English Paper 2 Exam Prep

Quotes from/about Clerval in Frankenstein

"He loved enterprise, hardship and even danger, for its own sake." (Frankenstein) "Excellent friend! how sincerely you did love me, and endeavor to elevate my mind until it was on a level with your own!"

Frankenstein was written/published in

1816-1818

Themes

Dangerous knowledge Sublime nature Monstrosity Secrecy Loneliness vs companionship Ambition Responsibility Parenthood Beauty and acceptance Cautionary tale (science fiction)

"He loved enterprise, hardship and even danger, for its own sake."

Frankenstein describes Clerval as a boy. Clerval shares Frankenstein's central personality trait: ambition. Both men are drawn to danger and hardship, in a spirit of adventure. Frankenstein says that Clerval is his dearest friend, which shows that as well as being ambitious himself, Frankenstein admires ambition in other people.

"The murderous mark of the fiend's grasp was on her neck, and the breath had ceased to issue from her lips."

Frankenstein describes Elizabeth's death. We rarely hear from her in her own words, and some readers have suggested that she is silenced by Frankenstein, who tells her story without understanding her or taking responsibility for his role in her death. When the Monster kills her, his method is designed to literally silence her: she screams, and he strangles her so that nothing—neither breath nor words—can "issue from her lips."

Frankenstein as a gothic novel

Frankenstein is a Gothic novel in that it employs mystery, secrecy, and unsettling psychology to tell the story of Dr. Frankenstein's doomed monster. The Gothic emerged as a literary genre in the 1750s, and is characterized by supernatural elements, mysterious and secretive events, settings in ancient and isolated locations, and psychological undercurrents often related to family dynamics and repressed sexuality. In Frankenstein, readers get only vague descriptions of the process Victor uses to construct the monster, and descriptions like "Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil" amplify the horror by prompting the reader to actively imagine what Victor must have done. Much of the action takes place at nighttime, and in mysterious circumstances. The novel also hints that Victor's strange behavior may be rooted in repression. While he claims to love Elizabeth, their relationship has incestuous tones since they grew up together as siblings. He also seems reluctant to marry her and is fixated instead on his friend Henry. His desire to create life outside of typical sexual reproduction might reflect some level of trauma or disgust with heterosexuality, or sexuality in general. At the same time, Frankenstein challenges some of the conventions of Gothic literature. Unlike traditional Gothic supernatural elements such as ghosts or vampires, the monster's origins are deliberate and not mysterious. We know exactly where he comes from, who created him, and why. There's never any question about whether the monster actually exists. We know the monster was created on purpose and the havoc he wreaks is the result of a lack of foresight on the part of his creator, Victor Frankenstein, not of unknowable forces. The mystery of the book is not where the monster came from, but what he wants. Frankenstein is also set in approximately the same time period when it was written, whereas traditional Gothic fiction was almost always set in the past. While many Gothic novels imply that in the past people's lack of knowledge and repressive customs led to horrifying situations, Frankenstein suggests too much knowledge and an emphasis on innovation might also lead to horror.

Genre of Frankenstein

Gothic science fiction

Quotes from/about the Monster in Frankenstein

I expected this reception," said the daemon. "All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!" "For a long time I could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, or even why there were laws and governments; but when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased, and I turned away with disgust and loathing." "Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me." "There was none among the myriads of men who existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies? No: from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me, and sent me forth to this insupportable misery." "You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being." "As I looked on him, his countenance expressed the utmost of malice and treachery." (Frankenstein) "I shall collect my funeral pile and consume to ashes this miserable frame, that its remains may afford no light to any curious and unhallowed wretch who would create such another as I have been."

"I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on."

In Walton's final letter to his sister, he recounts the words that the monster speaks to him over Victor's dead body. This eruption of angry self-pity as the monster questions the injustice of how he has been treated compellingly captures his inner life, giving Walton and the reader a glimpse into the suffering that has motivated his crimes. This line also evokes the motif of abortion: the monster is an unwanted life, a creation abandoned and shunned by his creator.

Summary of the plot of Frankenstein

In a series of letters, Robert Walton, the captain of a ship bound for the North Pole, recounts to his sister back in England the progress of his dangerous mission. Successful early on, the mission is soon interrupted by seas full of impassable ice. Trapped, Walton encounters Victor Frankenstein, who has been traveling by dog-drawn sledge across the ice and is weakened by the cold. Walton takes him aboard ship, helps nurse him back to health, and hears the fantastic tale of the monster that Frankenstein created. Victor first describes his early life in Geneva. At the end of a blissful childhood spent in the company of Elizabeth Lavenza (his cousin in the 1818 edition, his adopted sister in the 1831 edition) and friend Henry Clerval, Victor enters the university of Ingolstadt to study natural philosophy and chemistry. There, he is consumed by the desire to discover the secret of life and, after several years of research, becomes convinced that he has found it. Armed with the knowledge he has long been seeking, Victor spends months feverishly fashioning a creature out of old body parts. One climactic night, in the secrecy of his apartment, he brings his creation to life. When he looks at the monstrosity that he has created, however, the sight horrifies him. After a fitful night of sleep, interrupted by the specter of the monster looming over him, he runs into the streets, eventually wandering in remorse. Victor runs into Henry, who has come to study at the university, and he takes his friend back to his apartment. Though the monster is gone, Victor falls into a feverish illness. Sickened by his horrific deed, Victor prepares to return to Geneva, to his family, and to health. Just before departing Ingolstadt, however, he receives a letter from his father informing him that his youngest brother, William, has been murdered. Grief-stricken, Victor hurries home. While passing through the woods where William was strangled, he catches sight of the monster and becomes convinced that the monster is his brother's murderer. Arriving in Geneva, Victor finds that Justine Moritz, a kind, gentle girl who had been adopted by the Frankenstein household, has been accused. She is tried, condemned, and executed, despite her assertions of innocence. Victor grows despondent, guilty with the knowledge that the monster he has created bears responsibility for the death of two innocent loved ones. Hoping to ease his grief, Victor takes a vacation to the mountains. While he is alone one day, crossing an enormous glacier, the monster approaches him. The monster admits to the murder of William but begs for understanding. Lonely, shunned, and forlorn, he says that he struck out at William in a desperate attempt to injure Victor, his cruel creator. The monster begs Victor to create a mate for him, a monster equally grotesque to serve as his sole companion. Victor refuses at first, horrified by the prospect of creating a second monster. The monster is eloquent and persuasive, however, and he eventually convinces Victor. After returning to Geneva, Victor heads for England, accompanied by Henry, to gather information for the creation of a female monster. Leaving Henry in Scotland, he secludes himself on a desolate island in the Orkneys and works reluctantly at repeating his first success. One night, struck by doubts about the morality of his actions, Victor glances out the window to see the monster glaring in at him with a frightening grin. Horrified by the possible consequences of his work, Victor destroys his new creation. The monster, enraged, vows revenge, swearing that he will be with Victor on Victor's wedding night. Later that night, Victor takes a boat out onto a lake and dumps the remains of the second creature in the water. The wind picks up and prevents him from returning to the island. In the morning, he finds himself ashore near an unknown town. Upon landing, he is arrested and informed that he will be tried for a murder discovered the previous night. Victor denies any knowledge of the murder, but when shown the body, he is shocked to behold his friend Henry Clerval, with the mark of the monster's fingers on his neck. Victor falls ill, raving and feverish, and is kept in prison until his recovery, after which he is acquitted of the crime. Shortly after returning to Geneva with his father, Victor marries Elizabeth. He fears the monster's warning and suspects that he will be murdered on his wedding night. To be cautious, he sends Elizabeth away to wait for him. While he awaits the monster, he hears Elizabeth scream and realizes that the monster had been hinting at killing his new bride, not himself. Victor returns home to his father, who dies of grief a short time later. Victor vows to devote the rest of his life to finding the monster and exacting his revenge, and he soon departs to begin his quest. Victor tracks the monster ever northward into the ice. In a dogsled chase, Victor almost catches up with the monster, but the sea beneath them swells and the ice breaks, leaving an unbridgeable gap between them. At this point, Walton encounters Victor, and the narrative catches up to the time of Walton's fourth letter to his sister. Walton tells the remainder of the story in another series of letters to his sister. Victor, already ill when the two men meet, worsens and dies shortly thereafter. When Walton returns, several days later, to the room in which the body lies, he is startled to see the monster weeping over Victor. The monster tells Walton of his immense solitude, suffering, hatred, and remorse. He asserts that now that his creator has died, he too can end his suffering. The monster then departs for the northernmost ice to die.

