FRANKENSTEIN PLOT The book begins with a frame story - the tale of Arctic explorer Robert Walton and his trek to reach the North Pole and discover the secrets of magnetism. In letters to his sister, he tells of the progress of his journey. After many months in the Arctic, the ship is icebound. One day, they see a sledge being driven across the ice by a monstrously large man. The next day, another sledge approaches the ship. They drag from the sledge it shalf-dead occupant, whose name is Victor Frankenstein. After Walton nurses him back to health, Frankenstein tells his story, which makes up the substance of the novel. Frankenstein relates the story of his childhood in Geneva among the members of his loving family, and his journey to Ingolstadt to attend the university there and study natural philosophy and chemistry. He wants more than anything else to discover the secret of life, and after much labor believes he has done so. In a manner that is never described by Shelley, Frankenstein forms a being and succeeds in bringing it to life. The creature is eight feet tall, and grotesque in appearance, created in November. When the creature actually begins to move, Frankenstein flees in terror. The monster then escapes, bound for places unknown. Frankenstein then meets his friend Henry Clerval, who nurses him back to health after his horrifying experience. He took care about his for seven moths. After recovering from his illness, Victor and Henry study for a year the various languages for which Henry came to the university. They then travel the countryside, further reviving his spirits.When they return to the university, Victor finds a letter from his father telling of William’s death. Frankenstein is about to return home to Geneva when he receives a letter informing him that his brother William is dead. On his way home, he briefly spots the monster he had created, and becomes convinced that it is responsible for his brother’s death. When he arrives home, his family welcomes him, and he then takes on the task of trying to exonerate /oslobodiť, očistiť/ their young ward ,Justine Moritz, who has been accused of the crime. Because he is unable to tell the tale of his monster, convinced that no one would believe it to be anything but the ravings/pomätená/ of a madman ,Justine is condemned and hanged. Victor now is horrified to realize that he has caused the deaths of two innocent people. He is tempted to commit suicide, but does not want to harm his family with further death. In an attempt to alleviate/ zmierniť/ the horrible feelings he is having, he takes a trip to the Alps. The monster approaches him and tells him what he has been doing for the past two years. He tells of his rejection by every person he meets, including the kindly DeLacey family, from whom he learned to speak and read by observation from a hiding place outside their cottage. In his anger at these rejections, he killed William in an attempt to get back at his creator, who had made him intelligent and sensitive, but unfit for the society of man. He begs Victor to make a mate for him, and promises to go far away and never harm anyone again if the scientist will do so. Victor agrees with many misgivings, and goes to England with Clerval in order to accomplish/ vykonať/ the task. He gathers his materials and begins to work, but is again horrified by the result, and destroys the female without bringing her to life. The monster then vows revenge, insisting that he will visit Frankenstein on his wedding night and deprive him of all joy forever. Victor fears the monster will breed a new race or that the female would reject him and he would go insane. Victor then dumps /vyhodí/ the remains of the female into the sea, but is caught in a storm and washed up on to the shore of Ireland. He finds himself accused of murder, since someone in a similar boat had been seen fleeing a body that had been dumped on the shore. Much to Frankenstein’s dismay, the body belongs to his friend Clerval, murdered by the monster by strangulation. Frankenstein again falls ill, and is acquitted / zbavený viny/ after he returns to health. Victor is jailed for his murder and falls into a feverish state for two months. He recovers and is aquitted then returns to Geneva with his father. Victor then returns to Geneva, and soon marries Elizabeth. Convinced that the monster’s threat was against his own life, he carries weapons to defend himself against he expected attack, and leaves Elizabeth in their room so she will not have to witness the struggle. He suddenly hears a scream, and returns to the room to find Elizabeth dead on the bed. When he returns to Geneva and tells his father, the father dies only days later of grief, and Frankenstein dedicates his life to finding and destroying the monster he has created. The chase lasts many months and finally brings them to the Artic Ocean where Victor does not get his duel to the death due to the ice splitting and he becomes marooned on a piece of ice. The monster lures/lákať/ Victor ever northward, always keeping just one step ahead and leaving sufficient provisions so that Frankenstein suffers, but does not die. The chase continues into the Arctic wastes on dogsleds, where Victor sights the monster but cannot catch him. Victor sees the ship and makes his way to it, this being the ship Walton is on currently and the tale and the frame story merge. Victor, although he despises his creation, is still proud of what he has attained. His intellect and imagination