Frankenstein

Frankenstein

1. Chapter Summaries

   • Vol 11
     • Chapter 1
       • Victor wishes he could confess in Justine's place, but his absence at the time of the murder would make his confession sound like nonsense. Victor could confess everything, including his secret, but instead he chooses silence and isolation. At the trial, Justine maintains she is innocent, but cannot explain how William's portrait of his mother wound up in her pocket. She is sentenced to death. The monster must have framed Justine as part of his revenge on Victor. Victor speaks with a member of the court, who says that Justine has already confessed to the crime. Victor and Elizabeth visit Justine in prison, and she explains that she was pressured into confessing by her jailors. She succumbed, and confessed a lie. Justine says she's ready to die and leave behind the "sad and bitter world." Justine confesses to a crime she did not commit, she gives up her innocent honesty, to "save" her soul. She has given up her innocence, and now no longer sees the world as innocent either The next day Justine is executed. Victor feels guilt overwhelm him for his secret role in William and Justine's deaths. Victor now understands the grave consequences of his ambition, but he continues to keep his secret. Themes: -Family, Society, Isolation -Ambition and Fallibility -Lost Innocence -Revenge
     • Chapter 1x
     • Chapter 11
     • Chapter v111
     • Chapter v11
     • Chapter 111
     • Chapter 1v
     • Chapter v
     • Chapter v1
   • Vol 1
     • Letter 1
     • Letter 11
     • Letter 111
     • Letter 1v
     • Chapter 1
       • The stranger, Victor Frankenstein, says he was born in Naples and grew up in Geneva, Switzerland. His father, Alphonse, and his mother, Caroline, first became close when Alphonse's friend and Caroline's father, Beaufort, died. Alphonse became Caroline's protector, and eventually married her. When he was five, his mother discovered a beautiful blond orphan girl named Elizabeth Lavenza in an Italian village and adopted her. Victor, his parents, and all the Frankensteins adored Elizabeth. She became to him a "more than sister." The two children referred to each other as cousins, rather than brother and sister. Victor's childhood is innocent and perfect. His family life is perfect domestic bliss. Elizabeth is Alphonse's niece (and Victor's cousin). More domestic affection, and the relationship between Victor and Elizabeth hints at future romantic love. Themes: -Family, Society, Isolation -Lost Innocence
     • Chapter 11
       • Victor describes his perfect childhood. He and Elizabeth got along perfectly, though she favored poetry while he longed to unravel the "physical secrets" of life, including the "hidden laws of nature." In addition to Elizabeth, Victor shares a close friendship with Henry Clerval, his well-read schoolmate. Like Victor, Clerval possesses a "soaring ambition" to leave his mark on human history. As he grows up, Victor becomes fascinated with "natural philosophy," and reads widely among the thinkers in this field who want to penetrate the "citadel of nature." One day, when Victor observes lightning strike a tree, he realizes that the laws of science are beyond human understanding and decides to focus on studies based in fact, like mathematics, rather than natural philosophy. Yet he notes that he eventually returned to it, leading to his "utter and terrible destruction." An early hint at Victor's dangerous ambition, and his innocent belief that man is powerful and wise enough to comprehend nature. Like Victor, Henry is also too young and innocent not to see the vanity and futility of his ambitions. Nature portrayed as a fortress that will yield to an assault by man. This antagonistic relationship between Victor and nature bodes poorly. Romantic writers viewed Nature as a sublime force beyond the power or understanding of man. Here Victor senses that too. But his final comment indicates that his ambition overcomes his sense, resulting in disaster. Themes: -Ambition and Fallibility -Romanticism and Nature -Lost Innocence
     • Chapter 111
       • Just before Victor turns seventeen, Elizabeth catches scarlet fever and passes it on to Victor's mother, who dies. Her dying wish is for Victor and Elizabeth to marry. Still in grief, Victor says goodbye to Clerval, Elizabeth, and his father and leaves to study at Ingolstadt, a university in Germany. He meets with his professor of natural philosophy, M. Krempe, who tells Victor that his previous studies have all been a waste of time. Yet Victor then attends a class with M. Waldman, a chemistry professor, whose lecture on the power and recent successes of science inspire Victor to dedicate himself to revealing "to the world the deepest mysteries of creation." The next day Victor visits Waldman, who supports his plan. Victor's perfect family suffers its first pain. His loss of innocence begins with his mother's death and continues with his quest for knowledge at University. Victor's ambition is both to gain glory and an innocent desire to aid society through his scientific achievements. Note how Victor ignores Krempe just as Walton ignores Victor: both are blinded by ambition. It's interesting to ponder whether his mother's death inspires Victor's ambition. Themes: -Revenge -Lost Innocence -Family, Society, Isolation -Ambition and Fallibility -Romanticism and Nature
     • Chapter 1v
