Plot summary

Letter 1:
The novel begins with a series of letters from the explorer Robert Walton to his sister, Margaret Saville. Walton grew up having to educate himself . He has a passion for seafaring and is the captain of a ship headed on a dangerous voyage to the North Pole. In the first letter, he tells his sister of the preparations leading up to his departure and of the desire burning in him to accomplish “some great purpose”—discovering a northern passage to the Pacific, revealing the source of the Earth’s magnetism, or simply setting foot on undiscovered territory. He also says he prefers glory to wealth, and is aware of the life threatening danger of his voyage.

Letter 2:
In the second letter, Walton reveals his lack of friends. He feels lonely and isolated, too sophisticated to find comfort in his shipmates and too uneducated to find a sensitive soul with whom to share his dreams. He shows himself a Romantic, with his “love for the marvellous, a belief in the marvellous,” which pushes him along the perilous, lonely pathway he has chosen. He references the Ancient Mariner and compares himself, and declares his love of poetry and how it inspires his sea travel. 

Letter 3:  
This is the shortest letter, at less than a page. Within, Walton tells his sister that his ship has set sail and that he has full confidence that he will achieve his aim.

Letter 4:
In the fourth letter, the ship stalls between huge sheets of ice, and Walton and his men spot a sledge guided by a gigantic creature about half a mile away. The next morning, they encounter another sledge stranded on an ice floe. All but one of the dogs drawing the sledge is dead, and the man on the sledge—not the man seen the night before—is emaciated, weak, and starving. Despite his condition, the man refuses to board the ship until Walton tells him that it is heading north. The stranger spends two days recovering, nursed by the crew, before he can speak. The crew is burning with curiosity, but Walton, aware of the man’s still-fragile state, prevents his men from burdening the stranger with questions. As time passes, Walton and the stranger become friends, and the stranger eventually consents to tell Walton his story. At the end of the fourth letter, Walton states that the visitor will commence his narrative the next day; Walton’s framing narrative ends and the stranger’s begins.

Chapter 1: 

He starts with his family background, birth, and early childhood, telling Walton about his father (Alphonse), and his mother, Caroline. He became Caroline’s protector when her father (and Alphonse's long time friend) Beaufort, died in poverty. They married two years later, and Victor was born soon after.

Frankenstein then describes how his childhood companion, Elizabeth Lavenza, entered his family. At this point in the narrative, the original (1818) and revised (1831) versions of Frankenstein diverge. In the original version, Elizabeth is Victor’s cousin, the daughter of Alphonse’s sister; when Victor is four years old, Elizabeth’s mother dies and Elizabeth is adopted into the Frankenstein family. In the revised version, Elizabeth is discovered by Caroline, on a trip to Italy, when Victor is about five years old. While visiting a poor Italian family, Caroline notices a beautiful blonde girl among the dark-haired Italian children; upon discovering that Elizabeth is the orphaned daughter of a Milanese nobleman and a German woman and that the Italian family can barely afford to feed her, Caroline adopts Elizabeth and brings her back to Geneva. Victor’s mother decides at the moment of the adoption that Elizabeth and Victor should someday marry.

Chapter 2:
Elizabeth and Victor grow up together as best friends. Victor’s friendship with Henry Clerval, a schoolmate and only child, flourishes as well, and he spends his childhood happily surrounded by this close domestic circle. As a teenager, Victor becomes increasingly fascinated by the mysteries of the natural world. He chances upon a book by Cornelius Agrippa, a sixteenth-century scholar of the occult sciences, and becomes interested in natural philosophy. He studies the outdated findings of the alchemists Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus with enthusiasm. He witnesses the destructive power of nature when, during a raging storm, lightning destroys a tree near his house. A modern natural philosopher accompanying the Frankenstein family explains to Victor the workings of electricity, making the ideas of the alchemists seem outdated and worthless. 

Chapter 3:

At the age of seventeen, Victor leaves his family in Geneva to attend the university at Ingolstadt. Just before Victor departs, his mother catches scarlet fever from Elizabeth, whom she has been nursing back to health, and dies. On her deathbed, she begs Elizabeth and Victor to marry. Several weeks later, still grieving, Victor goes off to Ingolstadt.

Arriving at the university, he finds quarters in the town and sets up a meeting with a professor of natural philosophy, M. Krempe. Krempe tells Victor that all the time that Victor has spent studying the alchemists has been wasted, further souring Victor on the study of natural philosophy. He then attends a lecture in chemistry by a professor named Waldman. This lecture, along with a subsequent meeting with the professor, convinces Victor to pursue his studies in the sciences.

Chapter 4:

Victor attacks his studies with enthusiasm and, ignoring his social life and his family far away in Geneva, makes rapid progress. Fascinated by the mystery of the creation of life, he begins to study how the human body is built (anatomy) and how it falls apart (death and decay). After several years of tireless work, he masters all that his professors have to teach him, and he goes one step further: discovering the secret of life.

Privately, hidden away in his apartment where no one can see him work, he decides to begin the construction of an animate creature, envisioning the creation of a new race of wonderful beings. Zealously devoting himself to this labor, he neglects everything else—family, friends, studies, and social life—and grows increasingly pale, lonely, and obsessed.

Chapter 5:

One stormy night, after months of labour, Victor completes his creation. But when he brings it to life, its awful appearance horrifies him. He rushes to the next room and tries to sleep, but he is troubled by nightmares about Elizabeth and his mother’s corpse. He wakes to discover the monster looming over his bed with a grotesque smile and rushes out of the house. He spends the night pacing in his courtyard. The next morning, he goes walking in the town of Ingolstadt, frantically avoiding a return to his now-haunted apartment.

As he walks by the town inn, Victor comes across his friend Henry Clerval, who has just arrived to begin studying at the university. Delighted to see Henry—a breath of fresh air and a reminder of his family after so many months of isolation and ill health—he brings him back to his apartment. Victor enters first and is relieved to find no sign of the monster. But, weakened by months of work and shock at the horrific being he has created, he immediately falls ill with a nervous fever that lasts several months. Henry nurses him back to health and, when Victor has recovered, gives him a letter from Elizabeth that had arrived during his illness.

