Frankenstein

"infinite perfectability of man," Gothic novelists portrayed human beings as BACKGROUND INFO woefully imperfect and at the mercy of far more powerful forces, such as nature and death. AUTHOR BIO EXTRA CREDIT Full Name: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley A ghost story. On a stormy night in June of 1816, Mary Shelley, her husband, Date of Birth: 1797 and a few other companions, including the Romantic poet Lord Byron, decided to try to write their own ghost stories, but Shelley couldn't come up with any Date of Death: 1851 ideas. A few nights later, she had a dream in which she envisioned "the pale Place of Birth: London student of unhallowed arts" kneeling beside his creation—the monster. She Brief Life Story: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was the daughter of the began writing the story that became Frankenstein the next morning. philosopher William Godwin and the writer Mary Wollstonecraft, who wrote The Tale of Two Frankensteins. Shelley published the first edition of "Vindication of the Rights of Woman" (1792). Shelley's mother died in Frankenstein anonymously, perhaps due to her concern that such a grim and childbirth and she was raised by her father. At age 18 Shelley ran off with violent tale would not be well received by her audience if they knew her Percy Bysshe Shelley, a leading British Romantic poet, who she married in gender. She revised the novel and published it under her real name in 1831. 1816. The couple had a son, but after her husband died in a shipwreck in Some key differences exist between the editions, namely that in the first 1822, Mary Shelley fell into poverty. She continued to write fiction to support edition, Elizabeth is Alphonse's niece and, therefore, Victor's cousin. (In the herself. Frankenstein (1818) was her first and yb far her most successful work 1831 edition, the more popular version and the one used in this Outline, the of fiction. Frankensteins adopt Elizabeth from another family). KEY FACTS Full Title: Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus PLOT SUMMARY Genre: Gothic novel Robert Walton, the captain of a ship bound for the North Pole, writes a letter Setting: Switzerland, France, England, Scotland, and the North Pole in the to his sister, Margaret Saville, in which he says that his crew members 18th century recently discovered a man adrift at sea. The man, Victor Frankenstein, offered to tell Walton his story. Climax: The Monster's murder of Elizabeth Lavenza on her wedding night to Victor Frankenstein has a perfect childhood in Switzerland, with a loving family that even adopted orphans in need, including the beautiful Elizabeth, who soon Protagonist: Victor Frankenstein becomes Victor's closest friend, confidante, and love. Victor also has a caring Antagonist: The Monster and wonderful best friend, Henry Clerval. Just before Victor turns seventeen Point of View: Frankenstein is told through a few layers of first person and goes to study at the University at Ingoldstadt, his mother dies of scarlet narratives. Walton is the primary narrator, who then recounts Victor's first- fever. At Ingolstadt, Victor dives into "natural philosophy" with a passion, person narrative. In addition, Victor's narrative contains the monster's first studying the secrets of life with such zeal that he even loses touch with his person story as well as letters from other characters. family. He soon rises to the top of his field, and suddenly, one night, discovers the secret of life. With visions of creating a new and noble race, Victor puts his HISTORICAL AND LITERARY CONTEXT knowledge to work. But when he animates his first creature, its appearance is so horrifying he abandons it. Victor hopes the monster has disappeared for When Published: 1818 ever, but some months later he receives word that his youngest brother, Literary Period: Switzerland and London, England: 1816–1817 William, has been murdered. Though Victor sees the monster lingering at the Related Literary Works: The Gothic novel flourished in English literature site of the murder and is sure it did the deed, he fears no one will believe him from the publication of Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, which and keeps silent. Justine Moritz, another adoptee in his family, has been established the genre in 1764, until about 1820. Gothic novels emphasized falsely accused based of the crime. She is convicted and executed. Victor is mystery and horror, and almost always contained dark forests, castles, the consumed by guilt. supernatural, trap doors, secret rooms, and other similar elements now To escape its tragedy, the Frankensteins go on vacation. Victor often hikes in familiar from "horror" movies. Yet while Frankenstein is one of the most famous the mountains, hoping to alleviate his suffering with the beauty of nature. One novels in the Gothic genre, it was written at a time when the Gothic novel was day the monster appears, and despite Victor's curses begs him incredibly slowly giving way to the literary movement of Romanticism, and the novel eloquently to listen to its story. The monster describes his wretched life, full of shares the Romantic emphasis on the "sublime" power of nature. In writing suffering and rejection solely because of his horrifying appearance. (The Frankenstein, Shelley also drew heavily on John Milton's seventeenth century monster also explains how he learned to read and speak so well.) The monster Paradise Lost, an epic poem that traces humankind's fall from grace. The blames his rage on humanity's inability to perceive his inner goodness and his epigraph of Frankenstein is a quotation from Paradise Lost, in which Adam resulting total isolation. It demands that Victor, its creator who brought it into curses God for creating him, just as the monster curses Victor Frankenstein, this wretched life, create a female monster to give it the love that no human his creator. ever will. Victor refuses at first, but then agrees. Related Historical Events: Most critics consider the Gothic genre a reaction Back in Geneva, Victor's father expresses his wish that Victor marry Elizabeth. to the "Age of Reason," a movement in 18th-century British and European art Victor says he first must travel to England. On the way to England, Victor and politics that stressed the power of the human mind above all. Empowered meets up with Clerval. Soon, though, Victor leaves Clerval at the house of a by an unchecked faith in humanity, people set out to reshape society: The friend in Scotland and moves to a remote island to make his second, female, American and French Revolutions erupted, and the Industrial Revolution monster. But one night Victor begins to worry that the female monster might forced people into long grueling days in factories. The Gothic novelists aimed turn out more destructive than the first. At the same moment, Victor sees the to represent the dark side that accompanied this age of apparent human first monster watching him work through a window. The horrifying sight progress. At a time when writers and thinkers had begun to believe in the pushes Victor to destroy the female monster. The monster vows revenge,

