LA Tuition Revision:

Task 1: Frankenstein – Identify the page numbers, context and purpose of these quotes below
Walton’s Narrative

 ‘I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never
before imprinted by the foot of man’.
 ‘…ascertaining the secret of the magnet…’.
 ‘…my father’s dying injunction had forbidden my uncle to allow me to embark on a seafaring life’.
 ‘…I preferred gory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path’.
 ‘…but I bitterly feel the want of a friend’.
 ‘What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?’
 ‘I never saw a man in so wretched condition’.
 ‘He must have been a noble creature in his better days, being even now in wreck so attractive and amiable’.
 ‘One man’s life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought for the
dominion I should acquire and transmit over the elemental foes of our race’
 ‘Unhappy man! Do you share my madness? Have you drunk also of the intoxicating draught? Hear me- let me reveal
my tale, and you will dash the cup from your lips!’
 ‘Will you smile with the enthusiasm I express concerning this divine wanderer?’
 ‘You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be
a serpent to sting you, as mine have been.’

Victor’s Narrative

 ‘And when, on the morrow, she presented Elizabeth to me as her promised gift, I, with childish seriousness, interpreted
her words literally and looked upon Elizabeth as mine – mine to protect, love, and cherish.’
 ‘The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine.’
 ‘No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of
kindness and indulgence.’
 ‘It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn.'
 ‘Natural philosophy is the genius that regulated my fate.’
 ‘Wealth was an inferior object.’
 ‘…electricity and galvanism … was at once new and astonishing to me.’
 ‘Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.’
 ‘M Krempe was a little squat man, with a gruff voice and a repulsive countenance; the teacher, therefore, did not
prepossess me in favour of his pursuits.’
 ‘In a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder.’
 ‘Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed?’
 ‘Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, 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.’
 ‘A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to
me.’
 ‘Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the
living animal to animate the lifeless clay?’
 ‘The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials’.
 ‘Sometimes I grew alarmed at the wreck I perceived that I had become…’
 ‘It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils’.
 ‘…I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.’
 ‘…I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms…’
 ‘His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken
but he did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs.’
 ‘A flash of lightning illuminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to me; its gigantic structure, and the
deformity of its aspect, more hideous than belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it was the wretch, the filthy
daemon to whom I had given life.’
 ‘During this whole wretched mockery of justice I suffered living torture.’
 ‘Ever since I was condemned, my confessor has besieged me; he threatened and menaced, until I began to think that I
was the monster that he said I was. He threatened excommunication and hell fire in my last moments if I continued to
obdurate.’
 ‘She was no longer that happy creature who in earlier youth wandered with me on the banks of the lake, and talked with
ecstasy of our future prospects.’
 ‘…men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other’s blood.’
 ‘These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving.’
 ‘…its unearthly ugliness rendered it almost too horrible for human eyes.’
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The Creature’s Narrative

 ‘All men hate the wretched.’

 ‘How dare you sport thus with life?’
 ‘Do your duty towards me.’
 ‘Have I not suffered enough, that you seek to increase my misery?’
 ‘I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy and I shall again be virtuous.’
 ‘Believe me, Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably
alone?’
 ‘The guilty are allowed, by human laws, bloody as they are, to speak in their own defence before they are condemned.’
 ‘The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds
of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country…’
 ‘..the barbarity of man.’
 ‘He raised her, and smiled with such kindness and affection that I felt sensations of a peculiar and overpowering
nature…’
 ‘What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people; and I longed to join them, but dared not.’
 ‘I saw no cause for their unhappiness; but I was deeply affected by it. If such lovely creatures were miserable, it was
less strange that I, an imperfect and solitary being, should be wretched.’
 ‘A considerable period elapsed before I discovered one of the causes of the uneasiness of this amiable family: it was
poverty, and they suffered that evil in a very distressing degree.’
 ‘I often took his tools, the use of which I quickly discovered, and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of
several days.’
 ‘I viewed myself in the transparent pool! At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in
the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am…’

Complete the quotes (who said these and why/when?), find page number and elaborate on relevance

Quotation Relevance
interesting creature
‘wildness and even madness
Walton’s descriptions of Victor
gentle, yet so wise

Have you drunk also of the intoxicating draught

Victor’s description of his ambition

I imagine that you may deduce an apt moral from my

Victor’s reason for telling story
tale
I was their plaything and their idol Victor’s idyllic childhood
heaven-sent
celestial stamp
cherub Victor about Elizabeth
shed radiance
‘till death she was to be mine only
the secrets of heaven and hell Victor’s motivation
saintly soul
Descriptions of Elizabeth
celestial eyes
fatal impulse Victor’s description of his ambition
one thought, one conception, and one purpose Victor’s ambition.
Victor’s hopes for creature
A new species would bless me as its creator

A flash of lightning illuminated the object

wretch Victor’s reaction to creature
hideous
filthy daemon
I am resigned Justine’s stoicism

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submit in patience
scene so beautiful and heavenly Geneva
magnificence
mighty
wonderful and sublime
magnificent Mont Blanc Descriptions of scenery

tremendous dome
elevated me

sombre
severity
wreaths Power of nature

melancholy

barbarity of man
Creature’s reason for murder

‘Was man… so powerful, so virtuous and

Creature listened to history and formulated
magnificent, yet so vicious and base’
conclusion

Who was I?
Creature asks basic philosophical questions

I am an outcast in the world forever

Creature’s despair

I am malicious because I am miserable

Creature’s reason for murder/cruelty

Had I a right … to inflict this curse upon everlasting

generations
Victor takes responsibility for his creation

Persuasive Essay Question: Is Victor the villian or victim?