Chapter 6:

Elizabeth’s letter expresses her concern about Victor’s illness and entreats him to write to his family in Geneva as soon as he can. She also tells him that Justine Moritz, a girl who used to live with the Frankenstein family, has returned to their house following her mother’s death.

After Victor has recovered, he introduces Henry, who is studying Oriental languages, to the professors at the university. The task is painful, however, since the sight of any chemical instrument worsens Victor’s symptoms; even speaking to his professors torments him. He decides to return to Geneva and awaits a letter from his father specifying the date of his departure. Meanwhile, he and Henry take a walking tour through the country, uplifting their spirits with the beauties of nature.

Chapter 7:
On their return to the university, Victor finds a letter from his father telling him that Victor’s youngest brother, William, has been murdered. Saddened, shocked, and apprehensive, Victor departs immediately for Geneva. By the time he arrives, night has fallen and the gates of Geneva have been shut, so he spends the evening walking in the woods around the outskirts of the town. As he walks near the spot where his brother’s body was found, he spies the monster lurking and becomes convinced that his creation is responsible for killing William. The next day, however, when he returns home, Victor learns that Justine has been accused of the murder. After the discovery of the body, a servant had found in Justine’s pocket a picture of Caroline Frankenstein last seen in William’s possession. Victor proclaims Justine’s innocence, but the evidence against her seems irrefutable, and Victor refuses to explain himself for fear that he will be labelled insane.

Chapter 8:
Justine confesses to the crime, believing that she will thereby gain salvation, but tells Elizabeth and Victor that she is innocent—and miserable. They remain convinced of her innocence, but Justine is soon executed. Victor becomes consumed with guilt, knowing that the monster he created and the cloak of secrecy within which the creation took place have now caused the deaths of two members of his family.

Chapter 9:
After Justine’s execution, Victor becomes increasingly melancholy. He considers suicide but restrains himself by thinking of Elizabeth and his father. Alphonse, hoping to cheer up his son, takes his children on an excursion to the family home at Belrive. From there, Victor wanders alone toward the valley of Chamounix. The beautiful scenery cheers him somewhat, but his respite from grief is short-lived.

Chapter 10:

One rainy day, Victor wakes to find his old feelings of despair resurfacing. He decides to travel to the summit of Montanvert, hoping that the view of a pure, eternal, beautiful natural scene will revive his spirits.

When he reaches the glacier at the top, he is momentarily consoled by the sublime spectacle. As he crosses to the opposite side of the glacier, however, he spots a creature loping toward him at incredible speed. At closer range, he recognizes clearly the grotesque shape of the monster. He issues futile threats of attack to the monster, whose enormous strength and speed allow him to elude Victor easily. Victor curses him and tells him to go away, but the monster, speaking eloquently, persuades him to accompany him to a fire in a cave of ice. Inside the cave, the monster begins to narrate the events of his life.

Chapter 11:

Sitting by the fire in his hut, the monster tells Victor of the confusion that he experienced upon being created. He describes his flight from Victor’s apartment into the wilderness and his gradual acclimation to the world through his discovery of the sensations of light, dark, hunger, thirst, and cold. According to his story, one day he finds a fire and is pleased at the warmth it creates, but he becomes dismayed when he burns himself on the hot embers. He realizes that he can keep the fire alive by adding wood, and that the fire is good not only for heat and warmth but also for making food more palatable.

In search of food, the monster finds a hut and enters it. His presence causes an old man inside to shriek and run away in fear. The monster proceeds to a village, where more people flee at the sight of him. As a result of these incidents, he resolves to stay away from humans. One night he takes refuge in a small hovel adjacent to a cottage. In the morning, he discovers that he can see into the cottage through a crack in the wall and observes that the occupants are a young man, a young woman, and an old man.

Chapter 12:

Observing his neighbours for an extended period of time, the monster notices that they often seem unhappy, though he is unsure why. He eventually realizes, however, that their despair results from their poverty, to which he has been contributing by surreptitiously stealing their food. Torn by his guilty conscience, he stops stealing their food and does what he can to reduce their hardship, gathering wood at night to leave at the door for their use.

The monster becomes aware that his neighbours are able to communicate with each other using strange sounds. Vowing to learn their language, he tries to match the sounds they make with the actions they perform. He acquires a basic knowledge of the language, including the names of the young man and woman, Felix and Agatha. He admires their graceful forms and is shocked by his ugliness when he catches sight of his reflection in a pool of water. He spends the whole winter in the hovel, unobserved and well protected from the elements, and grows increasingly affectionate toward his unwitting hosts.

Chapter 13:

As winter thaws into spring, the monster notices that the cottagers, particularly Felix, seem unhappy. A beautiful woman in a dark dress and veil arrives at the cottage on horseback and asks to see Felix. Felix becomes ecstatic the moment he sees her. The woman, who does not speak the language of the cottagers, is named Safie. She moves into the cottage, and the mood of the household immediately brightens. As Safie learns the language of the cottagers, so does the monster. He also learns to read, and, since Felix uses Constantin-François de Volney’s Ruins of Empires to instruct Safie, he learns a bit of world history in the process. Now able to speak and understand the language perfectly, the monster learns about human society by listening to the cottagers’ conversations. Reflecting on his own situation, he realizes that he is deformed and alone. “Was I then a monster,” he asks, “a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled, and whom all men disowned?” He also learns about the pleasures and obligations of the family and of human relations in general, which deepens the agony of his own isolation.

Chapter 14:

After some time, the monster’s constant eavesdropping allows him to reconstruct the history of the cottagers. The old man, De Lacey, was once an affluent and successful citizen in Paris; his children, Agatha and Felix, were well-respected members of the community. Safie’s father, a Turk, was falsely accused of a crime and sentenced to death. Felix visited the Turk in prison and met his daughter, with whom he immediately fell in love. Safie sent Felix letters thanking him for his intention to help her father and recounting the circumstances of her plight (the monster tells Victor that he copied some of these letters and offers them as proof that his tale is true). The letters relate that Safie’s mother was a Christian Arab who had been enslaved by the Turks before marrying her father. She inculcated in Safie an independence and intelligence that Islam prevented Turkish women from cultivating. Safie was eager to marry a European man and thereby escape the near-slavery that awaited her in Turkey. Felix successfully coordinated her father’s escape from prison, but when the plot was discovered, Felix, Agatha, and De Lacey were exiled from France and stripped of their wealth. They then moved into the cottage in Germany upon which the monster has stumbled. Meanwhile, the Turk tried to force Safie to return to Constantinople with him, but she managed to escape with some money and the knowledge of Felix’s whereabouts.

