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Genre: Novel Type: Gothic Science Fiction Published: 1818

Title: Frankenstein Author: Mary Shelley Time Period: Late 17th Century
Narrative Level:

Characters:
Victor Frankenstein (Protagonist)- Frankenstein is the eldest son of a wealthy, Genovese man, Alphonse, and his young wife,
Caroline. He becomes absorbed in the quest to find out what creates life. While away at college in Ingolstadt, Victor creates a
being from scavenged corpse parts and gives it life, but is repulsed by its hideousness once it lives. After the monster kills his
family members in revenge of Victor’s neglect, Victor chases him to the far reaches of the Arctic planning to destroy him and
then die, to escape his misery and remorse at his creation. He dies aboard Walton's ship before he can catch the monster.
Frankenstein’s Monster (Antagonist)- Created by Victor Frankenstein in Ingolstadt, the monster is a conglomeration of human
parts with inhuman strength. He is so hideous that Victor, his own creator, cannot stand to look upon him. He is loving and
gentle when first created but after several harsh encounters with humans, he becomes bitter and destructive He seeks revenge
on his creator for making him so hideous and rendering him permanently lonely because of his ugliness. He offers Frankenstein
peace in exchange for a companion of like origin, but when Frankenstein does not comply, he vows to destroy him and begins
killing Frankenstein's friends and family. After finding Frankenstein dead aboard Walton's ship, the monster goes further north
with plans to destroy himself and end the suffering that Frankenstein started.
Robert Walton- Indirect narrator of the story, he tells Victor Frankenstein's story through letters to his sister, Margaret Saville.
Walton is a self-educated man who set out to reach and explore the North Pole and find an Arctic passage to connect the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. While his ship is locked in ice, his crew sees Frankenstein's monster pass by on a dog sled and
Frankenstein himself, exhausted and weakened, not far behind. After Frankenstein's death and just before the ship heads back to
England, Walton is the last to see the monster before he goes north to kill himself.
Henry Clerval- Life-long friend of Victor Frankenstein. Henry relocates to Ingolstadt to study and to look after Victor after his
illness. Later Henry and Victor traveled together to England and Scotland, but while they were there, the monster strangles
Henry to punish Victor. Victor was accused of the murder, but was acquitted.
Alphonse Frankenstein- Victor Frankenstein's father, who is a wealthy and benevolent man. He rescued Caroline Beaufort,
daughter of his close friend, from poverty after her father's death. He eventually dies from accumulated sorrow and grief caused
by the death of his loved ones.
Elizabeth Lavanza- Adopted cousin of Victor Frankenstein. Elizabeth was a beautiful orphan being raised by an Italian peasant
family when Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein adopted her. It was planned that she and Victor would be wed. On their wedding
night, the monster strangles Elizabeth to punish Victor for not creating for him a companion creature.