Stand: Victor is the True Villain of Frankenstein Essay

At first glance, the monster in Frankenstein is a symbol of evil, whose only desire is to ruin lives. He has been called "A creature
that wreaks havoc by destroying innocent lives often without remorse. He can be viewed as the antagonist, the element Victor
must overcome to restore balance and tranquility to the world." But after the novel is looked at on different levels, one becomes
aware that the creature wasn't responsible for his actions, and was just a victim of circumstance. The real villain of Frankenstein
isn't the creature, but rather his creator, Victor.

Victor is the wrongdoer because he abandoned his creation. As an archetype novel, Victor is the villain, because he was trying
to play god. Evidence:

Elaboration: This something he shouldn't have done, because humans can't become too powerful, even though they always try.
Victor became so obsessed with creating life, that it clouded his judgment, and took up all of his time and energy. Moments just
before Justine's trial, Victor thought to himself, "During the whole of this wretched mockery of justice I suffered living torture. It
was to be whether the result of my curiosity and lawless devices would cause the death of two of my fellow beings." This line
shows two things, first Victor knew that Justine, and William's death was his fault. Also, he knew that his experiments, shouldn't
have been done, and were against the laws of nature and god.

Victor is a villian as he embodies evil and wants to play God. Victor says, "Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I
should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and
source, many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me." This quote shows how Victor wanted to be like a god.
He wanted to be admired, and praised as a species creator.

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Stand: Victor Frankenstein is both victim and villian

When Victor Frankenstein first thought of creating a living being from an inanimate object, he anticipated something beautiful.
Imagine the benefits for mankind with the discovery of such a creation. He spent countless hours investing his time and energy
to create this new scientific epiphany. Loved by his friends and family, he ostracised himself to the point of making himself ill. In
addition, after having invested and sacrificed so much of himself, he becomes his creature’s object torment. He loses his brother
William, Justine (who is accused of murdering William, and then is punished with death), his friend Henry Clerval, as well as his
wife Elizabeth (consequently his father dies shortly after). He also lives in fear and is constantly threatened by the creature
which he put to life.

On the other hand, some will argue that Frankenstein is not a victim, but a villain who deserves exactly what he gets. To begin,
Victor never thought of the consequences associated with creating such an ugly creature. During his years of planning, never
once did he stop and contemplate the repercussions of his actions if he succeeded. And, to his surprise, when his experiment
was a success, he became frightened and disgusted with the hideousness that was his creature. How was this a surprise? He
was grave robbing for body parts, made a giant version of a human, and sewed them together. What did he expect?
Nevertheless, Victor abandons he creation and leaves him to his own devices. After countless negative encounters on the
monster’s part (being chassed away and rejected by humanity), he decides to wage war on the human race, but mostly on his
creator who is the main cause of his misery. Although Victor has lost much and suffered a greatly during the novel, all of his
sufferings could have been avoided had he planned and acted differently.

How does the monster change over the course of the novel?

To be specific, the following events play an important role in his change in attitude from hope to hatred:

1. When he first leaves the laboratory and goes out by himself, he meets an old man. The old man sees him and runs away.
The monster is not annoyed because he does not know what’s going on.
2. Then he arrives at a village. The people there attack him and want to kill him. The monster then realizes that he’s not
welcome, so he decides to avoid being seen by others. However, at this point, he still cherishes the hope of being accepted by
some people, despite his horrifying appearance.
3. He decides to help a family of three in secret and wait patiently for an opportunity to present himself by talking to the blind
old man when he’s home alone. He’s very disappointed when he gets attacked by the old man’s son, yet he still has some
kindness from the bottom of his heart.
4. His hope is nearly completely crushed when he saves a girl but gets shot and badly injured by this girl’s father. Hatred
toward his creator grows inside him, because the appearance he’s been given is the only reason for his sufferings.
5. His last hope is to ask Frankenstein to create a partner to live with him in recluse. When this request gets rejected
eventually, all that he has in his heart is hatred and all that he seeks is revenge on his creator. The first murder he commits is
unintentional, but later he murders more people intentionally just to make Frankenstein suffer.

There are multiple events, within Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which cause the monster to change his attitude regarding the
world around him.

When the monster first becomes aware of his surroundings he is afraid. The sunlight burns his eyes and the night brings cold. It
is not until the monster beings to understand himself and his surroundings that he first begins to find hope. Not long after, in his
quest to find food and shelter, the monster comes across an old man in a hut. As the monster entered the hut, the old man
flees (fearful of the monster). After leaving the hut the monster comes across a small village. The villagers here either run from
him or attack him. Essentially, the monster's first meeting with humans is not positive. One of the only positive experiences the
monster has comes with his observation of the De Lacys--until he introduces himself to them. It is through his initial
observations that the monster realizes what love is. Unfortunately, his hope to be loved by the family is destroyed given their
utter fear of him. Over the course of the novel, the monster is repeatedly chased, threatened, and harassed (he is even shot
after rescuing a little girl from drowning). One could assume that the monster's brushes with humanity are anything but
humane. The monster is abandoned, isolated, and exiled. Society fails to accept him. Therefore, the monster's change in
attitude comes form the fact that he is presumed to be monstrous and is hated for his differences. Initially, the monster had
hope for his life. This was short lived given the negative way those around him reacted to his being.