"There was none among the myriads of men who existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies? No: from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me, and sent me forth to this insupportable misery."

The Monster argues that his murderousness is not his fault. Human beings made him declare "war" by treating him like an enemy. The Monster feels completely alienated: "none among the myriads of men" will take pity on him. In this way he resembles Frankenstein, who alienates himself by pursuing forbidden knowledge. The Monster will go on to deepen Frankenstein's alienation by killing his friends and family.

The Victorian Era

The Victorian era, 1837-1901, is characterised as the domestic age par excellence, epitomised by Queen Victoria, who came to represent a kind of femininity which was centred on the family, motherhood and respectability. Accompanied by her beloved husband Albert, and surrounded by her many children in the sumptuous but homely surroundings of Balmoral Castle, Victoria became an icon of late-19th-century middle-class femininity and domesticity. She came to be seen as the very model of marital stability and domestic virtue. Her marriage to Albert represented the ideal of marital harmony. She was described as 'the mother of the nation', and she came to embody the idea of home as a cosy, domestic space. When Albert died in 1861 she retreated to her home and family in preference to public political engagements. The victorian ideal: a code of conduct specifying how a "proper" woman should behave. It stipulates that a respectable woman be beautiful, classy, elegant, polite, and sexually restrained. In the past, the victorian ideal embodied very strict standards of sexuality, behavior, speech, attitudes, dress, and appearance. Women in Victorian society had one main role in life, which was to marry and take part in their husbands' interests and business. Before marriage, they would learn housewife skills such as weaving, cooking, washing, and cleaning, unless they were of a wealthy family. This can be exemplified in Elizabeth being promised to Victor as a child, her entire purpose therefore being to meet these ideals. These constructs kept women far away from the public sphere in most ways, but during the 19th century charitable missions did begin to extend the female role of service, and Victorian feminism emerged as a potent political force. For example, Mary Shelley's mother was a very significant figure in feminism at the time - which is why it is surprising to see that the women in Frankenstein are very passive characters, but this only helps to further describe the ideals in society by which Mary Shelley was raised. The Church of England was increasingly part of a vibrant and often competitive religious culture throughout the start of the 19th century. However, scientific growth in England at the time caused many questions to be raised against religious ideologies. Skepticism towards science and religion arose, and many readers question whether Mary Shelley was warning readers about the consequences of pushing science too far.

Caroline Beaufort

The daughter of Beaufort, Frankenstein's mother. After her father's death, Caroline is taken in by, and later marries, Alphonse Frankenstein. She dies of scarlet fever, which she contracts from Elizabeth, just before Victor leaves for Ingolstadt at age seventeen.

Plot analysis of Frankenstein

The major conflict in Frankenstein revolves around Victor's inability to understand that his actions have repercussions. Victor focuses solely on his own goals and fails to see how his actions might impact other individuals. The monster functions as the most stark reminder of how Victor has failed to take responsibility for his actions in defying the laws of nature. The first signs of the conflict appear when Victor throws himself into his studies at the University of Ingolstadt, neglecting his family and fiancée. The conflict deepens when, having "succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life," Victor becomes obsessed with creating a monster. He does not stop to think about what the experiences of that monster might be like, nor is he fazed by the fact that he ignores his family to pursue his work. He is so obsessed with his ambition that he does not consider anything else. The rising action of his reckless quest to create life comes to a peak when, immediately after animating the monster, he reacts with horror and disgust and runs from the room. This incident illustrates the conflict between Victor and moral responsibility: he has been responsible for making the monster and bringing him to life, but when he doesn't like the result, he simply rejects it. The tension increases when Victor learns of the death of his brother William and the false accusation against Justine. The murder creates another situation in which Victor can choose to act, or fail to take responsibility. He heightens the conflict by allowing Justine to be executed, rather than disclosing what he knows about the monster. The conflict is heightened further when the monster meets up with Victor amidst the mountain peaks and tells him the story of all the suffering he has experienced, as well as his loneliness and alienation. The meeting between the monster and his creator is another moment where Victor could potentially turn away from his selfish path. The plot suggests potential resolution when Victor reluctantly agrees to fashion a mate for the monster in exchange for the two of them going somewhere remote. However, the conflict is reignited when Victor is too disgusted to carry out this plan and destroys the female monster before completing it. Yet again, he doesn't think about what this reckless choice will mean, even though the monster vows revenge. Victor is genuinely surprised when his friend Henry Clerval is killed, and then again when his fiancé Elizabeth is also murdered, despite the monster's explicit statements that he is now dedicated to making Victor's life a living hell by depriving him of everyone he loves. The murder of Elizabeth shifts the conflict into its final stage, in which Victor vows to hunt down and kill the monster in revenge for all of the deaths. This vow partially resolves the conflict in that it gives the monster what he wants: he now has the total attention of his creator, and the fates of the two individuals are interlocked. After Victor pursues the monster around the world, he arrives in the Arctic and encounters Walton, bringing the story full-circle back the point at which the narration switched from Walton to Victor. Victor's travels have exhausted him so much that he dies aboard the ship after relaying his tale, his role in the story fulfilled. The novel climaxes with Walton finding the monster in the room, gazing at Victor's dead body and weeping. Victor never acknowledges the role he played in creating the chaos and tragedy that resulted in the deaths of several innocent people, as well as the torment of his creation. Unlike Victor, the monster expresses remorse and self-loathing, suggesting that he ultimately has become more "human" than his creator. Walton finally gets to see and hear the monster from his own perspective, and he is able to feel "a mixture of curiosity and compassion." The falling action of the novel quickly concludes with the monster explaining his plan to kill himself, then setting off alone to carry out his plan.

"I afterwards found that these labours, performed by an invisible hand, greatly astonished them; and once or twice I heard them, on these occasions, utter the words "good spirit" "wonderful"

This quotation describes the reaction of the De Lacey family to the work the monster does to help them. He takes it upon himself to bring them extra firewood and other supplies, and they are very grateful since they live in poverty. Based on the kindness of these acts, the family assumes that whoever is helping them is good and benevolent. However, when they actually encounter the monster, they are unable to see past his repulsive appearance. It seems impossible to them that kind actions could be performed by a grotesque being.

"So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Victor, -- more, far more, will I achieve: treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation."

This quotation shows how profound Victor's ambitions are. As he learns about the progress that contemporary science has made, his first reaction is to fantasize about how much further he could go. This reaction shows his lack of humility and his arrogance. Rather than pausing to consider how impressive the discoveries of others have been, Victor immediately focuses on outdoing them. His drive to surpass the accomplishments of others may be part of why he fixates on the bold and reckless goal of artificially creating life.

"What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?"

This quote comes from Walton's first letter to his sister in England. It encapsulates one of the main themes of Frankenstein—that of light as a symbol of knowledge and discovery. Walton's quest to reach the northernmost part of the earth is similar in spirit to Victor's quest for the secret of life: both seek ultimate knowledge, and both sacrifice the comfort of the realm of known knowledge in their respective pursuits. Additionally, the beauty and simplicity of the phrasing epitomize the eighteenth-century scientific rationalists' optimism about, and trust in, knowledge as a pure good.

William Frankenstein

Victor's youngest brother and the darling of the Frankenstein family. The monster strangles William in the woods outside Geneva in order to hurt Victor for abandoning him. William's death deeply saddens Victor and burdens him with tremendous guilt about having created the monster.

