Michael Aie
Jonathan Gonzalez
Chenglin Lee
Mrs. Arias
English 4 AP

Frankenstein RRS

Title: Frankenstein

Publication Date: January 1, 1818

Author: Mary Wollestonecraft Shelley

Nationality: English 

Author’s Birth/Death Dates: August 30, 1797- February 1, 1851

Distinguishing Traits of Author
	Mary Shelley was born to a philosopher (William Godwin) and a feminist (Mary Wollestonecraft), both of which were distinguished authors in the 1800s. Her parents had only been married for 5 months when she was born and her mother died following birth, thus leaving Shelley without a mother. Because of her father’s influence and his books, Mary found her path into the family tradition of writers and thinkers. She lived in Scotland for two years and on a return trip to London, met Percy Bysshe Shelley, who she wed later on. Mary gave birth to a daughter, but the child died later on in the same year. The couple had another child William, and took on a tour of continental Europe. It was at a stop in Switzerland that the couple rented a house with Mary’s stepsister and another British writer, Lord Byron. Due to the weather, the group stayed inside and wrote ghost stories and it was during this time that Frankenstein started to take form. In 1816, Mary and Percy were married and in the following year, they had another daughter; however, the child died a year later. Later on, the couple’s son, William, dies as well. In 1822, Shelley suffers a miscarriage and nearly loses her life; Percy, however, is not so lucky and drowns in a sailing storm. From then on, Mary devoted herself to compiling her husband’s works. She returns to England and continues her writing career and in 1851, dies at the age of 54. 

Setting (time & place) of work: The setting of Frankenstein is during the eighteenth century and it takes place in Geneva, Ingolstadt, England, Scotland, the Swiss Alps, and the northern ice (Chamounix). The novel is centralized around the Frankensteins’ home in Geneva because it was at Lake Geneva in Switzerland that Shelley started the task of writing Frankenstein. It then shifts to Ingolstadt which is the setting of Victor’s education and also the birthplace of the monster. The novel then shifts throughout Europe to England and Scotland, places that Frankenstein travels to, and Germany, where the monster gains knowledge through the DeLacey’s. The Swiss Alps and the northern ice are also involved as places that demonstrate powerful and terrifying nature and the setting of an encounter between Frankenstein and his monster. 

Brief Plot Synopsis: 
	The novel starts with off with Captain Robert Walton writing to his sister and telling her of his progress in his expedition to reach the North Pole. Walton gets stuck in a sea of impassable ice and it is then that he meets Victor Frankenstein, who he finds in poor shape and condition. Captain Walton nurtures Victor back to health and hears the tale that Frankenstein has to tell. Victor first talks of his joyous childhood in Geneva spent with his loving family, his adopted sister, Elizabeth, and his best friend, Henry Clerval. He then takes off to the University of Ingolstadt in pursuit of a higher education and to study philosophy and science. It is there that he reaches into the depths of science and his ambition drives him to discover the secret and power of life. In an epiphany he discovers how to bestow life upon inanimate objects. He then spends months building a frame and body of the monster that he plans to bring to life. On a early morning he brings his monster to life but is so disgusted and horrified by his creation that he runs off. He then runs into Clerval and falls seriously ill but with time is nursed back into health by his faithful friend. 
	Distressed, Victor plans to return home to Geneva, but just days before his departure, he receives a letter from his father informing him of the death of his youngest brother, William. Shocked, Victor immediately takes off for Geneva and while passing through William’s scene of death, he takes sight of the monster and is automatically convinced that the monster is responsible for the murder of his brother. He returns home only to find out that his mother’s ward, innocent and gentle Justine Moritz is accused of William’s death because she possessed the piece of jewelry that William held while he was murdered. She is tried, condemned and executed. Guilty, Victor knows he is indirectly responsible for the deaths of two of his loved ones. 
	To relieve his grief, Victor takes refuge in the icy mountains and it is there that he encounters his monster. The monster admits to murdering William but asks Frankenstein to listen to his story first. The monster tells his tale of how he learned to speak and act from the De Lacey’s. Then he relays how he was driven away for helping and shot for saving a girl, and how in his anger he strangled William. In order to prevent this, the monster asks Frankenstein for a mate of the same kind as him to be his companion. Frankenstein agrees to the proposal and returns back to Geneva. 
	While in Geneva, his father proposes the idea that Victor wed Elizabeth and Victor agrees, saying Elizabeth is his only source of happiness; however, he asks to take a trip to London first to complete his task at hand. Victor and Clerval set off for England and Victor can not work on his second monster because Clerval is with him. He leaves Clerval at Scotland and starts building the monster a mate on the remote island of Orkneys. Frankenstein reluctantly works, and one night, he sees the monster in his window and is so horrified and fearful that the monsters would create a race of devil babies that he stops his work. Outraged that Frankenstein stopped his work, the monster vows to be with Victor on his wedding night. That night, Victor takes out a boat to dump the remains of the second monster. When he returns to shore, he discovers that the monster has murdered Clerval and that he himself is under suspicion for the murder. Raving and mad, he spends time recovering in prison until he is acquitted.
	Victor returns to Geneva and marries Elizabeth. On the night of their wedding, while strolling through a field, Victor sends Elizabeth in to rest in fear that the monster show up while they are walking. He then hears a scream and realizes that the monster was not after him but after Elizabeth. With Elizabeth dead, Victor’s fathers dies as well from grief. Victor vows to exact his revenge and spends the rest of his life chasing him. Victor chases the beast to the arctic and it is at that point that he meets Walton. Victor dies while onboard. One day Walton returns to Frankenstein’s room to discover the monster weeping over his master’s body. He then departs for the ice saying he can end his suffering now that his creator is dead. 
	 
