Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN
Character List
Robert Walton: He is the person to whom Victor relates his story. He has much in common with
Victor: ambition, drive, and the desire for glory.
Victor Frankenstein: Main character, a man driven by ambition and scientific curiosity. His quest
for absolute knowledge and power will eventually end in his own ruin.
Elizabeth Lavenza: Both Victor's adopted sister and bride. She is good and beautiful –she
represents ideal womanhood and promises of love comfort.
Caroline: Victor's mother; a symbol of motherly concern and generosity. Her death leads to
Victor’s desire to transcend death.
Alphonse: Victor's father; His happiness depends on the happiness of his children. If they fail, he
does as well; thus, their deaths precipitate his own.
William: The youngest son of the Frankenstein family-- His death at the hands of the monster
renders him a symbol of lost and violated innocence.
Henry Clerval: Victor's best friend since childhood. He is Victor's intellectual opposite. He is
murdered by the monster; he is a symbol of the destruction of Victor's own goodness and
potential.
Justine: Servant for the Frankenstein family-- she is more like a sister to Victor and Elizabeth.
She is executed for William's murder, and becomes another martyr to lost virtue and innocence.
The Creature: The work of Frankenstein's hands, he is his double, his persecutor, and his victim.
Their lives are entwined.
De Lacey: The head of the household observed by the creature, de Lacey has been robbed of his
fortunes as a result of his own kindness. His blindness makes him capable of recognizing the
creature's sincerity and goodness despite his hideous appearance.
Felix: The son of de Lacey, he is devoted to his family and his mistress, Safie. Though noble, he
drives the creature from the family cottage with stones. He symbolizes the basic flaws in the
human character: the hatred of difference.
Agatha: The daughter of De Lacey, she is an example of selfless womanhood, caring for her
brother & father despite their poverty and her own sadness.
Safie: The betrothed of Felix. She is exotically beautiful. The de Lacey family wishes to marry her
to Felix and convert her to Christianity
Frankenstein Summary Sheet
The novel begins with a series of letters from the explorer Robert Walton to his sister, Margaret Saville. Walton, a
well-to-do Englishman with a passion for seafaring, is the captain of a ship headed on a voyage to the North Pole.
Letters 1-3: In the first letter, he tells his sister of the preparations leading up to his departure and of the desire
burning in him to accomplish “some great purpose”—discovering a northern passage to the Pacific, revealing the
source of the Earth's magnetism, or simply setting foot on undiscovered territory. In the second letter, Walton sadly
describes his feelings of loneliness and isolation. In the brief third letter, Walton tells his sister that his ship has set
sail and that he has full confidence that he will achieve his aim.
Letter 4: The ship stalls between huge sheets of ice, and Walton and his men spot a sledge guided by a gigantic
creature about half a mile away. The next morning, they encounter another sledge stranded on an ice floe.
The man on the sledge—not the man seen the night before—is weak and starving. Despite his condition, the man
refuses to board the ship until Walton tells him that it is heading north. The stranger spends two days recovering,
before he can speak. As time passes, Walton and the stranger become friends, and the stranger eventually consents
to tell Walton his story. At the end of the fourth letter, Walton states that the visitor will commence his narrative the
next day; Walton's framing narrative ends and the stranger's begins.
Chapters 1 & 2: The stranger, who the reader soon learns is Victor Frankenstein, begins his narration. He starts
with his family background, birth, and early childhood. Elizabeth and Victor grow up together as best friends.
Victor’s friendship with Henry Clerval, a schoolmate and only child, flourishes as well, and he spends his childhood
happily surrounded by this close domestic circle. As a teenager, Victor becomes increasingly fascinated by the
mysteries of the natural world. He witnesses the destructive power of nature when, during a raging storm, lightning
destroys a tree near his house. A modern natural philosopher accompanying the Frankenstein family explains to
Victor the workings of electricity, making the ideas of the alchemists seem outdated and worthless.
Chapters 3 & 4: At the age of seventeen, Victor leaves his family in Geneva to attend the university at Ingolstadt.