Background info www.LitCharts.com | @litcharts ©2013-2014 | Page 1 Frankenstein warning Victor that it will "be with him on [his] wedding night." Victor takes the evidence and executed. Though all the Frankenstein's believe she is innocent, remains of the female monster and dumps them in the ocean. But when he only Victor knows that the monster is the true murderer. returns to shore, he is accused of a murder that was committed that same William Frankenstein – Victor's youngest brother, beloved by everyone. The night. When Victor discovers that the victim is Clerval, he collapses and monster strangles him in a forest near Geneva. remains delusional for two months. When he wakes his father has arrived, and he is cleared of the criminal charges against him. Ernest Frankenstein – Victor's younger brother by six years. He is the only Frankenstein to survive the novel. Victor returns with his father to Geneva, and marries Elizabeth. But on his wedding night, the monster instead kills Elizabeth. Victor's father dies of grief Caroline Beaufort – Beaufort's daughter, Victor's mother, and Alphonse soon thereafter. Now, all alone in the world, Victor dedicates himself solely to Frankenstein's wife. Caroline is an example of idealized womanhood: smart, seeking revenge against the monster. He tracks the monster to the Arctic, but kind, generous, and resourceful. Caroline dies of scarlet fever when Victor is becomes trapped on breaking ice and is rescued by Walton's crew. seventeen. Walton writes another series of letters to his sister. He tells her about his Beaufort – Caroline's father and a close friend to Alphonse Frankenstein. failure to reach the North Pole and to restore Victor, who died soon after his Beaufort was a merchant who fell into poverty and moved to Lucerne with his rescue. Walton's final letter describes his discovery of the monster grieving daughter. He died soon thereafter. over Victor's corpse. He accuses the monster of having no remorse, but the De Lacey – A blind old man who lives in exile with his children Felix and monster says it has suffered more than anyone. With Victor dead, the monster Agatha in a cottage and a forest. As a blind man, De Lacey can't perceive the has its revenge and plans to end its own life. monster's wretched appearance and therefore does not recoil in horror at his presence. He represents the goodness of human nature in the absence of CHARACTERS prejudice. Felix – The son of De Lacey and brother of Agatha. Felix falls in love with Safie Victor Frankenstein – The oldest son in the Frankenstein family, the eventual and marries her in exchange for helping her father escape from prison. When husband of Elizabeth Lavenza, and the novel's protagonist and narrator of the monster enters his family's cottage in Germany, Felix pelts it with rocks most of the story (he tells his story to Robert Walton, who relates it to the and chases it away. reader). From childhood, Victor has a thirst for knowledge and powerful Agatha – De Lacey's daughter. She represents an ideal of womanliness: kind, ambition. These two traits lead him to study biology at university in Ingolstadt, gentle, and devoted to her family. where he eventually discovers the "secret of life" and then uses that Safie – The young Turkish "Arabian" whose beauty captivates Felix. Though knowledge to create his own living being. But Frankenstein is also prejudiced, raised as a Muslim, she longs for a freer and happier life with Felix, a Christian. and cannot stand his creation's ugliness. He thinks it a monster though in fact it's kind and loving. Victor's abandonment of his "monster" creates a cycle of Margaret Saville – Robert Walton's sister and the recipient of his letters, guilt, anger, and destruction, in which first the monster takes vengeance upon which frame the novel. Victor, and then Victor swears vengeance on the monster. In the end, Victor M. Waldman – Victor's chemistry professor at Ingolstadt. He supports resembles the monster he hates far more than he would care to imagine. Victor's pursuit of "natural philosophy," especially chemistry, and becomes a The Monster – The hideous-looking creature that Victor Frankenstein mentor to Victor. creates (though the name "Frankenstein" has become associated with the M. Krempe – Victor's professor of natural philosophy at Ingolstadt. A short monster, the monster is, in fact, nameless). Though the monster is originally squat conceited man, Krempe calls Victor's studies "nonsense." kind and sensitive and wants nothing more than to be loved and accepted, it is Mr. Kirwin – An Irish magistrate. surrounded by people who judge it as evil because of its terrible appearance. The monster is isolated and demonized by human society, and soon becomes embittered and enraged at his treatment. Eventually, the monster becomes a THEMES killer, not from a criminal thirst to hurt, but from a desire for revenge against Victor and all of humanity for rejecting him. FAMILY, SOCIETY, ISOLATION Robert Walton – An explorer who rescues Victor from the ice, hears his harrowing story, and sets it down on paper in letters to his sister, Margaret In its preface, Frankenstein claims to be a novel that gives a flattering depiction Saville. Walton's quest for knowledge in the North Pole parallels Victor's of "domestic affection." That seems a strange claim in a novel full of murder, search for education and enlightenment at Ingolstadt. Because he parallels tragedy, and despair. But, in fact, all that tragedy, murder, and despair occur Victor in this way, Robert Walton is a "double" of Victor, whose actions, by because of a lack of connection to either family or society. Put another way, mirroring or contrasting Victor's own, serve to highlight Victor's character and the true evil in Frankenstein is not Victor or the monster, but isolation. When various themes in Frankenstein. Victor becomes lost in his studies he removes himself from human society, and therefore loses sight of his responsibilities and the consequences of his Elizabeth Lavenza – Victor's sister by adoption, and later his wife. Elizabeth is actions. The monster turns vengeful not because it's evil, but because its a stunningly beautiful and remarkably pure girl whom Victor's mother adopts. isolation fills it with vo erwhelming hate and anger. And what is the monster's All the Frankensteins adore Elizabeth, and Victor, about four years her elder, vengeance? To make Victor as isolated as it. Add it all up, and it becomes clear quickly begins to "protect, love, and cherish" her. Eventually Victor and that Frankenstein sees isolation from family and society as the worst Elizabeth marry. Through all of it, Elizabeth remains gorgeous, pure, and imaginable fate, and the cause of hatred, violence, and revenge. passive. NOTE: In the first edition (1818) of rF ankenstein, Elizabeth is Alphonse's niece and, therefore, Victor's cousin. In the revised 1831 edition, AMBITION AND FALLIBILITY the Frankensteins adopt Elizabeth, as described above. Through Victor and Walton, Frankenstein portrays human beings as deeply Henry Clerval – Victor's dear friend from childhood. Victor describes Clerval ambitious, and yet also deeply flawed. Both Victor and Walton dream of as having a vast imagination, a sensitive heart, and boundless love of nature. transforming society and bringing glory to themselves through their scientific Clerval serves as Victor's guiding light throughout Frankenstein, selflessly achievements. Yet their ambitions also make them fallible. Blinded by dreams helping Victor but never prodding him to reveal his secrets. Clerval's optimism of glory, they fail to consider the consequences of their actions. So while Victor also stands in contrast to Victor's gloominess. turns himself into a god, a creator, by bringing his monster to life, this only Alphonse Frankenstein – Victor's father. A devoted husband and parent, and highlights his fallibility when he is completely incapable of fulfilling the a well-respected public magistrate. Alphonse is a loving father to Victor, and a responsibilities that a creator has to its creation. Victor thinks he will be like a man who believes in family and society. god, but ends up the father of a devil. Walton, at least, turns back from his Justine Moritz – A young woman who the Frankensteins adopt at the age of quest to the North Pole before getting himself and his crew killed, but he does 12. She is convicted of the murder of William Frankenstein on circumstantial so with the angry conclusion that he has been robbed of glory. Neither Victor

