Search all of eNotes
Search
rows Navigate Study Guide
Essential Quotes
Essential Quotes by Character: Victor Frankenstein
Essential Passage 1: Chapter 1 (/topics/frankenstein/etext)
From Italy they visited Germany and France. I, their eldest child, was born in
Naples, and as an infant accompanied them in their rambles. I remained for
several years their only child. Much as they were attached to each other, they
seemed to draw inexhaustible stores of affection from a very mine of love to
bestow them upon me. My mother’s tender caresses, and my father’s smile of
benevolent pleasure while regarding me, are my first recollections. I was their
plaything and their idol, and something better—their child, the innocent and
helpless creature bestowed in them by Heaven, whom to bring up to good, and
whose future lot fulfilled their duties towards me. With this deep consciousness of
what they owed towards the being to which they had given life, added to the
active spirit of tenderness that animated both, it may be imagined that while
during every hour of my infant life I received a lesson of patience, of charity, and
of self­control, I was so guided by a silken cord that all seemed but one train of
enjoyment to me.
Summary On board Robert Walton’s ship bound for the Arctic, an ill and tortured Victor Frankenstein
tells Walton his life story. His father, Alphonse, was a gentleman, whose kindness of heart
led him to marry the daughter of his best friend after her father’s death. Saved from poverty,
she in her turn develops a compassion and charity to those in similar, desperate situations.
Having the financial resources to travel, the couple journeys around Europe, settling for a
time in Italy. When their firstborn son, Victor, arrives, they shower him with love. He is the
center of their lives, and they hold of highest importance the duty they have in raising a
loving and honorable son. Therefore Victor grows up with lessons of patience, charity, and
self­control imprinted on his heart. The Frankensteins’ understanding of their roles as
parents will be a sharp contrast to the role Victor assumes as a creator toward his creature.
Essential Passage 2: Chapter 2 (/topics/frankenstein/etext)
Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by such slight ligaments are we
bound to prosperity or ruin. When I look back, it seems to me as if this almost
miraculous change of inclination and will was the immediate suggest of the
guardian angel of my life—the last effort made by the spirit of preservation to
avert the storm that was even then hanging in the stars, and ready to envelope me.
Her victory was announced by an unusual tranquility and gladness of soul, which
followed the relinquishing of my ancient and latterly tormenting studies. It was
thus that I was to be taught to associate evil with their prosecution, happiness with
their disregard.
It was a strong effort of the spirit of good; but it was ineffectual. Destiny was too
potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.
Summary As a youth, Victor Frankenstein became interested in the study of alchemy and read all he
could get his hands on about this proto­science that endeavored to change base metals to
gold. Though his father warns him that such writings are “trash,” Victor continues his
studies. One day, he observes lightning strike a tree. From that event his attentions turn to
more “acceptable” studies, the causes of natural incidents, like lightning. On reflection,
Victor believes that this is an opportunity presented him by Providence to turn away from
the path that Destiny has chosen for him. If he had remained interested in pure natural
science, his life would have been different, and the lives of those he loved would have been
saved from death. To Victor, this is the last chance that he has to refuse the call of Fate,
which seems to want him to destroy himself and others.
Essential Passage 3: Chapter 9 (/topics/frankenstein/etext)
...Sleep fled from my eyes; I wandered like an evil spirit, for I had committed
deeds of mischief beyond description horrible, and more, much more (I persuaded
myself), was yet behind. Yet my heart overflowed with kindness, and the love of
virtue. I had begun life with benevolent intentions, and thirsted for the moment
when I should put them in practice, and make myself useful to my fellow­beings.
Now all was blasted: instead of that serenity of conscience, which allowed me to
look back upon the past with self­satisfaction, and from thence to gather promise
of new hopes, I was seized by remorse and the sense of guilt, which hurried me
away to a hell of intense tortures, such as no language can describe.
Summary Victor flees from his apartments, realizing the implications of what he has done in bringing
his creature to life. He wanders the streets of Ingolstadt until Henry Clerval, his childhood
friend from home, arrives and discovers him. Falling into a fever, Victor is ill for several
months. During his studies and his subsequent illness, Victor does not return to his family in
Geneva for six years. He has fallen into lack of communication while working on the
creature. Now, Victor prepares to return home at some point when he receives word that his
youngest brother, William, has been murdered. Returning home, he spots his creature in the
countryside and becomes convinced that this monster he created is the killer. Victor is in a
quandary when Justine, the beloved friend and servant of Elizabeth, is convicted and
executed for the murder. Knowing that now he has the blood of two people on his hands,
Victor departs from Geneva in order to find some peace.
