Frankenstein Chapter Summaries

Chapter 22

In this chapter, Victor and his father stop in Paris, where Victor receives a letter from Elizabeth, asking if he loves another. He replies that she is the source of his joy. After they return home, they begin planning the wedding, and Victor assures Elizabeth that all will be well after they are married, and that he has a terrible secret to tell her.

Chapter 8

In this chapter, Justine confesses to the crime, believing that she will be saved, but she tells Victor and Elizabeth that she is innocent and miserable. They remain convinced that she is innocent, but she is soon executed. Victor becomes filled with grief, knowing that his creation has killed two members of his family.

Chapter 14

In this chapter, The Monster learns the family's history. The old man's name is really De Lacy, and Agatha, Felix, and De Lacy were all very wealthy and respected people in France. Safie's father, a Turk, was falsely accused of a crime and was sentenced to death. Felix visited the Turk in prison and met his daughter, Safie. Safie thanked Felix through letters, and the monster copied these as proof to Victor. The Turk promised Safie's hand in marriage to Felix if he helped him escape. After he escaped, the plot was discovered and Agatha, Felix, and De Lacy were all thrown in jail, exiled from France, and stripped of their wealth. They then moved into the cottage in Germany.

Chapter 2

In this chapter, Victor and Elizabeth grow up together as best friends. Victor's friendship with Henry Clerval, a schoolmate and only child, flourishes as well, and spends most of his childhood unfamiliar with despair. As a teenager, Victor is fascinated by the natural world, and finds a book by Cornelius Agrippa, and becomes interested in natural philosophy. He experiences the forces of nature when lightning strikes a tree in front of his house. A modern natural philosopher that is with the Frankenstein family at the time explains the workings of electricity.

Chapter 19

In this chapter, Victor and Henry travel through England and into Scotland. Victor makes Henry stay with a friend in Scotland while he works on his new creation. He starts to have trouble continuing his new creation knowing how unsatisfying and grotesque his work will be.

Chapter 20

In this chapter, Victor begins to think about what will happen with this new creation of his, and he look up to see the monster looking through the window and grinning. Upon seeing that he will be making another one of these grotesque beings, he destroys his new creation. Upon seeing this, the monster becomes enraged and promises revenge upon Victor and promises that he will see him on his wedding night. The following night, Victor dumps all of his creation's parts into the ocean, but is unable to return to shore. He then sleeps and wakens to see that he has come closer towards the shore of a strange town. The townspeople accuse him of a murder.

Chapter 5

In this chapter, Victor completes his creation after months of labor on a stormy night. After his creation is completed, he notices how horrifying it is and tries to sleep in the other room, but is troubled with nightmares about Elizabeth. He wakes to find the monster over him with a grotesque smile, and he rushes out of the house and stays away from his apartment. While he is in town, he runs into Henry Clerval, who just began studying at the university. When they go back to Victor's apartment, he goes first and cannot find the monster. He then falls ill with a nervous fever for months, and when he gets better, Henry shows him a letter that Elizabeth sent when he was ill.

Chapter 24

In this chapter, Victor decides to leave Geneva forever in pursuit of the monster. He follows the monster only by trails, and then he meets Walton and tells him the story.

Chapter 4

In this chapter, Victor enthusiastically pursues his studies of the creation of life and ignores his social life, cutting off his family in Geneva. After years of tireless work, he masters all that his professors have told him and discovers the secret of life. He then privately works toward the creation of a creature, from an inanimate body, and becomes lonely and obsessed.

Chapter 9

In this chapter, Victor is becoming very melancholy and thinks of suicide, but decides against it, thinking of Elizabeth and his father. His father, in hopes to cheer up his son, takes the family on a trip to their house in Belrive. From there, Victor wanders alone to the Chamounix valley, and the beautiful scenery relieves his spirits, but only for a short time.

Chapter 18

In this chapter, Victor puts off the new creation, and realizes that he will have to travel to England for his new creation. His father asks Victor if his impending marriage to Elizabeth is the source of his despair. After he assures Alphonse that marrying Elizabeth is the happiest thing left for him, Alphonse suggests an immediate marriage, but Victor puts it off until he gets back from England with his friend Henry Clerval.

Chapter 6

In this chapter, Victor reads Elizabeth's letter and finds out that Elizabeth and the rest of his family want him to write back to Geneva as soon as possible. He also finds out that Justine Moritz, a girl that was mistreated by her mother and that used to live with the Frankenstein family, has returned to their house following her mother's death. After Victor recovers, he introduces Henry to his professors at the university and is reminded of the monstrosity that he has created. He decides to return to Geneva and awaits a letter from his father specifying the date of departure.

Chapter 7

In this chapter, Victor receives a letter from his father that William, Victor's youngest brother, has been murdered, and Victor decides to return immediately to Geneva. When he arrives, he cannot get into the town and spends time looking around. As he walks near the place where his brother's body was found, he spots his creation, and is determined that his creation murdered William. When he returns home the next day, he discovers that Justine is accused of murdering William. A servant found a picture of Victor's mother in Justine's pocket that was last known to be in William's possession. Victor claims that Justine is innocent, but doesn't present evidence, fearing that he would be labeled insane.

Chapter 23

In this chapter, Victor tells Elizabeth to retire for the night, and he begins looking for the monster around the house, but he is stopped when he hears a scream emitted from the bedroom. He then realizes that the monster never meant to kill him. He tells his father the news when he returns home, and his father dies a few days later. Victor then tells the magistrate in Geneva that his monster killed Elizabeth, but the magistrate does not believe him. He then pursues the monster on his own.