Just before Victor departs, his mother catches scarlet fever from Elizabeth, whom she has been nursing back to
health, and dies. On her deathbed, she begs Elizabeth and Victor to marry. Several weeks later, still grieving, Victor
goes off to Ingolstadt. Victor attacks his studies with enthusiasm and, ignoring his social life and his family far
away in Geneva, makes rapid progress. Fascinated by the mystery of the creation of life, he begins to study how the
human body is built (anatomy) and how it falls apart (death and decay). Privately, hidden away in his apartment
where no one can see him work, he decides to begin the construction of an animate creature, envisioning the creation
of a new race of wonderful beings. Zealously devoting himself to this labor, he neglects everything else—family,
friends, studies, and social life—and grows increasingly pale, lonely, and obsessed.
Chapters 5 & 6: Victor completes his creation. But when he brings it to life, its awful appearance horrifies him. He
rushes to the next room and tries to sleep, but he is troubled by nightmares about Elizabeth and his mother’s corpse.
He wakes to discover the monster looming over his bed with a grotesque smile and rushes out of the house. Victor
comes across his friend Henry Clerval, who has just arrived to begin studying at the university. Weakened by
months of work and shock at the horrific being he has created, he immediately falls ill with a nervous fever that lasts
several months. Henry nurses him back to health and, when Victor has recovered, gives him a letter from Elizabeth
that had arrived during his illness. Elizabeth’s letter expresses her concern about Victor’s illness and entreats him to
write to his family in Geneva as soon as he can. She also tells him that Justine Moritz, a girl who used to live with
the Frankenstein family, has returned to their house following her mother’s death.
Chapters 7 & 8: Victor finds a letter from his father telling him that Victor’s youngest brother, William, has been
murdered. Saddened, Victor departs immediately for Geneva. By the time he arrives, night has fallen and the gates
of Geneva have been shut, so he spends the evening walking in the woods around the outskirts of the town. As he
walks near the spot where his brother’s body was found, he spies the monster lurking and becomes convinced that
his creation is responsible for killing William. The next day, however, when he returns home, Victor learns that
Justine has been accused of the murder. Justine confesses to the crime, believing that she will thereby gain salvation,
but tells Elizabeth and Victor that she is innocent—and miserable. They remain convinced of her innocence, but
Justine is soon executed. Victor becomes consumed with guilt, knowing that the monster he created and its secret
now caused the deaths of two members of his family.
Chapters 9,10,11: After Justine’s execution, Victor becomes increasingly depressed. He considers suicide but
restrains himself by thinking of Elizabeth and his father. Alphonse, hoping to cheer up his son, takes his children on
an excursion to the family home at Belrive. From there, Victor wanders alone toward the valley of Chamounix. He
decides to travel to the summit of Montanvert, hoping that the view of a pure, eternal, natural scene will revive his
spirits.When he reaches the glacier, he spots a creature loping toward him at incredible speed. At closer range, he
recognizes clearly the grotesque shape of the monster. Victor curses him and tells him to go away, but the monster,
speaking eloquently, persuades him to accompany him to a fire in a cave of ice. Sitting by the fire in his hut, the
monster tells Victor of the confusion that he experienced upon being created. He describes his flight from Victor’s
apartment into the wilderness and his gradual acclimation to the world through his discovery of the sensations of
light, dark, hunger, thirst, and cold. In search of food, the monster proceeds to a village, where people flee at the
sight of him. As a result, he resolves to stay away from humans. Observing his neighbors for an extended period of
time, the monster notices that they often seem unhappy, though he is unsure why. He eventually realizes, however,
that their despair results from their poverty, to which he has been contributing by surreptitiously stealing their food.
Torn by his guilty conscience, he stops stealing their food and does what he can to reduce their hardship, gathering
wood at night to leave at the door for their use. He spends the whole winter in the hovel, unobserved and well
protected from the elements, and grows increasingly affectionate toward his unwitting hosts.
Chapters 12, 13, 14: The monster’s growing understanding of the social significance of family is connected to his
sense of otherness and solitude. Ironically, observing their kindness actually causes the monster to suffer, as he
realizes how truly alone, and how far from being the recipient of such kindness, he is. Like Victor, the monster
comes to regard knowledge as dangerous, as it can have unforeseen negative consequences. Just as the monster, a
product of knowledge, spins out of Victor’s control, so too can knowledge itself, once uncovered, create irreversible
harm. After some time, the monster’s constant eavesdropping on the villagers allows him to reconstruct the history
of the cottagers. The old man, De Lacey, was once an affluent and successful citizen in Paris; his children, Agatha
and Felix, were well-respected members of the community. Safie’s father, a Turk, was falsely accused of a crime
and sentenced to death.