Characters www.LitCharts.com | @litcharts ©2014 | Page 2 Frankenstein nor Walton ever escapes from their blinding ambitions, suggesting that all men, and particularly those who seek to raise themselves up in glory above the SYMBOLS rest of society, are in fact rash and "unfashioned creatures" with "weak and faulty natures." LIGHT ROMANTICISM AND NATURE Light symbolizes enlightenment in Frankenstein. Walton expects to find the Romantic writers portrayed nature as the greatest and most perfect force in secrets of the universe unveiled in the North Pole, which he describes as "a the universe. They used words like "sublime" (as Mary Shelley herself does in country of eternal light." Light also accompanies nearly all of Victor's describing Mont Blanc in Frankenstein) to convey the unfathomable power and epiphanies. When he first discovers natural philosophy, he says, "A new light flawlessness of the natural world. In contrast, Victor describes people as "half seemed to dawn upon my mind." When he discovers the secret to creating life, made up." The implication is clear: human beings, weighed down by petty he describes his feelings as if "a sudden light broke in upon me." He envisions concerns and countless flaws such as vanity and prejudice, pale in comparison pouring a "torrent of light into our dark world" through the creation of a new to nature's perfection. species. Yet light that's too bright is also blinding, and both Victor and Walton fail to see or consider the dangerous consequences of their quests for It should come as no surprise, then, that crises and suffering result when, in enlightenment. Frankenstein, imperfect men disturb nature's perfection. Victor in his pride attempts to discover the "mysteries of creation," to "pioneer a new way" by FIRE penetrating the "citadel of nature." But just as a wave will take down even the The complete title of Shelley's novel is Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus. strongest swimmer, nature prevails in the end and Victor is destroyed for his Prometheus was the titan who, in Greek mythology, gave the knowledge of misguided attempt to manipulate its power. fire to humanity and then suffered severe punishment at the hands of the REVENGE Gods for his generous actions. In Frankenstein, Victor attempts to give the gift of the secret of life to humanity, but ends up suffering grave punishment as a The monster begins its life with a warm, open heart. But after it is abandoned result: the monster he creates destroys his family and his life. Fire appears and mistreated first yb Victor and then by the De Lacey family, the monster throughout the novel as a dangerous force used for sustenance (as when the turns to revenge. The monster's actions are understandable: it has been hurt monster discovers fire) and punishment (as when the monster describes by the unfair rejection of a humanity that cannot see past its own prejudices, demons suffering in the lake of fire in hell). and in turn wants to hurt those who hurt it. As the monster says when Felix attacks it and flees with the rest of the De Lacey family, "...feelings of revenge and hatred filled ym bosom...[and] I bent my mind towards injury and death." QUOTES But in taking revenge, two things happen to the monster. First, it ensures that it will never be accepted in human society. Second, because by taking revenge LETTER 2 QUOTES the monster eliminates any hope of ever joining human society, which is what it really wants, revenge becomes the only thing it has. As the monster puts it, I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, revenge became "dearer than light or food." there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection. Revenge does not just consume the monster, however. It also consumes Victor, the victim of the monster's revenge. After the monster murders Victor's relatives, Victor vows a "great and signal revenge on [the monster's] cursed head." In a sense then, the very human desire for revenge transforms both Victor and the monster into true monsters that have no feelings or LETTER 4 QUOTES desires beyond destroying their foe. You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of oury wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has PREJUDICE been. Frankenstein explores one of mankind's most persistent and destructive flaws: prejudice. Nearly every human character in the novel assumes that the monster must be dangerous based on its outward appearance, when in truth the monster is (originally) warm and open-hearted. Again and again the CHAPTER 4 QUOTES monster finds himself assaulted and rejected yb entire villages and families despite his attempts to convey his benevolent intentions. The violence and Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break prejudice he encounters convinces him of the "barbarity of man." That the only through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. character who accepts the monster is a blind man, De Lacey, suggests that the monster is right: mankind is barbaric, and blinded by its own prejudice. LOST INNOCENCE Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who Frankenstein presents many examples of the corruption of youthful innocence. believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become The most obvious case of lost innocence involves Victor. A young man on the greater than his nature will allow. cusp of adulthood, Victor leaves for university with high hopes and lofty ambitions. He aims to explore "unknown powers" and enlighten all of humanity to the deepest "mysteries of creation," but his success and his pride brings an end to his innocence. He creates a monster that reflects back to him the many flaws inherent in his own species (an unquenchable thirst for love, a CHAPTER 5 QUOTES tendency toward violence, and a bloodthirsty need for justice and revenge) For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an and in himself (prejudice based on appearance). And, in turn, Victor's cruel ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty "un-innocent" behavior also destroys the monster's innocence. of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled ym heart. Victor and the monster's losses of innocence ultimately lead to the deaths of William, Justine, Elizabeth, and Clerval, four characters whom the novel portrays as uniquely gentle, kind, and, above all, innocent. Through these murders, Shelley suggests that innocence is fleeting, and will always be either CHAPTER 7 QUOTES lost or destroyed by the harsh reality of human nature.