Chapter 15:

While foraging for food in the woods around the cottage one night, the monster finds an abandoned leather satchel containing some clothes and books. Eager to learn more about the world than he can discover through the chink in the cottage wall, he brings the books back to his hovel and begins to read. The books include Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe’s Sorrows of Werter, a volume of Plutarch’s Lives, and John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the last of which has the most profound effect on the monster. Unaware that Paradise Lost is a work of imagination, he reads it as a factual history and finds much similarity between the story and his own situation. Rifling through the pockets of his own clothes, stolen long ago from Victor’s apartment, he finds some papers from Victor’s journal. With his new found ability to read, he soon understands the horrific manner of his own creation and the disgust with which his creator regarded him.

Dismayed by these discoveries, the monster wishes to reveal himself to the cottagers in the hope that they will see past his hideous exterior and befriend him. He decides to approach the blind De Lacey first, hoping to win him over while Felix, Agatha, and Safie are away. He believes that De Lacey, unprejudiced against his hideous exterior, may be able to convince the others of his gentle nature.

The perfect opportunity soon presents itself, as Felix, Agatha, and Safie depart one day for a long walk. The monster nervously enters the cottage and begins to speak to the old man. Just as he begins to explain his situation, however, the other three return unexpectedly. Felix drives the monster away, horrified by his appearance.

Chapter 16:

In the wake of this rejection, the monster swears to revenge himself against all human beings, his creator in particular. Journeying for months out of sight of others, he makes his way toward Geneva. On the way, he spots a young girl, seemingly alone; the girl slips into a stream and appears to be on the verge of drowning. When the monster rescues the girl from the water, the man accompanying her, suspecting him of having attacked her, shoots him.

As he nears Geneva, the monster runs across Victor’s younger brother, William, in the woods. When William mentions that his father is Alphonse Frankenstein, the monster erupts in a rage of vengeance and strangles the boy to death with his bare hands. He takes a picture of Caroline Frankenstein that the boy has been holding and places it in the folds of the dress of a girl sleeping in a barn—Justine Moritz, who is later executed for William’s murder.

Having explained to Victor the circumstances behind William’s murder and Justine’s conviction, the monster implores Victor to create another monster to accompany him and be his mate.

Chapter 17:
The monster tells Victor that it is his right to have a female monster companion. Victor refuses at first, but the monster appeals to Victor’s sense of responsibility as his creator. He tells Victor that all of his evil actions have been the result of a desperate loneliness. He promises to take his new mate to South America to hide in the jungle far from human contact. With the sympathy of a fellow monster, he argues, he will no longer be compelled to kill. Convinced by these arguments, Victor finally agrees to create a female monster. Overjoyed but still sceptical, the monster tells Victor that he will monitor Victor’s progress and that Victor need not worry about contacting him when his work is done.

Chapter 18:

After his fateful meeting with the monster on the glacier, Victor puts off the creation of a new, female creature. He begins to have doubts about the wisdom of agreeing to the monster’s request. He realizes that the project will require him to travel to England to gather information. His father notices that his spirits are troubled much of the time—Victor, still racked by guilt over the deaths of William and Justine, is now newly horrified by the task in which he is about to engage—and asks him if his impending marriage to Elizabeth is the source of his melancholy. Victor assures him that the prospect of marriage to Elizabeth is the only happiness in his life. Eager to raise Victor’s spirits, Alphonse suggests that they celebrate the marriage immediately. Victor refuses, unwilling to marry Elizabeth until he has completed his obligation to the monster. He asks Alphonse if he can first travel to England, and Alphonse consents. Victor and Alphonse arrange a two-year tour, on which Henry Clerval, eager to begin his studies after several years of unpleasant work for his father in Geneva, will accompany Victor. After travelling for a while, they reach London.

Chapter 19:

Victor and Henry journey through England and Scotland, but Victor grows impatient to begin his work and free himself of his bond to the monster. Victor has an acquaintance in a Scottish town, with whom he urges Henry to stay while he goes alone on a tour of Scotland. Henry consents reluctantly, and Victor departs for a remote, desolate island in the Orkneys to complete his project.

Quickly setting up a laboratory in a small shack, Victor devotes many hours to working on his new creature. He often has trouble continuing his work, however, knowing how unsatisfying, even grotesque, the product of his labour will be.

Chapter 20:

While working one night, Victor begins to think about what might happen after he finishes his creation. He imagines that his new creature might not want to seclude herself, as the monster had promised, or that the two creatures might have children, creating “a race of devils . . . on the earth.” In the midst of these reflections and growing concern, Victor looks up to see the monster grinning at him through the window. Overcome by the monster’s hideousness and the possibility of a second creature like him, he destroys his work in progress. The monster becomes enraged at Victor for breaking his promise, and at the prospect of his own continued solitude. He curses and vows revenge, then departs, swearing that he will be with Victor on his wedding night.

The following night, Victor receives a letter from Henry, who, tired of Scotland, suggests that they continue their travels. Before he leaves his shack, Victor cleans and packs his chemical instruments and collects the remains of his second creature. Late that evening, he rows out onto the ocean and throws the remains into the water, allowing himself to rest in the boat for a while. When he wakes, he finds that the winds will not permit him to return to shore. Panicking, in fear for his life, he contemplates the possibility of dying at sea, blown far out into the Atlantic. Soon the winds change, however, and he reaches shore near a town. When he lands, a group of townspeople greet him rudely, telling him that he is under suspicion for a murder discovered the previous night.