Evidence:

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 Essay 2: The creature is said to be a Doppelganger of Victor. Do you agree?

Getting started:

Step 1: Identify keywords and provide synonyms/meanings

Step 2: Paraphrase the question

Step 3: Work out your Thesis Statement (at the end of your intro paragraph)

Step 4: State your stand (if needed) and draft out your points using PEEL + evidence = quotes

What is a Thesis Statement?

The thesis statement tells your reader what to expect: it is a restricted, precisely worded declarative sentence that states the
purpose of your essay -- the point you are trying to make. Without a carefully conceived thesis, an essay has no chance of
success.

Introduction:

The Conclusion

Your literary analysis essay should have a concluding paragraph that gives your essay a sense of completeness and lets your
readers know that they have come to the end of your paper. Your concluding paragraph might restate the thesis in different
words, summarize the main points you have made, or make a relevant comment about the literary work you are analyzing, but
from a different perspective. Do not introduce a new topic in your conclusion.

Victor Creature

Doppelganger

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Many literary critics have noted the Doppelganger effect—the idea that a living person has a ghostly double haunting him—
between Victor and his creature. Presenting Victor and the creature as doubles allows Shelley to dramatize two aspects of a
character, usually the "good" and "bad" selves. Victor's desire to ignore his creature parallels his desire to disregard the darkest
part of his self. The famous psychologist Sigmund Freud characterizes this "dark" side as the Id, while Carl Jung, another
famous psychologist, refers to our "dark" side as the Jungian shadow. Jung claims that we all have characteristics we don't like
about ourselves, yet these unsavory attributes stay with us like a shadow tailgating its leader. The creature represents Victor's
"evil" shadow, just as Victor represents the creature's. When presented this way, it makes sense that so many readers confuse
the creature and Victor by assuming that the creature is named Frankenstein. Both of these characters "alternately pursue and
flee from one another . . . [L]ike fragments of a mind in conflict with itself," as Eleanor Ty observes in the Concise Dictionary of
British Literary Biography.

Doppelganger• is the ghostly double of a living person, dark doubles of individual identities,• They are generally regarded as
harbingers of bad luck. In some traditions, seeing one's own doppelgänger is an omen of death.• The double will often
impersonate the victim and go about ruining them, for instance through committing crimes or insulting the victim's friends.
Sometimes, the double even tries to kill the original. The Creature is a human form of the dark nature of Victor’s personality, the
other half of Victor Frankenstein’s personality. A literary doppelganger best describes the two beings; it’s the exact opposite.
The Creature is Victor’s pure freedom and madness because it has never developed traits like rules, feelings, and restriction;
however, Victor mind has its limits due to the feelings and limitation his mind has developed through growth.

Sample Point:

Both characters strive to gain as much knowledge as possible and look to nature and its serenity during times of suffering and
when they are distressed.

E:

E:

L:

Other Essay questions:

- Who is the real Monster? Why?

- Discuss the symbol of fire in Frankenstein and its subtitle “The Modern Prometheus.”

- Make an argument for who is most responsible for the destruction that occurs in the text (Victor, the Monster, Society,
Alphonse, etc?)

- Explore the theme of creation in Frankenstein.

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 - Explore man’s relation to Nature in Frankenstein and Nature’s role in the text.

- Examine the Gothic traits of Frankenstein

How are Female Characters Portrayed in the Opening Chapters of Frankenstein?

‘Frankenstein’ has only a few female characters, however, Shelley makes these female characters part of the plot and uses
descriptive vocabulary to make then seem ‘more important’ within the novel.
The female characters that are featured within this gothic novel, never really seem to have any dialogue within the text,
however, this reflects the time period it was written in, because women were supposed to be ‘seen and not heard‘.
This idea is also presented upon the pages of this novel, because this was what was socially acceptable at this time, with this
idea in mind Shelley used descriptive language to describe the appearance and behaviour of the female characters, from
Victor’s and ‘the monster's’ points of view.
The female characters within the novel are… Caroline Beaufort, this is Victor’s mother. Beaufort was her maiden name before
she married Victor’s father, then she became Caroline Frankenstein. Caroline Beaufort possessed a mind of an uncommon
mould, and her courage rose to support her in her adversity. “She procured plain work; she plaited straw; and by various means
contrived to earn a pittance scarcely sufficient to support life”. This describes how determined Caroline was to earn enough
money to support herself and her father during his ill health, when she was child. Victor’s character describes how hard life was
for his mother before she married Victor’s father, this is because Victor was inspired by his mother and loved her dearly.
Mary Shelley’s reason for including this part of the character's life must have stemmed from her own personal life, as her mother
was a feminist writer, so including statements of women’s independence must have been important and rewarding for her
mother and perhaps Victor’s mother's character brought this element of femininity to the novel.
Elizabeth Lavenza became Victor’s adopted cousin after Victor’s mother saw her as a baby being nursed by a ‘peasant woman’
in Italy. ‘The peasant woman, perceiving that my mother fixed eyes of wonder and admiration on this lovely girl, eagerly
communicated her history. She was not her child, but the daughter of a Milanese nobleman. Her mother was a German and had
died on giving birth. The infant had been placed with these good people to nurse; they were better off then’.
Shelley describes how Victor’s mother and father came to love Elizabeth and soon after adopted her and returned home to
introduce her to Victor. ‘Elizabeth Lavenza became the inmate of my parents’ house - my more than sister - the beautiful and
adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures’.
This shows how much Victor loved Elizabeth even from being a young child, and as his love grew he later married her in his
adulthood.
Appearance and the description of how the female characters looked within the novel is a frequent characteristic that Shelley
uses throughout the novel, this may be because women were judged upon how they looked rather than what they said or did.
Shelley regularly describes how the female characters look, i.e as we are introduced to Justine’s character Victor describes her
appearance in these exact words… ‘The appearance of Justine was calm. She was dressed in mourning, and her countenance,
always engaging, was rendered, by the solemnity of her feelings, exquisitely beautiful’. This is the first description Victor gives
on introducing Justine, the maid that they have known for years and that has lived with the Frankenstein family for years.