[A] flash of lightning illuminated the object and discovered its shape plainly to me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect, more hideous than SUMMARY & ANALYSIS belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it was the wretch, the filthy demon to whom I had given life. THE PREFACE The Preface explains the origin of the The origin of the novel as a ghost story novel. Shelley spent the summer of places it squarely within the Gothic CHAPTER 10 QUOTES 1816 near Geneva, Switzerland, genre. The statement that the novel is where much of the novel takes place. meant to provide a positive image of All men hate the wretched; how then, must I be hated, who am miserable One rainy night, Shelley and her "domestic affection" indicates that family beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy friends challenged each other to write will be a major theme. creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of ghost stories. Frankenstein was the one of us. only one of the stories to be completed. The Preface also reveals Shelley's aim in writing the novel: to present a flattering depiction of CHAPTER 13 QUOTES "domestic affection" and "universal virtue." When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, a monster, a blot upon the earth from which all men fled and whom all men disowned? LETTER 1 Frankenstein begins with a series of Walton's description of the North Pole four letters from Robert Walton to reads like a Romantic poem full of his sister, Margaret Saville. The first beautiful images of nature, and CHAPTER 16 QUOTES letter is written on December 11 from establishes that nature and its beauty I am alone and miserable: man will not associate with me; but one as deformed St. Petersburg, Russia, sometime in will play a major role in the novel. and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be the eighteenth century. Walton is of the same species and have the same defects. This being you must create. about to set out on a journey at sea to reach the North Pole, which he considers a region of warmth, "eternal light," and unparalleled beauty. CHAPTER 20 QUOTES Walton's purpose in venturing to the Ambition motivates Walton, but it is an You can blast my other passions, but revenge remains—revenge, henceforth North Pole is twofold: to discover a ambition that stems from an arrogant dearer than light of food! I may die, but first ou,y my tyrant and tormentor, northern passage to the countries on sense of entitlement. He feels that he shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery. the other side of the world; and to deserves to make his mark on history. Yet determine the origin of the North Walton's ambition also emerges from a Pole's magnetism. Walton says he childhood dream. This combination of once hoped to become a famous poet, ambition and innocence is also, as it will but failed. Yet he has kept his be made clear, what motivated CHAPTER 22 QUOTES childhood dream of reaching the Frankenstein. If for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish intention of my North Pole. He adds that he could fiendish adversary, I would rather have banished myself forever from my have lived his life in wealth and ease, native country and wandered a friendless outcast over the earth than have but did not. For this reason, he feels consented to this miserable marriage. But, as if possessed of magic powers, that he deserves to "accomplish some the monster had blinded me to his real intentions; and when I thought that I great purpose." had prepared only my own death, I hastened that of a far dearer victim. Walton plans to rent a ship, hire a Walton is willing to give up his life to crew, and depart from northern achieve his ambitions. Russia in June, unsure of when or if he will ever return. CHAPTER 24 QUOTES Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition, even if it be only the LETTER 2 apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries. In his second letter on March 28th of Walton's experience of loneliness as a the following year, from Archangel, terrible experience establishes the idea of Russia, Walton describes himself as the horror of isolation that is so lonely. He worries that his refined important throughout he rest of The fallen angel becomes the malignant devil. Yet even the enemy of God and upbringing has made him too sensitive Frankenstein. man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone. for the "brutality" of life at sea.

Was there no injustice in this? Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all Walton writes that his resolution to Note the influence of Romanticism and( human kind sinned against me? carry out his journey is "fixed as fate." poets like Coleridge) on Shelley's work. He confesses his "romantic ... love for Yet the fact that his view of the sea is the marvellous" and his passion for based on books, not experience, the dangers of the sea, which he establishes his innocence (and attributes to his fondness for ignorance). Coleridge's poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

Summary & Analysis www.LitCharts.com | @litcharts ©2014 | Page 4 Frankenstein LETTER 3 When he was five, his mother In the 1818 edition of Frankenstein, discovered a beautiful blond orphan Elizabeth is Alphonse's niece (and Written on July 7th, this short letter Walton's confidence evr eals his faith in girl named Elizabeth Lavenza in an Victor's cousin). describes Walton's journey so far as a man as an almost divine being. But there Italian village and adopted her. "triumph." His men remain resolved is an answer to his question, suggested and loyal, and the weather has been by the ice in the sea: Nature. fine, though sheets of ice in the ocean Victor, his parents, and all the More domestic affection, and the suggest worse conditions may soon Frankensteins adored Elizabeth. She relationship between Victor and threaten. Walton closes his letter with became to him a "more than sister." Elizabeth hints at future romantic love. the rhetorical question, "What can The two children referred to each stop the determined heart and other as cousins, rather than brother resolved will of man?" and sister. LETTER 4 CHAPTER 2 In the first entry of this three-part Walton's use of the word "savage" places Victor describes his perfect An early hint at Victor's dangerous letter, Walton says his crew has him alongside the many other characters childhood. He and Elizabeth got along ambition, and his innocent belief that observed a huge "savage" figure in a in Frankenstein who prejudge the perfectly, though she favored poetry man is powerful and wise enough to dogsled speeding across the ice. The monster based on appearance alone. while he longed to unravel the comprehend nature. next morning his crew members "physical secrets" of life, including the discover another man, this one normal "hidden laws of nature." sized and European, within reach of the ship. In addition to Elizabeth, Victor shares Like Victor, Henry is also too young and The man comes aboard. Walton says Walton loves the stranger because he is a close friendship with Henry Clerval, innocent not to see the vanity and futility he showed a "benevolence and similar, and therefore offers the promise his well-read schoolmate. Like Victor, of his ambitions. sweetness" unequalled by anyone else of an end to isolation. His acceptance of Clerval possesses a "soaring ambition" he had ever met. As the days pass and the stranger shows that it is Walton who to leave his mark on human history. the stranger recovers his strength, is truly innocent and full of "sweetness." Walton comes to love him as a brother As he grows up, Victor becomes Nature portrayed as a fortress that will and considers him the friend he never fascinated with "natural philosophy," yield to an assault by man. This thought he would meet on his voyage. and reads widely among the thinkers antagonistic relationship between Victor in this field who want to penetrate the and nature bodes poorly. In the second part of the letter, Walton holds tightly on to his innocence. "citadel of nature." Walton tells the stranger that he is on He focuses on Victor's romantic love of a quest for knowledge, which upsets nature rather than his warning against the stranger. The stranger tells an ambition-fueled quest for knowledge. One day, when Victor observes Romantic writers viewed Nature as a Walton that he has lost everything lightning strike a tree, he realizes that sublime force beyond the power or and is at the end of his life, yet Walton the laws of science are beyond human understanding of man. Here Victor is more interested in the stranger's understanding and decides to focus senses that too. But his final comment sensitivity to nature. on studies based in fact, like indicates that his ambition overcomes In the third part of the letter, the Victor sees himself as a man of mathematics, rather than natural his sense, resulting in disaster. stranger says he's decided to tell his "experience" instructing another, philosophy. Yet he notes that he story to either help Walton in his "innocent" man. He clearly has eventually returned to it, leading to quest for knowledge, or convince him something to say on the subject of his "utter and terrible destruction." to give it up. He hopes that Walton ambition. might "deduce an apt moral" from CHAPTER 3 hearing his tale. Just before Victor turns seventeen, Victor's perfect family suffers its first Elizabeth catches scarlet fever and pain. His loss of innocence begins with Walton tells the stranger that his Shelley portrays Walton as a stubborn passes it on to Victor's mother, who his mother's death and continues with destiny has already been determined. innocent fool. He chooses to ignore dies. Her dying wish is for Victor and his quest for knowledge at University. Walton then promises his sister that Victor's warnings and, believing himself Elizabeth to marry. Still in grief, Victor he will take down the stranger's story to deserve achieving his ambition, trusts says goodbye to Clerval, Elizabeth, in a narrative. His "notes" frame "fate" instead. and his father and leaves to study at Frankenstein's main narrative, which Ingolstadt, a university in Germany. begins in Chapter 1. He meets with his professor of natural Victor's ambition is both to gain glory philosophy, M. Krempe, who tells and an innocent desire to aid society CHAPTER 1 Victor that his previous studies have through his scientific achievements. Note The stranger, Victor Frankenstein, Victor's childhood is innocent and all been a waste of time. Yet Victor how Victor ignores Krempe just as says he was born in Naples and grew perfect. His family life is perfect domestic then attends a class with M. Walton ignores Victor: both are blinded up in Geneva, Switzerland. His father, bliss. Waldman, a chemistry professor, by ambition. It's interesting to ponder Alphonse, and his mother, Caroline, whose lecture on the power and whether his mother's death inspires first became close when Alphonse's recent successes of science inspire Victor's ambition. friend and Caroline's father, Beaufort, Victor to dedicate himself to revealing died. Alphonse became Caroline's "to the world the deepest mysteries of protector, and eventually married her. creation." The next day Victor visits Waldman, who supports his plan.