"I cannot lead them unwillingly to danger, and I must return."

Walton decides to abandon his voyage because he feels responsible for the safety of his crew. This decision points to the most important difference between him and Frankenstein. Both men are ambitious, but Frankenstein's ambition matters more to him than his responsibilities, even his responsibilities to his friends and family.

Quotes about Elizabeth in Frankenstein

"All praises bestowed on her, I received as made to a possession of my own." "Elizabeth, my love, you must supply my place to my younger children." "The murderous mark of the fiend's grasp was on her neck, and the breath had ceased to issue from her lips." "She appeared of a different stock...this child was very thin and fair. Her hair was the brightest living gold, and despite the poverty of her clothing, seemed to set a crown of distinction on her head. Her brow was clear and ample, her blue eyes cloudless, and her lips and the moulding of her face so expressive of sensibility and sweetness that none could behold her without looking on her as of a distinct species, a being heaven-sent, and bearing a celestial stamp in all her features." "A child fairer than a pictured cherub - a creature who seemed to to shed radiance from her looks and whose form and motions were lighter than the chamois of the hills."

Quotes about loneliness in Frankenstein

"I desire the company of a man who could sympathise with me; whose eyes would reply to mine." (Walton to his sister) "I had never yet seen a being resembling me, or who claimed any intercourse with me. What was I?" (Monster) "Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred." (Monster)

Important quotes in Frankenstein

"I saw—with shut eyes, but acute mental vision—I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be, for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world." (Mary Shelley's author introduction) "Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay to mould me Man, did I solicit thee from darkness to promote me?" (John Milton, author of Paradise Lost) "What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?" (Walton to his sister) "So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein—more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation." (Frankenstein) "I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on." (Monster)

Quotes from Walton in Frankenstein

"I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight." "I bitterly feel the want of a friend." "I cannot lead them unwillingly to danger, and I must return."

Quotes about natural goodness in Frankenstein

"I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend." (Monster) "What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people; and I longed to join them, but dared not." (Monster) "I afterwards found that these labours, performed by an invisible hand, greatly astonished them; and once or twice I heard them, on these occasions, utter the words "good spirit" "wonderful" (Monster) "Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all humankind sinned against me?" (Monster)

Quotes about ambition in Frankenstein

"My life might have been passed in ease and luxury; but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path." (Walton) "For when I would account to myself for the birth of that passion, which afterwards ruled my destiny, I find it arise, like a mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys." (Frankenstein) "So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Victor, -- more, far more, will I achieve: treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation." (Frankenstein) "Seek happiness in tranquility, and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries." (Frankenstein to Walton)

Quotes about parenthood in Frankenstein

"My mother's tender caresses and my father's smile of benevolent pleasure while regarding me are my first recollections. I was their plaything and their idol and something better -- their child, the innocent and helpless monster bestowed on them by Heaven." (Frankenstein) "A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me." (Frankenstein) "Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy monster, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us." (Monster to Frankenstein) "Yet one of the first results of those sympathies for which the daemon thirsted would be children, and a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth." (Frankenstein)

Quotes from/about Frankenstein in Frankenstein

"The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine." "I know that while you are pleased with yourself, you will think of us with affection, and we shall hear regularly from you." (Frankenstein's father) "Unless I had been animated by an almost supernatural enthusiasm, my application to this study would have been irksome" "A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs." "I suddenly left my home, and bending my steps towards the near Alpine valleys, sought in the magnificence, the eternity of such scenes, to forget myself and my ephemeral, because human, sorrows." "There can be no community between you and me; we are enemies." (Frankenstein to the Monster) "As the memory of past misfortunes pressed upon me, I began to reflect upon their cause—the monster whom I had created, the miserable daemon whom I had sent abroad into the world." "He believes that, when in dreams he holds converse with his friends and derives from that communion consolation for his miseries or excitements to his vengeance, they are not the creations of his fancy, but the beings themselves." (Walton) "Like the archangel who aspired to omnipotence, I am chained in an eternal hell." "Yet why do I say this? I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed."

De Laceys (peasants)

A family of peasants, including a blind old man, De Lacey; his son and daughter, Felix and Agatha; and a foreign woman named Safie. The monster learns how to speak and interact by observing them. When he reveals himself to them, hoping for friendship, they beat him and chase him away.

M. Krempe

A professor of natural philosophy at Ingolstadt. He dismisses Victor's study of the alchemists as wasted time and encourages him to begin his studies anew.

Justine Moritz

A young girl adopted into the Frankenstein household while Victor is growing up. Justine is blamed and executed for William's murder, which is actually committed by the monster.

Elizabeth Lavenza

An orphan, four to five years younger than Victor, whom the Frankensteins adopt. In the 1818 edition of the novel, Elizabeth is Victor's cousin, the child of Alphonse Frankenstein's sister. In the 1831 edition, Victor's mother rescues Elizabeth from a destitute peasant cottage in Italy. Elizabeth embodies the novel's motif of passive women, as she waits patiently for Victor's attention. Elizabeth is Frankenstein's adopted sister and his wife. She is also a mother-figure: when Frankenstein's real mother is dying, she says that Elizabeth "must supply my place." Elizabeth fills many roles in Frankenstein's life, so when the Monster kills her, Frankenstein is deprived of almost every form of female companionship at once. Some critics consider Elizabeth a vague, unrealistic character who is far less developed than the male characters in the novel. One reason Elizabeth may seem insubstantial is that Frankenstein, the narrator, doesn't see her very clearly. When he does see her, it's as a possession: "I[...]looked upon Elizabeth as mine." Elizabeth dies because at a crucial moment Frankenstein overlooks her entirely. The Monster tells him "I will be with you on your wedding night" but it doesn't occur to Frankenstein that the Monster is threatening Elizabeth.

The ending of Frankenstein

At the end of Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein dies wishing that he could destroy the Monster he created. The Monster visits Frankenstein's body. He tells Walton that he regrets the murders he has committed and that he intends to commit suicide. Frankenstein's death suggests that he has not learned much from his own story. He causes his final collapse by trying to continue his pursuit of the Monster: "You may give up your purpose, but mine is assigned to me by Heaven, and I dare not." Frankenstein begins the story driven and ambitious to create the Monster, and at the end of the novel he remains driven and ambitious in his quest to destroy the Monster. With his final words, Frankenstein even takes back his earlier warning about the dangers of too much ambition: "Yet why do I say this? I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed." Rather than learning from his mistakes, Frankenstein compounds one mistake after another, leading to his death. By contrast, the Monster demonstrates that he has learned a great deal over the course of the book. He has outgrown anger, envy and vengefulness. He regrets what he has done. While Frankenstein dies feeling disturbed that the Monster is still alive, the Monster is reconciled to death: so much so that he intends to commit suicide. The Monster's decision to kill himself also confirms the importance of companionship. He recognizes that with Frankenstein dead, he is alone in the world, and he believes that without a companion there is no point in living. For some readers, the fact that the Monster grows and changes while Frankenstein continues in his destructive behavior to the end suggests that Frankenstein is the villain of the novel and bears ultimate responsibility for everything that has happened. However, other readers have pointed out that Walton doesn't actually see the Monster kill himself. We know that the Monster is clever and persuasive: it's possible that he announces his intention to kill himself so that Walton won't pursue him.

"A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs."

Before creating the Monster, Frankenstein imagines that his relationship with the Monster will be even closer than the relationship of father and child. This suggests that Frankenstein knew he was doing something terrible when he abandoned the Monster. However, he refuses to apologize to the Monster or to admit responsibility for the Monster's suffering.

