Plot
How does the book begin?
Captain Robert Walton, on an Arctic expedition, writes to his sister about a mysterious stranger he has rescued from the ice.
Who is Victor?
Victor is responsible for creating the Monster and he is also responsible for abandoning it and setting in motion the train of events that result in the deaths of many of his family and friends. He is an obsessive scientist, creates monster, abandons him, suffers repercussions. Causes death, ambitious, arrogant, god-like
What is the setting/ one of the settings of Frankenstein?
Mainly Switzerland, but also Frankenstein visits Germany, France, England and Scotland. Walton travels through Russia.
How is man vs. nature explored?
The central character, Victor Frankenstein, embodies the theme of the consequences of fighting against nature, as his desire to create life leads to disastrous consequences. The creature, on the other hand, illustrates the theme of nature's ability to heal and restore balance, finding solace in the natural world.
How did Shelley use foreshadowing 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.” 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.
Who did Victor suspect murdered his brother?
The creature, even though a beloved servant was framed for it.
What are the creature's sentiments towards Victor?
Hatred, abandonment, resentment, lonely
How does the setting create emotion and symbolism?
Frankenstein uses setting descriptions in order to reflect the emotional state of each character. Throughout Frankenstein the cold is used in order to set a negative mood or feeling. 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.
How does the theme of creation affect the plot?
Mary Shelley uses the theme of creation and responsibility in Frankenstein by exploring the dangers of scientific progress, the limits of human knowledge, and the consequences of playing god. Victor creating his creature results in the following torment he goes through.
How did Shelley use imagery in Frankenstein?
The imagery used is almost all sight and things Victor Frankenstein is seeing as he is seeing the creature. He is seeing lightning flash all around him which subtly illuminates the creature at first. On the second flash it clearly illuminates the creature. “For another flash discovered him to me hanging among the rocks,” (Shelley, 63). This shows that it is really dark where he is and he can only see when the lightning flashes.
How did the creature learn to speak and read?
The Monster learns to speak by spying on the DeLacey family. He lives for over a year in a “hovel,” a small shed attached to the DeLaceys' cottage.
Who is Clerval?
Henry is Victor's best friend who looks after him when he is ill and accompanies him to England. Henry's purpose in the novel is to show what Victor could have been had he not been influenced by ambition and the desire for discovery - in that sense he is Victor's opposite.
How is setting/nature used as a symbol?
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.
How is the theme of empathy explored?
Throughout the novel Shelley emphasizes empathy as a critical humanistic trait. The monster displays his ability to empathize with people even though they are strangers. On the other hand Victor, fails to show empathy throughout the novel even when it relates to his own family and friends.
How did Shelley use irony in Frankenstein?
The monster kills Victor's bride, Elizabeth, on their wedding night as the last and most hateful act of revenge on Victor. Victor refuses to give the monster a bride, so the monster takes away Victor's. The irony here is that Victor has changed the nature of the family itself.
What happens on Victor and Elizabeth's wedding night? What caused this?
In the remote Orkneys, Victor builds a female creature but destroys it in disgust. His creature appears and warns him: “I will be with you on your wedding night.” Soon after, the creature kills Henry Clerval. Back in Geneva, Victor and Elizabeth marry. The creature kills Elizabeth on their wedding night.
Who is Walton?
Robert Walton is a polar explorer who meets Victor Frankenstein in the Arctic. It is to Walton that Victor tells his story and he, in turn, writes the narrative down in a series of letters to his sister, Margaret Saville, back in England. Walton narrates the novel in epistolary form, through fictional letters to his sister. Victor recognizes his own driving ambition in Walton and he uses his story with the creature to warn against the same fate. He is a foil character to Victor.
What is the genre that is known for grand settings and unforgiving nature in literary and nonliterary works?
Romanticism
How is light vs dark, good vs evil explored?
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.
How did Shelley use POV in Frankenstein?
How does the book end?
Victor swears vengeance for Elizabeth. The creature is there and the chase begins, extending to the Arctic where Victor is rescued by Walton. Victor dies, and the creature appears on board. Repentant and self-loathing, he determines to immolate himself and departs, “lost in darkness and distance.”
How does Victor's younger brother, William Frankenstein, play into the plot?
The creature happens upon him in the woods and tries to befriend him, thinking that the child’s youth would make him unprejudiced. However, William is terrified of the ugly creature. His reaction seems to suggest that the creature's monstrosity is too much for even the innocent. In a fit of rage, the monster strangles William to death. Justine Moritz, the orphan nanny, is framed for his death and later hanged for the alleged crime.
How does ice/the frozen north affect Victor?
Ice frames Frankenstein, representing isolation and alienation. Ice carries with it connotations of emotional coldness, or lacking the warmth of human companionship. Victor’s fate—to pursue the monster across the frozen north—represents how his dangerous experiments have led to his complete alienation from society. Notably, the monster states that he cannot feel the effects of the cold and snow because of his nature. According to the monster’s view of himself, an inherent part of his nature is his alienation, the fact that he is the only one of his kind, which is why he feels at home in the land of ice. Victor, however, has lost companionship, and the cold lack of humanity is an excruciating fate. This symbolic dimension of ice adds a chill meaning to Walton’s encounter with Victor. When Victor appears, Walton’s ship is trapped on a sheet of ice, isolated from civilization, as if Victor brings with him a physical manifestation of his fate. When the ice dissipates, Walton decides to listen to his crew and return home, choosing humanity over alienation.
“What could not be expected in the country of eternal light?” asks Walton. How does this quote represent the symbol of light?
Walton is displaying a faith in, and optimism about, science. In Frankenstein, light symbolizes knowledge, discovery, and enlightenment.
How did Shelley use allusion in Frankenstein?
Allusions to Hamlet: "His gigantic, shadowy form, clothed like the ghost in Hamlet, in complete armour, but with the beaver up, was seen at midnight, by the moon’s fitful beams, to advance slowly along the gloomy avenue."