Summary & Analysis www.LitCharts.com | @litcharts ©2014 | Page 5 Frankenstein CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 7 Victor becomes so caught up in Victor's intense focus allows him to fulfill On returning from the tour, Victor As family bliss and innocence are natural philosophy that he ignores his ambition and conquer nature, but receives a letter from his father saying destroyed, Victor's descriptions of nature everything else, including his family. also cuts him off from society. that his youngest brother, William, turn dark, reflecting his psyche. Lightning He progresses rapidly, and suddenly has been murdered. Shocked and is a reminder of his earlier realization after two years of work he discovers upset, Victor and Clerval rush to that mankind can never understand the secret to creating life. Geneva. But the town gate is locked nature. It's a lesson he forgot, to his when they arrive. Victor visits the spot detriment. Victor decides to build a race of Cut off from society, Victor seeks glory where his brother died. On the way he beings, starting with one creature. He rather than what's best for society. He sees lightning playing over the peaks spends months alone in his apartment foolishly believes he can replace Nature of the mountain Mont Blanc. building a body to reanimate, spurred (and God) as the creator of a species. on by the lure of fame and glory, Near where his brother died, Victor Victor realizes the cost of his arrogant imagining a "new species" that will sees a figure resembling the monster. assault on nature and begins to lose his bless him as its creator. He realizes that the monster killed innocence. And he realizes the monster is William, which means that he, Victor, revenging itself on him. CHAPTER 5 is really responsible since he created After months of effort, Victor is Victor, a flawed man, messes with the monster. successful in bringing his creature to Nature and, things literally get ugly. life. But once alive, the creature's When Victor arrives home the next Victor, who thought himself a creator of appearance horrifies him. day, his brother Ernest tearfully life, is now responsible for the death of informs him that Justine has been two innocents. Victor runs from the room and tries to Victor, the creator, abandons his accused of William's murder: in her sleep, but nightmares of death and creation. Because it's ugly he imagines pocket the police found a portrait of tombs wake him, and he opens his that it's evil. Victor's innocent belief in Victor's mother that William had been eyes to see the monster by his bed, himself is gone. wearing. reaching out and grinning. He runs, Victor announces to his family that By concealing his role in William's death and spends the night outside. Justine is certainly not guilty, but says and Justine's fate, Victor isolates himself no more since he fears anyone and must bear all the consequences of Still avoiding his apartment, Victor Clerval's words, though innocent and hearing his story would think him his ambition alone. wanders Ingolstadt, and runs into earnest, now sound dangerously insane. But Victor is confident that Henry Clerval, who has come to ambitious and naïve. Justine could not be convicted for a university to embark on "a voyage of crime she did not commit by discovery to the land of knowledge." circumstantial evidence.

Victor checks to see if the monster is Victor makes the mistake of isolating CHAPTER 8 still in his apartment, and is overjoyed himself and keeping his secret all to Victor wishes he could confess in Victor could confess everything, to find that it isn't. He invites Clerval himself; it eats away at his peace of mind Justine's place, but his absence at the including his secret, but instead he up, but once there falls ill with a and ruins his health. Knowing he has a time of the murder would make his chooses silence and isolation. "nervous fever," which lasts for secret but not what it is, Clerval tries to confession sound like nonsense. months. Clerval nurses him, not reconnect him to society. revealing the illness to anyone. When Victor recovers, Clerval asks Victor to At the trial, Justine maintains she is The monster must have framed Justine send a letter to his father and family, innocent, but cannot explain how as part of his revenge on Victor. and gives him a letter from Elizabeth. William's portrait of his mother CHAPTER 6 wound up in her pocket. She is sentenced to death. In her letter, Elizabeth updates Victor The Frankenstein family continues to be on his brothers, and says that Justine blissful and innocent. Victor speaks with a member of the Justine confesses to a crime she did not Moritz, a former servant of the court, who says that Justine has commit, she gives up her innocent Frankensteins, has come to live with already confessed to the crime. Victor honesty, to "save" her soul. She has given them after the death of her mother. and Elizabeth visit Justine in prison, up her innocence, and now no longer and she explains that she was sees the world as innocent either. Victor introduces Clerval to his Victor's innocent joy in natural pressured into confessing by her professors, but though they praise philosophy has been destroyed; now he jailors. She succumbed, and confessed him Victor finds anything connected seeks to isolate himself. a lie. Justine says she's ready to die with natural philosophy causes him and leave behind the "sad and bitter distress. So he gives up such studies world." for a while, and studies Middle Eastern language with Clerval. The next day Justine is executed. Victor now understands the grave Victor feels guilt overwhelm him for consequences of his ambition, but he Near the end of term, as Victor and Victor views nature as a Romantic poet his secret role in William's and continues to keep his secret. Clerval wait to travel back to Geneva, would: sublime, impenetrable, free from Justine's deaths. they take a tour around Germany the burdens of fallible human life. It which rekindles Victor's love of nature provides him with relief. and raises his spirits.