Characters

Victor Frankenstein: 
	The protagonist of the story, Victor Frankenstein is an intelligent boy that lives out his blissful childhood in Geneva. As a child, he reads outdated books of alchemists but then attends the University of Ingolstadt and discovers new knowledge that help him progress and master levels of studies equivalent to that of the professors. He then purses the secret of life and discovers it; he then plans to put it to you by giving life to a lifeless body.  He then begins to constantly isolate himself from the rest of the world because he becomes too caught up with his creation. He creates such a distorted image of success that he is horrified when he creates a terrifying monster. Victor feels responsible for all the "deaths that [he] caused," however, he’s too much of a coward to act upon it. Initially Frankenstein was not aware of the consequences of his creating a new being but he sees the results and damage when it’s too late. 

The Creature
	The creature is the creation of Frankenstein from his study to bestow life upon an inanimate object. The monster was created from various body parts that Frankenstein collected through months of work; which is why he is such a terrifying sight.  When he is born, Frankenstein turns upon the monster because it is such a hideous and horrendous sight. The monster is abandoned and attempts to assimilate into society but is rejected several times. The monster shows himself as a very intellectual and sensitive creature that only wishes to be accepted by his creator and other people. However, given his circumstances he is shunned by the rest of the world. He is torn between yearning of acceptance and vengeance. He ends up lonely and desolated by regret for the sins that he exacted. After several harsh encounters with inhospitable humans, he becomes bitter and seeks revenge on his creator, promising to "be with [him] on his wedding night."

Henry Clerval 
	 Frankenstein’s best friend since childhood who also shares an interest in becoming well-learned. His ambition for learning is so great, that he finds a way out of Geneva to join Victor in Ingolstadt. Clerval’s kindness runs deep, as he decides to become Frankenstein’s “only nurse… for several months” (59).
Caroline Beaufort – Beaufort’s daughter and Frankenstein’s mother. She is a completely loving, selfless woman as in her youth, she “attended [her sick father] with the greatest tenderness” (28). After her marriage to Alphonse Frankenstein, she adopted Elizabeth and Justine. 

Caroline Beaufort 	
	Caroline displays the duty a parent has. Caroline is benevolent and helps as many as she can. As a person who was once poor, after being lifted out of that poverty she does her best to help others. “This, to my mother, was more than a duty; it was a necessity” (29) For her, because of the way she was helped, it is very important for her to help, it is “more than a duty, it was a necessity” for her to show the love, nurturing, and kindness she was shown.

Elizabeth Lavenza
	Elizabeth is the personification of nurturing and love. She is consistently selfless and is constantly concerned with the well being of those around her, whether it be Justine or Frankenstein. She wants Frankenstein to be happy and return to a nurturing home, and says to him “Get well-and return to us. You will find a happy, cheerful home, and friends who love you dearly.’” (57) and this highlights Frankenstein’s only lack of nurture. Not only does it bring attention to it, but it also makes Frankenstein’s lack of compassion inexcusable, considering all the love he gets.

Alphonse Frankenstein
	Victor's father, Alphonse Frankenstein is a wealthy and benevolent man who loves his family and children dearly; however, as his family slowly dies out at the hands of the murderous monster, he too, perishes from sorrow and grief, following Elizabeth’s death. 

William Frankenstein 
	Victor’s younger brother. He was the first to fall victim to the monster, through his death by murder. He condemned himself to death by stating to the monster that “my papa…M. Frankenstein – will punish you” (141). 

