Frankenstein RRS Title: Publication Date

Frankenstein RRS

Title:

Frankenstein

Publication Date: Originally published 1818, Edited 1831

Author:

Mary Shelley

Nationality:

English

Author's Birth/Death Dates:

August 30, 1797 ? February 1, 1851

Distinguishing Traits of Author:

Setting of Work:

Mary Shelley originally wrote Frankenstein as a ghost story. Her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, she, and a group of close friends were trapped inside due to a storm, and they all agreed to write ghost stories to stay entertained. Mary Shelley was the only one in the group that wrote a full story and finished it.

Although Mary Shelley wrote the novel, it was heavily edited by her husband, to the point that he nearly co-wrote it. When the story was published anonymously, many critics believed that he had written it instead, and dismissed Mary Shelley as the author.

The story takes place in the 18th century, but the exact year or date is left undeclared, something very common in 19th century literature. One theory by Charles Robinson states that "Walton's story begins about the date of Shelley's conception and ends thirteen days after her birth" (200). The main settings in Frankenstein are Geneva and Ingolstadt. Geneva is where Victor's family lives. They possess "a house in Geneva and a campagne on Belrive, the eastern shore of the lake, at the distance of rather more than a league from the city" (32) where both Victor and Elizabeth grow up. Geneva is a safe place for Victor, and represents a safe haven for Victor that the monster eventually invade

Ingolstadt is a university in Bavaria. Victor spends two years there while studying chemistry and human anatomy while making "some discoveries in the improvement of some chemical instruments which procured me great esteem"(45) there.. He does not finish his work until "a dreary night in November" (51). Ingolstadt is the birthplace of the monster, where Victor's horrible dreams come to place. It alternates between being characterized as dreary and beautiful, depending on Victor's state of mind.

The frame narrative setting is the North Pole, which is past "St. Petersburg and Archangel" (15) in Russia. Quite often the crew finds themselves dangerously "nearly surrounded by ice, which closed in the ship on all sides" while they were "compassed round by a very thick fall" past which there was nothing but "vast and irregular plains of ice which seem to have no end" (20). The North Pole reflects the desolation left in the wake of the monster's destruction, and the harsh freezing weather

represents the violent and unhappy fate of the monster.

Brief Plot Synopsis:

Robert Walton is leading his crew on a journey to the North Pole when he and his crew find a man nearly frozen to death in the snow. The man introduces himself as Victor Frankenstein and decides to tell Walton his life story as a cautionary tale. Frankenstein lives in Geneva, but studied at a university in Bavaria, named Ingolstadt. He had a happy childhood with his half sister, Elizabeth and younger brothers. While at university, he becomes obsessed with the idea of creating life, and proceeds to create a human-like monster. Once he finishes, however, he is repulsed by his creation and abandons it. The creature, who has no name, struggles to survive as it is shunned by society and feared by everyone who sees it. The monster seeks solace with a kind family named the DeLacey's, secretly helping them and living in their stables in secret. However, when he finally reveals himself to them they are terrified and try to kill him. Angrily, the monster sets fire to the house and lives in the forest instead.

The creature then seeks out Frankenstein to get his revenge for creating him and then leaving him to die, but instead kills Victor's younger brother William, and frames the maid Justine for the crime. The creature then threatens to kill Frankenstein unless he creates a mate for him so he can go live his life in peace with a companion. That way, he will no longer be alone. Initially, Frankenstein agrees, then changes his mind at the last minute, and destroys his second creation. Enraged, the creature takes his revenge by killing Frankenstein's best friend, Henry Clerval and framing him. Victor is eventually cleared of charges, and returns to England to marry Elizabeth, the love of his life. The monster returns on Frankenstein's wedding night and murders Elizabeth as revenge for Frankenstein killing his mate. Soon after, Victor's father dies from the shock of losing both his son and his near-daughter. Frankenstein vows revenge and chases the creature far into the Arctic where he finds Walton. The story ends with Frankenstein growing sick and dying, and his creature appearing to express his regrets over his actions before disappearing with Frankenstein's body, presumably to kill himself.