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Further into the novel we discover more of Victor’s love for Elizabeth, which tells the reader women were seen as lustful and
loveable and impracticably (in Elizabeth’s case) good friends. Good. ‘Elizabeth, my beloved and only friend; may heaven, in its
bounty, bless and preserve you; may this be the last misfortune that you will ever suffer! Live and be happy, and make others
so’.
This is an affectionate account of Victor’s feelings towards Elizabeth. Again, this writing style was in keeping with the time it was
written and this use of language would be used regularly when describing your love for someone at this time. This is a more
romantic gesture and is less commonly used today. Shelley may have got inspiration from her husband when writing these
particularly affectionate and romantic verses as her husband Percy Shelley was a poet, she may also have included this
because she felt what Victor would be feeling, and as she had taken on the persona of Victor’s character within the novel she
wanted to include this.
Victor’s creation ‘the monster’ also commented on the appearance of the female characters that he witnessed, ‘Agatha listened
with respect, her eyes sometimes filled with tears, which she endeavored to wipe away unperceived; but I generally found that
her countenance and tone were more cheerful after having listened to the exhortations of her father’.
This is how ‘the monster’ describes Agatha, (one of the three inhabitants that live at the cottage, where ‘the monster’ slept near
and watched. to learn more about human behaviour).
‘The monster’ particularly focuses on describing Agatha’s body language rather than her looks, however, he does also comment
of how the female characters look further in this chapter. -
‘The lady was dressed in a dark suit and covered with a thick black veil… Felix came up hastily to the lady, who, when she saw
him, threw up her veil, and I beheld a countenance of angelic beauty and expression. Her hair of a shiny raven black, and
curiously braided; her eyes were dark but gentle, although animated; her features of a regular proportion and her complexion
wondrously fair, each cheek tinged with a lovely pink’. This again links back to beauty and how women were seen as ‘beautiful’
and ‘angelic’. ‘The monster's’ feelings are similar to that of Victor’s and they both see women as ‘beautiful’ and delicate.
However, they seem to be judged on their appearance and how they look too much, although this is how women were seen at
the time the book was written, so this shows how society has changed and how people are now judged on ‘what they do’ not
‘how they look’.
In conclusion, the female characters that are featured within the novel are portrayed as ‘beautiful’ and are supposed to be seen
not heard, although the character of Caroline Beaufort was slightly different to the other female characters within this novel, ‘But
Caroline Beaufort possessed a mind of an uncommon mould, and her courage rose to support her in her adversity‘. This
describes how Caroline’s character contrasts with the other female characters in the novel because she is more ‘independent’
and ‘has a mind of her own’ which is an important characteristic to have in a novel especially if you are a female author like
Mary Shelley.

Sample Answer: Doppelganger

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In Frankenstein, Shelley creates two distinct monsters, Victor Frankenstein and the creature. Both characters strive to gain as
much knowledge as possible and look to nature and its serenity during times of suffering and when they are distressed.

Evidence:

Victor Frankenstein and the un-human like monster have many similar traits and aspects of their lives but both crave for a
continuous stream of knowledge. Early in the novel Victor is craving for more and more knowledge thus he leaves his large
estate and his love Elizabeth to go to university to learn to understand situations and subjects better.

As a result of his obsession of gaining knowledge he created this monster, it was like an ‘unwanted child’ (p79), as the monster
carries so many of the same characteristics and flaws that Victor possesses it is almost as if the monster inherits these traits.
Both victor and the monster long for becoming more intelligent about their surrounding world. When the monster is hiding in the
poor family’s house, he steals food and by doing this he realizes he is bringing great distress to the humans, from there on he
stops stealing food, rather he helps harvest the crops and cuts firewood for them.

Also as the monster observes the family he learns the English language fluently, when he meets with Victor he explains how ‘A
strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt, heard, and smelt at the same time’ (p9). The monster learns how to
walk, talk, open and close his eyes and how to overcome hunger and thirst. It is obvious as the novel progresses that the
monster has an inner ability and determination to become just as intelligent as his creator.

