Team work Analysis of

FRANKENSTEIN

MARY SHELLEY
WORK MATES
1. Musebe Isaac (C01/0486/2019)
2. Titus Kipngetich (C01/0428/2019)
Contents
1. Author Background
2. Historical Context
3. Plot Summary
4. Title Relevance
5. Character Analysis
6. Setting
7. Style
8. Themes
9. Conclusion
 Author background
 Mary Shelley also known by her maiden name as Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, was born
from a father that was a writer and a mother who was a feminist advocate in on August
30th, 1797.
 When she was just young, her mother had died leaving her father to take care and be there
for her , This event may have influenced the event that happens during the protagonist,
Victor Frankenstein’s, life in which his mother dies before he could go to college and in
which his only parent from then on was his father
 Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is subtitled The Modern Prometheus, after the Greek
mythological character who creates the first humans from clay
 In 1814 Mary met and fell in love with, Percy Shelley
 She ran away with him to France and they were married in 1816 after Shelley's wife
committed suicide
 Percy was a prominent poet of the Romantic Movement
 Mary was exposed to the same influences as her husband, and this Romanticism
influenced her work
 She wrote Frankenstein after Byron introduced a challenge to discern whom among the
three writers --- Percy, Mary and Byron -- could write the best ghost story
Historical context
• Frankenstein's time period was one of significant social change; thematically, the novel is
very much about the transition from Enlightenment thinking to Romantic thinking that was
going on in Europe at the time. Shelley imbued the work with her own questions about
mortality, parenthood, and personal duty. Frankenstein is a layered text that addresses a
number of complex issues, which is part of why it remains popular today.
• The Enlightenment was a historical period in Europe that lasted from approximately the
1680s until the 1810s. It was characterized by an explosion of progress in philosophy and th
sciences as well as new political ideologies. Rationalism, scientific progress, and new ideas
were key tenets of Enlightenment thought, Many of these ideas are present in Frankenstein,
most notably in the novel's central premise. Experiments with electricity around the time tha
Shelley was writing had made people wonder if reanimating the dead using scientific
methods might really be possible. Victor Frankenstein's desire to conquer nature and to
advance humanity through science are very firmly rooted in Enlightenment-era thinking.
 Plot summary
•Frankenstein takes place in the 1790s. It's a wild scenic ride, beginning in St. Petersburgh Russia, and then shifting to the Archangel, Russia; the waters of the Arctic Ocean; Geneva,
Switzerland; Ingolstadt, Germany; Mont Blanc, between Italy and France; Germany; the Netherlands; London; the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland; and finally back to the Arctic
Ocean.
•Robert Walton, an explorer headed for the North Pole, opens the story by relating his adventures in letters to his sister Margaret Saville. Walton and his crew see a manlike giant driving a
dogsled in the distance. Soon after, they see another man, skeletal and nearly frozen to death, also driving a dogsled. They rescue the latter figure and learn that he is Victor Frankenstein and
has been chasing the huge creature. As Victor regains his strength, he tells Walton his story.

•Victor takes up the narration. He and his younger brothers, Ernest and William, enjoyed a happy childhood in Geneva, Switzerland, thanks to their loving and wealthy parents, Alphonse and
Caroline, who adopted Alphonse's sister's daughter, Elizabeth Lavenza. Elizabeth and Victor were both five years old at the time. They became close friends. Victor's other close companion
was Henry Clerval, a classmate who enjoyed stories of knights in shining armor, a contrast to Victor's obsession with science.

•The family's happiness dimmed when Elizabeth became ill with scarlet fever and Caroline contracted the illness while nursing her. Before dying she communicated her great wish: that Victor
and Elizabeth marry. After recovering from the loss of his mother, Victor left home to study science at the University of Ingolstadt in Germany. The top chemistry student, he was determined
to discover "the principle of life." Victor studied day and night, dug up corpses from cemeteries, and set up his own laboratory. Stitching together body parts from various corpses, he made a
creature 8 feet tall. Using electricity, he gave the Monster life, but it was terrifically strong and grotesquely hideous. Repelled by his gruesome creation, Victor rejected the Monster.