Analysis of Essential Passages Victor Frankenstein in many ways is a mirror image of his creature. Much like the
protagonist in Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
(/topics/dr­jekyll­mr­hyde), Victor and the monster are the separate facets of the composite
nature of the individual. The prospects of both good and evil are present in each person,
much like both Victor and his creation enter into the world as good, and eventually choose
the side of evil to pursue their own individual destinies.
Victor was born into a loving family, the parents of which held to the tabula rasa principle
of education that was a staple of Enlightenment philosophy. A person is born good. It is
society that turns him to evil. Thus, with their child­rearing methods, Alphonse and Caroline
Frankenstein raised a child to be good, loving, and compassionate. By all interpretations of
Enlightenment thinking, therefore, Victor should have been a noble character.
Yet Victor comes to a crossroads in his youth. He could continue with the education of his
parents, or he could choose to follow his own hubris, placing himself in the role of God
creating a man. Victor himself, not his upbringing or society, is responsible for his fall.
The turning point in Victor’s life is his interest in alchemy, especially in the prolongation or
creation of life. Though long disproved as viable, this ancient science appealed to Victor,
especially following the untimely death of his mother. In creating the monster Victor desires
to create life. Afterwards, when the full realization of the consequences of his actions
becomes apparent, Victor still desires to control life by destroying it.
Victor sees in hindsight that Fate has given him the opportunity to turn away from his so­
called “Destiny of Destruction.” His interest in natural science is a way out of his obsession,
yet he shuns it. When the creature comes to life, Victor Frankenstein has passed the point of
no return.
By refusing to identify himself as the creator of the monster who causes the deaths of
William and Justine, Victor identified himself instead as the equal of the monster. As the
creature wanders “as an evil spirit,” so too does Victor. His description of himself as he
wanders through the Alps could easily have been a description of the creature. Both have
committed evil against the laws of nature. Both have put themselves in the place of God,
by choosing who lives and who dies. Both are created in a condition of goodness, love, and
virtue. Both follow their own wills at the expense of others.
It is perhaps for this reason that Victor lets slip through his fingers the numerous
opportunities to destroy the creature. He submits to the creature’ plea that he create a mate
for him. He cannot destroy him, but he is able to do his bidding in order that the monster
will depart from Europe and thus out of his life. But to end the life he created seems to be
beyond his power. It would be the same as committing suicide. In the end, it is the creature
who most deeply realizes this; he truly grieves for the death of his creator. His justification
for revenge is gone. Victor could not accept, though subconsciously he knew that it was he,
and not his creature, who was the true monster.
Essential Quotes by Theme: Loneliness
Essential Passage 1: Letter 2 (/topics/frankenstein/etext)
But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy; and the absence
of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil. I have no friend, Margaret:
when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to
participate in my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavor to
sustain me in dejection. I shall commit my thoughts to paper, it is true; but that is
a poor medium for the communication of feeling. I desire the company of a man
who could sympathise with me; whose eyes would reply to mine. You may deem
me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend. I have no one
near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as of a capacious
mind, whose tastes are like my own, to approve or amend my plans. How would
such a friend repair the faults of your poor brother!
Summary Robert Walton has long had the dream of sailing to uncharted regions at the North Pole. In
the age of exploration in the eighteenth century, daring individuals continue to try to find a
route, a Northwest Passage, around the northern shores of the North American continent.
With an inheritance, Walton has supplied himself with a ship and crew, spending years in the
preparations. Now, he is ready to begin his voyage, leaving from the northern port of
Archangel in Russia. Yet fulfilling his dream has become less important as he realizes his
loneliness and his friendless condition. He confesses to his sister, Margaret, that he is lonely
on the voyage, as much as he was throughout his life. He yearns for a kindred spirit, a
bosom companion to share his thoughts and dreams. Not only companionship, but
accountability is what Walton desires. His hopes are for someone who will guide him away
from his faults and toward a life of honor and nobility.
Essential Passage 2: Chapter 2 (/topics/frankenstein/etext)
...We possessed 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. We reside
principally in the latter, and the lives of my parents were passed in considerable
seclusion. It was my temper to avoid a crowd, and to attach myself fervently to a
few. I was indifferent, therefore, to my schoolfellows in general; but I united
myself in the bonds of the closest friendship to one among them. Henry Clerval
was the son of a merchant of Geneva.