One would suggest that Victor couldn’t have ever magined that the monsters drive for knowledge would have come this easily.
Additionally, both Victor and the monster use nature as a hideaway or a safe haven when they are feeling as if they have
nowhere else to go. Both find comfort in nature and thus develop a very strong relationship with themselves. As the monster
was too hideous in appearance and frightens the town’s people, living within nature is the only choice as no one will be there to
not accept him or judge him.

Victor uses nature to escape from his problems and the rest of his thoughts after the death of his younger brother William and
friend Justine. He hideaways to the mountains of Chamounix to seek relief from his grief and suffering.

Evidence:

Elaboration: This time spent in the Alps allowed Victor to clear his mind and think about his grief that ‘was augmented and
rendered sublime by the mighty Alps, whose white and shining pyramids and domes towered above all, as belonging to another
earth, the habitations of another race of beings’ (p90)

Subsequently, both characters look towards nature and its serenity during times of distress. As a result, the relationship
between Victor and the monster becomes stronger and their similarities become greater. One would suggest that the reason it
becomes stronger is that Victor and monster seek revenge on each other. As a result of Victor’s obsession with gaining
knowledge and creating life he has created a beast.

Nature >> Setting

The setting of the novel ranges all over Europe, emphasizing places with which Shelley herself was familiar: Italy, Switzerland,
Germany, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, and even the Arctic. The tale begins and ends in the Arctic with the explorer
Robert Walton seeking a northwest passage. On his journey he first meets Victor Frankenstein and then the monster himself.
The arctic atmosphere itself is a fitting symbol for the scientific enterprise on which Frankenstein has embarked and Walton is
embarking. The landscape is barren and white: it is human beings who turn the landscape and scientific creation into colorful
creation or black horror.

As Dr. Frankenstein lies dying, he recounts his history to Walton. When he speaks of his home in Geneva by a blue lake and
snowy mountains, his description is filled with warmth, light, and love. At age seventeen Frankenstein became a student at the
University of Ingolstadt, in upper Bavaria, where he later creates his monster.

. . . dreams that had been my food and pleasant rest for so long a space were now become a hell to me... Frankenstein recoils
from his creation, and the monster flees. The rest of the novel follows the theme of pursuit and thus ranges over Europe.
Frankenstein has a nervous breakdown and returns to the peacefulness of home. To cure his despair, he wanders on one
occasion to the valley of Chamounix. Here, he meets the monster again. Shelley's descriptive powers heighten whenever she
presents the monster against a background of sublime and terrifying nature. Frankenstein is mountain climbing across a

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"troubled sea" of ice (prophetic of the setting at the end of the novel) when the monster bounds toward him over the ice
crevices.

As the monster tells of his adventures since his creation, the scene shifts to Germany and the humble cottage of the De Laceys,
whom the monster has watched to learn how people act and talk. After promising to make a mate for the monster, Frankenstein
plans a trip to England with his friend Clerval. On their way they travel leisurely on the Rhine. From London they travel north to
Edinburgh, where they separate. All the time the monster has been following them. Frankenstein goes to a remote Orkney
Island to create his female monster. In desolate surroundings the monster again appears and vows revenge when Frankenstein
destroys the female creature.

Frankenstein goes sailing to get rid of the female body parts, and his boat is blown off course to Ireland. There he is accused of
his friend Clerval's murder and is thrown into prison, where he again has a mental collapse. Released into his father's custody,
he returns to Geneva, but this time the powers of home fail to heal. The monster takes his complete revenge, and Frankenstein
vows to follow him until he can rid the world of the fiend he has created. The pursued becomes the pursuer.

Literary Style

Narration

Instead of beginning with Victor's point of view, Shelley introduces us to Walton first. Using a frame device, in which the tale is
told to us by someone who reads it or hears it from someone else, Shelley invites readers to believe Victor's story through an
objective person. Shelley also uses an important literary device known as the epistolary form—where letters tell the story—
using letters between Walton and his sister to frame both Victor's and the creature's narrative. Before the novel's first chapter,
Walton writes to his sister about the "wretched man" he meets, building suspense about the "demon" Victor mentions at the
beginning of his narrative. Once Victor begins telling his story, we slowly learn about his childhood and the eventful moments
leading up to his studies at the University. Then, the creature interrupts Victor, and we get to hear all the significant moments
leading up to his request for a partner. Since the theme of listening is so central to this novel, Shelley makes sure, by
incorporating three different narratives, that readers get to hear all sides of the story. Walton's letters introduce and conclude the
novel, reinforcing the theme of nurturing.

Setting

The majority of the novel takes place in the Swiss Alps and concludes in the Arctic, although Victor and Clerval travel to other
places, such as London, England, the Rhine River which flows from Switzerland north to the Netherlands, and Scotland. All of
these locations, except for the Arctic, were among the favorite landscapes for Romantic writers, and Shelley spends great care
describing the sublime shapes of the majestic, snow-clad mountains. However, aside from the dark Arctic Ocean, Shelley's
setting is unusual; most Gothic novels produce gloomy, haggard settings adorned with decaying mansions and ghostly,
supernatural spirits. It is possible the author intended the beautiful Alps to serve as a contrast to the creature's unsightly
physical appearance. In addition to the atypical Gothic setting, Shelley also sets her story in contemporary times, another
diversion from Gothic novels which usually venture to the Middle Ages and other far away time periods. By using the time period
of her day, Shelley makes the creature and the story's events much more realistic and lifelike.