•Later, Victor was relieved to find that the Monster has disappeared. Exhausted from two years of nonstop work and the horrid results, Victor collapsed. Henry nursed Victor back to health.

•Returning home more than a year later, Victor was shocked to learn of the murder of his brother William. A servant, Justine Moritz, was blamed for the crime after a locket belonging to
William was found in her pocket. Although Justine was hanged for the crime, Victor was sure that the Monster committed the murder, seeking revenge for Victor's rejection. Victor did not
reveal his suspicions, because he did not think that anyone would believe him.

•Victor resumes his narration of events. Victor and Henry traveled together to England, where they parted ways. Suspecting that the Monster was shadowing him to make sure that he kept his
word, Victor set up a new laboratory in the isolated Orkney Islands. There he began building the female monster, but just before he gave her life, he tore the body apart, fearful that she and the
male would mate and create a race of monsters. The Monster, watching through the window, became enraged and threatened that he would be with Victor on his wedding night. The Monster
then strangled Henry, leaving evidence (through witness sightings) that Victor was responsible. Victor was found innocent after a trial, but his health became shattered. He returned to Geneva,
recovered, and made plans to marry Elizabeth.

•On Elizabeth and Victor's wedding night, the Monster killed Elizabeth. The shock proved too much for Victor's father, who died soon after. Determined to get revenge, Victor tracked the
Monster around the world, ending near the North Pole.

•The story ends where it began, with Walton listening to Victor's story. Walton's voyage is brutally hard, and the sailors want to turn back, but Victor wants them to push on so that he can
continue to track the Monster, reminding them of their goals for the voyage. With the voyage endangering their lives, Walton agrees with the men to turn around, and Victor dies soon after.
Walton is shocked to see the Monster appear and mourn over Victor's corpse. The Monster explains that he killed Victor's family and Henry because of his rage at being shunned by all humans
—even his creator. The Monster has found no comfort in his actions, however, and promises to kill himself. At the conclusion Walton watches the Monster spring "from the cabin-window ...
About the Author… Mary Shelley
➢B o r n : A u g u s t , 1 7 9 7 ( L o n d o n , E n g l a n d )
➢R o m a n t i c ti me pe ri od
➢E n g l a n d w a s g o i n g t h r o u g h a chaotic c h a n g e : agricultural to industrtriialal
➢L e d to the m a n y c h a n g e in i d e o l o g i e s of g e n d e r role s a n d politic s
s
➢1816: M a r r i e d p o e t Pe r c y B y s s h e S h e l l e y
➢Lor d B y r o n + M a r y + Pe r cy = friends in a competition to create
thehe momosstt
story
➢P r o p o n e n t of M a r y e x t e n d i n g a n d p u b l i s h i n g Frankenstein hohorrrriiciffic

➢S e l f - e d u c a t e d + A t h e i s t
➢Pa r e n t s = p r o m i n e n t literary rad i ca ls
“ H o w I, t h e n a y o u n g
➢F rank e nst e i n = M a r y he rsel f girl, c a m e to think
of a n d dilate u p o n
➢R e b e l li o us t o w a r d s society’s i n d u s t r i a l i s m s a n d inequality such a hideous
idea?” – M a r y
S h e l l3e y
Quick Overview of the Novel
➢ Before t h e C r e a t i o n of t h e M o n s t e r

➢ Victor’s i n n o c e n t c h i l d h o o d d a y s w i t h E li za b e t h a n d H e n r y in G e n e v a

➢ Victor’s g o e s t o t h e u n i v e r s i t y in I n g o l s t a d t in E n g l a n d

➢ Becomes o b s e s s i v e w ith e x p e r i m e n t i n g w ith b o d y p a r t s a n d c r e a t i n g life

