Characters & Relationships
This character is adopted by the Frankenstein family after being orphaned.
Who is Elizabeth?
Victor’s illness after creating the Creature foreshadows his later struggles with this feeling.
What is guilt and self-reproach?
Victor becomes obsessed with understanding this scientific principle, which leads him to create the Creature.
What is the secret of life?
This setting represents Victor’s innocence and calm before his descent into obsession.
What is Geneva?
Victor fails to consider this before creating the Creature.
What is the moral consequence of creating life?
Victor’s relationship with this character highlights the importance of friendship as a source of support.
Who is Henry Clerval?
Victor’s early interest in this alchemist’s work foreshadows his future obsessions with dangerous knowledge.
Who is Cornelius Agrippa?
This particular field of study fascinates Victor and drives his research.
What is alchemy?
After his creation escapes, Victor finds comfort in the beauty of this mountain range.
What are the Swiss Alps?
Victor keeps his creation a secret, showing negligence in his moral duty to this group of people.
Who are his family and society?
Victor’s mother, whose death deeply affects him and shapes his ambition to defy mortality.
Who is Caroline Beaufort?
Victor’s feverish illness after the Creature’s creation foreshadows his later experience of this.
What is overwhelming guilt and despair?
Victor's obsession causes him to neglect this, leading to physical and mental deterioration.
What is his health?
This natural force, seen in Victor’s childhood, becomes symbolic of his desire to harness the powers of creation.
What is lightning or electricity?
Victor feels immense guilt and regret for the deaths of these two characters.
Who are William Frankenstein and Justine Moritz?
This character’s unjust death drives home the consequences of Victor’s secrecy. T
Who is Justine Moritz?
Victor’s nightmares about Elizabeth foreshadow this later tragic event.
What is Elizabeth’s death?
The Creature symbolizes this consequence of Victor’s overreaching ambition.
What is hubris or playing God?
Victor frequently escapes to nature to alleviate his sense of guilt after this event.
What is William Frankenstein’s death?
Victor vows to do this in the future to prevent further harm from the Creature.
What is destroy the Creature?
The Creature desires a relationship based on this, but is denied it at every turn.
What is companionship or empathy?
Victor’s dream about holding his mother’s corpse foreshadows his experiments with this theme.
What is death and reanimation?
Victor’s abandonment of the Creature after its creation represents this critical failure in his scientific ethics.
What is responsibility or moral foresight?
This natural disaster, witnessed by Victor as a teenager, sparks his curiosity in scientific phenomena.
What is a lightning destroying an oak tree?
The consequences of Victor’s experiment demonstrate the novel's cautionary stance on this aspect of scientific advancement.
What is unchecked ambition or overreaching the boundaries of nature?