Romanticism

Spanning the years between 1785 and 1830, the Romantic period was marked by the French Revolution and the beginnings of
modern industrialism. Most of the early Romantic writers favored the revolution and the changes in lifestyle and sensibility which
accompanied it. After shaking off old traditions and customs, writers experienced the newfound freedom of turning inward,
rather than outward to the external world, to reflect on issues of the heart and the imagination. In addition, writers like English
poet William Wordsworth suddenly challenged his predecessors by writing about natural scenes and rustic, commonplace
lifestyles. English poet Samuel Coleridge explored elements of the supernatural in his poetry.

Mary Shelley combined the ethical concerns of her parents with the Romantic sensibilities of Percy Shelley's poetic inclinations.
Her father's concern for the underprivileged influenced her description of the poverty-stricken De Lacey family. Her appeals to
the imagination, isolation, and nature represented typical scenes and themes explored in some of Percy Shelley's poetry. But
Mary's choice of a Gothic novel made her unique in her family and secured her authorial place in the Romantic period.

Gothicism

Horace Walpole introduced the first Gothic novel in 1764 with The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story. Gothic novels were usually
mysteries in which sinister and sometimes supernatural events occurred and were ultimately caused by some evil human
action. The language was frequently overly dramatic and inflated. Following this movement was the Romantic movement's
fascination with the macabre and the superstitious aspects of life, allowing them the freedom to explore the darkest depths of
the human mind. Most critics agree that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein reflected her deepest psychological fears and insecurities,
such as her inability to prevent her children's deaths, her distressed marriage to a man who showed no remorse for his
daughters' deaths, and her feelings of inadequacy as a writer. The Gothic novel usually expresses, often in subtle and indirect
ways, our repressed anxieties. The settings usually take place far away from reality or realistic portrayals of everyday life.
Shelley's setting, of course, is the exception to most Gothic novels. The fact that the creature wanders the breathtaking Alps
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instead of a dark, craggy mansion in the middle of nowhere either compounds the reader's fear or makes the creature more
human.

Doppelganger

Many literary critics have noted the Doppelganger effect—the idea that a living person has a ghostly double haunting him—
between Victor and his creature. Presenting Victor and the creature as doubles allows Shelley to dramatize two aspects of a
character, usually the "good" and "bad" selves. Victor's desire to ignore his creature parallels his desire to disregard the darkest
part of his self. The famous psychologist Sigmund Freud characterizes this "dark" side as the Id, while Carl Jung, another
famous psychologist, refers to our "dark" side as the Jungian shadow. Jung claims that we all have characteristics we don't like
about ourselves, yet these unsavory attributes stay with us like a shadow tailgating its leader. The creature represents Victor's
"evil" shadow, just as Victor represents the creature's. When presented this way, it makes sense that so many readers confuse
the creature and Victor by assuming that the creature is named Frankenstein. Both of these characters "alternately pursue and
flee from one another . . . [L]ike fragments of a mind in conflict with itself," as Eleanor Ty observes in the Concise Dictionary of
British Literary Biography. But taken together as one person, Victor and his creature combine to represent the full spectrum of
what it means to be human—to be joyful, compassionate, empathetic, and hateful, and also love humanity, desire knowledge,
honor justice, fear the unknown, dread abandonment, and fear mortality. No other character in the novel assumes this range of
human complexity.

Literary Qualities

Shelley uses an important literary technique—the story-within-a-storywithin- a-story. Walton tells the whole story of Frankenstein
and his monster as related to him by Frankenstein, with the addition of his own meeting with the monster after Frankenstein's
death within the context of his arctic exploration. Within Frankenstein's account is the monster's own tale of what he did after
fleeing from Frankenstein: how he watched the De Laceys and came to understand human speech, emotion, and history. Each
of the stories presents comparisons and contrasts to the others. For example, Walton's exploration of the Arctic is a scientific
discovery similar to Frankenstein's creation of the monster, but Walton's expedition fails when his men force him to turn back,
whereas Frankenstein does succeed in creating the monster, although the results are questionable.

In addition to having the stories play off one another, Shelley uses the characters to play off one another. Walton, for instance,
feels much sympathy for Frankenstein but resembles the monster. He, too, longs for companionship— he has "no friend . . . no
one to participate [in] my joy . . . to sustain me in dejection." When Frankenstein dies, Walton loses both his dreams of
friendship and his dream of discovery.

Another literary technique which Shelley uses to give greater depth to her story is literary allusion. Frankenstein is subtitled "The
Modern Prometheus," an allusion to the Greek god Prometheus who championed humankind and brought fire to it.
Prometheus's kindness toward humanity, however, has a backlash: humans are alienated from heaven. Frankenstein is a
modern Prometheus in that, striving against human limitations to bring light to people, he creates a human-like creature but
alienates himself from his creation once he sees it can never fit into humanity.