Summary & Analysis www.LitCharts.com | @litcharts ©2014 | Page 6 Frankenstein CHAPTER 9 CHAPTER 12 Victor despairs that his good Victor's response to the monster's The monster wonders why the family Here is proof that the monster is actually intentions have resulted in such betrayal of him mirrors the monster's seems unhappy and realizes it is kind and generous. But most people are horror. Soon the Frankensteins go to response to Victor's betrayal: both because the old man is blind and the prejudiced, and base it solely on what it their vacation home in Belrive to isolate themselves and seek revenge. family is poor and hungry. To make up looks like. escape the bad memories of what's for adding to their misery by eating happened. Yet Victor still has thoughts their food, it gathers wood for them of suicide and begins to desire and leaves it outside their cottage at revenge against the monster. night. It also realizes they communicate through sound, and sets One day Elizabeth tells Victor that Elizabeth, for so long a perfect model of about learning their language. It she no longer sees the world the same innocence, begins to lose her innocence. learns that the young man is named way after witnessing the execution of Felix, and the girl, Agatha. an innocent. One day the monster sees itself in a The monster discovers its own ugliness, A while later Victor decides to travel A sentiment typical of Romantic pool of water. He realizes finally why and realizes that people judge it on its to Chamonix, France, hoping the trip literature: human concerns are people have screamed and run when looks rather than its nature. Yet it will provide relief from his "ephemeral," or short lived, whereas they see him. Yet the monster remains innocent enough to believe that "ephemeral, because human, sorrows." Nature is as enduring as God. becomes convinced that with gentle it can overcome these prejudices, Along the way he gazes at waterfalls words and actions he could get the especially when Nature gives it joy. and the towering Mont Blanc. At family to see past his awful times the sights remind him of happier appearance. Spring comes, lifting times, but never for long. everyone's spirits. The monster looks to the future with hope. CHAPTER 10 CHAPTER 13 At Chamonix, Victor continues to feel Victor curses the monster without despair. He again tries to escape it knowing its intentions, and without When a dark and beautiful "Arabian" The notion that a "noble and godlike" through nature: he climbs to the peak knowing for sure that the monster woman named Safie arrives at the species like man can also be "evil" of a mountain called Montanvert. But murdered William. He blames the cottage, the family's mood, and Felix's disgusts the monster and leaves it with a just as the view begins to lift his monster, but he's responsible for its in particular, brightens. Safie does not feeling of loathing. The gaining of spirits, Victor sees the monster. He creation. speak the family's language, and Felix language and the knowledge it offers can curses it and wishes for its teaches her from a history book. As be seen as a loss of innocence. destruction. she learns, so does the monster, which is disgusted that a race as noble as But with great eloquence the monster Victor is a creator, but he is no god. He mankind is also capable of such evil. claims to be Victor's offspring. "I abandoned his creation. As he learns about society and A key turning point for the monster. In ought to be thy Adam," it says. humans, the monster realizes that it realizing humanity's shallowness, he also has no society of its own. It is a realizes his own sorry fate as an outcast, monster, doomed to be always a monster. The monster continues that it was The monster admits it took revenge, but without family or people. It wishes it once benevolent, and turned to claims that Victor destroyed its had never gotten this knowledge violence only after Victor, its creator, innocence by isolating it. about society, which makes it so abandoned it. It begs Victor to listen miserable. to its story. Victor, for the first time thinking about his responsibilities as a CHAPTER 14 creator, follows the monster to a cave in the glacier, and sits down to listen. The monster figures out the history of All kinds of human fallibility are at work the family, the De Laceys. Once here: Safie's father is a falsely CHAPTER 11 prominent and well respected, Felix condemned criminal, Felix is a fell in love with Safie and helped her conspirator, and marriage, a supposedly The monster describes its early days The monster's development mirrors the father, a man wrongly accused of a pure union of souls, needs to be brokered after being created: running from development of man. But as they went crime, escape from prison. Felix's role like an illicit business deal. Victor's apartment, seeing light and from beasts to men, men also lost their in the escape was discovered, and the dark and feeling hunger and cold, and innocence. family lost its wealth and was exiled by discovering fire and its ability to both the government. When Safie's father cook and burn. tried to force her to return to Turkey, she escaped, not wanting to be Wherever the monster goes it's The monster is pained by the isolation it constrained by Islam's oppressive appearance terrifies humans, so it must endure not because of its nature, stance on women, and came to find decides to avoid them. Eventually it but because of its appearance. The Felix. finds a place to hide in the darkness family is an example of the "domestic near the side of a cottage. Inside he affection" it craves. observes a man, woman, and an old man and watches them at their daily tasks.

Summary & Analysis www.LitCharts.com | @litcharts ©2014 | Page 7 Frankenstein CHAPTER 15 The monster then finds a barn in The monster then revenges itself on which to spend the night, but finds a Justine because to the monster she The monster next tells how it found Adam lost his innocence by disobeying beautiful sleeping girl inside. Enraged symbolizes the society it can never have. three books in the woods, including God, his creator. The monster loses his that he is forever cut off from the John Milton's Paradise Lost (an epic innocence after being abandoned by his delight of female beauty, the monster poem about humankind's loss of "god," Victor. Victor hasn't acted like a places a picture the boy wore and innocence in the Garden of Eden). The god, but like a flawed man, and thereby plants it in the girl's pocket. monster at times sees itself as similar made the monster a devil. to Adam. Yet at others he sees himself The chapter ends with the monster's All the monster wants is a family, a as more like Satan, because he does demand that Victor create a female community. not have the love of his creator. counterpart for him. The monster adds that when it fled Victor created a monster unlike any from Victor's apartment it other being on earth, dooming it to accidentally took journal entries, isolation. CHAPTER 17 which turned out to describe its The narrative returns to Victor's The monster's point was that it became creation. It curses Victor for having voice. Fearing that two monsters will vengeful only because of human created something so ugly. just cause more murder and prejudice and abandonment. But Victor destruction, Victor refuses to agree to is still prejudiced. The monster decides to reveal himself The first and only kindness the monster the monster's demand to create a in the hope that men will be able to receives comes from a blind man female. see past his ugliness. One day when incapable of prejudice. The rest of the Felix, Agatha, and Safie are out for a family, like the rest of humanity, responds walk, he enters the cottage and to the monster cruelly, based on looks The monster argues that its violence The monster's argument wins Victor over introduces himself to De Lacey, alone. stems from its misery, and that Victor, intellectually, and Victor is forced to sensing that the blind man will not be as its creator, is responsible for that recognize that he failed the monster in a prejudiced against him. The misery. The monster adds that if terrible way. And yet, at the same time, conversation starts well, but just then Victor creates a companion for it, the Victor cannot completely overcome his the family returns. Felix attacks the pair will flee to South America and prejudice. monster, Safie runs in terror, and avoid human contact forever. Victor Agatha faints. The monster flees. feels compassion at the monster's words, but feels hatred whenever he CHAPTER 16 looks at it. Still, he agrees to the bargain. The monster tells him it will The family's rejection plunges the The monster's faith in old De Lacey monitor his progress, and departs. monster into a fit of age.r But the shows its last gasp of innocence, saving it beauty of the next day calms him. He from the rage born of rejection. CHAPTER 18 decides to approach De Lacey again to try to make amends. Almost immediately, Victor