Frankenstein

Letter One: December
St. Petersburgh (Russia)
Plans to go where no man has gone before
Not afraid of:
Ice/storms – it should be summer-like at N. Pole
Danger
He first thought of this dream to explore while reading his Uncle Thomas’ letters about voyages.

Letter One (Continued):
Walton was an unsuccessful poet for a year.
6 years have passed since he began this project.
Could have had a life of luxury and ease.
Will sail in June.

Letter Two:
Location – Archangel, March
Has found a ship and sailors.
Desires to find a friend who is his equal.
Read Uncle Thomas’ book for the first 14 years of his life.
Shipmaster – courageous Englishman
Master-uneducated, silent, generous man

Letter Three:
Brief letter, July
As he travels North, conditions are more summer-like.
Gales, ice are no problem for the ship and its crew.
Walton is confident of his success, and promises his sister he will not encounter danger

Letter Four:
August, “a strange accident”
Surrounded by ice and fog
“perceived a low carriage, fixed on a sledge and drawn by dogs, pass on towards the North…a being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature, sat in the sledge and guided the dogs.”

Four (Continued):
Another sledge with a human, a European in a poor state of exhaustion.
Two days pass before the stranger can speak.
Says he is looking for “one who fled from me.”
August: “Broken spirit” of a man becomes Walton’s friend, and begins to tell his story.

Chapter One
Victor’s life and family
Father – Alphonse
Mother – Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein (daughter of one of Alphonse’s friends)
Brothers – Ernest (middle child)
William – youngest son
Distinguished family

Chapter One (Continued)
Victor’s parents traveled extensively and on one of the travels to Italy, they adopted Elizabeth Lavenza (daughter of an Italian nobleman, living in poverty when the Frankensteins meet her)

Chapter Two
One year age difference between Victor and Elizabeth.
Victor tells of his happy childhood, and how passionate he is about life and learning.
Victor’s school friend – Henry Clerval is interested in heroes, action of mankind.
Elizabeth – calm, saintly, soft voice, sympathetic

Chapter Two (Continued)
Victor’s interest in “natural philosophy” makes him wish to read Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Alberto Magnus.
Science is his focus and he feels that he must always strive to learn more.
Searches for the “elixir of life.”
Witnesses a thunderstorm while 15, and becomes interested in the laws of electricity.

Chapter Two (Continued)
Victor changes his studies to math and science built on a secure foundation after reading Sir Isaac Newton.
Chapter ends with foreshadowing:
“Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.”

Chapter 3 Frankenstein
Victor enters college at 17.
University of Ingolstadt.
Elizabeth gets scarlet fever.
Caroline (V’s mom) nurses Elizabeth to health, but falls ill.
On her deathbed, Caroline joins Victor’ and Elizabeth’s hands and wishes for them to marry someday.


Chapter Three (Continued):
Victor meets his professors.
M. Krempe (Monsieur): professor of natural philosophy. Uncouth, repulsive.
M. Waldman: opposite of Krempe. Benevolent, dignified. Helps decide Victor’s future. Focus on chemistry.

Chapter Four:
Victor makes rapid progress in his studies. He improves some chemical instrumentation at the university and receives accolades.
Becomes interested in the structure of the human frame. Says to examine life, one must look at death, so he goes to graveyards to observe the normal decay of the human body.

Chapter Four (continued):
Victor visits charnel houses, vaults, and looks at the decaying effects of death on the human body.
Realizes that he is becoming “..capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter.”
Becomes concerned about how to enact reanimation.
Decides to make the creature gigantic in size, so the parts will be easier to manipulate in the lab.
Victor, himself, becomes an absolutely, exhausted wreck (time in school, lab, and prowling graveyards at night).

Chapter Five:
On a dreary night in November, Victor is ready to infuse life into his creation.
Description of the creature/wretch:
Dull, yellow, watery eyes, deep eye sockets
Proportionate limbs, black shiny hair
Yellow skin, stretched tightly around his arteries, muscles
White teeth, black lips, shriveled complexion

Chapter Five (continued):
Took two years to make the creature.
Victor ruins his own health during the creative process.
Victor becomes horrified and disgusted as he looks at the monster.
After finally sleeping, Victor awakes and sees the creature stretching his hand out toward the creator.
Victor escapes from his apartment to his courtyard below, and runs into Henry Clerval the next day who has a letter from Elizabeth for Victor.