Chapter 21: 
 

After confronting Victor, the townspeople take him to Mr. Kirwin, the town magistrate. Victor hears witnesses testify against him, claiming that they found the body of a man along the beach the previous night and that, just before finding the body, they saw a boat in the water that resembled Victor’s. Mr. Kirwin decides to bring Victor to look at the body to see what effect it has on him: if Victor is the murderer, perhaps he will react with visible emotion. When Victor sees the body, he does indeed react with horror, for the victim is Henry Clerval, with the black marks of the monster’s hands around his neck. In shock, Victor falls into convulsions and suffers a long illness.
Victor remains ill for two months. Upon his recovery, he finds himself still in prison. Mr. Kirwin, now compassionate and much more sympathetic than before Victor’s illness, visits him in his cell. He tells him that he has a visitor, and for a moment Victor fears that the monster has come to cause him even more misery. The visitor turns out to be his father, who, upon hearing of his son’s illness and the death of his friend, rushed from Geneva to see him.
Victor is overjoyed to see his father, who stays with him until the court, having nothing but circumstantial evidence, finds him innocent of Henry’s murder. After his release, Victor departs with his father for Geneva.

Chapter 22: 
On their way home, father and son stop in Paris, where Victor rests to recover his strength. Just before leaving again for Geneva, Victor receives a letter from Elizabeth. Worried by Victor’s recurrent illnesses, she asks him if he is in love with another, to which Victor replies that she is the source of his joy. The letter reminds him of the monster’s threat that he will be with Victor on his wedding night. He believes that the monster intends to attack him and resolves that he will fight back. Whichever one of them is destroyed, his misery will at last come to an end.
Eventually, Victor and his father arrive home and begin planning the wedding. Elizabeth is still worried about Victor, but he assures her that all will be well after the wedding. He has a terrible secret, he tells her, that he can only reveal to her after they are married. As the wedding day approaches, Victor grows more and more nervous about his impending confrontation with the monster. Finally, the wedding takes place, and Victor and Elizabeth depart for a family cottage to spend the night.

Chapter 23:
In the evening, Victor and Elizabeth walk around the grounds, but Victor can think of nothing but the monster’s imminent arrival. Inside, Victor worries that Elizabeth might be upset by the monster’s appearance and the battle between them. He tells her to retire for the night. He begins to search for the monster in the house, when suddenly he hears Elizabeth scream and realizes that it was never his death that the monster had been intending this night. Consumed with grief over Elizabeth’s death, Victor returns home and tells his father the gruesome news. Shocked by the tragic end of what should have been a joyous day, his father dies a few days later. Victor finally breaks his secrecy and tries to convince a magistrate in Geneva that an unnatural monster is responsible for the death of Elizabeth, but the magistrate does not believe him. Victor resolves to devote the rest of his life to finding and destroying the monster.

Chapter 24:
His whole family destroyed, Victor decides to leave Geneva and the painful memories it holds behind him forever. He tracks the monster for months, guided by slight clues, messages, and hints that the monster leaves for him. Angered by these taunts, Victor continues his pursuit into the ice and snow of the North. There he meets Walton and tells his story. He entreats Walton to continue his search for vengeance after he is dead.

Walton's Conclusion:
Walton then regains control of the narrative, continuing the story in the form of further letters to his sister. He tells her that he believes in the truth of Victor’s story. He laments that he did not know Victor, who remains on the brink of death, in better days.
One morning, Walton’s crewmen enter his cabin and beg him to promise that they will return to England if they break out of the ice in which they have been trapped ever since the night they first saw the monster’s sledge. Victor speaks up, however, and convinces the men that the glory and honor of their quest should be enough motivation for them to continue toward their goal. They are momentarily moved, but two days later they again entreat Walton, who consents to the plan of return.
Just before the ship is set to head back to England, Victor dies. Several days later, Walton hears a strange sound coming from the room in which Victor’s body lies. Investigating the noise, Walton is startled to find the monster, as hideous as Victor had described, weeping over his dead creator’s body. The monster begins to tell him of all his sufferings. He says that he deeply regrets having become an instrument of evil and that, with his creator dead, he is ready to die. He leaves the ship and departs into the darkness.
Similarly, while Walton and Frankenstein deem the monster a malevolent, insensitive brute, the monster casts himself as a martyred classical hero: “I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the agony of the torturing flames,” he says. Fittingly, the last few pages of the novel are taken up with the monster’s own words as he attempts to gain self-definition before leaving for the northern ice to die. That the monster reassumes control of the narrative from Walton ensures that, after Victor’s death and even after his own, the struggle to understand who or what the monster really is—Adam or Satan, tragic victim or arch-villain—will go on.

Books referenced in Frankenstein

Paradise Lost
Plot:

Paradise Lost is about Adam and Eve—how they came to be created and how they came to lose their place in the Garden of Eden, also called Paradise. It's the same story we find in the first pages of Genesis, expanded by Milton into a very long, detailed, narrative poem. It also includes the story of the origin of Satan. Originally, he was called Lucifer, an angel in heaven who led his followers in a war against God, and was ultimately sent with them to hell. Thirst for revenge led him to cause man's downfall by turning into a serpent and tempting Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.

John Milton's Paradise Lost is broken up into three parts:

• Books 1-4 focus on Satan
• Books 5-8 focus on Christ
• Books 9-12 focus on Adam and Eve.

Why Shelley would use this?
Shows the corruption of man (in this case woman-Eve) and how there are severe punishments for going against God, as Victor does when he creates the monster. Excited the creation with different and far deeper emotions. Read and interpreted as truth, as it would have been in time when Catholiscm was the main religion and society was religious. The monster could relate to Adam as he was the only one of his kind in exsistance. However, Adam came from the hands of God, and the creation came from the hands of someone who was defying God. Compared himself to Satan- they are both hated and "when i viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me" "Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and alone" Used as a plot devise to allow the creation to see that if even Satan has a mate, he should too, causing him to demand a mate and resulting in the murdering of Elizabeth. Also to learn about God, and realises that he is a create against God- reaffirms that he is all alone.

Plutarch's Lives
Why it's used- The volume of Plutarch's Lives that the Creature reads covers the "histories of the first founders of the ancient republics." Through this book the Creature says that he begins to see the world beyond what he knows. Plutarch's Lives develops the framework by which the Creature comes to understand the world around him. He says that the work taught him "high thoughts." His world was a microcosm that consisted of the cottagers. However, the book elevated the Creature's understanding of the rest of the world that he never acquainted himself with.