➢ Brings creation to life b y th e u s a g e of t h u n d e r

➢ Fleeing a w a y f r o m t h e M o n s t e r
➢Horrified w i t h t h e cr e a t i on t o t h e p o i n t g e t t i n g ill

➢ Returns t o G e n e v a

➢ Hears a b o u t th e i lln es s a n d d e a t h of h i s brother, W i l l i a m = s u s p i c i o n of

th e m o n s t e r ’s i n v o l v e m e n t
➢The C o n f r o n t a t i o n a n d M e e t i n g w i t h M o n s t e r

➢T h e m o n s t e r b e g s for u n d e r s t a n d i n g + t o h a v e a m a t e
Quick Overview of the Novel
Cont
.M a r r i a g e a n d Victor’s Ve n g e a n c e
➢
➢The m o n s t e r m u r d e r s Elizabeth
➢M u r d e r s H e n r y a s well
➢Victor s p e n d s th e re st of h i s life p u r s u i n g a n d a i m i n g to kill th e
monster
➢Tracks h i m to the N o r t h Pol e
➢The E n d
➢Wa l t o n m e e t s Victor a n d s a v e s h i m (The b e g i n n i n g of th e b o o k )
➢The m o n s t e r s finds the d e a d b o d y of Victor ( d u e to s i c k n e s s )
➢L e a v e s to g o to the Arctic (to b e a w a y f r o m h u m a n s )

7
The Conflicts
M a n Vs. Himself M a n Vs. Society
▪ Frank enstein ▪ Frankenstein
– Loneliness and anger – Hated by society due to
repulsive nature a n d looks
▪ Feels a b a n d o n e d a n d
h a s n o identity ▪ Victor
– C a u s e of t h e m u r d e r s of
▪ Victor
his close family a n d
– Hu r t e g o of a fr i e nd s
defected creation – Se lf-isolati on c a u s e s
– Run away from c o n n e c t i o n s w ith o t h e r s
to be w e ak
failure =
▪ C a u s e s his addiction
guilty
with k no wled ge
conscience
8
 Genre and Structure of the Novel
Genre
▪ Romantic/Gothic
– the isolated soul + the
to r tur ed , w a n d e r i n g lo n e r +
fate or circumstance, =
cast o n a s e a of loneliness
and despair
▪ The Mo ns ter/Crea ture (C ha p ter
11)
– C r o s s i n g of the mortal world
b y e x p e r i m e n t i n g w i t h life
and death
– Artic + T h e N o r t h
Po l e + l a b o ra t o r y = d a r k ,
gloomy places
– R e a s o n vs. Emotion, E g o vs.
Id
Structure
▪ F ra m e d n a r rat i v e in e p i s t o l a r y
form
– Le t t e r s : Wa l t o n t o h i s
s i s t e r s ( Wa l t o n ’s P O V )
– Wa l t o n m e e t s F ra n k e n s t e i n
( F ra n k e n s t e i n ’s P O V )
▪ F l a s h b a c k o f F ra n k e n s t e i n ’s
past
– T h e M o n s t e r m e e t s F ra n k e n s t e i n
( T h e M o n s t e r ’s P O V )
▪ F l a s h b a c k o f F ra n k e n s t e i n ’s p a s t
– Th e n Fra n ke n s te in ’s P O V
to Wa l t o n ’s P O V
9
 Character Analysis
Victor/Frankenstein
The product of a loving and wealthy Swiss family, Victor is highly ambitious
and determined to leave his mark on the world. As a teen he studies alchemy,
an outdated pseudoscience. At this point Victor is still relatively naive,
captivated by the allure of science. Victor is horrified by his creation: a monster
of hideous appearance and proportion. In an attempt to atone for his ambition
and excessive pride, Victor becomes obsessed with tracking and killing the
Monster yet succeeds only in isolating himself from all human contact. Victor
and the Monster serve as doubles of each other, revolving in opposite ways
around many of the book's themes. Their relationship is not a simple matter of
one character being good and the other evil, however. Rather, the two shift back
and forth in terms of morality, with the actions of each being more moral at
some times and more objectionable at others.
 Character Analysis
The monster
The Monster is an eight-foot-tall giant Victor Frankenstein forms and brings to life. T
Monster is composed of various body parts scavenged from cemeteries and morgues,
he is hideous: his yellow skin "scarcely cover[s] the work of muscles and arteri
beneath," and he has "watery eyes" that seem almost of the same color as the "dun wh
sockets" in which they are set as well as a "shriveled complexion and straight black lip
Born innocent, the Monster is baffled when Victor violently rejects him. High
intelligent and eloquent, the Monster educates himself, learning to read and write Frenc
but all his learning cannot help him find what he most desires: companionshipT
 Character Analysis
Robert Wolton
Walton is the narrator of the frame story that begins and ends the novel. He plays an
important role in the plot by confirming the Monster's existence, because he spoke
with him, and allowing readers to know what happens to the Monster after Victor's
death. He also plays valuable thematic roles.

