Frankenstein
Synopsis
By: Mary Shelley
Frame Story
 The novel contains a number of
"framing devices," which are stories
that surround other stories, setting
them up in one way or another. Robert
Walton's letters to his sister frame the
story that Victor Frankenstein tells to
Walton, and Frankenstein's story
surrounds the story that the monster
tells, which in turn frames the story of
the De Lacey family.
Letter 1
 Letter from Robert Walton the explorer to
his sister Margaret Saville
 Details that he is a captain on the ship
and headed to the North Pole to discover
a passage to the Pacific, revealing the
earths magnetism and discovering new
things
Letter 2
 Robert Walton writes another letter to his
sister and discusses the fact that he has
no friends, feels lonely and justifies his
lonely passage
Letter 3
 Robert Walton writes another letter to his
sister and lets her know that the ship has
sailed and he is excited and confident in
his adventure
Letter 4
 RW writes letter that details his ship getting
stuck in the ice. While stuck, he encounters a
man that is very sick. They offer assistance to
the man; however, the man is reluctant to get
on the boat. Finally, he agrees but is too sick to
talk for two days- everyone on the boat is
curious.
 The last part of the letter states that the
stranger will now tell his story. RW’s story ends
Chapter 1
 The stranger is Victor Frankenstein. VF is
now telling his story. He came from a
good family and his family adopted a girl
(who was his cousin) Elizabeth Lavenza
who his mother wants him to marry
Chapter 2
 Elizabeth and Victor are best friends
 Discusses Henry Clerval- his best friend
 He discusses the fact that he became
enchanted with the mysterious natural
world and science
 Lightning strikes and he has electricity
explained to him
Chapter 3
 Plans to leave his family at 17 for schooling at
Ingolstadt University
 Right before he leaves his mother catches
scarlet fever from Elizabeth and on her
deathbed she says she wants Victor and
Elizabeth to marry
 Leaves for college and meets M Krempe who
says all the things he studied have been
wasteful
 Attends Professor Waldman’s Chemistry class
and his love of science returns
Chapter 4
 Continues studying and realizes he is
very interested in the creation of life
 Begins trying to create life in his
apartment and becomes so obsessed he
ignores anything and everything- even
his own health
Chapter 5
 Months later, on a stormy night he completes
his creation and brings it to life and he is
terrified!
 Walks into town and sees his friend Henry
Clerval who ends of taking care of Victor for a
few months while he is sick
 Once he is feeling better, Henry gives Victor a
letter from Elizabeth that came while he was
sick
Chapter 6
 Letter from Elizabeth expresses her concern
over his lingering illness and she encourages
him to write her soon
 Victor introduces Henry to his professors but
the thought of science and his creation makes
him ill and he decides to go back home to
Geneva
 Henry and Victor go on a long walk through the
country
Chapter 7
 Still at school, Victor gets a letter from his
father that says Victors younger brother,
William, has been murdered
 Returns home to Geneva, but he cant get in as
the gates are locked. He visits the spot his
brother was murdered and sees his creation
and believes his creation is responsible
 Justine-his adopted sister, is accused of the
murder and Victor is afraid to express what he
believes happened
Chapter 8
 Justine knows she is innocent but
confesses to the murderer because she
believes it is the only way she will be
spared
 She is executed and Victor feels
immense grief and guilt for the deaths of
two members of his family
Chapter 9
 Victor goes on a trip with his family to
The ALPS and wanders off. As he
wanders, he encounters his “creature”
who wants to tell Victor his story. Victor
follows him and the story begins.
Chapter 10
 As he wanders to the top of a mountain,
he encounters his “creature” who wants
to tell Victor his story. Victor follows him
and the story begins.