The De Laceys 
	 A French family that was once rich, but reduced to poverty due to scandal. They “found a miserable asylum in [a] cottage in Germany,” and still, somehow, treated each other with tender care and love (124). From these people, the monster learns how to think for himself and received a sort of informal education from them.

Professor Waldman  
	An encouraging professor who led Frankenstein away from alchemy and towards the “right path” in college. He tells Frankenstein that “if your application equals your ability, I have no doubt of your success” (46). Waldman’s push towards the natural sciences helped lay the foundation for Victor’s passions

Symbols

Lightning
The lightning symbolizes the ambition of Frankenstein and its result. The lightning first sparks Frankenstein passion for science which culminates in the creation of his monster. After that the lightning is accompanied by the monster itself. The lightning also shows the destructive capacities of ambition. The lightning destroys an oak and “nothing remained but a blasted stump”. (36) Frankenstein’s ambition, like the lightning, has the capacity to destroy, and the monster of Frankenstein does indeed destroy. 

The Creature
The Creature is a symbol of what someone becomes when they do not receive love or nurturing. His lack of love is what causes his misery and loneliness. When he does not receive love or care from anyone, it is also what causes him to do the despicable acts that he does, because of his deprivation “of the delights that such beautiful creatures could bestow.” (127)

Fire 
	The monster encounters fire for the first time while wandering on his own. He “was overcome with delight at the warmth [he] experienced from it. In [his] joy [he] thrust [his] hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain. How strange, I thought, that the same cause should produce such opposite effects!” (103). In this passage, the fire is the equivalent of knowledge. Victor Frankenstein seeks out knowledge because of its appeal, and his excessive ambition left him with an irreparable problem. As with fire, knowledge can illuminate, but too much of it can be harmful.

Motifs

Passive Women
	There are several points in the novel where Shelley illustrate women as weak such as when Caroline gets scarlet fever from taking care of Elizabeth; when Justine Moritz is accused of murder and she admits to it even though she is innocent; when the companion for the monster is destroyed by Frankenstein because he fears it will be uncontrollable; when Elizabeth sits around waiting for Victor and then gets murdered on her wedding night. Frankenstein states that “my journey had been my own suggestion, and Elizabeth therefore, acquiesced” (153). With little strong, individual female opinion, the attention is instead shifted to the man with strong enough conviction for the lot: Frankenstein. His demon as well is far from passive.

Abortion
	When Victor brings life into the body of his monster, he abandons it because of its terrifying and gruesome appearance; this only increases the monster’s animosity that it harbors towards Frankenstein. He gives up on his creation because it is not the image of success that he had pictured in mind. Victor's second work, the companion to the first monster is aborted by Victor because he can stand the fact that the monsters might create a devil race. He decides to abandon science completely because of how horribly it has betrayed him- it has given him the power to create evil. 
Nature 
“They congregated round me; the unstained snowy mountain-top, the glittering pinnacle, the pine woods, and ragged bare ravine”(86)
“I contemplated the lake: the waters were placid; all around me was calm; and the snowy mountains.” (67)
The peace of nature and pastoral beauty always contrasts with Frankenstein’s emotional turmoil and moral ugliness. When Frankenstein is really in emotional trouble, he tries to find peace in the mountains of Montanvert and the lake by Geneva. Nature is also very peaceful because it is pristine and untouched. When Frankenstein tries to mess with nature by creating his own living thing, that is when nature works against him and his troubles start.

Death
“Justine died; she rested; and I was alive.” (80)
“What I now held in my arms had ceased to be the Elizabeth whom I loved and cherished.” (173) 
Death runs throughout Frankenstein. All of Frankenstein’s friends and family die, his brothers, father, mother, wife, and best friend. Almost all of these deaths are the result of Frankenstein’s lack of duty and responsibility and care for his creation. When Frankenstein does not take care of his creature, the creature kills and other people die in the aftermath, whether from grief or condemnation. 

Archetypes

Mad Scientist 
	In this novel, Frankenstein is a prime example of mad scientist. The idea of a mad scientist; the thought of a crazy yet genius scientist automatically registers in the mind. Frankenstein shows how ambition can drive one to insanity if it is not controlled. Victor allowed his work to dictate his life and drive him to push away everything else. It turns him into a coward and leads to the regression of his health. Eventually, Frankenstein goes mad to the point where his sole purpose is to rid world of his creation.  

The Monster
	The archetype of a monster can be defined by the creature because Shelley describes it as a terrifying and horrible creature to even look at. It stands as an epitome of a monster regardless of its character and intentions. The archetype of the monster reinforces the theme of monstrosity and the unnatural creation of a being.