Henry Clerval
Henry is Victor's closest friend, an easygoing, helpful, and charming young man
whom Victor met in childhood. Henry studies languages at the university and nurses
Victor through his breakdowns, setting aside his own studies to do so. He displays the
attentive, caring, devoted behavior of a true friend

Elizabeth Lavenza
The daughter of an Italian gentleman and Alphonse Frankenstein's sister, Elizabeth
has a "gentle and affectionate disposition" even as a child
Elizabeth Lavenza
The daughter of an Italian gentleman and Alphonse Frankenstein's sister, Elizabeth has a
"gentle and affectionate disposition" even as a child. (In the 1831 edition, she is the
orphaned daughter of a Milanese noble whom the Frankensteins adopt after taking
custody of her from a peasant family that could no longer afford to support her.) She and
Victor grow up good friends as well as siblings (and cousins), and they marry when they
are adults. She is pure goodness, as compassionate as the Monster sometimes is, but is
innocent and incapable of his violence or of Victor's challenge to morality. The Monster
strangles her on her wedding night.

Justine Moritz
A loyal servant and help to the family, Justine is an innocent casualty of Victor's
creation. She accepts her fate with remarkable calm. She, like Elizabeth, also serves as a
foil to the Monster. Also like Elizabeth, she is given up by her family, but both find a
loving home. The Monster, abandoned by his creator, is left without one
 Other characters
Agatha De Lacey Agatha is a French exile and the daughter of M. De Lacey, whom she treats with great kindness and deference.
Felix De Lacey Felix is a French exile and the son of M. De Lacey. He is in love with a Turkish woman, Safie, and rescues her and
her father at great personal danger.
M. De Lacey The head of the family of exiles the Monster hopes to join, M. De Lacey is old, blind, and poor. Descended from a
good family in France, he lost his fortune, social standing, and home when he helped Safie's father, who later betrayed him.
Caroline Frankenstein Caroline is Victor's mother, who dies of scarlet fever after nursing her niece/daughter Elizabeth through
the same illness and expressing her long-held hope that Victor will marry Elizabeth.
Ernest Frankenstein Ernest is Victor's younger brother.
William Frankenstein William is Victor's youngest brother and the Monster's first victim.
Mr. Kirwin Kirwin is a judge in charge of Victor's trial in Ireland for the death of Henry.
M. Krempe An arrogant science professor at the University of Ingolstadt, Krempe is one of Victor's teachers and mocks him.
Magistrate The magistrate is a criminal judge in Geneva to whom Victor relates his story about the Monster.
Daniel Nugent Nugent is a witness in Victor's murder trial in Ireland.
Nurse The nurse cares for Victor while he is in prison in Ireland.
Safie The beautiful Turkish woman whom Felix De Lacey loves, Safie leaves Italy after her father's betrayal of the De Laceys and
makes her way to that family.
Safie's Father A treacherous Turkish merchant, Safie's father is helped by Felix De Lacey but then betrays his family.
Margaret Saville Margaret is Robert Walton's sister and the person to whom he addresses his letters.
M. Waldman A kindly chemistry professor at the University of Ingolstadt, Waldman supports Victor's ambition and teaches him a
great deal about chemistry.
Major Themes
➢ driving desires of Passions.
➢ “I s e e m e d t o h a v e l o s t all s o u l or s e n s a t i o n b u t for t h i s o n e p u r s u i t … s w a l l o w e d
u p e v e r y h a b i t of [his] nature.” – Victor