Brief Description of Characters:

Victor Frankenstein is the protagonist of the story. He is naturally curious as a child and "capable of a more intense application, and was more deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge" and the world to him is "a secret which [he] desired to divine" (32). He demonstrates his early onset of obsession with his subject as a child, where his "temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some law they were turned towards...an eager desire to learn...the secrets of heaven and earth...directed to...the physical secrets of the world" (33). As a young boy Frankenstein is interested by the work of Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus and Albert Magnus, which serve as the original source of his obsession. He has a narrow, tunnel vision focus that helps him create the monster, but also wrecks havoc upon his mental state. Frankenstein often falls ill after

going through a traumatic experience, and is characterized as fragile, and easily frightened or shocked. At heart, Frankenstein is a dreamer who romanticizes his dreams.Even in his last days, Walton notices that his eyes "were so full lofty design and heroism that...men were moved" (190). Frankenstein admits that he "despised himself for being a slave of passion"(24), and this fault eventually leads to his downfall.

Frankenstein's monster is a creation of horror. Shortly after making him Victor is so disgusted and terrified by his appearance that he quickly leaves out of fear. Victor describes him as having "yellow skin scarcely covering the work of veins and arteries beneath, the hair was of a luxuriance black, and flowing' his teeth of a pearly whiteness...horrid contrast with his watery eyes" (51). The monster claims that he was originally a good creature, who was then corrupted after being alienated by society at large, repetitively pushed away due to his frightening nature. The monster reveals that "after the murder of Clerval I returned to Switzerland heartbroken and overcome. I pitied Frankenstein; my pity amounted to horror: I abhorred myself"(194) which implies that the monster feels regret for his actions while he is committing them throughout the story. He is a sympathetic character, driven to acts of violence because he is unable to live in such a cruel society.

Elizabeth Lavenza is the daughter of a Milanese noblewoman, whose mother and father had died, leaving her in a poor peasant foster family. Caroline discovers her during their trip to Italy and decides to adopt Elizabeth into the Frankenstein family. She is described as "a child who seemed to shed radiance from her looks" and having a face "so expressive of sensibility and sweetness" (30). She and Victor grow up side by side as siblings, but later intend to marry. Elizabeth serves as an anchor to Victor as he is sinks into depression, and when he considers killing himself from guilt over Justine, he is restrained "when [he] thought of the heroic and suffering Elizabeth, whom [he] tenderly loved, and whose existence was bound up in [his]" (81).He views her as the one purely good thing in his life, at times his only reason for living. He firmly believes she is his one true love. Elizabeth's death on their wedding night proves to be the final straw for Victor, and he swears revenge on the monster. Her death is the impetus for his search for revenge that eventually ends in his death.

Frankenstein states that his parents, Alphonse and Caroline, "were possessed by the very spirit of kindliness and indulgence" and that "they were very attached to one another"(33), and they regarded Victor, their first son, as "their plaything and their idol" (29). They are portrayed as ideal and perfect parents because Victor is incredibly fond of them. William is the youngest son of Alphonse and Caroline, but he is young enough that Elizabeth and Victor like to play house and act as if he is their own did. Elizabeth describes him as "very tall of his age, with sweet laughing blue yes, dark eyelashes, and curling hair...with two dimples on his cheeks, which are rosy with health" (59). William is the representation of innocence in Victor that is destroyed after the monster kills William.

Henry Clerval is Victor's best friend since he has been a schoolboy. He is the "son of a merchant of Geneva" and much more light-

hearted than Frankenstein since he "loved enterprise, hardship, and even danger" (32). Frankenstein describes Clerval as "a noble spirit" who is "so perfectly humane, so thoughtful in his generosity ? so full of kindness and tenderness amidst his passion for adventurous exploit" (33-34). Frankenstein has a great deal of love and respect for Clerval and is very close to him, often confiding in him about his darkest fears. Many times it is Clerval who cares for Victor after he falls ill, and brings him "calm and serene joy" (53).Clerval serves as a foil for Frankenstein, because Clerval remains sane, calm and reasonable where Victor appears insane and obsessive.

Robert Walton is the secondary narrator of the story. He retells his adventures through a series of letters to his sister, Margaret Saville. Walton has long dreamed of exploring the North Pole, and "the expedition has been the favorite dream of [his] early years" to the point where his "education was neglected" but Walton proves that he is very intelligent since he "devoted [his] nights to the study of mathematics, the theory of medicine, and those branches of physical science" (13). His dreams of grandeur and glory are daunted by the possibility of failure, and his "hopes fluctuate and [his] spirits are often depressed" (14). More than anything, Walton is incredibly lonely, and seeks a friend, which he eventually finds and loses in Frankenstein.Walton is also a foil to Frankenstein because he reflects that voracious hunger for knowledge that drives Victor insane. For Walton, Victor's story of his creation is allegorical, teaching him how to tame his dangerous thirst for power through knowledge.