Chapter 11
 Creature tells Frankenstein about his
confusion of the world around him and
how he had to learn everything first hand
(speech, emotions, survival)
 Discusses how it felt to be shunned by
humans and how he had to take refuge in
a hovel where he observes a family
Chapter 12
 Observes family from his hovel for a long
period of time and realizes that the family
is not always happy because they are
poor and have hardships, so he collects
firewood for them
 Sees himself for the first time and is
horrified
Chapter 13
 Realizes that Felix is unhappy. One day a
lady, Safie appears. She does not know
the language. Creature continues to
observe and learns as she does
Chapter 14
 Through eavesdropping he learns the history of
the cottagers
 Delacey is old man – all of them together make
up the Delacey family
 Agatha and Felix are Delacey’s children. Safie
and Felix are in love
 Safie’s story is that her father became
obnoxious to the government, Felix helped her
father escape and then the Delacey’s were
thrown out of town and that is why they are in a
cottage in the middle of the woods.
Chapter 15
 Creature finds books in the woods, reads
Paradise Lost and draws a comparison to
himself
 Also finds Frankenstein’s journal which detailed
his work on the creation=creature
 Wants friends, good heart. Waits until everyone
but old man Delacey are gone from the
cottage. Approaches wanting friendship and is
denied that when the others show up
unexpectedly
Chapter 16
 Leaves for Geneva to find Victor. Swears off
humans. Sees a little girl who falls into the
river, saves her and is “rewarded” with a
gunshot. He will never be accepted based on
his looks only
 Runs into William, wants him to be his
companion. Ends up killing him and planting
the evidence on Justine
 Meets with Victor and tells him what he wantsa companion
Chapter 17
 Creature wants a female companion. He guilt
trips Victor into creating one for him and says
that there is no need to worry, he (the creature)
will be in touch with Victor
 Creature swears that he will take his female
companion to a remote area and they will not
bother anyone
 Victor feels somewhat responsible and agrees
to the request
Chapter 18
 Victor tries to put off the making of the creature
for a while as he will need to go to England for
parts
 His father begins to worry about him and fears
Victor may not want to marry Elizabeth. This is
far from the truth and Victor asks to take a trip
to England before the marriage. His father
agrees and his friend Henry Clerval goes with
him
Chapter 19
 Victor can not get any work done with
Henry along on the trip, so he
encourages Henry to stay with a friend
 Henry agrees to do that and Victor sets
up a makeshift lab to begin his quest,
even though the thought of creating
another creature horrifies him
Chapter 20
 While working on the second creation he begins thinking of the
moral implications of creating a new creature. He is disgusted with
himself and looks up to see creature peering in the window.
 Realizing the horribleness of it all, he smashes the female creation
to bits in front of creature
 Creature is very upset and vows revenge- on Victors wedding
night
 As he is packing up his lab, he gets a letter from Henry who wants
to continue their trip. He takes the creation and rows out to sea
and sinks it and considers dying alone at sea when a storm
comes; however, he ends up washing up on the shore of a town
where he is greeted angrily and accused of a young mans murder
Chapter 21
 The townspeople bring him to the town judge
who then wants to see Victors reaction to the
murdered mans body.
 Victor sees the body and it is Henry Clerval
with the monsters hand prints on his neck
 Victor becomes very ill and is imprisoned
 A visitor arrives at the prison and it is Victors
father
 At the trial, Victor is cleared of murder due to
circumstantial evidence and returns back home
to his father
Chapter 22
 Victor receives a letter from Elizabeth-she is
worried that he may not want to marry her. He
does want to!
 He wants to tell Elizabeth about creature but
only once they are married. He remembers the
monsters words about his wedding night
 Victor and Elizabeth marry and depart for the
family cottage for their “honeymoon”
Chapter 23
 On the first night of their honeymoon, Creature
makes true on his promise and kills Elizabeth
 Victor returns home to tell his father who is so
grief stricken he dies just a few days later
 Victor finally tells a judge in Geneva about the
monster; however, the judge does not believe
him
 Victor resolves to kill the creature himself
Chapter 24
 His whole family is destroyed, so Victor departs
for the North Pole to find creature
 It is there that he tells Robert Walton his story
and asks Robert to continue looking for
creature even after his death
 Victor dies and the crew on RW ship hears a
noise in Victors room- it is creature mourning
Victor
 Creature says he never meant to be evil and
wishes to die himself- he walks off into the
darkness