How would you describe Mary Shelley's style in the book Frankenstein? What is the significance of the openingscene? closing scene?

Through her use of the framed narrative and her epistolary
style, Mary Shelley achieves an objectivity in her novel,
Frankenstein, that permits the readers to arrive without influence
at their own assessment of the characters.  For, rather than using Victor's point of
view immediately, Shelley has his tale mentioned by the sea captain, Walton, whose
nature is somewhat similiar to Victor's.  Walton, in letters, alludes to "the wretched
man," an epithet which elicits the sympathy of readers and arouses their curiosity about
the "demon."

The theme of listening is, indeed, central to
Shelley's novel.  For, the listener/reader "hears" Walton's accounts, then Victor's,
then the creatures, then back to Victor's, and, finally, Walton's.  With this listening
to all parties concerned, so to speak, the readers are, thus, more able to arrive at an
objective criticism of the characters.  With the episolary beginning and ending, the
theme of nurturing is reinforced.  This is important for Shelley as a Romanticist who
wishes to point out the dangers of science in
Frankenstein.

And, although clearly a
gothic novel, Shelley's use of the Swiss Alps and the brightness and sublimity of
snow-capped mountains and clear streams and  and cold, white icebergs is a departure
from the darkness of the classic gothic narrative of gloomy darkness and distorted
scenery.  This departure from the genre sets the ugly creature in stark contrast to his
environment, pointing further to the unnaturalness of the "monster" of scientific
creation.  To make this creature more realistic, Shelley also departs from the usual
time period of Gothic literature and places her narrative in contemporary times.  This,
again, is done to point to what science was doing at her time and what its potential
dangers were.  In addition, the use of contemporary scenes and nature was reflective of
Shelley's Romantic style.  Thus, she combined her scientific concerns with the Romantic
sensibilities  and appeals to isolation, imagination, and nature acquired from her poet
husband, Percy Blythe Shelley.  Truly, Frankenstein has a complex
style that makes it a unique novel and a wonderful read.