Frankenstein Study Guide

Robert Walton

He is writing to Margaret, his sister.

When Walton writes Letter 1 he is at the St. Petersburg. He is there because he needs to hire a crew for his ship. Plans to sail to the North Pole in order to discover magnetisms' secrets.

Self educated, loves to read, father died, loves adventure and discovery. Wishes he had a friend along to share it with.

Walton is sailing to the north. Walton's question shows his faith in the Romanticism. Emotion over reason

One month has gone by. The ship is trapped in ice and fog

He says he is looking for the one who fled from him. He asks for which direction the ship is sailing. He is near death and very weak.

"This person" is Victor: Educated, well-spoken, refined. Walton is fascinated by him.

Walton begins writing the biography of this man the very next day. This man has slowly regained his strength and his health. The man tells Waldon that his quest for knowledge and and his project will end in misery. Walton becomes intrigued and wants to hear his side of the story.

The man agrees to tell his story because he can see that Walton is looking for knowledge as he once was. Victor hopes that it won't end in a disaster for Walton as it did for him.

We don't know his name. He is from Geneva, Switzerland. He was greatly loved and adored by his parents.

Caroline's father and Frankenstein Sr, were friends. Once Caroline's father died Caroline married Frankenstein Sr. Victor's mother died. He loved his parents. He felt as though it was his parents responsibility to raise him the right way. Holds his parents responsible for his sadness and happiness.

Victor's parents adopted Elizabeth Lavenza, she was an orphan. The man's mother gave him Elizabeth. This is the first time that we figure out Victor's name. We don't know his family name.

Henry Clerval is Victor's childhood best friend. He is the son of a merchant from Geneva.

Clerval was interested in romantic literature. He acted in plays with Victor. He was intrigued in being moral. Elizabeth was captivated by poetry but she didn't want to learn it. Victor was always intrigued by science, always wanted to learn more.

Cornelius Agrippa is a scientist that studied alchemy. Victor finds out about him by reading a book. Victor's father says that Agrippa's work is nonsense. The books are unscientific and outdated.

Victor is learning alchemy from Magnus, Agrippa and Paracelsus. Modern scientists would believe that this thinking is silly. Goal was to find the fountain of youth.

When Victor sees an oak tree destroyed by lightning and hears an explanation, he decides to study galvanism and electricity.

He acknowledges Krempe for this change in direction. He blames Waldman for his destruction. Waldman is his chemistry professor. Kempe-> Good encouraged. Waldman -> Chem= destruction

Caroline comes down with scarlet fever and eventually dies after she restores Elizabeth back to health. Caroline's dad dies in an identical situation.

Victor's father sends him to the University of Ingolstad because he thinks that Victor should study in another country. At this time, Victor is 17.

Victor learns about natural philosophy from M. Krempe. Victor is troubled about this idea. Dislikes M. Kempe.

Victor learns that scientists are very powerful and can do miracles. Victor is astonished and says that he will go back to studying natural philosophy. Waldman teaches Victor chemistry. Impressed by M. Waldman, looks up to him.

Victor progresses extremely. He becomes interested in the old sciences and natural philosophies. He is drawn into becoming "god like." Animates a corpse, accomplishes what he wanted to

Victor won't share his knowledge with Walton because his personal knowledge resulted in distress.

Victor steals body parts from the charnel houses, dissection rooms and slaughterhouses. He spends a year. He becomes obsessed and does not eat or drink. Waits for lightning storm.

Lines from Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Moral is to respect nature and his authority, and Victor is doing the opposite. Mariner came face to face with death and life and death. "Albatross"-> guilt symbol

The awakening of the monster is much less dramatic than it is in the movies. In the movies they over exaggerate the awakening and what the monster looks like. In the procedure, Victor collects the instruments, and putting life into the monster to create it as a being. The creature opens its eyes around 1 am and it was breathing hard with shaky limbs. The monster looked better than how they are portrayed in the movies as well.

He is immediately horrified but what he was able to create. He feels disgusted as well because he had hoped he was creating a beautiful creature, and instead the monster is very disgusting and hideous with its black lips and watery, white eyes. Victor realizes he has been depriving himself of being healthy, and rushes to his room but he cannot fall asleep. 1st rejection->"new"

He dreams that he embraces Katherine and kisses her, and while he's doing that, she turns into his dead mother. I think that the dream is showing what Victor has done, by taking something good like his need for knowledge, and and ruining it.

The creature comes into Victor's room, open the curtain, smiles and Victor and mutters something. Victor responds by running out of his room away from his creation.

Victor meets Henry Clerval, who was his best friend as a child. Victor is filled with joy and happiness, after being sad for many months. Seeing Henry reminds Frankenstein of his family back home and all the fun times they had together. When they arrive back at the apartment the monster is nowhere to be found. Victor is ecstatic because he did not want Henry knowing about the creature, he clapped his hands and seemed relieved that the monster was not there. Victor is acting so strange, that he becomes sick with a nervous fever that he has for many months. There is no news of the creature.