has allowed him to create a man. Victor insists he will not give up his quest, but dies soon after saying this story to Walton. The next day, Walton comes into the room where the body lies and finds the monster weeping over it. Walton tells the Creature it is too late to repent/ pokánie/. The Creature tell Walton he feels remorse for his actions and justifies this by saying his suffering was more than Victories. The monster speaks of his great loneliness, his abhorrence of what he has done, and his intention to continue northward and throw himself on his own funeral pyre in the Arctic wastes/pustatina/ CHARACTERS Victor Frankenstein - The protagonist, Victor is a scientist who discovers the secret of life and creates a horribly ugly eight-foot monster, intelligent and extremely powerful. Horrified by his creation, he flees, leaving the monster to fend for itself. The monster eventually kills all those who are dear to his creator. •The Monster - After he frees Frankenstein’s laboratory, the monster tries to join human society, but finds only rejection because of his ugliness. He learns to speak and read, but his sensitivity and erudition avail him nothing, and he is rejected time and again. He asks Frankenstein to make him a female companion, but the scientist refuses after initially agreeing to do so. He finally determines to wreak revenge on Frankenstein, and he does so by killing Frankenstein’s brother William, his wife Elizabeth, and his friend Clerval, and indirectly ends the life of Justine. After torturing Frankenstein to the point of death, the monster takes his own life in the Arctic wastes. •Robert Walton- An Arctic explorer who encounters Frankenstein in pursuit of the monster and becomes the auditor of his tale. He then relates this tale by letter to his sister Margaret Saville back in England. Frankenstein presents his story to Captain Walton as a warning for others who wish, like he did, to be greater than nature intended. His story illustrates the downfall caused by human hubris. At the end of the novel, Captain Walton appears to heed to the lesson in Frankenstein’s story, as he calls off his dangerous exploration to the North Pole. He turns away from the possible glory of scientific discovery in order to save his own life, as well as the lives of his crewmen. •Alphonse Frankenstein - Victor’s father, who supports him in his studies, but encourages him to give priority to his family. He is grief-stricken by the deaths of his young son William and his beloved adopted daughter Elizabeth, and dies a broken man. •Caroline Beaufort - The ward of Alphonse Frankenstein who later becomes his wife. She later dies of scarlet fever after nursing Elizabeth back to health from the disease. •Elizabeth Lavenza - An orphan adopted by the Frankenstein family, she and Victor grow to love one another and plan to marry. She is murdered by the monster on their weddin night. •William Frankenstein - Victor’s younger brother, he is murdered by the monster in a forest one night. The monster then frames Justine Moritz, who is executed for the crime. •Justine Moritz - A girl from a poor peasant family who is taken in by the Frankensteins, she is unjustly blamed for the death of William when a locket worn by the child is found in her pocket. She is hanged on the basis of this evidence. •Henry Clerval - Victor’s best friend, a cheerful young man who often raises Victor’s spirits. He accompanies Victor to Ingolstadt and thence on a tour of Britain, where he by the monster. •DeLacey - A blind old man whose family had once been prominent in Paris, but was forced to flee because of the French Revolution. The monster observes the family unseen, and from them learns to speak and read. When the monster reveals himself to them, hoping for sympathy, they beat him and drive him away. •Agatha DeLacey- DeLacey’s daughter, whose sweetness initially attracts the monster’s attention •Felix DeLacey - Agatha’s brother, who beats the monster when he tries to befriend the family. •Safie - Felix’s fiancee, a Turkish Christian who seeks him out in his exile . THEMES: nature of Good and Evil Quest / pátranie/ role of Scientific Enquiry and Effects of Ambition Idealization of the Poor nature’s Reaction to the Affairs of Human responsibility for Actions and Responsibility to Others he consequences of society’s rejection of someone who is not attractive the destructive power of revenge. Pursuit of knowledge - wrote Frankenstein in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, when major breakthroughs in technology were transforming society. - his academic trajectory: begins with the medieval philosophies of alchemy, then moves on to the modern practices of chemistry and mathematics at university - his creation only brings sadness, misfortune, and death. The creature Frankenstein produces is an embodiment of man’s scientific enlightenment: not beautiful, as Frankenstein thought he would be, but vulgar and horrifying. - Shelley seems to raise the question: does merciless pursuit of knowledge ultimately cause more harm than good to humankind? Importance of family and love - the pursuit of love, community, and famil - this theme is most clearly expressed through the creature, whose singular motivation is to seek human compassion and companionship - Frankenstein isolates himself, puts aside his family, and ultimately loses those dearest to him, all for his scientific ambition - the creature, on the other hand, wants precisely what Frankenstein has turned