Notes Chapters 18-21 Frankenstein

Chapter 18: V returns to Geneva, puts off the task of building a partner for his creation
(Victor is the narrator).

• Decides to visit England
• V’s health and spirits recover, and though he fears what M will do if he does not create the female, he enjoys solitude.
• V’s dad begins talking of V’s relationship with Elizabeth, and encourages V to go ahead and marry Elizabeth.
• V cannot tell his dad of his fears regarding marriage and how the creature might react to the event.
• V yearns to spend time with English philosophers, yet ponders what would happen if the creature left forever, resolves that he is a “slave” until the creature is destroyed.
• V leaves for England, Alphonse and Elizabeth arrange for Henry to join V.
• V vows to marry Elizabeth upon his return to Geneva.
• V meets Clerval in Strasbourg and is startled by the contrast between the two. V is a tortured, miserable soul, and Henry is full of life.
• The two travel together enjoying the tranquility and beauty of the journey.


Chapter 19: Henry and V travel

• V can feel no joy in the trip. Talks of a “blight over his existence.”
• Clerval wonders why V is so miserable, and wishes to remain in Switzerland
• V senses the presence of the monster and tells Clerval he wishes to tour Scotland alone (for a month or two)
• V goes to the Orkneys (remote area in Northern Scotland) to begin the task of building a mate for his creation. Lives in a old hut (like the De Laceys)
• The work of creating a companion makes V feels repulsion; it sickens him to look at his creation; he grows restless, nervous and alone and working on this miserable project.

Chapter 20/21: V Reflects on his task, bad things happen
• Three years before this he created the monster, and he worries that the mate may be much more malignant that the monster.
• Also the monster said he would leave with the mate and never be seen again, but V realizes that the mate may not agree with that, or even stay with the monster.
• V also worries about offspring of the two monsters and the generations of people who may suffer because of the children of these two.
• V sees the monster with a “ghastly grin” looking at him (so the monster has followed V waiting to claim his companion.
• V realizes he was mad to agree to the creation of the companion, so he tears it to pieces, and later dumps it in the sea.
• V sees the monster watching all of this, and tells the creature to leave him alone. The creature threatens V, saying he will be with him on his wedding night, and says that he, the monster, is the master of V.
• After dumping the remnants of this horrid project, V sails to a nearby town and is accused of murder since he was seen near where a dead body was found in the water.
• He is arrested, and when he views the corpse, he realizes the monster has begun his revenge because the dead person is Henry Clerval, Victor’s BFF.
• V grieves over Henry’s death, and wishes he himself were dead.
• V’s dad come to see him, and a court trial proves that V is innocent.
• V knows he must return to Geneva to face the creature and V’s sleep is constantly interrupted by nightmares.