William Frankenstein- Victor's youngest brother who is strangled in the woods while the family was out for a walk. His is the
first of the monster's victims, and Justine is framed for the murder.
Justine Moritz- Servant in the Frankenstein household. Justine returned to the Frankenstein home to help raise the two sons
Caroline had left when she died. Although grateful and faithful to the Frankenstein’s she is accused of William’s murder when a
locket he had been wearing was found in her dress. She is executed and Victor considers her death his fault because he created
the monster that framed her.
Peasants (DeLacey, Safie, and Felix)- Includes a blind old man, De Lacey; his son and daughter, Felix and Agatha; and
a foreign woman named Safie. They are poor and the monster hides out near their house and learns from them. Once they see
the monster they curse him and flee from the house to never return.
Plot Outline:
The book is told through letters written from Walton to his sister, talking of how his voyage is going and how he met this
man Frankenstein floating on a piece of ice and the story he has to tell. Victor tells Walton his life story. It starts out with his
childhood in Geneva and how his family adopted his "cousin" Elizabeth. His mother died of Scarlet Fever when Victor was
very young, and he found friendship with Cleveral. Eventually Victor leaves for college in Ingolstadt where he studies
philosophy and chemistry, and comes across the secret of creating life from inanimate objects. When he finds this out he
decides to create a monster and spends all of his time creating it and almost goes mad, obsessed with the idea of creating it.
When he sees the monster he has created he becomes overwhelmed with the horror he has created and he runs away, he then
become very ill. Cleveral comes to the university and nurses him back to health. Just when Victor is getting better he receives
a letter from his father telling of how his brother has been strangled to death. Victor immediately returns home to find that
Justine has been accused of killing his brother and is hung for the crime, but Victor knows in his heart that it was the monster.
So Victor journeys into the mountains to find and destroy the monster. When he finally does find the monster it tells him its
own story. It had fled from town to town after Victor abandoned it, and eventually found a small cave that would house him.
He watched a poor family and learned to read, write, and speak from them even though they did not know he was there. When
he finally tries to make contact with them they curse him, beat him, and leave forever. The monster promises to leave him
alone forever if he makes him a mate to share his sorrow, but if he does not make the mate the monster promises to kill
everyone around him until he is alone as well. Victor agrees and travels to England to finnish the mate. He eventually destroys
the mate thinking of the double the horror he would release upon the world. The monster then kills everyone else around him,
Elizabeth, and Cleveral. Victors father dies of grief from everyone being lost as well. Now all who is left is Victor and his
monster. He swears to hunt the monster to the ends of the earth until eventually Victor does die on Walton's ship. The monster
meets Walton and tells of him sorrow for the pain he caused Victor and kills himself for he has no reason to keep on living.

Themes: 
* It is useless to strive to defy nature, as nature will always prosper and emerge victorious­ Although Frankenstein’s 
ultimate quest is to create life from death, his tampering with forces larger than what he can control is what cause his downfall. 
It is Frankenstein’s utter disregard for accepting what exists and pushing the barriers of life that backfires on his experiment and 
his entire life in general. This sheer power of nature is seen through the brutal strength and force depicted in the monster, which 
is nurtured and taught by nature, rather than a parent. In the end, it is nature that has the final say in the life of Frankenstein, as 
he is endlessly tormented by his mistakes, and punished by nature for tampering with “God’s” plan. 
* A ruthless pursuit of knowledge is dangerous­ Frankenstein’s over­ambition in creating life from death (which 
results in the monster) is the hubris that destroys him. He relentlessly pursues his goal and explores outside the realm of 
“acceptable” science. His obsession to obtain knowledge not only leads to his physical illness and deterioration but also his 
emotional state and the death of all others around him. His disregard, again, to explore the secrets of nature only serves as an 
example that no man can triumph over environment without punishment. 
*Friendship exists not only for companionship but also as an entity for man to relate to man­ All throughout 
Frankenstein, the concept of friendship is reiterated. Walton writes to his sister that he is lonely for a companion, and is 
overjoyed when he meets Frankenstein, as he believes he can connect and relate to him. Frankenstein has many close 
relationships and friendships, but disregards and neglects them in his quest for knowledge and self­ambition. The monster longs 
for a companion, or another creature or friend that can relate to him, much less tolerate him. The monster, being that he is not 
human, is unable to make friends of any kind, and this stresses the great gift man possesses in having the ability to befriend and 
service all the rest of humankind.

Motifs:
Religious Literature and Text: All throughout Frankenstein there are references to famous works of literature, including “The
Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” The Bible, and Paradise Lost. When the monster finds these various selections of major
literature in the woods it is demonstrative of not only the monster’s incredible ability to learn but also the knowledge of
pertinent literature Mary Shelley is familiar with. There is also much reference to Biblical characters such as Adam and Lucifer,
who were creations of God and both went wrong, Adam by disobeying God, Lucifer by seeking to overthrow him. The monster
is supposed to be Adam, made in God's (i.e. Frankenstein's own image), but instead is treated as Lucifer although he is
innocent. Later his anger at his rejection turns him into a true devil, which is how Frankenstein most often refers to him.
Frankenstein also characterizes himself as Lucifer, since he tried to usurp the position of God by creating life.