begins to On the mountain the monster's question the wisdom of creating a argument barely won out over Victor's companion for the monster and prejudice. Now the scales start to tip. But by the time the monster reaches Its innocence and hopes of inclusion in delays. He also realizes that to the cottage, the De Lacey's have society dashed, the monster is left with complete the project he'll have to do moved out. He sees Felix terminating only pain, and naturally wants to hurt some research in England. his lease with the landlord, and never those who hurt it. That includes human sees any of them again. His last link society (symbolized in the house he Alphonse senses Victor's distress, and Alphonse's hope in Victor and Elizabeth's with society destroyed, the monster burns) and its creator, Victor. thinks it might stem from some marriage again shows the importance of gives in to rage and a desire for reluctance on Victor's part to marry family and connection, which is just what revenge. He burns down the cottage Elizabeth. Victor assures his father the monster lacks. But Victor continues and heads for Geneva and Victor. he'd like nothing more than to marry to isolate himself from his family and Elizabeth. Alphonse suggests they keeps secrets, which will ultimately lead At one point along the way the Another example of humanity's tendency marry immediately as a cure for the to disaster. monster saves a beautiful little girl toward prejudice, which only increases family's recent sorrow. But Victor from drowning in a stream, only to be the monster's desire for revenge. does not want to marry with his shot by her guardian. His suffering bargain with the monster hanging only feeds his desire for revenge. over his head, and uses the trip he has to take to England as an excuse to put After a few weeks, the monster makes Again the monster shows an innocent the wedding off. it to Geneva. There he encounters a belief in man, this time that the young young boy. Thinking the boy would be will be less prejudiced than the old. His Alphonse and Victor agree that he "Wretch" is the word the monster uses to too young to be horrified yb his hopes again dashed, coupled with the will go to England for a time not to describe itself, drawing a parallel appearance, the monster approaches boy's connection to Victor, spur the exceed a year, and that Clerval, between the two isolated beings. But him. But the boy is terrified, and monster to uncontrollable revenge. looking to pursue his studies after Victor is isolated by choice, while the shouts that his father, Frankenstein, having to spend some time working monsters is forced into isolation. will kill the monster. The monster for his father, will accompany him. Yet silences the boy by strangling him. The Victor continues to feel like a boy dies. "wretch."

Summary & Analysis www.LitCharts.com | @litcharts ©2014 | Page 8 Frankenstein CHAPTER 19 When Victor regains awareness he is Yet unlike the monster, Victor still does still in prison. Mr. Kirwin treats him have connections to other men and a Victor and Clerval arrive in London in Clerval's innocence contrasts with Victor kindly, advising him that he'll likely be family. October. Victor continues to despair, and shows the joy and delight Victor's freed. He also tells Victor that his avoiding people unless they have ambition cost him. father has come to see him. information that can help him create a second monster. Clerval, in contrast, is Two weeks later Victor is released Victor's release stands in contrast to how Victor used to be: excited by because the court has nothing but Justine's conviction. But Victor has his learning and wanting to meet and talk circumstantial evidence against him. father helping him, while Victor stayed to everyone. Despairing and determined to protect silent and did not help Justine. Victor and Clerval travel to Scotland. Once again Victor isolates himself from his family from the monster, Victor There, Victor leaves Clerval with a society. Whenever he does this, he makes returns with his father to Geneva. friend and travels on alone. He goes to bad, reckless decisions that cause a remote island in the Orkney's, sets disaster. CHAPTER 22 up a lab, and works in solitude on his secret project. En route to Geneva, they stop in Paris As Victor's father seeks to draw him into so Victor can regain his strength. His society, Victor increasingly resembles the father tries to help by getting him to monster in his sense that he's an outcast. CHAPTER 20 engage with society, but Victor feels As part of his isolation, Victor continues One night in his lab, Victor worries The monster might have been grinning in he has no right to. Victor even tells his to keep his deadly secrets. that the new creature he's creating joy at the sight of its companion. But father he murdered Justine, William, might refuse to live away from Victor's superficial prejudice is too and Clerval. His father considers him humans, or that the two monsters powerful. He once again betrays the deranged, and Victor says no more. might produce a "race of devils." Just monster's trust and sentences it to While in Paris, Victor receives a letter Victor's cutting himself off from society then he looks up and sees the monster permanent isolation. from Elizabeth. She expresses her makes Elizabeth doubt his love for him. "grinning" at the window. desire to marry Victor, but worries he But won't waiting until a day after his Overwhelmed by loathing, Victor may have taken another lover during wedding to tell his secret be too late? A destroys his work. Outside, the his long absence. Victor remembers selfish half-confession by Victor, who monster howls in agony, and the monster's vow to be with him on thinks more about himself than disappears. his wedding night, and decides that Elizabeth. Hours later, the monster returns to The monster now sees Victor as its whether he kills it or it kills him, at Victor's lab. It now refers to Victor enemy, as "Man," and vows revenge. least he will be free. He writes back only as "Man" and vows revenge. It Victor's fear for his own life shows he that he wants to marry immediately, promises: "I shall be with you on your doesn't understand the monster's true but adds that he has a terrible secret wedding night." Victor thinks the misery: isolation. he will tell her the day after they are monster means to kill him on that married. night, and fears for Elizabeth left A week later Victor and his father By now a painfully familiar scene: Victor alone as a widow. arrive in Geneva. The wedding takes depends on the temporary relief of A letter soon arrives from Clerval Victor panics in the boat because he place ten days later. Yet as Victor and Nature and the support of his suggesting they resume their travels. fears being cut off from land, from Elizabeth sail to a cottage by Lake companion, now Elizabeth instead of Victor gathers up his laboratory human society. It is the same fear as the Como in Italy for their honeymoon, Clerval or Alphonse, in order to ease his materials and rows out into the ocean monster's, but Victor's prejudice doesn't Victor's fear of facing the monster anxiety. to dump them. Victor is so happy he let him recognize it. dissolves his happiness. Elizabeth tries takes a nap in his boat. But he wakes to cheer him by pointing out the into rough weather and can't get back beauty in nature. It doesn't work. to shore. Just as he begins to panic, the winds ease. CHAPTER 23 A storm rolls in after they arrive at the Victor assumed the monster would When Victor lands a group of angry A cliffhanger ending; it seems likely the cottage. Victor, armed with a pistol attack him, not realizing that the townspeople gathers around his boat. monster has already taken some revenge, and terrified that the monster will monster wanted revenge by subjecting He's a suspect in a murder that but how? attack at any moment, sends him to the same horror to which he occurred the previous night, and sent Elizabeth to bed for her own safety. subjected it: isolation. This mistake to meet with Mr. Kirwin, a local But as he searches the house, he resulted in Elizabeth's death. magistrate. hears a scream. Elizabeth has been CHAPTER 21 murdered. While huddled over her lifeless body, Victor sees the monster At Mr. Kirwin's office, Victor learns The monster's revenge and Victor's at the window. He fires at it, but that a man in his mid-twenties was ambition cost another innocent life. The misses. found dead on the shore with black monster intentionally targets Victor's marks on his neck. And various closest family and friends, making Victor rushes back to Geneva. The Now the monster's revenge is complete: witnesses testify that a boat much like Victor's isolation as enforced as its own. news of Elizabeth's death Victor is alone (besides Ernest). Victor's was seen at sea. Victor is overwhelms his father, who dies a few taken to see the body. It is Clerval. days later. Victor falls into convulsions, and remains bedridden and delusional for two months.