Another important literary allusion in Frankenstein is to Paradise Lost. The book is introduced by three lines from Paradise Lost,
and Paradise Lost is one of the three books which the monster reads and on which he founds his beliefs about the cosmos. He
sees himself as both Adam and Satan—alone like Adam before Eve, yet bitter like Satan viewing the bliss of God. From these
and other uses of literary allusion, Shelley makes her story much more than a horror story of a mad doctor and his monster; it is
a creation story of profound frustration, alienation and responsibility with resonances of ancient Greek and Christian thought.

Social Concerns

Frankenstein is a product of its time — the early nineteenth century — a world of social, political, scientific, and economic
upheaval. On the one hand, the novel emphasizes the importance of the intellect in seeking out the secrets of the universe
(rationalism). Yet it also validates the emotions and the importance of individual needs (romanticism).

Aside from its historical interest, why does Frankenstein continue to be so popular, and what does it say to us today? For one
thing, at the heart of the novel is a question about science and its relationship to humanity. Does science always act for the
good of man, or does it have a dark side? Does man have the right or the power and intellect to act as a creator or God? Mary
Shelley's answer seems to be that science and progress are ethically neutral with the capacity to work for either good or evil.
Science thus presents humans with the enormous challenge to handle its power responsibly and humanely.

Social Sensitivity

In a tale of a murderous and revengeful monster, there are, of course, scenes of violence and terror; three murders, an
execution and a cottage burned by arson, as well as three more deaths. Like classical Greek dramatists, Shelley to some extent
mitigates the horror of these scenes by having the violence take place "offstage." That is, she never directly presents the
monster strangling his victims. In each case she describes how the body is found and the sorrow the family members, friends,
and community feel at the death. She emphasizes the grief rather than the grisly details of the murder or the horrible condition

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of the body. In no sense does she linger over gory details. The monster's victims are all innocent. If the monster had killed only
his creator for cruelly abandoning him, the reader's judgment of the monster might be less harsh. The impact of the violence is
further diminished because Frankenstein is reporting to Walton each murder long after the deed was done.

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, one of its major ironies is how the creature is often perceived as a monster, but how Victor
rivals the creature for that label.
The creature is someone who is in great pain, most especially because he has been isolated and alienated by human beings.
He feels very much alone. This is demonstrated as the creature describes his desperate attempt to connect with the De Lacey
family:
I am an unfortunate and deserted creature; I look around, and I have no relation or friend upon earth. These amiable people to
whom I go have never seen me, and know little of me. I am full of fears; for if I fail there, I am an outcast in the world for ever.
As the creature takes out his frustration and anger on Victor and his family, Victor also experiences alienation and isolation—
family members are lost, and he has a secret that he cannot share: he is to blame for creating the monster; and who would
believe him in the first place? Society might quickly lock him up, calling him insane.
Both the monster and Victor "play God." Victor creates life, and the creature takes life. The creature's anger first spills out on
William Frankenstein, Victor's brother. The creature kills him to avenge himself against Victor:
‘Child, what is the meaning of this? I do not intend to hurt you; listen to me.’ “He struggled violently. ‘Let me go,’ he cried;
‘monster! ugly wretch! you wish to eat me, and tear me to pieces—You are an ogre—Let me go, or I will tell my papa.’
“ ‘Boy, you will never see your father again; you must come with me.’
“ ‘Hideous monster! let me go. My papa is a Syndic—he is M. Frankenstein— he will punish you. You dare not keep me.’
“ ‘Frankenstein! you belong then to my enemy—to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim.’
Though Victor has been advised by those more knowledgeable, with a stronger sense of morality, he proceeds forward with his
experiments without considering the fallout of creating life. First he discovers the secret that should not be in the hands of
mankind:
After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I
became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter.
Then Victor creates new life in the monster and rather than assuming his responsibilities as a creator, abandons the creature
and sets him loose upon mankind.
...now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure
the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room, and continued a long time traversing my bedchamber, unable to
compose my mind to sleep.
On a very basic level, other similarities they share are that Victor and the creature are both very intelligent, and each is capable
of love and hatred.

While at first glance it seems that the creator and the creature are very different, Victor and his monster have more in common
than one might first imagine.

The Weather
In Frankenstein, Shelly has on numerous occasions begun each scene by talking about the weather. She is setting the tone for
the rest of the scene and is foreshadowing the events to come. The weather is used to dramatise the theme of calm versus
turbulence, as good weather reflects calm spirits and turbulent weather reflects madness. The warm weather seems to lift the
characters' spirits while the cold ravaging wind, such as when Victor is in the Arctic, seems to conjure up feelings of depression.
The thought of death is never far away. The weather can be seen as a correlation to what the character is feeling at that point in
the story. An example of this is when Frankenstein recalls the night he created 'the monster', and he describes it as 'It was a
dreary night'. In Chapter 10 Victor finds himself on a dangerous path towards Mont Blanc. It is raining heavily from the dark sky
which matches his mood. As he describes nature all around him, rain and the rock he ponders on the question “Why does man
boast of sensibilities superior to those apparent in the brute; it only renders them more necessary beings”. The “brute” he has
created is not necessary. indeed it needs to be destroyed immediately. However he finds his soul being lifted as he admires the
beautiful majestic views once he arrives at the top. The beauty of nature versus what he is next about to see. The monster
suddenly appears on the horizon and as Victor follows the monster to the hut the weather changes and the lightness which
Victor felt before vaporized with the rain and cold.

