Frankenstein Journal and Chapter by Chapter Summary and Analysis
Sam Thompson
Letters I-IV
Captain Robert Walton is on a ship bound for the North Pole, and describes to his sister back in England the progress of his mission. Soon, the ship becomes trapped in impassable ice.
Walton encounters Victor Frankenstein, who has been traveling via dog sled across the ice.
Walton takes the sick Frankenstein aboard, and thus Victor begins the story of the monster he created.
Walton tells us through the letters to be prepared for the tragic events to come, through Frankenstein 's story.
Chapter 1-2
After the realization that Victor is the one narrating, he begins with his happy early life in Geneva. Victor grows up closely with his adopted
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Victor views science as the only true route to knowledge.
Chapter 4
Victor is rapidly progressing through his studies. (because he is literally obsessed)
He begins to study anatomy how the human body is built, and what happens when we die and decompose.
After several years, he completes his schooling, and moves into an apartment, where he pursues the idea of reanimating a dead creature.
Frankenstein is sadly neglecting every other aspect of his social and romantic life, and grows lonely and obsessed with this “secret of life”.
Chapter 5
The creation of Frankenstein 's Monster
After several months of work, Frankenstein finally reanimates his creation.
Its awful appearance quickly horrifies him into fleeing, where he is plagued by nightmares of his dead mother, and his close friend, Elizabeth.
While refusing to return to his apartment, Victor returns into the town Ingolstadt, where he conveniently runs into his childhood friend Henry, in the inn. Henry has came to study at Ingolstadt.
Returning to Victor 's apartment together, the monster is gone. (did it escape or just wander out?)
Victor falls deathly ill from his months of work and seclusion. Henry begins nursing him back to health.
Victor also receives a letter from Elizabeth at the end of the chapter.
Chapters 3-5, instead of giving a sense of impending doom, simply depict Frankenstein 's decay and spiral into obsession and
Frankenstein fulfilled his destiny and made his creation despite his suffering and misfortunes. However, his influence on Walton is paradoxical. One moment, Frankenstein exhorts Walton’s almost-mutinous men to not stray from their path courageously, regardless of danger. The next, he serves as an abject example of the dangers of heedless scientific ambition. Walton serves as a foil to Victor, either not obsessive enough to risk almost-certain death or not courageous enough to allow his passion to drive him. Walton ultimately draws back from his treacherous mission and returns to England, having learned from Victor’s example how destructive the thirst for knowledge can be.
Walton is also a foil for Frankenstein when he and his crew find Frankenstein in such bad shape and yet the care for him so tenderly. "I never saw a man in so wretched a condition." Walton and his men carried him aboard, rubbed him down, wrapped him in blankets and fed him. Contrast this to Frankenstein's treatment of the creature. Instead of compassion or sympathy Frankenstein calls the creature a "wretch," "devil" and "the animal." When the creature
This evokes sympathy both in the reader and Walton, when he hears Frankenstein’s tragic tale-how a good man with good intentions can make choices so catastrophic that they ruin the lives of those closest to them and themselves-maybe this is why in the end Walton decides to turn back?
Chapter 5 – Finally, months later, Victor’s creature is complete and brought to life, however; he is utterly disgusted with what he has made. He quickly rushes to bed and is awakened with his creature smiling over him (major point in the book). Victor leaves immediately. He later runs into his childhood friend Henry and experiences a great feeling of nostalgia. By the end of the chapter, he becomes ill because of the hard work he has put into this creation and receives a letter from Elizabeth.
