Frankenstein (4)
Revenge and the Embrace
of the Double
Image source:
http://www.snowman-jim.org/science/images/north-pole-sun-moon.jpg
Outline
0. Plot Summary
1. Starting Questions
2. Changes in Frankenstein and the Monster
3. Geography and Psychological Geography
– French Revolution and the Other Functions
– Psychological Geography: Frankenstein//the Monster
–  Gothic Fiction & the Uncanny
2. Filmic Variations
3. The Nature of Revenge: Embrace of the Double
4. Next Time
5. References
Plot Summary
External Frame:
Letter 1-IV: Walton to Margaret about his trip and Frankenstein
Frankenstein’s family:
1. F’s family background: Alfonse, Caroline and Elizabeth
2. Victor vs. Elizabeth and Cleval
Creation & the Immediate Consequences (F escapes faces
his duty):
3. Studies at Ingostadt
4. F. begins animating life, ignores family and duties
5. The creation and F’s escape
6. Elizabeth’s letters and Henry’s help to regain composure
7. Tragedy begins: Williams’ death
8. Justine’s trial
9. F. to Belrive
10. In Montanvert, sees the monster  remorse on p. 91
Plot Summary (2)
The monster’s story:
11. Experience of sensation, fire and meeting De Lacey family
12. De Lacey family and nature
13. learning of language “Was I then a monster?”
14. History of the cottagers
15. books, attempts to approach the family, rejected
16. Revenge  tries to approach the family again  rage 
thinks of F; asks for a mate
17. Asks for a mate
Frankenstein in action:
18. F in trouble/melancholy – trips to London with Henry
19. England to Scotland, to Orkney island
20. Gives up the creation; suspected of a murder
21. Death of Henry, F ill and imprisoned
22. Elizabeth’s letter 23. marriage and Elizabeth’s death
24. Tracking the monster, Walton meets the
monster
PLOT SUMMARY (3)
Starting Questions
1. Why does Frankenstein break his
promise?
2. What is the most horrible in the story for
you?
3. If Frankenstein did not promise the
monster to produce a mate, would the
ending change?
Major Turning Points
• Monster: “Shall each man find a wife for his bosom, and
each beast have his mate, and I be alone?” (pg. 167)
• Hopes for a mate revenge
• Frankenstein: “I shuddered to think that the future ages
might curse me as their pest, whose selfishness had not
hesitated to buy its own peace at the price, perhaps, of the
existence of the whole human race.” (166)
• Selfish thoughts considers about humanity
• Dissection of the female monster: “
–
I “felt as if I had mangled the living flesh of a human being. ”
(170)
– “I again felt as if I belonged to a race of human beings like
myself ” (169)
F’s Reasons for and against the
Mate
• Victor’s reservation, “Shall I create another like yourself,
whose joint wickedness might desolate the world.”(145) You
will not “persevere in the exile” (146)
 Victor’s sympathy , “I was moved...but I felt that there
was some justice in his argument.” (146) (antipathy 147)
 Monster’s promise, “If you consent, neither you nor any
other human being shall ever see us again...” (146)
 Victor’s thought , “I consent to your demand, on your
solemn oath to quit Europe for ever, and every other place
in the neighborhood of man...” (148)
F’s reasons for destroying the
mate
(165)
 The mate’s disposition
“ ...she might become ten thousand times more malignant than
her mate, and delight, for its own sake, in murder and
wretchedness.”
“...refuse to comply with a compact made before her creation.”
“...might turn with disgust from him to the superior beauty of
man ...she might quit him...”
 The breeding of monsters as a race
“...a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth...”
(concern about others)
Relevance to us?
-- The responsibilities involved in
creating, changing or educating
another person.
-- impossibility to reject them
(Frankenstein’s growing affinity to
the monster)
F’s Isolation: Affinity to the Monster
1. Self-Imposed Mental isolation:
–
–
–
Desires to do the work in solitude and even pass his life in solitude.(?
a barrier; 158 )  responsibilities 183
Depressed by negative emotions (181).
The death of Clerval.  sense of guilt 177; a dense and frightful
darkness around him 182
2. Physically/Socially isolated:
–
–
–
–
The sea (as a barrier 169): warm joy of life upon seeing the high
land (172)
Frankenstein’s encounter with the hostile villagers, the woman
and the physician.(173, 177, 178)
The judgment and trial. (176, 182)
The responses of the two magistrates: Mr. Kirwin, helpful, p. 17681, sympathy but incredulity 200
(1)+(2) Parallel to the sufferings of the monster.
Frankenstein and the monster are inseparable.
Complete Isolation
• After destroying the female monster, Victor thinks
that the monster would directly seek him in
revenge.
 He underestimates the monster’s intelligence.