Chapters 15, 16, 17: While foraging for food in the woods around the cottage one night, the monster finds an
abandoned leather satchel containing some clothes and books. Rifling through the pockets of his own clothes, stolen
long ago from Victor’s apartment, he finds some papers from Victor’s journal. With his newfound ability to read, he
soon understands the horrific manner of his own creation and the disgust with which his creator regarded him.
Dismayed by these discoveries, the monster wishes to reveal himself to the blind De Lacey hoping to win him over
while Felix, Agatha, and Safie are away. He believes that De Lacey, unprejudiced against his hideous exterior, may
be able to convince the others of his gentle nature. . The monster nervously enters the cottage and begins to speak to
the old man. Just as he begins to explain his situation, however, the other three return unexpectedly. Felix drives the
monster away, horrified by his appearance. In the wake of this rejection, the monster swears to revenge himself
against all human beings, his creator in particular. On the way, he spots a young girl, seemingly alone; the girl slips
into a stream and appears to be on the verge of drowning. When the monster rescues the girl from the water, the man
accompanying her, suspecting him of having attacked her, shoots him. As he nears Geneva, the monster runs across
Victor’s younger brother, William, in the woods. When William mentions that his father is Alphonse Frankenstein,
the monster erupts in a rage of vengeance and strangles the boy to death with his bare hands. Having explained to
Victor the circumstances behind William’s murder and Justine’s conviction, the monster implores Victor to create
another monster to accompany him and be his mate. Victor refuses at first, but the monster appeals to his sense of
responsibility as his creator. With the sympathy of a fellow monster, he argues, he will no longer be compelled to
kill. Convinced by these arguments, Victor finally agrees to create a female monster.
Chapters 18, 19, 20: After his fateful meeting with the monster on the glacier, Victor puts off the creation of a
new, female creature. He begins to have doubts about the wisdom of agreeing to the monster’s request. He realizes
that the project will require him to travel to England to gather information. Victor refuses to marry Elizabeth until he
has completed his obligation to the monster. He asks Alphonse if he can first travel to England, and Alphonse
consents. Quickly setting up a laboratory in a small shack, Victor devotes many hours to working on his new
creature. He often has trouble continuing his work, however, knowing how unsatisfying, even grotesque, the product
of his labor will be. Victor looks up to see the monster grinning at him through the window. Overcome by the
monster’s hideousness and the possibility of a second creature like him, he destroys his work in progress. Before he
leaves his shack, Victor cleans and packs his chemical instruments and collects the remains of his second creature.
Late that evening, he rows out onto the ocean and throws the remains into the water, allowing himself to rest in the
boat for a while. he reaches shore near a town. When he lands, a group of townspeople greet him rudely, telling him
that he is under suspicion for a murder discovered the previous night.
Chapters 21, 22, 23: After confronting Victor, the townspeople take him to Mr. Kirwin, the town magistrate.
Victor hears witnesses testify against him, claiming that they found the body of a man along the beach the previous
night and that, just before finding the body, they saw a boat in the water that resembled Victor’s. Victor is sentenced
to jail. Victor becomes ill for two months. Upon his recovery, he finds himself still in prison; however because of
the circumstantial evidence, he is finally released. Eventually, Victor and his father arrive home and begin planning
the wedding. As the wedding day approaches, Victor grows more and more nervous about his impending
confrontation with the monster. He begins to search for the monster in the house, when suddenly he hears Elizabeth
scream and realizes that it was never his death that the monster had been intending this night. Consumed with grief
over Elizabeth’s death, Victor returns home and tells his father the gruesome news. Shocked by the tragic end of
what should have been a joyous day, his father dies a few days later. Victor resolves to devote the rest of his life to
finding and destroying the monster.
Chapter 24: His whole family destroyed, Victor decides to leave Geneva and the painful memories it holds behind
him forever. He meets Walton and tells his story. He entreats Walton to continue his search for vengeance after he is
dead. Victor dies shortly after that, and the monster appears. He cries over the death of his creator, and he
leaves the ship, ready for his own death.