• the subjects of the lives are idealistic men who founded the early classical republics
• he learns about towns and cities where large groups of men and women live together, so he discovers the idea of human society
• he finds out about the vicious behaviour of some men in public and comes to admire virtuous men and peaceful lawmakers.

The Sorrows Of Werter
Plot: The story is a classic of German literature and describes a summer spent in the country by Werther where he falls in love with a woman already betrothed to another and eventually blows his brains out. Through it the monster confronts the idea of suicide and weighs the options of living or ending his own life.

Why it's used: Mary Shelley's choices in literature for the Creature each contribute a new dimension by which the reader can further understand him. These works additionally provide an avenue through which the Creature himself can learn about human nature. Not only does the creature relate to the books that he reads, he learns new levels of emotion through them. The Sorrows of Werter ends in the suicide of the main character. Since the Creature often finds himself questioning his purpose in life and whether it is worth living, the book effectively serves as a parallel to his torment.
The Sorrows of Werter teaches the Creature "despondency and gloom." The book also compels the Creature to examine himself in contrast to the world around him - he questions his place in the world as well as his identity. The reader can interpret the Creature's quote, "Cursed, cursed Creator! Why did I live?" as a reflection of the despondency that he discovers through The Sorrows of Werter. He contemplates what he could have done and mentions that he could have ended his own life.

• its domestic settings appeal to his experience with the de Lacey family
• he sympathises with both the height of the hero’s happiness and the depths of his despair
• the novel prompts him to ask questions about his own identity and destiny.

Cornelius Agrippa

A German magician, occult writer,theologian, astrologer, and alchemist who's works were read by Victor in chapter 2 and inspired him in natural sciences.

Historical Figures

Cornelius Agrippa
He was a German mystic and alchemist, who studied both medicine and law.
He established a secret society in France devoted to magic, astrology and kabbalah ( set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between an unchanging, eternal and mysterious Ein Sof (no end) and the mortal and finite universe (his creation))
Set up a laboratory in the hopes of synthesising gold.
Set up a medieval practice in Geneva.
Many of his opinions were controversial.

Luigi Galvani
During the 1790s, he demonstrated what we now understand to be the electrical basis of nerve impulses when he made frog muscles twitch by jolting them with a spark from an electrostatic machine

Paracelsus
German Swiss renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist.  Paracelsus viewed the universe as one coherent organism pervaded by a uniting lifegiving spirit, and this in its entirety, Man included, was 'God'. His views put him at odds with the Church, for whom there necessarily had to be a difference between the Creator and the created.

He summarised his own views:

“	Many have said of Alchemy, that it is for the making of gold and silver,. For me such is not the aim, but to consider only what virtue and power may lie in medicines.

Darwin
Was an English naturalist who created the theory of evolution and natural selection. He wrote the book On the Origin of Species. He took a 5 year voyage around the world researching his theories.

Percy Bysshe Shelley
 He wrote The Necessity of Atheism, a pamphlet that attacked the idea of compulsory Christianity. Shelley eloped to Scotland with Harriet Westbrook, a sixteen year old daughter of a coffee-house keeper. This created a terrible scandal and Shelley's father never forgave him for what he had done. Shelley moved to Ireland where he made revolutionary speeches on religion and politics. He also wrote a political pamphlet A Declaration of Rights, on the subject of the French Revolution, but it was considered to be too radical for distribution in Britain. In 1814 Shelley fell in love and eloped with Mary, the sixteen-year-old daughter of William Godwin. and Mary Wallstonecraft. For the next few years the couple travelled in Europe. Shelley continued to be involved in politics and in 1817 wrote the pamphlet A proposal for putting reform to the vote throughout the United Kingdom. In the pamphlet Shelley suggested a national referendum on electoral reform and improvements in working class education.

Clerval

• "Henry deeply felt the misfortune of being debarred from a liberal education" A situation that he has in common with Victor. Walton and Clerval both has fathers who do not with for them to explore. "saw idleness and ruin in the aspirations and ambitions of his son"

Elizabeth

• Selfless, "she forgot even her own regrets in her endeavour to make us forget." Shows the humanity of Elizabeth that even though she herself is undergoing hardship and internal turmoil, she put the emotional well-being of her family at the foreground of her agenda. Sharp contrast to how Victor turns away the monster due to his own internal feelings of horror in order to look after his own creation, who could even been seen as his own son, showing inhumanity and a lack of paternal instincts. 
• When Elizabeth writes the letter to Victor, and  discusses that she "regretted not being able to perform it by myself" Reminiscent to Victors mother wanting to look after Elizabeth. Could portray the idea that the maternal bond is stronger than the paternal as Victor loathes his creation.
• "My uncle is not pleased with the idea of a military career in a distant country" The idea of travelling is still looked at with dismay by people in this century.
• Even seemingly good characters like Elizabeth are weak to human traits such as judging based on looks. "Her ugly sister" 
• "A fellow creature about to perish through the cowardice of her pretended friends" She is again falseness and is unhappy that all the the people who supposedly supported Justine has suddenly turned on her- is ignorant to the fact that Victor knows it wasn't her and is willing to let her die so he doesn't have to reveal to all about his creation. 
• "Endeavouring to plunge me into the abyss" Foreshadowing her death. 

Frankenstein's monster

• "Dull yellow eye"
• "convulsive motion agitated its limbs"
• "His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath"

Victors perspective on the monsters birth:

"white sockets" 

"Breathless horror and disgust" - Revolution at the creature

The monsters perspective on it's birth:

"how dare you sport thus with life" 

"miserable beyond all living things"

"height is superior" - clear understanding of himself and capabilities. in control.

"Strange multiplicity of sensations"

"saw, felt, heard and smelt at the same time" 

"Joints more supple"

"I felt light, hunger and thirst and darkness" - human instincts

"all men hate the wretched, how then must I be hated" views self in extremely negative manner, recognises Victors views. Attributes of a parent/child relationship? monster has learned and based behaviour on his reaction.

"have I not suffered enough" a creation of pain, he has been through hardship,  very human attribute.