Chapter 10

In this chapter, Victor travels to the top of Montanvert in hopes that a beautiful, natural scene will revive his spirits. When he reaches the glacier at the top, he is consoled momentarily by the sight, but when he crosses the glacier, he sees a creature coming in his direction at incredible speeds. At closer range, he recognizes the monster, and he threats to attack the monster, but the monster just eludes him with his size and strength. After Victor tells the monster to go away, the monster takes him to an ice cave with a fire, and begins to tell his life story.

Chapter 3

In this chapter, Victor, now at age 17, leaves his family in Geneva to attend the university at Ingolstadt. But just before he departs, his mother catches scarlet fever from Elizabeth, whom she had been nursing back to health, and dies. On her deathbed, she begs Elizabeth and Victor to marry, and a few weeks afterward, Victor leaves for Ingolstadt. When he arrives at the university, he meets a natural philosophy professor, M. Krempe. Krempe tells Victor that he has wasted his time studying the outdated alchemists. After seeing a lecture by Waldman, Victor pursues the sciences.

Chapter 13

In this chapter, as spring come around, the monster notices that the cottagers, especially Felix, are unhappy. A beautiful woman arrives at the cottage and asks for Felix. Felix becomes ecstatic when he sees her, and the monster learns that she does not speak the same language as the others and that her name is Safie. She moves into the cottage and the atmosphere becomes much brighter. As Safie learns the language of the cottagers, so does the monster. Now that the monster is able to speak and understand the language perfectly, he learns about human society. Reflecting on his own situation, the monster realizes that he is alone and deformed. He also learns about families and human relations in general, which deepens the agony of his isolation.

Chapter 1

In this chapter, the Narrator, who soon reveals himself as Victor Frankenstein, tells you about his early childhood, his family background. His father, Alphonse, being the protector of his mother, Caroline Beaufort, when her father died, and they married two years after. He then tells how his childhood companion, Elizabeth Lavenza, enters his life. Elizabeth is found by Victor's mother when visiting a poor Italian family.

Chapter 11

In this chapter, the monster describes his flight from Victor's apartment, and his new experiences with his senses. He finds a fire, and finds out that when he touches it that it burns him, and that when he puts most food on it, it makes it better. In search of food, the monster leaves the fire and finds a hut with an old man in it. Upon sight of the monster, the old man flees. The monster then goes to a nearby village, where more people flee, and he decides to stay away from humans. One night he takes refuge in a small hovel next to a cottage with a crack in the wall that lets him observe the occupants: an old man, a young man,, and a young woman.

Chapter 12

In this chapter, the monster observes that his neighbors are unhappy, mainly from their poverty. After discovering that they don't have that much food because of the monster, he stops stealing their food and gathers wood for them so they don't have to cut it. The monster then decides to learn their language, which is made by emitting strange sounds. He gets a basic understanding of the language, and learns the woman's name is Agatha, and the young man's name is Felix. He admires their looks but is shocked by how ugly he is when he sees his own reflection. He spends the whole winter in the hovel, and stays protected from the elements and becomes affectionate towards his host.

Chapter 16

In this chapter, the monster swears revenge on humankind, his creator especially, after his experience with the cottagers. He makes his way toward Geneva for months, and sees a little girl drowning in a stream. He helps the girl, but then the man she was with thought the monster was attacking her, and he shot the monster. As he nears Geneva, the monster runs into William, Victor's little brother. When William says that he is the son of Alphonse Frankenstein, the monster becomes enraged with vengeance and strangles the boy. He takes the picture of Caroline Frankenstein and places it in the pocket of a girl sleeping in a nearby barn, Justine Moritz, who is later found guilty of murdering William. After telling Victor all of this, the monster requests that Victor create a mate for him.

Chapter 17

In this chapter, the monster tells Victor that it is his right to have a companion, and at first Victor refuses, but the monster says that he only did those terrible things because he was lonely. Victor agrees to create a female monster, but the monster says that he will monitor Victor's work.

Chapter 21

In this chapter, the townspeople take Victor to Mr. Kirwin, the town magistrate. The people say that a body was dumped on the shore, and a boat just like Victor's was near the shore at the time. When Victor sees the body, he falls into an illness after discovering that it is Henry, and that he has been murdered by the monster. He remains ill for two months, and awakes within a prison cell.Mr. Kirwin comes and tells Victor that he has a visitor. While Victor was expecting the monster, it turns out that it is his father that is visiting him. After his trial, Victor and his father return to Geneva.

Chapter 15

In this chapter, while foraging for food, the monster finds a satchel with three books in it, and he took all three books to be the truth. While rifling through his own clothes, which he stole from Victor's lab, he finds some papers from Victor's journal. Using his ability to read, he finds out how he was made and what his creator thought about him. The monster decides to talk to De Lacy, who was blind, while the others are away in hopes that he could win him over. Just as he begins explaining his explanation to De Lacy, the other three return unexpectedly and Felix drives the hideous monster away.

Walton (In Continuation)

Walton tells his sister through letters that he believes Victor, and that Victor soon dies. A few days after Victor's death, he finds the monster in Victor's bedroom. The monster begins to say how he deeply regrets becoming an instrument of evil, and now that his creator is dead, he is ready to be dead as well.