Frankenstein and Romantic Poetry

irony

perception of inconsistency, in which an apparently straightforward statement or event is undermined by its context so as to give it a very different significance

tone

perspective or attitude of a writer toward a works subject or theme

meter

rythmical pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

Justine Frankenstein

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.

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Beaufort

A merchant and friend of Victor's father; the father of Caroline Beaufort.

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

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. Gets married to Victor and then gets strangled by the creature on the wedding night

De Lacey

De Lacey is the Parisian-turned-blind-peasant who lives in a cottage with his son and daughter. He's a nice old man: "descended from a good family in France" (14.2), he's the only person we meet who treats the monster kindly. (Okay, that's because he's blind. But still.) Aside from giving us a warm and fuzzy juxtaposition to the monster's isolation, De Lacey gives us hope for humanity. He sympathizes with the monster's unhappiness, telling him not to despair, (optimistically) insisting that "the hearts of men ... are full of brotherly love and charity" (15.24), and saying that it will "afford [him] true pleasure to be in any way serviceable to a human creature" (15.30).

Margaret Saville

Robert's sister. Robert writes to her detailing the events that transpire on the voyage and Victor's story.

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.

Safie

The betrothed of Felix. She is presented as exotically beautiful, and is racially fetishized for her Turkishness. The de Lacey family wishes to marry her to Felix and convert her to Christianity.

Caroline Beaufort

The daughter of Beaufort. 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.

Agatha

The daughter of De Lacey, she is an example of selfless womanhood, caring for her brother and her father despite their poverty and her own sadness.

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.

The creature/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.

M. Kirwin

The magistrate who accuses Victor of Henry's murder.

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

Felix

The son of de Lacey, he is devoted to his family and his mistress, Safie. Though noble, he drives the creature from the family cottage with stones. He thereby symbolizes one of the basic flaws in the human character: the hatred of difference.

Alphonse Frankenstein

Victor's father, very sympathetic toward his son. Alphonse consoles Victor in moments of pain and encourages him to remember the importance of family

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.

Ernest Frankenstein

Victor's younger brother by six years. He is the only Frankenstein to survive the novel.

William Frankenstien

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.

stanza

a collection of lines of poetry

doppelganger

a double, apparition or look-alike of a literary character

allusion

a passing reference w/out explicit identification with a literary or historical person, place, or event to another literary work or passage

apostrophe

an address to an inanimate object or to someone who is not present or dead

foot

basic unit of poetry consisting of stressed/unstressed syllables

simile

explicit comparison between 2 diff. things, actions, or feelings, using 'as' or 'like' as in words worth's line, "i wandered as a lonely cloud"

metaphor

the most important and widespread figure of speech , in which one thing, idea or action is referred to by a word or expression normally denoting another thing, idea or action, so as to suggest a common quality

repetition

use of repeated sounds, words, phrasing or concepts to create unity or emphasis... special forms of the repetition of sound in poetry including rhyme, meter, sound patterns(alliteration as well as repeated words/phrases

rhyme

use of similar sounding words, usually at end of each line of verse

juxtaposition

when differing ideas, phrases or characters are placed in close proximity to give a contrasting effect or to encourage comparison

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