FRANKENSTEIN Study Questions
Letters 1-4
1. Who is writing Letter 1 (and all the letters)?
2. To whom is he writing? What is their relationship?
3. Where is Robert Walton when he writes Letter 1? Why is he there? What are his plans?
4. What does Robert Walton tell us about himself?
5. How much time has elapsed between Letter 3 and Letter 4? What "strange accident" has happened to
the sailors?
6. How much time has elapsed when Walton begins writing again? What has happened in the
meantime? How does the man respond to Walton's project? Why does the man agree to tell his story?
Ch 1- 5
7. What is the story of the man's mother, Caroline Beaufort? How does the man feel toward his parents,
and what responsibilities does he feel they had toward him?
8. Who is Elizabeth Lavenza and what is her story? What gift does the man's mother give him? Do we
know the man's name yet? Do we know his family name?
9. Who is Henry Clerval and what is his relation to Victor?
10. Who is Cornelius Agrippa and how does Victor find out about him? How does Victor's father
respond, and how does Victor comment on that response?
11. What happens when Victor sees an oak tree destroyed by lightning and hears an explanation? What
does Victor then begin to study?
12. Who or what does he credit for this change in direction? Who or what does he blame for his "utter
and terrible destruction"?
13. What happens to Elizabeth and to Victor's mother as a result of Elizabeth's scarlet fever? How does
this compare with the mother's early history?
14. How well does Victor progress during the next two years? What does he then become interested in,
and what ultimately does he discover?
15. Will he share that knowledge with Walton? Why? (Note the "present" of the telling breaking through
the narration here.)
16. Given all the mad doctor and monster movies we've seen, including perhaps versions of
Frankenstein, what is unexpected about the description of the actual creation of life here? How much
do we learn of the actual procedure?
17. How does Victor respond to the actual creation of life? What surprises him about the way the
creature he has brought to life looks? What does that do to Victor's response?
18. What does the creature do? How does Victor respond?
Ch 6-8
19. What is waiting for Victor when he finally recovers? Who has nursed him during his illness?
20. Who is William and how old is he? Have we heard of him before?
21. What does Victor do after his recovery? What is Clerval's "plan of life"?
22. What is waiting for Victor when he returns to his apartment? What news does his father have for
him? And what is his father's name? How does Victor respond?
23. How long has Victor been away from home? What happens the night he returns to Geneva?
24. Whom does Victor see that night? When was the last time they saw each other?
25. What does Victor now believe happened to William? What does Victor assume about the nature of
the creature?
Ch 13-18
1. How does the creature learn about reading?
2. What book does Felix use to teach Safie ?
3. What happens when the creature begins to think about himself? How does his knowledge make him
feel?
4. How did the De Lacey family come to be living in the cottage?
5. How did Safie come to find and join them?
6. What does the creature hope will happen when he talks to De Lacey? What actually happens?
7. What happens to the De Lacey family after the events of chapter 15? How does the creature
respond, and what does he do to the cottage?
8. What event during the creature's travels confirms his hatred of humans ?
9. What does the creature demand from Victor ? How does Victor at first respond to the creature's
demand?
10. What does the creature say will happen if Victor creates a female for him ?
Ch 19-21
1. Why does Victor change his mind about creating the female? Who watches him as he destroys the
female?
2. What happens shortly after Victor destroys the female ? How is this similar to what happened after
Victor created the Creature?
3. What happens when the Creature visits Victor?. What does the Creature promise to do? What does
Victor understand that promise to mean ?
4. What happens when Victor goes out in a boat to dispose of the female creature's remains? Where
does he end up? What happens when he lands?
5. What happens at Victor's trial?
Ch 22-24
6. Why doesn't Victor get home quickly?
7. What does Elizabeth say in her letter? How does Victor respond to her?
8. What are the marriage plans? How does Victor prepare for what he fears will happen?
9. Has Victor understood the Creature's promise correctly? What happens on Victor's wedding night?
10. How does the Creature respond?
11. What happens during Victor's pursuit of the Creature? Where to they go?
12. What does Victor ask Walton to do? What does he warn Walton about the Creature ?
Walton's letter continues
13. Why wouldn't Victor tell Walton the details about the creation?
14. How does Walton avoid the threat of a mutiny ?
15. Why is Walton returning to England ? What will Victor do?
16. What happens as Walton is writing ? What is the effect of shifting to the present tense here?
17. How does the Creature explain what he has done? How does Walton respond to the Creature?
18. What will the Creature do next? How does he feel about it?