Setting of Frankenstein

Eighteenth century Geneva; the Swiss Alps; Ingolstadt; England and Scotland; the northern ice Much of Frankenstein's story unfolds in Switzerland, the country in central Europe where Mary Shelley was staying when she began writing the novel. However, the novel ranges widely within Europe and across the globe. Frankenstein visits Germany, France, England and Scotland. Walton travels through Russia. Elizabeth is Italian and the DeLaceys are a French family living in Germany. Safie is Turkish. Clerval plans to move to India, and the Monster proposes relocating to South America. The novel's frame story, narrated by Walton, is set in the Arctic Ocean, where Walton is trying to find a new route around the world. By encompassing the whole globe in this way, Frankenstein presents itself as a universal story. The global reach of the setting also suggests one way in which Frankenstein can be read allegorically. Shelley's era saw a rapid expansion of European power across the globe, driven by the same advances in science that enable Frankenstein to create the Monster. Frankenstein's Swiss and Arctic settings support the novel's argument that the natural world should be respected for its dangers as well as its beauty. The Swiss Alps are initially a place of wonderful beauty: as Frankenstein describes, "I suddenly left my home, and, bending my steps towards the near Alpine valleys, sought in the magnificence, the eternity of such scenes, to forget myself" However, as Frankenstein climbs, the "eternity" of the Alps becomes inhospitable and foreboding, a "sea of ice" and "bare perpendicular rock." This physical journey from his comfortable home to the barren mountains reflects Frankenstein's intellectual journey. He leaves the safety of home to seek out wonderful new knowledge, but he goes further than human beings should go, and he ends up somewhere dangerous when he creates the Monster. The barren landscapes of the high Alps and the Arctic help to make one of Frankenstein's central arguments: not everything in nature is safe for humans to discover or experience.

"She appeared of a different stock...this child was very thin and fair. Her hair was the brightest living gold, and despite the poverty of her clothing, seemed to set a crown of distinction on her head. Her brow was clear and ample, her blue eyes cloudless, and her lips and the moulding of her face so expressive of sensibility and sweetness that none could behold her without looking on her as of a distinct species, a being heaven-sent, and bearing a celestial stamp in all her features." "A child fairer than a pictured cherub - a creature who seemed to to shed radiance from her looks and whose form and motions were lighter than the chamois of the hills."

Elizabeth is obviously seen a a perfect possession (literally, as she was offered as a gift to Victor when he was a child for him to love, cherish and protect - he says that she belongs to him until death). These quotes clearly describe the ideals of the time, in which women are meant to be beautiful, intelligent, and light - reminiscent of celestial beings. This relates to religion, which was a very important part of European culture during the Victorian era.

Foreshadowing as the death of Elizabeth in Frankenstein

Elizabeth's death on her wedding night is heavily foreshadowed. Immediately after the monster comes to life, Victor has a nightmare involving a vision of Elizabeth lying dead, and then transforming so that "I thought I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms." This vision foreshadows that Elizabeth will die, and that her death is in some way connected to the monster. The foreshadowing continues when the monster, enraged that Victor has destroyed the female mate, vows "I will be with you on your wedding night." This comment foreshadows the danger awaiting Elizabeth, as does the action Victor has taken: he has effectively murdered the creation that was going to be the monster's bride, so now the monster will murder his.

Passive women as a motif of Frankenstein

For a novel written by the daughter of an important feminist, Frankenstein is strikingly devoid of strong female characters. The novel is littered with passive women who suffer calmly and then expire: Caroline Beaufort is a self-sacrificing mother who dies taking care of her adopted daughter; Justine is executed for murder, despite her innocence; the creation of the female monster is aborted by Victor because he fears being unable to control her actions once she is animated; Elizabeth waits, impatient but helpless, for Victor to return to her, and she is eventually murdered by the monster. One can argue that Shelley renders her female characters so passive and subjects them to such ill treatment in order to call attention to the obsessive and destructive behavior that Victor and the monster exhibit.

"Like the archangel who aspired to omnipotence, I am chained in an eternal hell."

Frankenstein compares himself to Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost. He recognizes that, like Satan, he is guilty of too much ambition. Ambition is Frankenstein's fatal flaw, but he cannot give it up. Even his determination to destroy the Monster at all costs is a kind of ambition. By comparing himself to Satan, Frankenstein also reveals a similarity to the Monster, who often compares himself to Satan.

"As I looked on him, his countenance expressed the utmost of malice and treachery."

Frankenstein describes the appearance of the Monster in his window. Every character who sees the Monster (himself included) agrees that he looks terrifying. Frankenstein goes further. He suggests that the Monster's terrifying appearance is evidence of his evil character, his "malice and treachery." One possible reading of this line is that Frankenstein is trying to shift blame away from himself: if the Monster is an innately evil and unlovable being, then Frankenstein can't be held responsible for treating him so badly.

"All praises bestowed on her, I received as made to a possession of my own."

Frankenstein explains that he saw Elizabeth as his "possession." He seems to believe that this demonstrates how much he loved her, but his story suggests that he took her for granted. He ignores her until she is forced to ask him to marry her, and when he does marry her it doesn't even occur to him that he's making her into a target for the Monster. In this way, by taking her for granted, he helps to cause her death.

"The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine."

Frankenstein explains why science was so appealing to him. He is driven by a desire to discover secrets, but that is not the only way in which he is a secretive character. He works to create the Monster in secret, and he doesn't tell anyone about the Monster until he is on his deathbed. At least two of the Monster's victims, Justine and Elizabeth, might have lived if Frankenstein had not kept the Monster's existence a secret.

"As the memory of past misfortunes pressed upon me, I began to reflect upon their cause—the monster whom I had created, the miserable daemon whom I had sent abroad into the world."

Frankenstein is determined to argue that the Monster is responsible for all the novel's suffering. However, even as he makes this claim, he undermines it, acknowledging that the "cause" of his misfortunes is something he himself "created." Frankenstein never fully settles the question of who is to blame for the Monster's crimes: the reader is left to consider the truth for herself.

"I suddenly left my home, and bending my steps towards the near Alpine valleys, sought in the magnificence, the eternity of such scenes, to forget myself and my ephemeral, because human, sorrows."

Frankenstein loves the natural world, and often finds comfort in the beauty of nature. However, he takes his love for nature too far. By trying to discover the secrets of life and death he creates the Monster. His trip to the Alpine valleys also goes too far: he ends up in a "sea of ice" where the Monster can ambush him.

"Excellent friend! how sincerely you did love me, and endeavor to elevate my mind until it was on a level with your own!"

Frankenstein praises Clerval for being such a good friend. Several times in the novel, Clerval rescues Frankenstein from despair. It is Clerval who nurses Frankenstein back to health after the Monster's creation. This demonstrates the value of friends and companions, underlining the pain of the Monster's loneliness.

"I know that while you are pleased with yourself, you will think of us with affection, and we shall hear regularly from you."

Frankenstein's father warns him that if he grows distant from his family, he should take it as a sign that he's not happy with himself. Frankenstein suggests that the root of alienation is self-hatred. Frankenstein's alienation is something he shares with the Monster, who is also alone, and also experiences self-hatred, so much so that he kills himself.

"There can be no community between you and me; we are enemies."

Frankenstein's insistence that there "can be no community" between him and the Monster is highly ironic: in a sense, the Monster and Frankenstein are the only community either of them has. The Monster is the only person who knows Frankenstein's secret, and Frankenstein is the only person who will listen to the Monster's story. The setting underscores this point: they are alone in the mountains, far from any other people.

Tone of Frankenstein

Gothic, Romantic, emotional, tragic, fatalistic The tone of Frankenstein is largely bleak and despairing. The tone begins with optimism from the perspective of Captain Walton who is excited and hopeful about his Arctic voyage. The mood, however, quickly darkens with the appearance of Victor, who is in a dangerous condition, and who makes it clear at the start of his story that "nothing can alter my destiny." The entire narrative is framed by a fatalistic acceptance that the end of the story will be tragic. This framing casts a dark shadow over the potentially positive account of Victor's happy childhood and intellectual pursuits. The conclusion of the novel contributes most strongly to the tone of futility. By the time he has finished recounting his story, Victor is hopeless and waiting only to die. He considers his entire career and life to have been a tragic failure that resulted only in death and suffering. After the failure of Walton's expedition, he too is forced to accept that he will not fulfill his ambitions and will have to return to England full of regret and disappointment.