"More hideous than belongs to humanity" Basing the Monsters ability to fit in on looks, judgemental, does humanity require a certain standard of appearance? The importance of image has increased greatly over the years. In the 18th century, it was not just about physical image, but the image your family portrayed. 
In a similar  scenario to Justine in that she was accused of something she didn't do, and suffered for it and the creation suffered for it's appearance, something that was out of his control. Both relate back to Victor as he created the monster and is therefore responsible for how he looks, and the monster killed William, but would not have found himself in that scenario has he not been created by Victor or brought up and raised by him.

"As it were instinctively, finding myself so desolate" The creation has instincts, feels hunger, thirst and desolation, all human attributes.
"perceived me, shrieking loudly, and, quitted the hut" People are scared of the creatures appearance despite the fact that his personality is very human. 
"grievously bruised by stones" Attacked by people because of his appearance, shows the inhumanity of some people
Finds somewhere to comfortably rest and live- basic instincts
Learns to fear humans as he remembered his treatment from the night before. - similar to animal, when they have not come into contact with humans they don't fear them, but once they are captured they fear them.
Articulate- grasped the human language far quicker than any baby would, indication of superhuman ability. 
Animalism instincts- to feed self, drink and rest and keep warm and sheltered. "Here the snow and rain could not penetrate" Finds all of this through nature, unlike most humans, has no need for materialistic possessions. Superior quality? 
Curiosity- searches hut with disregard to the thought that it belongs to someone. 
"His appearance, different from any I had ever before seen, and his flight, somewhat surprised me" Despite unfamiliarity with the looks of the man, the creation does not fear or loath him. Non-judgemental, unlike all of the humans,does not show prejudice towards people different from him, human nature to prejudge? 
Shows intelligence that far surpasses most of the people in the era. "pandemonium appeared to the demons of hell after their sufferings in the lake of fire" Unexplained intelligence, has only been alive for  while, has not had access to books yet. 
"It was noon" concept of time grasped
"I crept from my kennel" Being compared to a dog, low view of himself.
Appreciation for beauty- "never beheld aught beautiful before" 
Recognition of a daily routine, life's daily tasks "This day was passed in the same routine" 
Learns of family love through the family he watches, "love and respect which the young cottagers exhibited towards their venerable companion" 
Compassionate- "I was deeply affected by it" (concerning seeing the young man crying)
Begins to do deeds for the family which help them- selfless quality, wishes to help people and use his strength in order to make manual labour tasks unnecessary for the family. 
Learns to speak English through listening to the family and associating words with specific objects, things, or people. 
Learned to read facial expressions through the family
Thinks the family will accept him based on the fact that they unknowingly think he is a "good spirit, wonderful" and that his "gentle demure and conciliating words" will help them accept and love him. Craves "their favour, and afterwards their love"
Monster becomes aware that humans value possessions and money and begins his downwards spiral into despair and anger.

Feels betrayed by his own maker as watching the family dynamic of the family makes him realise how alone he is. 

The monster, whose solitude stems from being the only creature of his kind in existence and from being shunned by humanity, senses this quality of being different most powerfully. His deformity, his ability to survive extreme conditions, and the grotesque circumstances of his creation all serve to mark him as the ultimate outsider. Victor, too, is an outsider, as his awful secret separates him from friends, family, and the rest of society.

Language and communication take centre stage in these chapters, as the monster emerges from his infantile state and begins to understand and produce written and spoken language.
Reads classic literature of his own accord, wants to learn, wanted to "exercise my mind"
Reading these books makes him question his own being. ponders very philosophical questions "who was I?" 
Compares himself to Adam in Paradise lost, both created by a 'father'. God made Adam, Victor could be seen as God to the creation and both the creation and Adam go against their creator. Both first of their kind. 
Reads victors journal of when he created the monster and is heartbroken to read how much he is loathed and found disgusting by his own creator. "Satan had his companions...but I am solitary and abhorred"
Saw himself in the water's reflection and was unhappy
"No eve soothed my sorrows" Really lonely, pines for a female companion, even Adam, whom he believes he is very similar too, has a mate. He, unlike Adam doesn't even has the care of his creator "He had abandoned me: and in the bitterness of my heart, I cursed him."
Knows the easiest way to gain acceptance is through the blind father as he will not be persuaded by the monsters appearance. Shows the creations understanding that looks are what the humans judge, and only when they are unable to see what a person looks like, will they judge based on personality. "the hearts of men, when unprejudiced by any obvious self-interest, are full of brotherly love and charity" Ironic as the De Lacy family are frightened of him. Shelley indicating that all men are prejudice by self interest
"I was like a wild beast that had broken the toils" Another self comparison to an animal, now that the creation has suffered another despair and rejection from those he loves, finally accepted his animal instincts, forced to because of his rejection from man. What drives a monster is its surroundings, shaped by experiences- no one born a monster, only become a monster through external circumstance?
"The cold stars shone in mockery" no longer finds serenity in the presence of nature- the beauty of nature contrasts him so greatly it feels like mockery. 
"I declared everlasting war against the species" Distinguishes between himself and the humans, no longer associates himself with them. Given up hope- no longer wishes to try and bond with a species that abhorred him so much.  
"state of utter and stupid despair" heights of emotion shows he human in his mind. feels the extremes of emotion. 
"Nature decayed around me" Not only is he faced with the hatred of the humans, it seems like nature has too turned it's back on him. completely alone. 
Despite his earlier utter hatred for the human race, still has compassion towards them, would not let one die if its within his power to help. Thrown back in his face, yet another experience for the creation of having helped people with no thanks, instead being attacked and hated. " I had saved a human being from destruction, and, as a recompense, I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound" Life is continually unfair and cruel to him. Feel compassion towards the creature as he has done no wrong.
Believes that children should be unprejudiced "lived too short a time to have imbibed a horror of deformity" 
"you are an ogre" Even the young ostracise the ugly and different.
"My heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph" Embracing his revenge and his feelings of compassion have no gone. Was pushed too far. 
Mind has turned sly and cruel, tries to hide the picture of Williams mother in the dress of the woman sleeping in the barn. 
Still admires beauty "In spite of my malignity, it softened and attracted me" 
Tells Victor to create him a woman companion who will "have the same defects" unhappy being the only being that is cast out due to his looks. 
Chapter 17
Demands a female companion- in order to no longer be alone in the world. "whom i can can live in the interchange of those sympathies neccassary for my being" The creation is so lonely, has no one to console him. deserved of a female companion? Even lucifer had his demons, and Adam had Eve- Paradise Lost.
Intelligent-"instead of threatening, I am content ro reason with you"
His speech shows the depth of emotions that he has felt and Shelley uses this to spark emotions with the reader on the side of the creation.
Evident how much the creation wants a mate- despite usually being benevolent, he says " until i desolate your heart, so that you shall curse the hour of your birth".
Feels it is Victors right to create him a mate. "Let me feel gratitude towards you for one benefit"
The creation shows human characteristics- he can see and read "he saw my change of feeling"
Vows to never come back and to live in the "vast wilds of South America"
Very persuasive, his language is very emotive and helps make Victor eventually agree, despite being completely against it in the beginning.
Ambiguity- The monsters intentions seem to be sincere but unsure whether he is telling the truth. "May not this be a feint that will increase your triumph by affording a wider scope for revenge?" The internal battle in deciding whether the creation can be trusted or not
Justice- As Walpole said in the preface to The castle of Otronto,  that "the sins of the fathers are visited on their children to the third and fourth generation" Victor realises the concequences of casting the creation out and decides "the justice due both to him and my fellow-creatures demanded of me that I should comply with his request" 
"and fear not but that when you are ready I shall appear" This statement strikes fear into the hearts of the reader- implies the creation is an all-knowing and omnipotent figure as he is aware of Victors moves without him knowing. Indication that the creature is always one step ahead, fearful for the future as if Victor does not comply with his request, he will not be physically able to escape the creations wrath.