Justine Moritz is the Frankenstein's housekeeper and a close friend of Elizabeth. She is a kind girl who constantly takes on responsibility even when she didn't want to, such as when Justine was forced to leave in order to care for her irritable ailing mother, who "sometimes begged Justine to forgive her unkindness, but much oftener accused of causing the deaths of her brother and sister" (59). Justine's main role occurs when she is accused as William's murderer because she is unable to explain how she ended up with William's miniature when, actually, it had been planted on her. After futilely fighting her guilty sentence, she cries that she is "not afraid to die...and that she leaves a sad and bitter world; if you remember [her]...think of [her] unjustly condemned" indicating that she had made her peace before she died, despite the violent ending of her life. She represents the victim of Frankenstein's crimes and his guilt, because he fails to save her, and she ends up taking the blame for his actions.

Felix, Agatha, Safie, and De Lacey are the poor peasants that the creature stays with and befriends during his journey across France and Germany. The creature becomes emotionally attached to them and fears that his actual presence will scare them away, so he keeps hidden and sleeps in the pig-sty of the cottage. It is from them that the creature learns the finer points of human emotion, "their gentle manners and beauty of the cottagers greatly endeared them to [him], when they were unhappy, [he] felt depressed; when they rejoiced, [he] sympathized in their joys" (101). The monster discovers that the old blind man De Lacey is the father of Felix and Agatha, and mid-way through they are joined by

Symbols:

Turkish Safie, Felix's fianc? who has run away from her father in order to join them. However, once the monster reveals himself to them, they are horrified to see him: "Felix darted forward and with supernatural force tore me from his father, to whose knees I clung; in a transport of fury, he dashed me to the ground and struck [him] violently with a stick" (120). The poor peasant family represents the hypocrisy of society; despite preaching messages of kindness and acceptance, they treat the monster with cruelty based on his appearance.

Professor Waldman starts off as Frankenstein's confidante when he first meets him because they get along much better than Victor and Professor Krempe. He thoroughly encourages Victor to continue his experiments saying that "the labors of men are genius, however erroneously directed, scarcely ever fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind" (43). Waldman is portrayed as the unknowing accomplice to Victor's immoral experiments because he encourages him. While Frankenstein finds a more accepting and "true friend" in Waldman, Frankenstein bristles when is forced to meet Krempe. Victor describes him as "a squat little man, with a gruff voice and a repulsive countenance" (41). Victor mostly resents him because he dismisses his favorite authors as fake, outdated science.

Mr. Kirwin is the magistrate in Ireland who helps Frankenstein while he is incarcerated for Clerval's murder. He gives Frankenstein "the best room in the prison" and "provided a physician and a nurse" (158). He regularly visits Frankenstein while he's in jail and expresses sympathy, compassion and gentleness. In fact, it is Mr. Kirwin that "charged himself with every care of collecting witnesses and arranging [Victor's] defense" against the charges (161). Kirwin symbolizes the fairness and order of the law contrasted against Justine's false murder conviction.

A pair of symbols repeated throughout the novel at important moments are fire and lightning. The first mention is when Victor "witnessed a most violent and terrible thunderstorm...beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak which stood about twenty yards from our house...nothing remained but a blasted stump...the tree was shattered in a singular manner...entirely reduced to think ribbons of wood" and Frankenstein "had never beheld anything so utterly destroyed" (36). This symbol appears again when Victor is hiking Mount Blanc and "a flash of lightning illuminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect...the filthy daemon" (68). This trail of destruction continues when the monster "lighted the dry branch of a tree...and, with a loud scream, [he] fired the straw, and heath, and bushes...the wind fanned the fire, and the cottage was quickly enveloped by the flames, which clung to it, and licked it with their forked and destroying tongues" (123). Later in the book, Frankenstein refers to himself as "a blasted tree, the bolt has entered by soul" (143). This trail of symbols of fire and lightning trace the trail of destruction following the moment Frankenstein finds the inspiration for his obsession to the moment the daemon first approaches him, to when the daemon lights the cottage on fire as a symbol of revenge on the De Lacey's, to when it has

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