➢ Obsession l ed t o t h e a d d i c t i o n of c r e a t i n g life d e s p i t e w a r n i n g f r o m o t h e r
➢Consequences vs actions .

➢ External L o c u s of C o n t r o l – n o t r e s p o n s i b l e for y o u r behav ior, t h a t life

h a p p e n s to you, ra t h e r t h a n y o u m a k i n g it h a p p e n . = Victor

➢ “Nothing i s m o r e p a i n fu l t o t h e h u m a n m i n d t h a n t h e d e a d c a l m n e s s
of inaction.”
➢ Doesn’t c o nf ro nt t h e m o n s t e r e v e n w h e n h e m u r d e r s i m p o r t a n t t o
Victor. ra ge +
➢ Monster’s For c e d Alienation: h u m a n s force t h e m o n s t e r into l o n e l i n e s s
➢ Loneliness leads to unhealthy paths.
= m u r d e r of i n n o c e n t v i c t i m s
➢ Victor S e l f - I m p o s e d I s ol a t i on : l e a d s t o t h e c r e a t i o n s of t h e m o n s t e r +
his unhealthy obsession
Major Themes Cont.
➢Appearances versus reality
➢ The m o n s t e r = intelligent, capable, caring. H u m a n s g e t s c a r e d
of th e m o n s t e r
➢L e a d s to the alienation of the m o n s t e r
➢Morality and the concept of religion ; one can be
good withoyt ==
➢S➢
h The
e d d imnognds toegrmwaatsi conly
beliefs
free =
t o self-realization
b e hi ms elf w h e n the creator,
Victor, di ed
 Prominent Literary Strategies
➢F ram e S t o r y
➢A l l o w s for multiple P O V
➢ To u n d e r s t a n d a n d e m p a t h i z e with e ve ry character
➢ Wa l t o n ’s POV, Frankenstein’s POV, The m o n s t e r ’s POV,
➢I m a g e r y
➢S h o w s the g r o t e s q u e m o n s t e r
➢A l l o w s for the reader to perceive the si tu ati o n
Prominent Literary Strategies
➢Biblical A l l u s i o n s
➢N o v e l c h a l l e n g e s th e Christian w a y of thinki i ng, d o e s n ’ t h e s i t a t e to p u t th e
biblical p a ra b l e s a n d q u o t e s
➢Ex. “ M y f o o d i s n o t t h a t of m a n ; I d o n o t d e s t r o y th e l a m b a n d th e kid to
g l u t m y appetite; a c o r n s a n d berries afford m e sufficient n o u ri s h m e n t.”
((157)
➢ Jesus’s Pa ra b l e o f p r o d i g a l s o n v s t h e M o n s t e r
➢Fo r e s h a d o w
➢N a t u r e / We a t h e r : reflects th e a t t i t u d e s of th e c h a ra c t e rs a n d th e i i mpendi i ng
events
➢ T h u n d e r + S t o r m = T h e d o o m o f t h e C r e a t u r e ’s a p p e a ra n c e
➢S y m b o l i s m
➢The M o n s t e r : th e siin, th e “ pu re innocence,”
➢S i c k n e s s : e s c a p e f r o m th e h a r s h n e s s of life
The end