Writelike Mary Shelley: Frankenstein's monster's lament

In some ways this lesson has been simple: it's about word choice and order for maximum emotional intensity.

But it's also an interesting example of making an argument within a narrative. 

Argument is based on claim and evidence, and in this snippet the monster makes a claim ("You've made me too hideous to love!") which he then backs up with evidence, comparing himself to Adam and to Satan.

So this snippet is a good example of how text genres nest inside each other (argument within narrative; narrative within argument) and also an indication of the importance of emotion within the genre of argument (which is sometimes presented as purely rational).

We've talked about this passage as being Gothic Romantic—but what does that mean?

Romance, in the 19th Century sense, was less about love and relationships, and more about intense emotions generally. (A lot of Romantic paintings were of wild landscapes that evoked strong emotions.)

Gothic was a subset of Romance, particularly focused on feelings of dread and despair (and all the things that cause them, including death, disease, decay, existential crises, and too much mist).