Frankenstein as a science fiction novel

In addition to the Gothic elements, Frankenstein inaugurates the genre of science fiction, and many critics cite the novel as one of the first examples of the science fiction novel. Science fiction as a genre speculates about possible applications for advances in science and technology. In science fiction novels, the rules governing normal life are transgressed in some way. For example, a popular convention in science fiction is life existing outside of Earth; for Shelley, the idea of humans being able to artificially create new life becomes possible within the space of the novel. In many science fiction novels, the fictional technologies and scientific developments can be read as an implicit criticism of contemporary society. By prompting her readers to think about an extreme example where someone recklessly pursues knowledge, Shelley sheds light on her own era, where a focus on inventing new things and optimizing technology was beginning to threaten established ways of life.

Context in which the book was written

In the summer of 1816, a young, well-educated woman from England traveled with her lover to the Swiss Alps. Unseasonable rain kept them trapped inside their lodgings, where they entertained themselves by reading ghost stories. At the urging of renowned poet Lord Byron, a friend and neighbor, they set their own pens to paper, competing to see who could write the best ghost story. The young woman, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, took the prize, having composed a story creepy enough not only to take its place alongside the old German tales that she and her Alpine companions had been reading, but also to become a bestseller in her time and a Gothic classic that still resonates with readers almost two centuries later. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born on August 30, 1797, in London, of prime literary stock. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, a feminist tract encouraging women to think and act for themselves. Wollstonecraft died giving birth to Mary, leaving her daughter in the care of her husband, William Godwin, a member of a circle of radical thinkers in England that counted Thomas Paine and William Blake among its ranks. Mary's upbringing in this rarefied atmosphere exposed her at an early age to cutting-edge ideas, and it forged useful connections for her to such notables as Lord Byron.

"Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred."

In these lines, the monster expresses the extreme cruelty of living a life of complete loneliness and isolation. Since he has read Milton's Paradise Lost, the monster is familiar with the story of Satan, and he comments on how the figure who is usually viewed as the most extreme of evil was still not sentenced to live completely alone. The monster's loneliness is particularly acute because he knows he will be rejected anytime he tries to reach out to anyone, since his size and appearance make him terrifying to human beings.

Symbols in Frankenstein

Light and fire "What could not be expected in the country of eternal light?" asks Walton, displaying a faith in, and optimism about, science. In Frankenstein, light symbolizes knowledge, discovery, and enlightenment. The natural world is a place of dark secrets, hidden passages, and unknown mechanisms; the goal of the scientist is then to reach light. The dangerous and more powerful cousin of light is fire. The monster's first experience with a still-smoldering flame reveals the dual nature of fire: he discovers excitedly that it creates light in the darkness of the night, but also that it harms him when he touches it. The presence of fire in the text also brings to mind the full title of Shelley's novel, Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. The Greek god Prometheus gave the knowledge of fire to humanity and was then severely punished for it. Victor, attempting to become a modern Prometheus, is certainly punished, but unlike fire, his "gift" to humanity—knowledge of the secret of life—remains a secret.

"He believes that, when in dreams he holds converse with his friends and derives from that communion consolation for his miseries or excitements to his vengeance, they are not the creations of his fancy, but the beings themselves."

Near the end of the novel, after we have heard Frankenstein's story, Walton tells us that Frankenstein believes his dead friends talk to him in his dreams. This underlines one of the novel's central themes: the importance of having companions. Frankenstein cannot bear being without his family and friends. It's making him mad.

Theme of monstrosity

Obviously, this theme pervades the entire novel, as the monster lies at the center of the action. Eight feet tall and hideously ugly, the monster is rejected by society. However, his monstrosity results not only from his grotesque appearance but also from the unnatural manner of his creation, which involves the secretive animation of a mix of stolen body parts and strange chemicals. He is a product not of collaborative scientific effort but of dark, supernatural workings. The monster is only the most literal of a number of monstrous entities in the novel, including the knowledge that Victor used to create the monster (see "Dangerous Knowledge"). One can argue that Victor himself is a kind of monster, as his ambition, secrecy, and selfishness alienate him from human society. Ordinary on the outside, he may be the true "monster" inside, as he is eventually consumed by an obsessive hatred of his creation. Finally, many critics have described the novel itself as monstrous, a stitched-together combination of different voices, texts, and tenses

"Elizabeth, my love, you must supply my place to my younger children."

On her deathbed, Frankenstein's mother tells Elizabeth that she "must" take her place as a mother figure to Frankenstein's brothers. This line raises several questions that also apply to the relationship between Frankenstein and the Monster. Do children (or creatures) have a duty to be what their parents (or creators) want them to be? Should parents expect their children to be like them?

"I shall collect my funeral pile and consume to ashes this miserable frame, that its remains may afford no light to any curious and unhallowed wretch who would create such another as I have been."

On one level, Frankenstein can be seen as an argument between Frankenstein and the Monster. Frankenstein believes the Monster is evil, while the Monster insists that he would be good if he hadn't been so badly treated. In his final appearance, the Monster seems to confirm that he is good, after all. Instead of continuing his killing spree, he intends to kill himself and protect mankind by destroying the evidence that he existed. On the other hand, Walton doesn't actually see the Monster kill himself, so we can't be certain what happens to him after the book ends.

Motifs of Frankenstein

Passive women Abortion

"I saw—with shut eyes, but acute mental vision—I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be, for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world."

Taken from Mary Shelley's Author's Introduction to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein, this quote describes the vision that inspired the novel and the prototypes for Victor and the monster. Shelley's image evokes some of the key themes, such as the utter unnaturalness of the monster ("an uneasy, half-vital motion"), the relationship between creator and created ("kneeling beside the thing he had put together"), and the dangerous consequences of misused knowledge ("supremely frightful would be the effect of . . . mock[ing] . . . the Creator").

Robert Walton

The Arctic seafarer whose letters open and close Frankenstein. Walton picks the bedraggled Victor Frankenstein up off the ice, helps nurse him back to health, and hears Victor's story. He records the incredible tale in a series of letters addressed to his sister, Margaret Saville, in England. Walton's letters to his sister form a frame around the main narrative, Victor Frankenstein's tragic story. Walton captains a North Pole-bound ship that gets trapped between sheets of ice. While waiting for the ice to thaw, he and his crew pick up Victor, weak and emaciated from his long chase after the monster. Victor recovers somewhat, tells Walton the story of his life, and then dies. Walton laments the death of a man with whom he felt a strong, meaningful friendship beginning to form. Walton functions as the conduit through which the reader hears the story of Victor and his monster. However, he also plays a role that parallels Victor's in many ways. Like Victor, Walton is an explorer, chasing after that "country of eternal light"—unpossessed knowledge. Victor's influence on him is paradoxical: one moment he exhorts Walton's almost-mutinous men to stay the path courageously, regardless of danger; the next, he serves as an abject example of the dangers of heedless scientific ambition. In his ultimate decision to terminate his treacherous pursuit, Walton serves as a foil (someone whose traits or actions contrast with, and thereby highlight, those of another character) to Victor, either not obsessive enough to risk almost-certain death or not courageous enough to allow his passion to drive him.

"For a long time I could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, or even why there were laws and governments; but when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased, and I turned away with disgust and loathing."

The Monster claims that when he was first created he could not even understand murder, and that when he did come to understand "bloodshed," it made him feel "disgust and loathing." At the same time, the Monster makes a more subtle point in his defense. Human beings "go forth to murder" so often that "laws and governments" are needed to stop them: there is therefore nothing inhuman or unnatural about the Monster's capacity for murder.

"You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being."

The Monster demands that Frankenstein create a female companion for him. He argues that close, loving relationships are "necessary" for "being." By imagining that his female companion will be "for" him, he shows that he shares his creator's possessive attitude toward women. Frankenstein tells us that he looks upon his future wife Elizabeth as "mine." By longing for a female companion, the Monster also aligns himself with Adam in Milton's Paradise Lost.

"Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me."

The Monster has read Milton's Paradise Lost, and he often compares his experience to the story of Satan in Milton's poem. Here he says that, like Satan, he is excluded from human life and envies its happiness. However, whenever he compares himself to Satan, the Monster is also taking a jab at Frankenstein. Satan's unhappiness is caused by his alienation from his creator, God. The Monster is accusing Frankenstein of playing God by creating him.

Antagonist of Frankenstein

The Monster is Frankenstein's antagonist. He thwarts Frankenstein's goal both by what he does and what he is. Frankenstein's ambition is to achieve something great, but the Monster's terrifying appearance forces Frankenstein to recognize that not only has he not achieved something great, he may have done something terrible. Once the Monster starts killing everyone Frankenstein loves, Frankenstein can't help but acknowledge that his creation has the potential for evil. After being thwarted in his desire to create something good, Frankenstein's ambition requires him to destroy the Monster, but again the Monster thwarts him. Another possible antagonist is Frankenstein himself. If the Monster is the true protagonist of the novel, Frankenstein is his antagonist. Frankenstein directly thwarts the Monster's goal of human connection by refusing to sympathize with the Monster himself and refusing to create a companion for him. The Monster initially sees Frankenstein as a father figure, but Frankenstein denies him a familial relationship. Throughout the novel, Frankenstein repeatedly denies the Monster everything he wants, and antagonizes the Monster into committing acts of violence.

Foreshadowing as the death of Justine in Frankenstein

The death of Justine is foreshadowed in several ways. Before William's murder, Elizabeth introduces the character of Justine in a letter to Victor, which foreshadows that she will play a significant role in the plot. Despite Elizabeth clinging to hope that Justine will not be executed, previous events in the novel have foreshadowed that Justine's innocence will not protect her. William was a totally innocent child, and was still brutally killed. The monster was innocent at the moment of his creation, and he was still abandoned. If anything, these previous events signal that Justine's innocence and kindness make her even more likely to meet a cruel death. Moreover, since Justine's life rests on Victor's willingness to be honest, and he has so far only shown himself to be deceptive, his past behavior foreshadows his refusal to speak out on her behalf.

Victor Frankenstein

The doomed protagonist and narrator of the main portion of the story. Studying in Ingolstadt, Victor discovers the secret of life and creates an intelligent but grotesque monster, from whom he recoils in horror. Victor keeps his creation of the monster a secret, feeling increasingly guilty and ashamed as he realizes how helpless he is to prevent the monster from ruining his life and the lives of others. Victor Frankenstein's life story is at the heart of Frankenstein. A young Swiss boy, he grows up in Geneva reading the works of the ancient and outdated alchemists, a background that serves him ill when he attends university at Ingolstadt. There he learns about modern science and, within a few years, masters all that his professors have to teach him. He becomes fascinated with the "secret of life," discovers it, and brings a hideous monster to life. The monster proceeds to kill Victor's youngest brother, best friend, and wife; he also indirectly causes the deaths of two other innocents, including Victor's father. Though torn by remorse, shame, and guilt, Victor refuses to admit to anyone the horror of what he has created, even as he sees the ramifications of his creative act spiraling out of control. Victor changes over the course of the novel from an innocent youth fascinated by the prospects of science into a disillusioned, guilt-ridden man determined to destroy the fruits of his arrogant scientific endeavor. Whether as a result of his desire to attain the godlike power of creating new life or his avoidance of the public arenas in which science is usually conducted, Victor is doomed by a lack of humanness. He cuts himself off from the world and eventually commits himself entirely to an animalistic obsession with revenging himself upon the monster. At the end of the novel, having chased his creation ever northward, Victor relates his story to Robert Walton and then dies. With its multiple narrators and, hence, multiple perspectives, the novel leaves the reader with contrasting interpretations of Victor: classic mad scientist, transgressing all boundaries without concern, or brave adventurer into unknown scientific lands, not to be held responsible for the consequences of his explorations

The Monster

The eight-foot-tall, hideously ugly creation of Victor Frankenstein. Intelligent and sensitive, the monster attempts to integrate himself into human social patterns, but all who see him shun him. His feeling of abandonment compels him to seek revenge against his creator. The monster is Victor Frankenstein's creation, assembled from old body parts and strange chemicals, animated by a mysterious spark. He enters life eight feet tall and enormously strong but with the mind of a newborn. Abandoned by his creator and confused, he tries to integrate himself into society, only to be shunned universally. Looking in the mirror, he realizes his physical grotesqueness, an aspect of his persona that blinds society to his initially gentle, kind nature. Seeking revenge on his creator, he kills Victor's younger brother. After Victor destroys his work on the female monster meant to ease the monster's solitude, the monster murders Victor's best friend and then his new wife. While Victor feels unmitigated hatred for his creation, the monster shows that he is not a purely evil being. The monster's eloquent narration of events (as provided by Victor) reveals his remarkable sensitivity and benevolence. He assists a group of poor peasants and saves a girl from drowning, but because of his outward appearance, he is rewarded only with beatings and disgust. Torn between vengefulness and compassion, the monster ends up lonely and tormented by remorse. Even the death of his creator-turned-would-be-destroyer offers only bittersweet relief: joy because Victor has caused him so much suffering, sadness because Victor is the only person with whom he has had any sort of relationship.

"Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all humankind sinned against me?"

The monster speaks these lines to call attention to the way in which his actions are rooted in the trauma he experienced. While he doesn't deny his role in the violent deaths of a number of characters, he insists on the fact that he is also a victim. He cannot accept being positioned as the villain when he believes that the humans around him have also been cruel and uncompassionate. This quote calls attention to the fact that it is easy to see the monster as violent and monstrous without stopping to consider what made him that way.

"I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend."

The monster speaks these lines to explain the origin of his violent behavior. He makes it clear that he was not initially a bad individual, but that because he was abandoned, neglected, and lonely, he began to lash out. This quote is important because it illustrates the perspective that individuals are generally born good, no matter what their appearance, but that environmental influences are the most powerful determinants of their later behavior.

"Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy monster, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us."

The monster speaks these lines when he meets with Victor on the mountain peaks and is frustrated that Victor initially refuses to engage with him. The monster uses these lines to remind Victor of his responsibility and their shared destiny. He argues that whether or not Victor likes it, their relationship as creator and created means their fates are intertwined, and that Victor owes him at least the chance to tell his story and make his request.

Abortion as a motif of Frankenstein

The motif of abortion recurs as both Victor and the monster express their sense of the monster's hideousness. About first seeing his creation, Victor says: "When I thought of him, I gnashed my teeth, my eyes became inflamed, and I ardently wished to extinguish that life which I had so thoughtlessly made." The monster feels a similar disgust for himself: "I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on." Both lament the monster's existence and wish that Victor had never engaged in his act of creation. The motif appears also in regard to Victor's other pursuits. When Victor destroys his work on a female monster, he literally aborts his act of creation, preventing the female monster from coming alive. Figurative abortion materializes in Victor's description of natural philosophy: "I at once gave up my former occupations; set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed and abortive creation; and entertained the greatest disdain for a would-be science, which could never even step within the threshold of real knowledge." As with the monster, Victor becomes dissatisfied with natural philosophy and shuns it not only as unhelpful but also as intellectually grotesque.