• The death of Elizabeth and the father:
• Frankenstein misinterprets the monster’s
intentions: “The monster had blinded me to his real
intentions; and when I thought that I had prepared only my
own death, I hastened that of a far dearer victim.” (191)
Complete Isolation
• The monster’s curse: “Man! You may hate; but beware!
Your hours will pass in dread and misery, and soon the bolt
will fall which must ravish from you your happiness forever.”
(168)
• Frankenstein’s decision deprives the happiness
of the monster the monster’s revenge the
death of two women Frankenstein isolated.
From the Political
to the Psychological Journey
Geography and French Revolution
• Ingolstadt – creation of the monster // the origin of
French revolution (thru’ a secret society)
• Plainpalais, Geneva – deaths of William Frankenstein,
Justine Moritz and Alphonse in or near Geneva
(Plainpalais, a site of revolution where there was
bloodshed)
• England and Scotland-- Victor's trip for "the most
distinguished natural philosophers” – Oxford – imperial
England and the reformation
• Ireland-- Henry Clerval; violence and mob (--the bloody
Irish rebellion of May to September 1798. )
• Orkney Islands –remote island in Scotland//the creation
of the mate in isolation
• Evian– Elizabeth’s death -- absolutist Sardinian (vs.
Geneva)
• Russia and the Arctic –an imperial/conservative nation or
a complete wilderness (ref. Randel)
The Monster and Revolution
• Born with good intention (IX p. 90)
• I had begun life with benevolent intentions and
thirsted for the moment when I should put them in
practice and make myself useful to my fellow
beings. Now all was blasted; instead of that
serenity of conscience which allowed me to look
back upon the past with self-satisfaction, and from
thence to gather promise of new hopes, I was
seized by remorse and the sense of guilt…
• Against political/social injustice
• Turns to violent bloodshed
Journeys: Their Other Functions &
Meanings
1.
Restoration of energies, refreshment of the spirits.
– [after the creation of the monster] To Mont Blanc, in
the black forest, back to Geneva
2. Delays (XVIII p. 150)– only to strengthen the desires, or
build up the intensity of the “terror” (of boundarybreaking or transgression)
3. F a stranger to the natural tranquility: in bondage p. 151
“with a deadly weight” vs. Henry
4. Isolates himself
5. The terror:
– Doing research in England and Scotland
– Creating the mate in an island out of Ireland  in
cold blood Chap XIX p. 164
Why does Frankenstein
DELAY IN TELLING
ELIZABETH ABOUT THE
MONSTER?
The Uncanny: Terror Brought “Home”
3. Other examples of Frankenstein’s delay:
– The desired: Going to Ingolstadt (because of the
mother’s death)
– The apparently desired: Writing home (e.g. p. 67 –
He would write “instantly”, but felt “fatigued.”
– The apparently desired + terror: Going home. ("I
slackened my progress"; "I dared not advance"; "I
remained two days at Lausanne" p. 74)
– The terror: In revealing the truth about the monster’s
killing
– The terror: In creating the mate (“"Day after day,
week after week, passed away . . . but I clung to
every pretence of delay" chap 18; pp. 149-50)
– The apparently desired: In marrying Elizabeth (chap
18 “the idea of an immediate union with my
Elizabeth was one of horror and dismay.” 151)
– The apparently desired + the terror: Planning to tell
Elizabeth about the monster.
Frankenstein as a Gothic Fiction
– "What is it that agitates you, my dear Victor? What is it you
fear?"
– "Oh! Peace, peace, my love," replied I; "this night, and all will be
safe; but this night is dreadful, very dreadful.“ (194)
• The desired = the feared (ref. Freud the uncanny)
• Shelley “I must try to think of something else. I
recurred to my ghost story — my tiresome, unlucky
ghost story! O! if I could only contrive one which
would frighten my reader as I myself had been
frightened that night!” (10)
Frankenstein // the Monster
1. F’s interest in knowledge
(“ardent” 45, 50)
2. Responsiveness to nature
(Monc Blanc)74
3. Cannot be comforted by
nature as much as
before154, 155
4. Isolated from human
society (barrier 158)
5. Mistaken for the monster
at an Irish shore 175
1. (Walton p. 16); the
monster 115, 118 & 129.
2. The moon, the bird’s
singing, (after being
rejected by de Lacey) 136,
after knowing that they’ll
move away 140
3.
[after being beaten by the rustic]
Labour no longer
alleviated by nature 141,
142
4. Barrier between him and
humans 145
The monster wants Frankenstein to experience his isolation;
F lets the monster feel “the despair that torments [him]” (202)
Frankenstein Films
•
•
•
•
Frankenstein (1931)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
Frankenstein:
The monster meets the little
girl.
•
Source: A Face for the Monster:
The Universal Pictures Series,
Frankenstein
The Bride of Frankenstein
The Monster meets his
Bride.