       • Victor becomes so caught up in natural philosophy that he ignores everything else, including his family. He progresses rapidly, and suddenly after two years of work he discovers the secret to creating life. Victor decides to build a race of beings, starting with one creature. He spends months alone in his apartment building a body to reanimate, spurred on by the lure of fame and glory, imagining a "new species" that will bless him as its creator. Victor's intense focus allows him to fulfill his ambition and conquer nature, but also cuts him off from society. Cut off from society, Victor seeks glory rather than what's best for society. He foolishly believes he can replace Nature (and God) as the creator of a species. "Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. " "Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who" Themes: -Family, Society, Isolation -Ambition and Fallibility -Romanticism and Nature -Lost Innocence
     • Chapter v
       • After months of effort, Victor is successful in bringing his creature to life. But once alive, the creature's appearance horrifies him—he thinks of it as a monster. Victor runs from the room and tries to sleep, but nightmares of death and tombs wake him, and he opens his eyes to see the monster by his bed, reaching out and grinning. He runs, and spends the night outside. Still avoiding his apartment, Victor wanders Ingolstadt, and runs into Henry Clerval, who has come to university to embark on "a voyage of discovery to the land of knowledge." Victor checks to see if the monster is still in his apartment, and is overjoyed to find that it isn't. He invites Clerval up, but once there falls ill with a "nervous fever," which lasts for months. Clerval nurses him, not revealing the illness to anyone. When Victor recovers, Clerval asks Victor to send a letter to his father and family, and gives him a letter from Elizabeth. Victor, a flawed man, messes with Nature, and things literally get ugly. Victor, the creator, abandons his creation. Because it's ugly he imagines that it's evil. Victor's innocent belief in himself is gone. Clerval's words, though innocent and earnest, now sound dangerously ambitious and naïve. Victor makes the mistake of isolating himself and keeping his secret all to himself; it eats away at his peace of mind and ruins his health. Knowing he has a secret but not what it is, Clerval tries to reconnect him to society. Themes: -Family, Society, Isolation -Ambition and Fallibility -Romanticism and Nature -Prejudice -Lost Innocence
     • Preface
     • Chapter v1
       • In her letter, Elizabeth updates Victor on his brothers, and says that Justine Moritz, a former servant of the Frankensteins, has come to live with them after the death of her mother. Victor introduces Clerval to his professors, but though they praise him Victor finds anything connected with natural philosophy causes him distress. So he gives up such studies for a while, and studies Middle Eastern language with Clerval. Near the end of term, as Victor and Clerval wait to travel back to Geneva, they take a tour around Germany which rekindles Victor's love of nature and raises his spirits. The Frankenstein family continues to be blissful and innocent. Victor's innocent joy in natural philosophy has been destroyed; now he seeks to isolate himself. Victor views nature as a Romantic poet would: sublime, impenetrable, free from the burdens of fallible human life. It provides him with relief. Themes: -Family, Society, Isolation -Lost Innocence -Ambition and Fallibility
     • Chapter v11
       • On returning from the tour, Victor receives a letter from his father saying that his youngest brother, William, has been murdered. Shocked and upset, Victor and Clerval rush to Geneva. But the town gate is locked when they arrive. Victor visits the spot where his brother died. On the way he sees lightning playing over the peaks of the mountain Mont Blanc. Near where his brother died, Victor sees a figure resembling the monster. He realizes that the monster killed William, which means that he, Victor, is really responsible since he created the monster When Victor arrives home the next day, his brother Ernest tearfully informs him that Justine has been accused of William's murder: in her pocket the police found a portrait of Victor's mother that William had been wearing. Victor announces to his family that Justine is certainly not guilty, but says no more since he fears anyone hearing his story would think him insane. But Victor is confident that Justine could not be convicted for a crime she did not commit by circumstantial evidence. As family bliss and innocence are destroyed, Victor's descriptions of nature turn dark, reflecting his psyche. Lightning is a reminder of his earlier realization that mankind can never understand nature. It's a lesson he forgot, to his detriment. Victor realizes the cost of his arrogant assault on nature and begins to lose his innocence. And he realizes the monster is revenging itself on him. Victor, who thought himself a creator of life, will now be responsible for the death of two innocents. By concealing his role in William's death and Justine's fate, Victor isolates himself and must bear all the consequences of his ambition alone. Themes: -Family, Society, Isolation -Ambition and Fallibility -Revenge -Romanticism and Nature -Prejudice -Lost Innocence
   • Vol 111
     • Chapter 1
     • Chapter v11
     • Chapter v1
     • Chapter v
     • Chapter 11
     • Chapter 111
     • Chapter 1v

2. Themes

3. Characters