After Victor recovers, a letter from Elizabeth is waiting for him. Henry Clerval helped him during his illness.

Justine had an abusive mother and was taken in by the Frankenstein family. Elizabeth says that Swiss peasants are moral and defined compared to other peasants. Justine is Roman Catholic. Justine's family all died-> guilt: mom dies. Peasant looking for a family.

William is Victor's youngest brother. Yes, we heard of him before. He is about 5 years old.

After his recovery, Victor makes visits to Krempe and Waldan. Clerval's '"plan of life" is to study Oriental languages.

He plans to return home in the Spring because of the horrible winter conditions. Victor and Clerval hike across the mountains and the countryside.

When Victor returns to his department he discovers a letter from his father. It says that Victor's brother, William, was killed. Victor immediately goes to Geneva.

Victor has been away for six years. There is a violent storm that is also beautiful. Victor believes that this is nature's way of honoring William's death.

Victor sees the outline of the monster climbing Mt. Saleve. Victor has not seen the monster in two years.

He believes that the monster killed William. Victor says that the monster is a "depraved wretch" and that it delights in "carnage and misery."

Justine is identified as the murderer, because the small portrait of Caroline Frankenstein was found in her pocket. Victor says he knows who the real murderer is, and it is not Justine. He does not speak up about this because he does not want everyone to think he is insane.

Justine defends herself by saying that she was visiting her aunt, and when she returned she heard that William was missing. She said she spent hours searching for him but the city gates were locked so she was forced to sleep in a barn, and that maybe the murderer put the necklace in her pocket while she was sleeping. Victor says nothing but becomes filled with despair and horror over what he has created.

Justine is forced to confess because her priest threatens to excommunicate her. Fearing that this would damn her soul, she confesses a lie and then feels extreme anguish over the sin she has committed. Victor goes to the corner of the prison, and does not say anything in Justine's defense.

Victor is unable to sleep and wants to be alone. At first Elizabeth didn't believe in capital punishment but her views change and she wants the murderer to be punished.

Victor takes a journey to the Swiss Alps in August. He travels through the Arve Valley. He stays in village of Chamounix.

P. B. Shelley mentions the glacier in a letter written an Chamouni (his spelling) on July 25, 1817: Victor travels through the valley. The following day, Victor climbs Montanvert.

Victor is filled with joy, peace and freedom.

Victor sees the creature. He is scared and horrified. He is ready to fight.

The creature says that he is very lonely. He is sad that his creator doesn't like him. No we don't expect this from the creature, we expect the creature to be violent.

The creature asks Victor to listen to him. The creature says that misery made him a beast/fiend. Victor isn't good at performing the his role as the creator. He left the monster.

The creature kills William because of his relationship to Victor. He kills Justine by framing her. He isn't as bloodthirsty as Victor assumed.

Love and compassion will allow the creature to change.

Creature relates touching Victor to Adam trying to touch God.

Yes, Victor agrees to listen to the creature's tale. Victor feels compassion. They go to a cabin in the mountains.

The creature's five senses were not easily separated and they bothered him. He had a lot of pain and misery knowing that he was lonely

He realizes that the fire is warmth and provides light, but it can also cause pain. He has to move because he needs to look for food.

Whenever he comes in contact with people, they become afraid and scream and run away, or they faint, or they even try and hurt him. These are all told through the monster's POV

He sees a small kennel next to a cottage and goes and stays there. He learns about music, as well as words and language for the first time. He feels a mix of pleasure and pain.

The creature studies their everyday routines. It believes they have all the luxuries they could ever have, and then finds out that they are very poor. It clears the snow from their walk and gives them a supply of wood for their family.

He learns the different words for food and objects. Hard for him to understand the emotions. Hears them talk.

It is not said what the old man's name is. Agatha and Felix are brother and sister.

He is fearful that the family will be scared of him. He sees his reflection and compares himself to humans thinking he is ugly because he believes that the humans are beautiful.

Victor is sick and Henry Clerval is nursing him back to health

The creature hopes he can learn to speak. Spring gives him hope and joy.

Safie arrives at the cottage in the spring. Her father was put in prison however he was innocent. Safie is taught French and the monster learns from Safie's lesson. The monster learns faster because it is his first language instead of his second.

Felix teaches Safie with the Volney's Ruins of Empires.

The monster learns about the destruction and violence of mankind. Skewed view of humanity

When the creature begins thinking about himself, he feels bad. He is the only "human" of his kind. He asks himself "Who am I?" This knowledge makes him feel ugly and unhappy.

The monster learns that human relationships are families and love. This once again makes him sad, he has nobody.

The De Lacey family left France. In the past, they helped Safie's dad leave the country.