Victor goes mad for several months Finally, Victor tells his secret. But it's too In a letter on September 2, Walton Just as Victor lost his innocence and and is kept in a cell. When he regains late. Now he faces the same predicament tells Margaret that his ship and crew realized the dangers of his ambition, so his senses he tells his entire story to a as the monster: rejected by humankind, are in grave danger: the ship is now too does Walton. Walton also fears local magistrate, hoping to enact he must seek revenge on his own. surrounded entirely by ice. He blames vengeance from the "monster" of his justice on the monster. The magistrate himself for their fate and says they crew. listens but doesn't entirely believe may all die as a result of his "mad Victor and, anyway, considers tracking schemes." He fears a mutiny. down the monster impossible. Victor resolves to seek his revenge on his In a letter on September 5, Walton Walton maintains the innocent ideal own. says that his crew have demanded notion that he can somehow enlighten that he turn the ship around and head all of humankind by seeing the North He curses the magistrate and all of Victor's curse is similar to the monster's for home as soon as the ice frees Pole. The same mix of arrogance, humanity. "Man," he cries, "how curse of him. They are now essentially them. Victor speaks up in his defense, benevolence, and lust for fame fuels both ignorant art thou in thy pride of the same. telling the rebellious crew members his and Victor's ambitions. Victor's wisdom!" they should "be men" for they had set speech implies that he has not, in fact, out to be the "benefactors of [their] changed much at all. species." The speech changes the CHAPTER 24 crew's mind, but Walton fears only Victor decides to leave Geneva The monster's revenge is successful; now temporarily. He says he'd rather die forever. While visiting the graves of Victor suffers isolation as it does. than return in shame with his his family he swears revenge, and "purpose unfulfilled." hears the monster's voice calling him a In a letter on September 7, Walton Like Victor, Walton blames his failure not "miserable wretch." says he has agreed to the crew's on his ambition or his fallibility, but on For months, Victor tracks the monster The barren arctic is a perfect symbol of demand to turn back. He considers others. northward into the frigid Arctic isolation and the power of nature. A man what has happened an injustice. regions, led by clues and taunting in this tundra is utterly alone and entirely notes the monster leaves behind. at the mercy of nature. Victor chases the monster onto the In his final letter on September 12th, Like Victor, Walton's ambition destroys frozen ocean with sleds and dogs, and Walton says that he has turned back, everything around him until he's left comes within a mile of the monster's his hopes of "glory" and "utility" alone. Victor, quick to judge everything own sled, but then the ice breaks up crushed. In addition, Victor, has died. but himself, expects Walton to stick to his beneath Victor's sled. Victor had objected to Walton's convictions, but his own conviction is a decision to turn back his ship and said need for revenge. If he had truly acted in This is the point at which Walton's Victor has finally told his story and secret that his own "purpose" remained firm. "good faith," he would have confronted ship rescued him. The narrative comes to a sympathetic audience. But is there Victor then tried to rise and return to his prejudice, or, failing that, told his to the present. Victor, knowing he's any difference between Victor and the the ice, but could not. He reaffirmed secret earlier. dying, begs Walton to take vengeance monster but appearance? his certainty that he acted well in on the monster if he should happen to trying to defend his fellow man see it. against the monster, his creation. He then died quietly, eager to rejoin the WALTON, IN CONTINUATION relatives he had lost in life. The novel returns to the frame of Walton and Victor are after the same Walton interrupts his letter upon The last person the monster encounters Walton's letters to his sister, thing: love, acceptance, and glory. And in hearing a disturbance in the cabin before killing itself treats it unfairly, with Margaret Saville. In a letter on August both cases, their ambition worked where Victor's body lies. He returns the same prejudice and bitterness the 26, Walton says that he believes against their hope for love and to tell Margaret that he has just seen monster faced throughout its life. The Victor's story and recalls how Victor acceptance. Both men end up trapped the monster crying over Victor's monster's use of religious language to described himself as the victim of and isolated, Walton by nature and corpse. To Walton's shock, the describe its plight suggests the "lofty ambition," which brought him to Victor by the need for vengeance. monster says he suffered remorse and connection between Frankenstein and despair. Walton laments that he did pity for Victor all along. Walton calls Paradise Lost, and between the monster, not know Victor when they could have the monster a "wretch." The monster Adam, and Satan. With a final been friends. As Walton writes, "I is unsurprised, having been rejected condemnation of the prejudice it has have sought one who would by people from the start. It says that it always faced and the weakness of men, sympathize with and love me." Yet abhorred itself even as it was doing the monster reveals its final loss of while Victor responded kindly to his evil, and describes itself as a "fallen innocence: it's own self-hatred, and wish offers of friendship, he remained angel," yet it also wonders why only it, to die. fixated on his only remaining destiny: and not Felix, or the man who shot it, to destroy the monster. or Frankenstein, is considered a "criminal." The monster then promises to end its own life, springs from the cabin back onto the ice, and disappears.