Victor has become obsessed with studying (something no one should ever be interested in) and has locked himself in his room studying for days on end. He "applied so closely, it may be easily conceived that my progress was rapid. My ardour was indeed the astonishment of the students, and my proficiency that of the masters... Two years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit of some discoveries which I hoped to make". (7) This early application of himself is what drove him to become lonely and reclusive, shying away from all who attempted to come into contact with him. He is also inspired in this chapter to start his reanimation project. He becomes consumed in this one project spending many months alone in the top of his apartment assembling his creature. He raided slaughter houses, grave yards, and dissection rooms to furnish what he needed to create his monster. The lines between life and death became blurred
It is Victor's story that truly exposes the true theme of the story, with him speaking of his days as a child and his first friendship with the girl his parents adopted. He lives a fine life, full of joy and happiness with friend plentiful. When he goes to college he is without friends, but soon befriends one of the professors and engaged in lengthy conversations with him. This isn't the same friendship as before, lacking the real love and companionship of his family, and he soon begins work on his creation. He so overwhelmed by the idea of creating a perfect person he is blinded from the deformity of the creature. When the creature is finished he examines his work and is mortified by it, running and hiding he escapes the creature that soon wanders away. Soon after Victor becomes sick and deathly, he shuns society and people and is almost dead when his friend Clerval arrives at the college. Clerval nurses Victor back to health, but Victor isn't physically sick, he has just
As a result of Victor's neglect and rejection of the creature, society also denies the creature acceptance which creates a life of loneliness for it. The creature, after being rejected by Victor, is left helpless, wanders into a forest, and experiences what hunger and pain are for the first time in life. The creature longs for acceptance, especially from Victor, but is denied. For example, the creature first learns of its rejection from society when it enters the house of an old man that is cooking; it as at the sight of the creature that the man "shrieked loudly" (90) and runs out of his hut. From that moment the creature realizes it is deformed and unlike anyone else. While the creature is roaming through the woods one day it comes upon a cottage. The creature notes the inhabitants of the cottage, the DeLacey family, as being beautiful in comparison to its
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley has a simple origin, compared to other stories. While stories such as It by Stephen king started a several year process of creation, Frankenstein began simply as a campfire story Mary Shelley shared with her writer friends one evening. Although the origins of this novel are fairly simple, it provides an in depth psychological perspective on the darker side of human psyche through the shifting first person perspective. Usually these darker aspects are associated with the character’s personal struggles, but one specific theme in all the characters. The theme of obsession has been consistent and the central focus of the three main characters Victor, the creature, and Robert. With this central theme in mind the author, Mary Shelley shows that obsession leads to the characters suffering negative psychological and physical effects, as well as impair their decision making. This is depicted through the decline of physical and mental health through Victor’s struggles with his obsessions with knowledge and justice.
The entire story is told through the letters of Robert Walton to his sister, Margaret Saville. Walton’s letters start and end the novel, which sets up the framework for Frankenstein. Walton shares a few similarities with the characters of Victor and the monster. For instance, much like Victor’s character, Walton has an inquisitive nature and he loves to explore. In his first letter he writes, “I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited” (Shelley 16). While Victor has a deep interest in new sciences, Walton has an interest in exploring new places. This curiosity drives both men to take their interests to the limits. Walton’s character also shares some similarities with the
Upon rushing home to Geneva, he is locked out of the gates and sees his creation, who he realizes is the murderer. Justine, their maid, is tried for murder and executed. Victor retreats to the mountains, where his monster approaches him. The creature then tells the tale of his life and how grew to become the being that he has become. They then reach an agreement to build the monster a companion to fulfill his yearning for a mate. Victor travels to England builds his second monster, which he then discards in the sea. The monster vowed to ruin Victor’s life by killing everyone that he loved.The next day, Henry is found murdered (by the monster) and Victor is put on trial and falls ill. He is proven innocent and returns to Geneva, marries Elizabeth, and moves out to the countryside to live with
Frankenstein was reflecting on his past when he shares his guidance of knowledge to Walton. He was thinking about his mistake and how different his life would be if he were not creating the monster. He was passing this helpful knowledge onto Walton, hoping that Walton would learn from his mistake or it would help Walton to understand the power of using knowledge unreasonably. Surely, Walton was able to learn from Frankenstein‘s advice and thus prevent his crew from enduring cruel death by turning back and leaving his ambition behind. “I cannot lead them unwillingly to danger, and must return.” (Shelly, Walton, in CONTINUATION, p. 161) Walton was a seeker who learned the limits of seeking.
After his mother dies, Victor describes the evilness of death and how at first, it is difficult for people to comprehend how they will never see their deceased love ones again. He then says that it is only after a few days for people to actually experience grief, but that he doesn’t need to describe those horrible feelings because everyone has felt those emotions of sadness and loss at some point in their life. Finally, he says that after some time people must move on with their lives and attend to their own duties, and then moves on with his story about his attendance at Ingolstadt. From his brief telling of his mother’s death and quick transition to his studies, it is demonstrated how Victor may have neglected his grief about his mother’s
On their way back, they get into an accident and there was a lady who needed help in the accident. Victor remembers what Suzy said him about his dad that in the fire that took place when he was a baby, his dad always wanted to help him and he did went back to save his life. This hits on his mind and he decides to get help for the lady. His thoughts about his dad changes. At the end of the movie Victor disperses the remains of his father in the river and forgives him for what he did before.
Dictionary of Narratology). Because if we identify the character of Victor start from his happy childhood, university environment, but since he created the human-like, the complexity of his life getting worse and worse. He tried to struggle and beated down the monster to reconcile his mistake, and went back to his hometown to safe his family but ironically he couldn’t.
The book begins with the story of a sailor named Robert Walton as he looks for a new passage through the Arctic and relays the tale of his adventure in letters he writes to his sister. Sailing one day, the crew discovers a man nearly frozen to death along