away, he especially wishes to be embraced by the De Lacey family, but his monstrous physique do not allow it - he confronts Frankenstein to ask for a female companion, but is betrayed /sklamaný/ - it is this isolation that drives the creature to seek revenge and kill. - Without Frankenstein, his proxy/v zastúpení/ for a “father,” the creature is essentially alone in the world, an experience that ultimately turns him into the monster he appears to be. Nature and sublime / dokonalosť, nádhera/ - The tension between the pursuit of knowledge and the pursuit of belonging play out against the background of sublime nature. The sublime is an aesthetic, literary and philosophical concept of the Romantic period that encapsulates the experience of awe in the face of the natural world’s extreme beauty and greatness.. - Frankenstein climbs Montanvert as a way to clear his mind and minimize his human sorrows. The monster runs to the mountains and glaciers as refuge from civilization and all its human fallibilities, which cannot accept him for his façade. - Nature is also presented as the ultimate wielder of life and death, greater even than Frankenstein and his discoveries. Nature is what ultimately kills both Frankenstein and his creature as they chase after one another further into the icy wilderness. - The sublime uninhabited terrains, of equal beauty and terror, frame the novel’s confrontations with humanity so that they underline the vastness of the human soul /rozsiahlosť ľudskej duše/ Enlightenment = light - The idea of light as a symbol for knowledge also refers back to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, in which darkness symbolizes ignorance and the sun symbolizes truth. - knowledge as, as both Captain Walton and Frankenstein search for illumination in their scientific pursuits. The creature, by contrast, is doomed/ odsudená/ to spend much of his life in darkness, able to walk around only at night so that he may hide from humans. - the symbolism of light arises when the creature burns himself !!! Fire is both a source of comfort and danger, and it brings the creature closer to the contradictions/rozpor/ of civilization. - use of fire links the novel with the myth of Prometheus: Prometheus stole fire from the gods to aid in humankind’s advancement, but was eternally punished by Zeus for his actions. Frankenstein similarly took a kind of ‘fire’ for himself, by harnessing a power /využil silu/ not otherwise known to mankind, and then is forced to repent for his actions. SYMBOLS White= knowledge Peaks of the mountains symbolizes that knowledge that is remote and inaccessible. Light + fire Water = knowledge symbol of innocence and deeper knowledge, calms Victor on his way home (as when he stops at the lake at Lausanne) Ice = danger Lightning, thunder = nature’s power The violent storm that erupts when he visits the spot of his brother’s death The sudden flash of lightning - which illuminates the Creature forms a symbolic link between the two things (i.e. like the “spark” that generated his life). Nature = acceptance, nuturing, calm Mountains = sublime in nature Mont Blanc: impressing the mind with a sense of grandeur or power; inspiring awe SUBTITLE Modern Prometheus -in Greek mythology, Prometheusis a Titanknown for his wily intelligence, who stole firefrom Zeusand gave it to mortalsfor their use” (“Prometheus”) STYLE Gothic Novel–setting, characters, plot, and supernatural Romantic elements–nature, rebellion, and unbridled emotion Frame Story–story within a story Allusions–Paradise Lost, “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” et. al. PARADISE LOST THEMES: The Importance of Obedience to God The first words of Paradise Lost state that the poem’s main theme will be “Man’s first Disobedience.” Milton narrates the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, explains how and why it happens, and places the story within the larger context of Satan’s rebellion and Jesus’ resurrection /vzkriesenie/ Raphael tells Adam about Satan’s disobedience in an effort to give him a firm grasp of the threat that Satan and humankind’s disobedience poses. Paradise Lost presents two moral paths that one can take after disobedience: degradation -represented by Satan the road to redemption/ vykúpenie/ represented by Adam and Eve. While Adam and Eve are the first humans to disobey God, Satan is the first of all God’s creation to disobey. His decision to rebel comes only from himself—he was not persuaded or provoked by others. Also, his decision to continue to disobey God after his fall into Hell ensures that God will not forgive him. Adam and Eve, on the other hand, decide to repent /ľutovať/ for their sins and seek forgiveness. Unlike Satan, Adam and Eve understand that their disobedience to God will be corrected through generations of toil on Earth. The Fall as Partly Fortunate Adam and Eve’s disobedience allows God to show his mercy and temperance in their punishments and his eternal providence toward humankind. This display of love is given through the Son, is a gift to humankind. Humankind must now experience pain and death, but humans can also experience mercy, salvation, and grace. The salvation of humankind, in the form of The Son’s sacrifice and resurrection. In other words, good will come of sin and death, and humankind will eventually be rewarded. This fortunate result justifies God’s reasoning and explains his ultimate plan for humankind. The Hierarchical Nature of the Universe Paradise Lost is about