Style of Frankenstein

The overall style of Frankenstein is elevated and formal. The characters use complex diction (word choice) to capture the intensity of their emotional experiences. For example, when Walton writes to his sister at the start of the novel, he explains his loneliness by lamenting that "I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as a capacious mind, whose tastes are like my own." Walton gives an idealized description of his vision of the perfect friend, and focuses on describing the intellect and cultural sophistication he imagines such an individual would possess. Similarly, when Victor describes learning what contemporary scientists were capable of achieving, he explains that "I felt as if my soul were grappling with a palpable enemy; one by one the various keys were touched which formed the mechanism of my being." He uses the metaphor of a musical instrument being played to describe the revelation and inspiration he experienced at this moment. Both Walton and Victor are well-educated and highly ambitious men committed to achieving prestige in their chosen fields. The sophisticated language they use reflects the grandeur of their ambitions to do things like explore uncharted lands and develop a system for creating life. Interestingly, the monster speaks in a similar style, despite having been raised in isolation with practically no human contact. When the monster first speaks with Victor during their meeting on the mountaintop, he threatens to "glut the maw of death, until it be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends." Despite his monstrous appearance and the grotesque actions he is threatening to commit, the monster has a highly sophisticated command of language and speaks in the same elevated and grandiose style as Victor does. This stylistic choice confirms the implicit comparison between Victor and the monster that reoccurs throughout the novel, and supports the inherent humanity of the monster. Although Victor desperately wants to believe that he has nothing in common with his creation, the shared style of their speech suggests otherwise.

Point of view in Frankenstein

The point of view shifts with the narration, from Robert Walton to Victor Frankenstein to Frankenstein's monster, then back to Walton, with a few digressions in the form of letters from Elizabeth Lavenza and Alphonse Frankenstein. Frankenstein is narrated in the first-person (using language like "I", "my" etc.) by different characters at different points in the novel. The shifts in narrator and the alternating points of view are central to the novel's theme of looking past appearances to reflect on what may lie beneath. The novel begins with narration from Captain Walton, who is writing a series of letters to his sister Margaret. The point of view then switches to Victor Frankenstein, who tells Walton about his life and how he came to be wandering in the Arctic. When Walton first encounters Victor, he wonders if the stranger is insane, due to his wild appearance and desperate plight. By listening to Victor's story Walton comes to appreciate his experiences. When Victor reaches the point in his story where he describes meeting with monster, the point of view switches yet again, this time to the monster, who narrates in the first person, describing his experiences. Both Victor and the reader are set up to expect the monster to be coarse, barbaric, violent, and inhuman, but his narrative shows him to be intelligent, sensitive, and capable of feeling profound human emotions like empathy and love. After that, the point of view returns to Victor, who continues his story. The novel ends with a return to Walton's point of view and first person narration.

Narrator of Frankenstein

The primary narrator is Robert Walton, who, in his letters, quotes Victor Frankenstein's first-person narrative at length; Victor, in turn, quotes the monster's first-person narrative; in addition, the lesser characters Elizabeth Lavenza and Alphonse Frankenstein narrate parts of the story through their letters to Victor.

M. Waldman

The professor of chemistry who sparks Victor's interest in science. He dismisses the alchemists' conclusions as unfounded but sympathizes with Victor's interest in a science that can explain the "big questions," such as the origin of life.

Theme of dangerous knowledge

The pursuit of knowledge is at the heart of Frankenstein, as Victor attempts to surge beyond accepted human limits and access the secret of life. Likewise, Robert Walton attempts to surpass previous human explorations by endeavoring to reach the North Pole. This ruthless pursuit of knowledge, of the light (see "Light and Fire"), proves dangerous, as Victor's act of creation eventually results in the destruction of everyone dear to him, and Walton finds himself perilously trapped between sheets of ice. Whereas Victor's obsessive hatred of the monster drives him to his death, Walton ultimately pulls back from his treacherous mission, having learned from Victor's example how destructive the thirst for knowledge can be.

Theme of sublime nature

The sublime natural world, embraced by Romanticism (late eighteenth century to mid-nineteenth century) as a source of unrestrained emotional experience for the individual, initially offers characters the possibility of spiritual renewal. Mired in depression and remorse after the deaths of William and Justine, for which he feels responsible, Victor heads to the mountains to lift his spirits. Likewise, after a hellish winter of cold and abandonment, the monster feels his heart lighten as spring arrives. The influence of nature on mood is evident throughout the novel, but for Victor, the natural world's power to console him wanes when he realizes that the monster will haunt him no matter where he goes. By the end, as Victor chases the monster obsessively, nature, in the form of the Arctic desert, functions simply as the symbolic backdrop for his primal struggle against the monster.

The title of Frankenstein and its significance

The title of the text (as we have come to know it) is Frankenstein, but there was an addition to the title when it was released. Originally, the title was shown as Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus.. There is great symbolism and meaning to this title. The Greek god Prometheus gave the knowledge of fire to humanity and was then severely punished for it. Victor, attempting to become a modern Prometheus, is certainly punished, but unlike fire, his "gift" to humanity—knowledge of the secret of life—remains a secret.

"Yet why do I say this? I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed."

These are Frankenstein's last words. Throughout his conversations with Walton, he has warned Walton about the dangers of ambition, but at the last moment he takes his warning back. This shows that Frankenstein has not really learned or changed as a result of his experiences.

"Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay to mould me Man, did I solicit thee from darkness to promote me?"

These lines appear on the title page of the novel and come from John Milton's Paradise Lost, when Adam bemoans his fallen condition (Book X, 743-745). The monster conceives of himself as a tragic figure, comparing himself to both Adam and Satan. Like Adam, he is shunned by his creator, though he strives to be good. These rhetorical questions epitomize the monster's ill will toward Victor for abandoning him in a world relentlessly hostile to him and foist responsibility for his ugliness and eventual evil upon Victor.

"I had never yet seen a being resembling me, or who claimed any intercourse with me. What was I?"

This quote is spoken by the monster as he tries to make sense of his identity and origin. Because of his traumatic experience of coming in to the world abandoned, alone, and confused, the monster has no one to help him or guide him. He also does not even recognize what he is, which makes him feel even more intensely isolated. With these lines, Shelley captures the importance of community and family for identity formation. Human infants come to understand their identity by being surrounded by other humans, but the monster has no one else like him.

"What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people; and I longed to join them, but dared not."

This quote shows the perspective of the monster as he observes the De Lacey family. Since this is his first chance to closely observe human beings, he could be struck by many things, but he focuses on the kindness and consideration they show to one another. This interest reveals the monster's desire to learn to function as part of a family and his tendency to naturally gravitate towards goodness.

"Unless I had been animated by an almost supernatural enthusiasm, my application to this study would have been irksome"

Throughout his story, Frankenstein tries to persuade Walton that he is not to blame for the Monster's crimes. He insists that he thought he was doing the right thing when he created the Monster, but sometimes he seems to realize that his argument is not entirely convincing. In order to explain the nights he spent in "vaults and charnel-houses," Frankenstein suggests that there was something "supernatural" about his enthusiasm for studying corpses. In other words, it wasn't his fault.

Foreshadowing in Frankenstein

Ubiquitous—throughout his narrative, Victor uses words such as "fate" and "omen" to hint at the tragedy that has befallen him; additionally, he occasionally pauses in his recounting to collect himself in the face of frightening memories. Foreshadowing is a significant element in Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein repeatedly and explicitly foreshadows the tragic events that will come later by saying things like "Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction." Foreshadowing is also heightened through references to fate, destiny, and omens, which gives the impression that Victor's story was doomed from the start. This use of foreshadowing might be yet another way in which he obscures his failed moral responsibility by making it sound as though no alternative were ever possible, when he actually could have chosen different actions at many points. Specific examples: - the death of Justine - the death of Elizabeth

Protagonist of Frankenstein

Victor Frankenstein is the protagonist of Frankenstein. His goal is to achieve something great and morally good, which will secure him a lasting reputation. In pursuit of this goal, he creates the Monster, but his pursuit of his goal also causes his conflict with the Monster. Because of his outsized ambition to achieve greatness, Frankenstein cannot tolerate the flaws of the being he has created. When the Monster demands that Frankenstein make him a female companion, Frankenstein's goal of achieving greatness brings him into conflict with the Monster. He can't bear the thought that his actions might ruin his future reputation: "I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their pest." Frankenstein does not learn from his experiences. He dies trying to destroy the Monster because he is still pursuing greatness. Just as he initially sees the creation of the Monster as the key to lasting fame, Frankenstein later believes the destruction of the Monster will protect his future reputation: "You may give up your purpose, but mine is assigned to me by Heaven, and I dare not." He dies having achieved his first ambition, to create life, but believing he has failed to achieve his second ambition, which was to destroy the life he created. Another possible protagonist of Frankenstein is the Monster himself. Throughout the novel, the Monster pursues connection and human contact. His quest for connection drives the plot, as other characters react to his attempts to forge relationships. Once the Monster realizes he will never have a friend or mate, he is driven by the desire for revenge against his creator, Frankenstein. In pursuing revenge, the Monster continues to drive the plot, killing everyone Frankenstein loves and causing Frankenstein to chase him across the globe. Unlike Frankenstein, the Monster changes over the course of the novel. He comes to see the error of his ways and express remorse for his actions. Also unlike Frankenstein, who dies still pursuing his goal of destroying the Monster, the Monster dies because he can't live with who he is and what he has done. Self-knowledge leads the Monster to believe his life no longer has value.