She found letters from her father and they had directions to Felix

A suitcase and some books

He reads Goethe's Sorrows of Werter, Milton's Paradise Lost, and Plutarch's Lives. He learns about the history of war, the sad nature of man, and the brave thoughts of a man

He reads Victor's notes and learns who his creator is

Victor has been hiking in Geneva it has been 2 years

He hopes they will become his friend but they are actually terrified of him.

After the events of chapter 15, the De Lacey family flees. They think the monster will harm the old man. The monster burns down the cottage.

The creature travels just at night. Vampires can only come out at night.

The creature saw a girl drowning so he tried to save her but a man shoot at him.

When the creature sees the small boy, he wants to take him. The creature wants the little boy to know that he isn't corrupt. However, the boy yells at the creature. The creature kills the boy. The boy is William Frankenstein. The woman is Justine, the creature puts a necklace in her pocket.

I agree, I think the monster just really wants someone to love and someone to love him back.

The creature demands that Victor make a woman.

In the beginning Victor says no. He expects the creature to be upset. Victor thinks about it and realizes that this would be a good thing for the monster.

He is very effective and Victor agrees with him.

The monster agrees that he has to live in the South American desert and can't have any more contact with humans

He decides that he will build the female and the creature says he is going to monitor Victor.

Victor comes across as very happy and healthy when he returns back to Geneva

Victor's father thinks that Victor has fallen out of love with Elizabeth over time

There have been more advances of science in England. He says that his creation is enslaving him

It brings the reader back to the present and shows that Clerval will be dying later on in the book.

Clerval's plans for his career are to assist with the English empire in India.

Victor ended his journey in the Orkney Islands and Perth, Scotland. Victor is afraid because he told the monster that he would build a female but it keeps pushing back his promise.

Victor doesn't want the female monster to breed more monsters. As Victor destroys the female the creature watches.

After Victor destroys the female, he becomes sick.

When the creature visits Victor he says that he will see him on his wedding night. The creature promises to destroy all of Victor's happiness. Victor understands that promise to mean that the creature is going to kill him.

He falls asleep and ends up on the Irish shore, when he lands he is taken into custody

Kirwin was the magistrate. Clerval is found dead on the beach. Victor is put in prison for two months. Victor gets a fever and the magistrate find some papers that makes him believe that Victor is innocent.

When he wakes up he's feeling better and the nurse is with him.

Victor is eventually found innocent because of the fact that he was on the Orkney island at the same time that the body was found.

Victor feels a truce has been created with him and the monster because Clerval died.

Victor doesn't get home quickly because he is sick.

In her letter, she says that her love with Victor may not be intimate. She tells Victor that if he doesn't love her then he shouldn't marry her. Victor tells her that he wants to make her happy. He doesn't care what may happen on their wedding night.

Their marriage plans are to get married in ten days. Victor is afraid that the creature may kill him.

Victor and Elizabeth get to Evian by sailing. They stop there for their honeymoon.

Victor believed that the monster said that he would kill him but on his wedding the creature kills Elizabeth.

The creature mocks Victor. He puts Elizabeth's body out the window.

Shortly after Victor arrives in Geneva, Alphonse died of heartbreak, Victor becomes deathly ill, and madness overtakes him for a few months.

The magistrate tells Victor that he should be ready for disappointment because there is very little that the law can do to capture the monster

Victor sees the monster hide out on ship that is headed for Russia. Victor decides to follow the creature into the Arctic on a dog sled.

The creature leaves food for Victor

Victor asks Walton to destroy the creature. Victor warns Walton that the creature is persuasive

Victor won't tell Walton the details about the creation because Victor doesn't want him to know the secret. He believes it will kill Walton's happiness.

Victor believes his desire for science has chained him. Walton regrets knowing Victor when he was younger and more powerful.

Walton avoids the threat of a mutiny by accepting his crew's demands to go back to England after the ice thawed.

Walton returns to England because of the voyage. The voyage resulted in death of a few crew members and the voyage was very dangerous. Victor says that he will continue his journey.

No, Victor doesn't blame himself. Walton is very sad about Victor's death, he cries. Walton really wants to turn the ship around and give up.

The monster has boarded the ship, and Victor finds the body. There is a mood of fright, and there is also suspense now that the creature has appeared.

It seems as though their roles have been switched. The creature stands over the body of Victor with no emotion on his face. The monster wants to ask Victor for his forgiveness.

The monster first says that he just wanted to find someone to love him. But instead, his crimes have turned him into a horrible creature. Walton is touched by the explanation the creature gives him, although, he remembers Victors words, and calls the monster a hypocritical fiend.

The creature is going to take his own life. He says that no matter how much suffering that Victor went through, it does not compare to the suffering of the creature. He does not have acceptance from his creator, so he wants to find comfort in death.

No. He floats away on a block of ice into the night.