Letters 1-4
Notes
 Characters
o Robert Walton
 Parallel to Victor’s life
 Wanting to know about the powers of Nature
 Turns to Stranger
 Parallel’s the Creature’s desires
 Themes
o Loss and Loneliness
 No Friends
 No sounding board
 Triumphs, failures, dreams, ambitions
o Dangers of Knowledge
 The tragic consequence of the stranger’s obsessive search
for understanding
 Walton’s search to know what no one else knows
o The North Pole
 Point of View
o Frame Narrative
 We are reading a letter from Walton to his sister about the
Stranger’s life.
 Characters
o Victor Frankenstein
 Thirst for knowledge
 Obsessive / Compulsive
 Human need
 Madness
 Spiritual
 Needs companions
 Secretive
 Passionate
 Private
 Absolves himself from responsibility
 Omnipotence and Omniscient
 Science = God like powers
 “Frankenstein” = New persona
o Elizabeth
 “Saint”
 Motherly
 Accepts responsibility
 Calms Victor
 Looks after family
o Henry Clerval
 Foil to Victor
 Companion
 Passionate
 Open
 Songs, Plays
 Themes
o Dangers of Knowledge
 God complex
 Takes place of friends
o Fate / Chance
 Destiny brings him to do things
 Victor not in control
o Roles of Women
 Sacrificing
 Selfless
 Motherly
 Responsible
 Strong
Chapter 2 – 3
Notes
 Characters
o Victor
 Does not visit family (2 years)
 Absorbed in work
 Selflessness is destroyed
 Obsessive
 Tragic Flaw
 Self enhancement
 God complex
 Hope and Despair for character
 Contempt for prudence and caution
 Alter God’s plan
 Crossing boundaries
 Morals and Health suffer
 Dream like
 Realizations are too late
 Nervous and paranoid
 Marriage = Kiss of death
 Contrasts his Parents love / nurture
 Unethical
o Creature
 Compassionate
 Abandoned
 Innocent
 Renounced
 Themes
o Fate / Chance
 Unalterable
 Determined
 Can/Should we alter divine handiwork?
o Dangers of Knowledge
 Crossing Boundaries
 Natural
 Heavenly
 Alienate loved ones
 Unexpected outcomes
 Unethical
o Roles of Women
 Naturally capable of creation
 They die, their virtue dies
 Marriage to mother and death
Chapter 4 -5
Notes
Chapter 6-7
Notes
 Characters
 Alphonse Frankenstein – Father
 Ernest – Brother 16yrs old
 Study = horrid shackles
 William - Brother
 Murdered (strangled)
 Justine Moritz
 Gentle, Clever, and Extremely pretty
 Murderer?
 Elizabeth
 Missing Victor
 Worried
(Motherly)
 Acting like Caroline
(Justine)
 Responsible for murder
(?)
 Victor
 Abandonment of science and natural philosophy
 Irrational attempt to deny events
 Impervious to harm
 Doesn’t pursue the Creature
o Attempts to forget
 Questionable relationship to reality
o Refuses to accept mistakes unless directly confronted
o Prolonged (mental and physical) illness
 Spirits were high at the notion of going home
 Wishes to be reborn
 Grieving over brother’s death
 Anxiety over coming home
o Self-absorption
 Hysterical at sight of the Creature
 Selfish and Foolhardy
o The Frankenstein reputation
 Motifs
 Lightening
 Brings knowledge into light
 Themes
 Atoning for One’s Sins
 Paying for one’s cruelty
 Justine’s cruel mother didn’t want her
 Needed to rely on her on deathbed
 Suffering Atonement Brings
 Pay with the things that one holds most dear
 All other children died
Chapter 8 – 9
Notes
Characters:
 Justine
 Doll like
 Blank expression
 Openly confesses a lie (?)
 Victor
 Lost all control of family life
 Misguided
 “Fangs of remorse”
 Bears guilt for William and Justine
 Isolated
 Outcast of society
 Suicidal
 Selfishness
 Can master self-absorption
 Concern for family and humanity
 Praises nature
 Awestruck admiration
 Ironic
o Desire to master nature and unlock Nature’s secrets
 Violent revenge over creature he created
 Elizabeth
o Simple comments
o Passive
o Impatiently waits for Victor
o Men = Bloodthirsty monsters
Themes:
 Men and Monsters
 Who is worse?