Other Gothic Texts

Turn of the screw

• Elements of the sublime = fascination with terror, awe, wonder. -all emotional/feelings/states  of physical being
• Mystery, power of obscurity
• Language shifts, ambiguous dialogue
• Unreliability of narrator
• religion, governess' father was a county parson-she could be beacon of faith
• children angelic, light, corruption of innocence
• describes vision a lot- governess unreliable- over-active imagination?
• Light, terror happens most at night
• dialogue can be restricted, commas give breathless feel to create tense character
• imprisonment

The monk

• Banned from publication
• attack on brutality and hypocrisy of the Catholic church
• poison, rape, incarceration= original Goths barbaric
• Elements of the sublime
• reflects anger at churches history
• focused more in horror than romance
• terror Gothic- interior mental process
• broke typical stereotypes of location
• first novel to feature priest as villain
• woman represents servant of Satan
• demonic temptress, the wandering Jew, bleeding nun
• diabolous dx machina
• use of morality tale- lack of divine intervention

Interview with a vampire

• Main character is a vampire
• death and revenge, secrets
• romance between two characters

The Castle of Toronto

• First Gothic novel
• translation of Italian story
• then was dismissed as romantic
• supernatural and magic - made it more relate-able by making the characters more human
• castles   

Wuthering Heights

• The nature of Heathcliff and Catherine is reflected in the wild elements of the local moors
• Death and disease afflict virtually all characters
• destructive love
• When Heathcliff disappears, a tree is struck by lightening, there is a storm the night Catherine is buried- storms signal danger and conflict
• Death is a reoccuring theme- set in an age when mortality rate was high and death was a part of everyday life
• Wuthering heights house described as a fortress; small windows look inwards and give no welcome
• chained gate and gaunt thorns and narrow windows of the house create a chilling and unwelcoming atmosphere
• Heathcliff opens Cathy's coffin
• Boundaries are surpassed, specifically love crossing the boundaries between life and death
• Heathcliff's transgressing social class
• Gothic trappings of imprisonment and escape
• terrifying dreams, appearances of Cathy as a ghost

Gothic genre

• The gothic genre emphasizes the grotesque elements, the mysterious, the desolate environment, the horrible, the ghostly & ultimately the fear that can be aroused in the reader.
• Gothicism is part of the Romantic Movement that started in the late 18th century and lasted to roughly three decades into the 19th century.
• The bleak, glacial fields of the Alps & the mists of the Arctic serve to indicate the isolation of the two protagonists. The solitary character in Frankenstein can apply to both Victor and his creation as they both live their lives in social isolation.
• Gothicism tells tales of the macabre and supernatural, are usually set amid haunted castles, graveyards, ruins & wild picturesque landscapes. They reached the height of their fashion in the 1790s & the early years of the 19th century.
• Perhaps the most famous Gothic example occurs in Shelley's Frankenstein after Frankenstein 'awakes' his creature: he falls into a dream state that begins with his kissing of Elizabeth, his love. However, this kiss changes her in the most drastic way as she transforms into the rotting corpse of Caroline, Victor's dead mother. Upon awakening from this horrifying dream, Victor finds himself staring into the face of the monster he has created. Interpretations of this dream lead to explorations of Frankenstein's psyche, relational ability and sexuality.
• Becomes fixated with death and the decay of the human body. " forced to spend days and nights in vaults and charnel-houses"
• "Darkness had no effect upon my fancy"
• "I saw how the work inherited the wonders of the eye and the brain"
• "Pour a torrent of light into our dark world"
• "tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay"
• "I collected bones from charnel-houses"
• "filthy creation"
• "dissecting room"
• "It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils"
• "My candle was nearly burnt out" The lighting creates tension
• "Dull yellow eye"
• "convulsive motion agitated its limbs"
• "His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath"
• "Breathless horror and disgust filled my heart"
• When Victor goes back to his home  town of Geneva, he see the monster in the gloom of the trees, "A flash of lightening illuminated the object...the deformity of its aspect" Gothic setting of a dark deformed figure lurking in the trees and its outline illuminated by the lightning.
• 
  

Chapter 21:
"It was a very dark night and the moon had not yet risen" Gothic setting
"as far as he could judge by the light of a few stars"
"black marks of fingers on his neck"
"I feel yet parched with horror, nor can i reflect on that terrible moment without shuddering and agony"
"The cup of life was poisoned forever"

Chapter 24:
"As night approached, I found myself at the entrance of of the cemetery where William, Elizabeth, and my father reposed. I entered it and approached the tomb which marked their graves. Everything was silent" 

Literary devices

Symbolism

Light- Light is associated with goodness and knowledge. "Country of eternal light" "the sun is forever visible" 
The symbol of light, introduced in Walton’s first letter appears again in Victor’s narrative, this time in a scientific context. “From the midst of this darkness,” Victor says when describing his discovery of the secret of life, “a sudden light broke in upon me—a light so brilliant and wondrous.” Light reveals, illuminates, clarifies; it is essential for seeing, and seeing is the way to knowledge. Just as light can illuminate, however, so can it blind; pleasantly warm at moderate levels, it ignites dangerous flames at higher ones. Immediately after his first metaphorical use of light as a symbol of knowledge, Victor retreats into secrecy and warns Walton of “how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge.” Thus, light is balanced always by fire, the promise of new discovery by the danger of unpredictable—and perhaps tragic—consequences.

