surprises Victor when it happens.  On the wedding night, Victor hears his new bride scream from the room she had gone to bed in.  "She was there, lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed, her hair hanging down, and her pale and distorted features half covered by her hair" (Shelley, 144).  This quote describes the horrific and shocking (to Victor) scene of Elizabeth's dead body.  Dramatic irony fits this situation because Victor thought he was going to murdered by the creature, but readers already knew that it couldn't be Victor that would be killed.