 The Creature
o Outcast
o 8ft tall
o Hideously ugly
o Unnatural creation
o Supernatural workings
 Victor Frankenstein
o Outcast
o Thirst for knowledge
o Ambition
o Secrecy
o Selfishness
o Obsessive hatred
Chapter 11-13
Notes
Characters:
 The Creature
 Humanizing
 Depth and Sensitivity
 Like an infant
 Trials and Sufferings
 Innocent and Defenseless
 Incapable of interpreting/analyzing the world
 Met with Horror and Disgust
 Unbeautiful appearance = Wretched outcast
 Deprived of Love and Companionship
 Desire for revenge
 Creator and Humanity
 Shocked by reflection
 Unable to accept it as his own
 Dreams for acceptance
 Mastering language = belonging
 Idealizes cottagers and all associated with them
 Worships them
 Longs for acceptance and love
 Essential Humanity
 Sympathy
 Affection
 Desire
 Aesthetic appreciation
 Language
 Self-analysis and reflection
 Essential goodness
 Long for former innocence
Themes:
 Dangers of Knowledge
 Destruction of ignorance
 Destruction of innocence
 Low self-esteem
 Rage and violent repercussions
 Become outcasts
 Men and Monsters
 People commit unspeakable violence against one another
 Exploitation of those who do not have Money / Noble birth
 Creature/Infants = Essential goodness
 Frankenstein vs. the Creature
Chapters 19-21
Notes
Characters:
 Victor
o Forsakes former selfishness
 Overcomes self-serving impulse
 In hopes of keeping family from harm.
o Death of Romantic idealism
o New murder = death of a piece of Frankenstein
o Tormented by fits and fevers
o “Doomed”
Symbols:
 Tree
o A living organism that branches and spreads itself wildly
 One that is “blasted” (struck by lightning)
 Split down the middle
 Severed from its roots
 Unable to register sensations
o Victor
 A “bolt” (as of lightning) entered his soul
 Happiness is now tainted
 Memories of the past
 Visions of the future
 No longer finds comfort
Themes:
 Men and Monsters
o Who is the creator? Who the creation? Father/Mother? Child?
o Victor’s bolt of lightning in his soul
o Creature brought to life by lightning
o Both separated from humanity
 Victor = guilt
 Creature = ugliness
o Victor’s trip through Northern Europe
o Creature’s journey (Ch. 11-13)
o Find consolation
 Nature
 Stories of human accomplishment
o Nothing can ease suffering
o Victor becomes Creature’s slave
 Life is entirely of the Creature’s design
o Victor clings to life at sea
 Creature holds his fate
o Murder
 Creature murdered Henry Clerval
 Victor murdered the second creature
Chapter 23-24
Notes
Characters:
 Victor
o Inability to see Creature’s intentions
 Great tragedy
 Victor’s horror at his mistake
 Guilt is twofold
o Created her destroyer
o Left her unprotected at moment of death
o Dynamic
 Revenge
 Invigorates
 Intoxicates
 Joys to see Creature’s sled
o Guilt = Wrath
 Taunted by Creature
 Pursues without reason/logic
 Lust for conquest
Themes:
 Sublime Nature
o Unrestrained emotional experience
 Spiritual Renewal
 Victor heads to mountains
 Creatures heart lightens at springtime
 Nature lost its power to reassure
 Foreshadows impending violence
o Storm develops at Lake Como
o Symbolism
 Lake scenes
 Chaos and darkness in Victor
 Arctic Desert
 Primal struggle against Creature
 Men and Monsters
o Utterly alone
o Loveless
o Sustained only by desire for revenge
 Hatred for the other = binds together
o Each reciprocates the obsession of the other
o Creature is Victor’s animating force
 Without desire for revenge
 Victor would have died long ago
Walton, in Continuation
Notes
Characters:
 Victor
o Expressions
 Filled with “resentment, sorrow, and wretchedness”
o Wants posterity to revere and remember him
 Augments Walton’s account of tale
o Pursuit of fame and glory
 Longed to “benefit the species”
 Creature and Havoc were results
o Unparalleled selfishness
 Walton to continue quest
 Endangers lives
o Irredeemably arrogant
 Pioneering endeavors = more valuable
 Human life = less valuable
 Creature
o Still harbors love for creator/Victor
o Did not relish his crimes
 Repulsive to him
o Wracked with guilt and self-hatred
o Said to carry Hell within himself
 Chooses to die by fire
Themes:
 Men and Monsters
o Compare themselves to Satan
 Fallen from a great height
 End in ruin and decay
o Content to suffer alone
o Logical that Creature should die after Victor’s death
 Both have lost animating force
o Become the same person
 Abortion
o Creature does not feel that he truly lived
o Unwanted by parent
o Never permitted to fully develop
o Monster, not-quite-human, with capacity for humanness
o Completely destroys body that was so hated by so many