Theme of secrecy

Victor conceives of science as a mystery to be probed; its secrets, once discovered, must be jealously guarded. He considers M. Krempe, the natural philosopher he meets at Ingolstadt, a model scientist: "an uncouth man, but deeply imbued in the secrets of his science." Victor's entire obsession with creating life is shrouded in secrecy, and his obsession with destroying the monster remains equally secret until Walton hears his tale. Whereas Victor continues in his secrecy out of shame and guilt, the monster is forced into seclusion by his grotesque appearance. Walton serves as the final confessor for both, and their tragic relationship becomes immortalized in Walton's letters. In confessing all just before he dies, Victor escapes the stifling secrecy that has ruined his life; likewise, the monster takes advantage of Walton's presence to forge a human connection, hoping desperately that at last someone will understand, and empathize with, his miserable existence.

"Yet one of the first results of those sympathies for which the daemon thirsted would be children, and a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth."

Victor reflects that if he does comply with the monster's demand that he make him a female companion, the two monsters will likely reproduce. This assumption is interesting since the monster has spoken only about his desire for companionship, not necessarily sexuality, and certainly not reproduction. Victor makes assumptions based on his own preoccupations, and since he was fixated on generating new life, he assumes the monster will be as well. This fear of reproduction is a major reason why Victor turns away from his plan, and destroys the female monster before completing the project.

"Seek happiness in tranquility, and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries."

Victor speaks these lines to Walton toward the end of the novel. As his life is drawing to a close, he reflects on all his mistakes and regrets, and tries to offer some wisdom to Walton in hopes of preventing him from making similar mistakes. Victor can tell that Walton also has tendencies toward reckless ambition and encourages him to abandon this behavior. He also astutely notes that ambitions directed towards science and discovery can seem on the surface to be less risky than political or military ones, but that these goals carry similar risks if taken to the extreme.

"A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me."

Victor speaks these lines while explaining what he hoped would result from his experiments. These lines make it clear that he did see himself as a parental figure, responsible for bringing new individuals into the world. However, he seemed interested only in the privileges of parenthood, not the responsibilities. He wanted to be respected and adored, but he did not reflect on the responsibilities and duties that would come with it. This narrow perspective shows Victor's self-interest and lack of regard for others.

"My mother's tender caresses and my father's smile of benevolent pleasure while regarding me are my first recollections. I was their plaything and their idol and something better -- their child, the innocent and helpless monster bestowed on them by Heaven."

Victor speaks this quote as he recalls his happy and privileged childhood. He was deeply loved by his parents, and they understood that they had a natural responsibility to care for him. The quote ironically foreshadows Victor's later behavior, since even though he was so well-cared for himself, he will completely fail at caring for the monster after he brings him into the world. The quote's emphasis on him having two parents also hints at the possible value of a traditional family rather than the isolated reproduction Victor tries to pursue.

"For when I would account to myself for the birth of that passion, which afterwards ruled my destiny, I find it arise, like a mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys."

Victor speaks this quote as he reflects on the origins of his obsessive fascination with artificially creating life. The poetic style reveals Victor's education and eloquence, but the quote also reveals his fundamental lack of self-awareness and moral responsibility. He describes his ambition as an external force beyond his control by comparing it to a raging river sweeping away everything in its path. His ambition might have been a powerful desire, but it was still an internal feeling that he could have tried to control rather than allowing it to direct his actions without considering consequences.

"So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein—more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation."

Victor utters these words in Chapter 3 as he relates to Walton how his chemistry professor, M. Waldman, ignited in him an irrepressible desire to gain knowledge of the secret of life. Victor's reference to himself in the third person illustrates his sense of fatalism—he is driven by his passion, unable to control it. Further, the glorious, assertive quality of his statement foreshadows the fact that Victor's passion will not be tempered by any consideration of the possible horrific consequences of his search for knowledge. Additionally, this declaration furthers the parallel between Walton's spatial explorations and Frankenstein's forays into unknown knowledge, as both men seek to "pioneer a new way," to make progress beyond established limits.

Henry Clerval

Victor's boyhood friend, who nurses Victor back to health in Ingolstadt. After working unhappily for his father, Henry begins to follow in Victor's footsteps as a scientist. His cheerfulness counters Victor's moroseness. Clerval's story runs parallel to Frankenstein's, illustrating the connection between Frankenstein's outsized ambition and the more commonplace ambitions of ordinary men. Clerval is first described as a boy who loved "enterprise, hardship and even danger, for its own sake." Like Walton, Clerval shares Frankenstein's desire to achieve great things at any cost. Also like Frankenstein, Clerval makes a discovery at university. Clerval believes he has found "the means of materially assisting the progress of European colonization and trade" in India. Frankenstein suggests a parallel between Clerval's discovery and his own creation of the Monster when he argues that colonialism is the work of ambitious men like him. Without ambition, he says, "America would have been discovered more gradually; and the empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed." Frankenstein's friendship with Clerval also shows the importance of companionship in the novel. Frankenstein draws strength and comfort from having a friend who shares his experiences and feelings: "Excellent friend! how sincerely you did love me, and endeavor to elevate my mind until it was on a level with your own!"

"I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight."

Walton is introduced as someone so ambitious to make a great discovery that he won't pay attention to the dangers of exploration, even though he knows they're there. This shows that he is like Frankenstein, who also does not see the danger of investigating the far reaches of the natural world.

"I bitterly feel the want of a friend."

Walton longs for companionship. This line introduces an important theme of the novel: both Frankenstein and the Monster will be desperate for companions later on. Because he wants a friend, Walton is ready to like and sympathize with Frankenstein when he comes aboard. For that reason, we can't place too much faith in Walton's positive report on Frankenstein's character.

"I desire the company of a man who could sympathise with me; whose eyes would reply to mine."

Walton writes these lines to his sister as he describes his loneliness during his voyage. Note that Walton is not actually alone during this time: he is surrounded by ship mates and sailors. What makes him feel lonely is that he feels nothing in common with these men due to their different social class and lack of education. Walton fantasizes about finding a friend who would share his interests and point of view, and with whom he would be able to feel at ease.

"My life might have been passed in ease and luxury; but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path."

Walton writes these lines to his sister as he describes his motivation for his voyage of exploration, and his justification for why he feels he deserves to be successful. The lines foreshadow the similar experience of ambition that Victor will also experience. Walton implies a moral superiority as a result of choosing to commit to hard work in service of his passion for discovery. However, his motivation for exploration is still the fame and respect he thinks he will receive, not the possible benefits to anyone else.

I expected this reception," said the daemon. "All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!"

When Frankenstein accuses the Monster of murdering his brother William, the Monster cleverly deflects the accusation. Frankenstein's hatred of him is to be "expected," he says, not because of the murder, but because the Monster is "wretched" and "miserable." The Monster's first utterance sums up his story as he sees it, but it also demonstrates his skill with language. Throughout the novel the Monster skillfully deflects blame for the murders he has committed by emphasizing his own suffering.