CONTEXTUAL LEVEL: Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born on August 30, 1797, in London. Her mother, Mary
Wollstonecraft, was the author of “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” a feminist essay encouraging women to think and
act for themselves. Wollstonecraft died giving birth to Mary, leaving her daughter in the care of her husband, William Godwin,
a member of a circle of radical thinkers in England that counted Thomas Paine and William Blake among its ranks. Mary's
upbringing in this rarefied atmosphere exposed her at an early age to cutting-edge ideas, and it forged useful connections for her
to such notables as Lord Byron. Mary met and married her love, Percy Pysshe Shelley, as a teenager. They ran away together
and after Shelley’s ex-wife conveniently drowned, they were wed. The union between Mary and Percy was not only romantic
but also literary. Percy edited Mary's manuscript for Frankenstein and is commonly supposed to have written the preface under
her name. Frankenstein was published on January 1, 1818, and became an immediate bestseller. Unfortunately for Mary, this
success was a single bright spot amid a series of tragedies. From 1815 to 1819, three of her four children died in infancy; in
1822, Percy drowned off the shore of Tuscany, leaving Mary a widow and single mother. Frankenstein was written by Shelley
to be entered in a contest she and her friends were having on who could tell the best ghost story, and after arduously working on
it, she came up with what is considered the classic gothic novel.
RHETORICAL LEVEL: This novel provides a great deal of detail in all aspects of the writing. Shelley is extremely
effective at evoking the grotesque nature and appearance of the monster, in addition to depicting him as a pitiable and gentle
creature at the same time. Her illustrations of nature and the European countryside are vivid, with careful attention paid to
light/dark, plants, and animals. In all of the writing, there is a tone of humility and respect, whether it is the reader towards the
monster of the monster’s appreciation of the beauty of nature and the unattractiveness of mankind. Shelley also creates much
juxtaposition in order to compare and contrast the conflicting people and objects in the novel (ie. Light/dark, Frankenstein/The
Monster, The Mountains/The Laboratory, Walton’s Ship/Frankenstein’s raft, etc.)
STRUCTURAL LEVEL: The novel of Frankenstein is told primarily through multiple frame narratives, in particular
through letters, journals, and flashback narrations rather than a straightforward third person or first person narrator. The three
major frames are the monster-Frankenstein, Frankenstein-Walton, and Walton-Walton’s sister. Each frame is used as a tool to
depict not only the tragedy of each person’s story but also to relay the message Frankenstein learns and passes on (to recognize
the danger in knowledge and over-ambition). In addition, the multiple frames support the general scheme of fragmentation and
opposites, as seen through the monster who seems more a man than the human, Frankenstein. It is through his story, told
through Frankenstein, and then relayed by Walton that it is easy to accept and sympathize with the monster. This particular
frame creates many opportunities in which each character can have a say about their situation and dictate their point of view as
it relates to the novel.

SYMBOLIC LEVEL: Two reoccurring symbols throughout Frankenstein are lighting and the moon. Both of them
appear at critical points in the novel, such as the monster’s creation and realization of the flaws of mankind, and both of them
are elements of nature, reiterating the importance of it throughout the novel. Lightning is the largest symbol and depicts the
essence of life, the moment of creation. It embodies the energy that filled the monster with life, potential, and the ability to
create and destroy. It is also a parallel to the monster, as it is beautiful to be seen but is always destructive, whereas the monster
is utterly grotesque in appearance but accidentally destructive and not always evil. The moon is also an important and prevalent
symbol in that is depicts the protection the monster has by nature. As long as the moon is overhead, he will be safe and
shielded. More figuratively, the moon can also represent the child Frankenstein never had and the companion the monster never
had. They both seem to be entranced by its grandiose and magnificent beauty and the moon serves as the one thing they both
admire and find comfort in.

IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS:
1. "Learn from me…how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man
is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his
nature will allow”
2. "There was non among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I
feel kindness towards my enemies? No: from that moment I declared everlasting war against the
species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me and sent me forth to this insupportable
misery”
3. “I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled
on”

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