Gothic atmosphere in which to wrap the suspense of this long-awaited evening. But
the storm functions more specifically as a leitmotif associated with the sublime power
of nature, of forces beyond human control, and of the Creature. There actually are
only two such Gothic storms in Frankenstein. The first was also set in the environs
of Lake Geneva and occured as Victor, returning from Ingolstadt, sought out the scene
of his brother William's death at Plainpalais. There in a brilliant flash of lightning
he encountered the form of his Creature for the first time since the night of its
creation. That scene in the sixth chapter in the first volume (I:6:20) thus operates
as a symmetrical counterpart to this other storm of the sixth chapter of the third
volume, anticipating the reemergence of the Creature into Victor's domestic idyll.