• Source: IMDB.com.
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein (1994)
Frankenstein (1931)
• By James Whale
• the monster has the brain of a criminal
• 48:30 the monster with the little girl
-- Kills the girl accidentally
-- sympathy lies with the girl and her father.
The Bride of
Frankenstein(1935) –
• the bride (which F made after being forced by
the mad scientist, Dr. Pretoria) rejects the
monster.
• The monster is more human; the monster
speaks
 creation of men 22:50 (queen, king, arch
bishop and devil)
lake 26:06;
the cottage and the music 35:33;
the bride 1:11
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Dr. Frankenstein : Would you mind telling me whose
brain I did put in?
Igor : And you won't be angry?
Dr. Frankenstein : I will NOT be angry.
Igor : Abby someone.
Dr. Frankenstein : Abby someone. Abby who?
Igor : Abby Normal.
– 56:44
– The old hermit 1:07
– Brain transference 1:38
Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein (1994)
• Kenneth Branagh and Robert De Niro
– More graphic in several parts (e.g. the death of the mother,
the persecution of Justine, the killing of Elizabeth)
– The monster more human and intelligent (inherited from
the brain of somebody else’s)
– De Lacey Family 15:29;
– the encounter between the monster and Frankenstein
35:54
– Two attempts at creating a female monster:
• the first under the request of the monster,
• the second, Frankenstein does it to bring Elizabeth
back. Frankenstein’s egotism (2) 7:00
Not in any films
• The monster’s self-education (reading the
classics of Plutarch, Milton [Paradise Lost]
and Goethe)
• Details of Frankenstein’s struggles between
compassion with and hatred of the monster
• The monster’s reasoning (with F and then with Walton)
• Their views of nature
• Their being double
The Deadly Embrace of
THE DOUBLE
Questions
• Do you agree that Frankenstein and the
monster are double? (Or Walton and
Frankenstein? See conclusion)
• What does it mean/imply to say that they
are double?
The Deadly Embrace of the Double
• From Frankenstein’s perspective:
1) Needs the monster to keep himself alive
Revenge keeps him alive (201); at the cemetery (202)  the
monster’s response 202-3; when the monster is no where
to be found 206
– The monster keeps him alive when he despairs or wants to
die
• By leaving some mark 203; 204-05, which “invigorate[s]” F.
• By leaving some food? 203
– Thanks his guiding spirit 205  the monster?
– Filled with ecstasy when seeing the monster. 207
2) Opposed to the monster
• Vengeance dies in him when he thinks of his dead family members.
204
• Still insists that the monster’s soul is “hellish” and that he has to be
killed.209; 217;
3) Destiny and duty mine [adventure] is assigned to me by
Heaven 216
The Deadly Embrace of the Double
• The monster’s perspective:
1) Needs Frankenstein
– Genuinely sad and remorseful when seeing F dead p. 219
2) Reasoning and Excusing himself like Frankenstein
– defends himself
• 1. his development from love and sympathy to revenge and
despair;
• 2. his regret at killing Cherval and anger F’s attempt at
marriage
• 3. miseries lead to crime
– Feels himself ‘degraded’ (like F) but claims that he is alone
p. 221; 211;
– Still selfish: Desire for revenge better satiated in his(the
monster’s) life than his death. (223)
– my agony stronger than his. (223)
The Deadly Embrace and
its Possible Solutions
• Deadly 
• When love and hatred (or likes and dislikes) get
pushed to extremes;
• Possible outcomes:
– one victimized by the passion
– the two deadlocked with and in need of each other
– the two withdraw, their perspectives broadened and
their tension reduced
• Frankenstein’s suggestions to Walton:
– 1) stay and fight “Return as heroes who have fought and
conquered” (215);
– 2) don’t be too ambitious: “seek happiness in tranquility
and avoid ambition” (217)
Next Time
• Conclusion:
• The novel’s structure and the function of Walton
(passion vs. humanity)
• The Romantic Hero, or the Modern Prometheus –ideal
and responsibilities
• The novel as a gothic fiction and as a science fiction
• The issue of human creation
– its feminist implication
– Personal implication
• The roles of Women and the Others
Also: Introduction to Death of a Salesman
Reference
• Randel, Fred V. “The Political Geography of Horror in Mary
Shelley's Frankenstein” ELH 70.2 (2003) 465-491.
• For definitions of the gothic:
– see My Hideous Progeny http://home1.worldonline.nl/~hamberg/
– Further studies: Individual and Social Psychologies of the
Gothic
http://www.engl.virginia.edu/enec981/Group/chris.social.html
• Films –
– Resources for the Study of F
http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/english016/franken/fr
anken.htm
– Frankenstein:
http://hermes.hrc.ntu.edu.tw/lctd/asp/authors/00180/references.h
tm