In Chapter 20 Victor sets sail in the middle of the night to throw the remains of the bodily parts into the sea. We read that “At
one time the moon, which had before been clear, was suddenly overspread by a thick cloud” this use of pathetic fallacy is a
foreshadowing of evil times to come. As he rests at the bottom of the boat the reader knows by now the familiar style of
Shelley's – the quiet before the storm. The storm does blow up in reality but it serves to remind the reader of the storm which is
going on in Victor's mind. The weather parallels his life.

In the story of Frankenstein, Victor, a scientific genius, created a monster known as Frankenstein. He abandons the monster as
soon as he creates it. Frankenstein, the monster, experienced bad parenting growing up. No one ever taught him any manners
at all. In this story, Victor and Frankenstein are both alienated by society for different reasons. The monster is rejected by
society because of his terrifying physical appearance and his reactions towards people. Victor experienced alienation his entire
life, when he was a child and family due to his scientific obsession. Therefore, in Frankenstein, Mary Shelley used the theme of
alienation by having the two main characters, Victor and Frankenstein, alienated by society because people judged the monster
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based on his physical appearance and his reactions. While, Victor isolated himself from society due to his scientific
experiments. Therefore, people alienated him because they thought of him as a very strange scientific maniac.

As I previously mentioned, the monster was judged based on his physical appearance. As soon as everyone saw him they
would start screaming in horror or run away. The monster's hideous appearance including his eight-foot long body caused
people to react this way. This caused the monster to feel rage towards others. The monster would then groan in anger towards
individuals. One day Frankenstein finally got to see himself in the mirror. And got surprised. Then he realized why people were
so terrified by his physical appearance. This is all Victor fault because if Victor had not created him or messed up during his
experiment the monster would of never have had to suffer because of this.

The monster's reactions toward people also played a major role in why he was alienated. Whenever he saw how people reacted
to him, he would go crazy. He would groan in a very frightening way. The monster reacted this way because of tow reason. First
of all, he was rejected un fairly by society. Secondly, he felt very angry towards society. When the monster first came to life, he
first saw Victor. Victor looked at him and got really scared. Then he decided to abandon the monster . The monster was raised
with basically no parenting at all. He wasn't taught how to be polite or even how to act towards people. This is why the creature
had no social skills at all. If the monster would have been raised with good parenting he would have been more of a human
because he would of at least known how to act when others were around.

The monster then began to feel confused because people didn't want to be around him. What caused him to be confused was
that he had no idea why people reacted this way. He wanted to be loved. Unlike his creator he did not isolate himself from
society. The monster's first experience with humans is when he meets the villagers. They threw stones at him, which
aggravated him. The next experience the creature experienced was with the Dclacey family.

This was the first time the monster actually wanted to be part of a certain family. The creature decided to hide because of his
previous experience with humans. He was well aware that humans disliked him. As the monster was hiding, he observed the
language in which they communicated, he believed it was like "a godlike science", which would help him become more a human
because if he could communicate like one that was a head start.. The monster continued to observe everything this family did
for some time. The monster tried his best to be liked by society but failed. This made the monster come to the conclusion that
he would never be accepted by humans. The creature demanded Victor to create a female companion for him. As Victor was
working on this he gave up. He decided that he was no longer going to create a companion for the monster. This got the
monster very angry. He got revenge by killing Elizabeth, Victor's wife.

As I have already stated, Victor Frankenstein also experienced alienation throughout this story. He experienced alienation from
both his family and society. In Frankenstein, Victor is described as a man who's in love with science. He spent much of his time
creating a monster. However, he wasn't aware of the consequences this would bring him. At the end of this story he spent much
of his time trying to destroy this monster. As he tried to destroy the monster he isolated himself from society. He would always
go to his lab and try to come up with other scientific creations. He regretted ever creating the monster because the monster
caused him a lot of trouble. People then thought of him as some crazy scientific genius. Victor's scientific views alienated him
from all his surroundings. He had a very keen interest in since ever since he was a child. Him being so different from the rest of
the family is what got them to alienate him. He just seemed so different and strange from the rest.

As Victor was growing up, he became even more obsessed with science. This is what caused him to come up with all his crazy
experiments and ideas. He decided to isolate himself from society and spend most of his time at his libratory , where he would
mix all different types of chemicals and try to create new inventions. He lived his entire life this way. He had no regrets about
any of this until he had created Frankenstein. That was when he had finally realized that he should of stopped all of his scientific
experiments and call it quits. The monster got him more frightened then what he had ever been.

As I previously mentioned, Victor refused to create a companion for Frankenstein. His reason for this was because he was
afraid of making another huge mistake and having to face the consequences for his actions. However, the monster did not
understand this and seeked revenge on his own creator by killing his wife Elizabeth. After the death of Elizabeth, Victor became
even more scared of the monster because now he knew for a fact that the monster was capable of murdering others in order to
get what he wants.

Through out this story, both the creature and the creator suffer a lot because of alienation. Victor isolated himself from society.
While the monster was alienated by the rest.

The monster suffered more than Victor because he truly wanted to be loved. Victor just isolated himself due to obsession with
scientific experimenting. The monster, on the other hand, tried his best to be part of society, but he failed and never was.

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