hierarchy as much as it is about obedience. The layout of the universe—with Heaven above, Hell below, and Earth in the middl This spatial /priestorová/ hierarchy leads to a social hierarchy of angels, humans, animals, and devils: the Son is closest to God, with the archangels. Adam and Eve and Earth’s animals come next, with Satan and the other fallen angels following last. To obey God is to respect this hierarchy. Satan refuses to honor the Son as his superior - the angels in Satan’s camp rebel, they hope to defeat God and an unfair hierarchy in Heaven. The good angels defeat the rebel angels, punished them by being banished /vyhnaný/ far away from Heaven. At least, Satan argues later, they can make their own hierarchy in Hell and continues to disobey God and his hierarchy. SYMBOLS Adam’s Wreath The wreath that Adam makes as he and Eve work separately in Book IX is symbolic in several ways. First, it represents his love for her and his attraction to her. But as he is about to give the wreath to her, his shock in noticing that she has eaten from the Tree of Knowledge makes him drop it to the ground. His dropping of the wreath symbolizes that his love and attraction to Eve is falling away. The fallen wreath represents the loss of pure love. ADAM strong, intelligent has a remarkable relationship with God - before the fall, he is as perfect as a human being can be. - he can converse with Raphael as a near-equal, and understand Raphael’s stories readily - after the fall, his conversation with Michael during his visions is significantly one-sided - as a result of the fall, he loses his pure reason and intellect - Adam’s greatest weakness is his love for Eve - he falls in love with her immediately upon seeing her - after Eve eats from the Tree of Knowledge, he quickly does the same, realizing that if she is doomed, he must follow her into doom/ skaza/ as well if he wants to avoid losing her SATAN - changes significantly from Book I to his final appearance in Book X - In Book I he is a strong, imposing figure with great abilities as a leader and public statesmen, - He begins the poem as a just-fallen angel of enormous stature, looks like a comet or meteor as he leaves Hell, then disguises himself as a more humble cherub, then as a cormorant, a toad, and finally a snake. His ability to reason and argue also deteriorates. - In Book I, he persuades the devils to agree to his plan. In Book IV, however, he reasons to himself that the Hell he feels inside of him is reason to do more evil. When he returns to Earth again, he believes that Earth is more beautiful than Heaven, and that he may be able to live on Earth after all. Satan, removed from Heaven long enough to forget its unparalleled grandeur, is completely demented, coming to believe in his own lies. He is a picture of incessant intellectual activity without the ability to think morally. Once a powerful angel, he has become blinded to God’s grace, forever unable to reconcile his past with his eternal punishment. PLOT: The story opens in hell, where Satan and his followers are recovering from defeat in a war they waged against God. They build a palace, called Pandemonium, where they hold council to determine whether or not to return to battle. Instead they decide to explore a new world prophecied to be created, where a safer course of revenge can be planned. Satan undertakes the mission alone. At the gate of hell, he meets his offspring, Sin and Death, who unbar the gates for him. He journeys across chaos till he sees the new universe floating near the larger globe which is heaven. God sees Satan flying towards this world and foretells the fall of man. His Son, who sits at his right hand, offers to sacrifice himself for man's salvation. Meanwhile, Satan enters the new universe. He flies to the sun, where he tricks an angel, Uriel, into showing him the way to man's home. Satan gains entrance into the Garden of Eden, where he finds Adam and Eve and becomes jealous of them. He overhears them speak of God's commandment that they should not eat the forbidden fruit. Uriel warns Gabriel and his angels, who are guarding the gate of Paradise, of Satan's presence. Satan is apprehended by them and banished from Eden. God sends Raphael to warn Adam and Eve about Satan. Raphael recounts to them how jealousy against the Son of God led a once favored angel to wage war against God in heaven, and how the Son, Messiah, cast him and his followers into hell. He relates how the world was created so mankind could one day replace the fallen angels in heaven. Satan returns to earth, and enters a serpent/ had/. Finding Eve alone he induces her to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. Adam, resigned to join in her fate, eats also. Their innocence is lost and they become aware of their nakedness. In shame and despair, they become hostile to each other. The Son of God descends to earth to judge the sinners, mercifully delaying their sentence of death. Sin and Death, sensing Satan's success, build a highway to earth, their new home. Upon his return to hell, instead of a celebration of victory, Satan and his crew are turned into serpents as punishment. Adam reconciles with Eve. God sends Michael to expel the pair from Paradise, but first to reveal to Adam future events resulting from his sin. Adam is saddened by these visions, but ultimately revived by revelations of the future coming of the Savior of mankind. In sadness, mitigated with hope, Adam and Eve are sent away from the Garden of Paradise