The path that Victor climbs in chapter 10 is representative of the 'path of life'. "The path, as you ascend higher, is intersected by ravines of snow, down which stones continually roll from above" "One of them is particularly dangerous" The paths to exploration and discovery are dangerous, and the path of Victor's life has become  more difficult due to his meddling with the natural order of things. 

Setting

• Although the frame story is set aboard Captain Walton’s ship in the frozen waters of the Arctic, the events of the story happen all over Europe, from Geneva to the Alps to France, England, and Scotland, as well as the university at Ingolstadt. 
• since exploration of the unknown (and that includes geography) is one of the over-arching themes, the setting is quite broadly constructed from a whole series of places rather than one singular location.
• reminiscent of Dante’s description of the ninth and innermost circle of Hell in Inferno. 
• "Is this to prognosticate peace, or to mock at my unhappiness?" Nature as a force in itself, able to provoke or influence the emotions of its inhabitants. Reflected in the monsters tranquillity when he is at one with nature. Romantic element of nature, and the strong effect it has on humans.
• "I saw the lightnings playing on the summit of Mount Blanc" Lightning reminiscent of bringing back to life, electricity. Hitting when he comes home could represent Victors renewal of life now he is back in his home town surrounded by loved ones, or could represent that lightning also is dangerous and can take away life, as can God. 
• "The storm appeared to be approaching rapidly" The storm could represent Frankenstein's monster is approaching, or more ill fate is coming. 
• The power of nature helps Victor temporarily forget about his anguish. "I ceased to fear" the dashing of the waterfalls around, spoke of a power mighty as omnipitence" 
• Setting reflects the nature of the story in chapter 10 "these sublime and magnificent scenes" the sublime is a heavy feature of this novel.
• Nature "bade me be at peace" relaxing effect of nature on Victor. 
• Learning from nature- the creation relies on nature to survive. 
• The creature learns about fire, how it is hot and burns, how it provides heat and comfort and light. Links back to the alternate title of Frankenstein, The mordern prometheus. The greek God who stole fire from the gods to give to the humans. The creation is too learning how pivotal it is in survival. 
• Victor’s formerly intense connection with sublime nature continues to fade, providing him no refuge from the horror of the monster’s deeds. No longer an enlightening or elevating source of inspiration or consolation, the natural world becomes a mere landscape within which Victor’s tragic dance with the monster plays itself out. The barren Arctic wasteland into which Victor soon chases the monster embodies the raw and primal quality of his hatred for his creation and becomes the final, inescapable resting place for both man and monster.
  
  

Tone
 Elements of Romanticism, tragedy, the Gothic and fatalism.

Character of Mr Kirwin shows the good in humanity- takes care of the murderous in that they are cared for in his vicinity  

Foreshadowing
"you have regarded with such evil forebodings"
Reference to Homer and Shakespeare, both tragedians. 
"To seek the one who fled from me" Makes the reader question what happened between to two and what was such a great event that cause Victor to follow it to the Arctic cirlce.
"So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein—more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation."His nightmares reflect his horror at what he has done and also serve to foreshadow future events in the novel. The images of Elizabeth “livid with the hue of death” prepare the reader for Elizabeth’s eventual death and connect it, however indirectly, to the creation of the monster.
 Victor’s passion will not be tempered by any consideration of the possible horrific consequences of his search for knowledge. 
"It is even possible that the train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led to my ruin"
Chapter 6's reference to Justine followed by the reference to William seems to foreshadow Williams death. "Little darling William" and "rosy with health" forebode the unfortunate end of him. Innocence in William is reflected in the innocence of the creation. 
"He is murdered" foreshadowing that is was the monster as he has been absent from the narrative since chapter 5. Assume he is a horrible evil creature. 
"I did not conceive the hundredth part of the anguish I was destined to endure." There are worse events to come. The loss of a loved one as close as his brother shows that the pain he will feel will be much worse. 
"I now hasten to the more moving part of my story" The creation is hinting at unfortunate events to come, possibly explaining Williams death
Chapter 23: "suddenly a heavy storm of rain descended" 


Apostrophe
Shelley employs other literary devices from time to time, including apostrophe, in which the speaker addresses an inanimate object, absent person, or abstract idea. Victor occasionally addresses some of the figures from his past as if they were with him on board Walton’s ship. “Excellent friend!” he exclaims, referring to Henry. “How sincerely did you love me, and endeavor to elevate my mind, until it was on a level with your own.” Apostrophe was a favorite of Mary Shelley’s husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, who used it often in his poetry; its occurrence here might reflect some degree of Percy’s influence on Mary’s writing.

Frame narrative
As in the first three chapters, Victor repeatedly addresses Walton, his immediate audience, reminding the reader of the frame narrative and of the multiple layers of storytellers and listeners. Structuring comments such as “I fear, my friend, that I shall render myself tedious by dwelling on these preliminary circumstances” both remind the reader of the target audience (Walton) and help indicate the relative importance of each passage.
The sub-plot of Safie and the cottagers adds yet another set of voices to the novel. Their story is transmitted from the cottagers to the monster, from the monster to Victor, from Victor to Walton, and from Walton to his sister, at which point the reader finally gains access to it. This layering of stories within stories enables the reworking of familiar ideas in new contexts.
In chapter 23 "my own strength is exhausted; and I must tell, in a few words, what remains of my hideous narration"