Summary Victor grows up in a close and loving family. Being the eldest son, he enjoys his parents
undivided attention until he is seven years of age, when his brother Ernest is born. Living in
the Swiss city of Geneva, the family also has a country home where they spent most of the
time. The family, along with Victor, lives in relative seclusion from their neighbors. The
home in Belrive is open only to those who reside there, and the chosen few who are invited
to become a part of the Frankenstein circle. There Victor gains a single friend, Henry
Clerval. He avoids most of the boys his own age, choosing a solitary existence, except for
Henry. Though many friendships are available to him, he rejects them all in favor of just
one. Henry Clerval will then be his chief, and indeed only, friend outside his immediate
family, and will play a part in the story. Henry eventually joins Victor in Ingolstadt after
Victor creates the monster.
Essential Passage 3: Chapter 10 (/topics/frankenstein/etext)
How can I move thee? Will no entreaties cause thee to turn a favourable eye upon
thy creature, who implores thy goodness and compassion? Believe me,
Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity: but am I
not alone, miserably alone? You, my creator, abhor me; what hop can I gather
from your fellow­creatures, who owe me nothing? They spurn and hate me. The
desert mountains and dreary glaciers are my refuge. I have wandered here many
days’ the caves of ice, which I only do not fear, are a dwelling to me, and the only
one which man does not grudge. These bleak skies I hail, for they are kinder to me
than your fellow­beings. If the multitude of mankind knew of my existence, they
would do as you do, and arm themselves for my destruction.
Summary The creature has met Victor in a cave in the sea of ice in the mountains. He has told Victor
of his travels, from the time when Victor abandoned him at his apartments in Ingolstadt,
through his wanderings through the villages and forest to Germany, where he encounters the
DeLacey family. From the latter, the creature learns to speak and read, enabling him to join
the human community. But his endeavors have been in vain, for he is shunned and
tormented because of his appearance. As Victor has rejected him, so have all people. In this
the creature feels the intense loneliness of the outcast. Although born with a heart full of
goodness and love, the creature meets nothing but hate. He has found himself in the caves of
ice, immune to the cold. The ice is warmer than the humans he has encountered. He knows
that, if the people below knew of his living in the caves, they would travel as Victor has
done, to put him to death if they can.
Analysis of Essential Passages Though Frankenstein is often promoted as a horror story, the horror lies not in the terror of
the unknown, but in the unloved. Loneliness is at the heart of the fear that pervades the
hearts of the three major characters.
Robert Walton sets the foundation of the absence of companionship as he writes to his sister
of his loneliness. Earthly accomplishment cannot fill the void in his life that a true friend
would. Although surrounded by crew members, he cannot find a true kindred spirit,
someone to share his dreams, his aspirations, his faults, and his failures. The emptiness of
the Arctic mirrors the emptiness of his life. He seeks a passage through the ice, as he hopes
to find a soul with him he can share true friendship.
In the Romantic era, friendship between men often took the tone that in today’s culture
would sound more like a physical relationship, yet it would be a misinterpretation. True
friendship, both between men and between women, was often held much higher than it is in
the modern world. Someone with whom one can share the feelings that only someone of
one’s own gender could was considered to be even higher than that between a man and a
woman. Thus, though the modern reader may feel uncomfortable with the some of the
expressions used, such as in Walton’s letter, to read more into it would be a gross
misinterpretation.
It is against this presentation of friendship with which Victor does not fully fall in line.
Although he has a close relationship with Henry Clerval, it is not the same as that described
by Walton as the desire of his heart. Victor’s weakness lies in his isolation from others. This
separate is thus at the heart of his inability to connect with his creature. It is a flaw of the
heart, rather than horror, that causes Victor to reject the creature. It is his lack of loneliness
that leads to the terror.
It is the creature himself that presents the horror of complete loneliness. He is separated and
rejected from all humanity, as well as his creator. He is the picture of a person without
family, with friend, with God. The loneliness is not due to any action he himself has taken,
but to the evil of others in their rejection of him based on appearance. A loving heart, the
creature has done nothing deserve the isolation. Thus forced apart, he now pledges himself
to make himself deserving of this separation. By one murderous act after another, the
creature brings the darkness of total loneliness closer and closer to Victor.
The message of Frankenstein, a product of the Age of Romanticism, is thus not a fear of the
unknown. It is a fear of the results of rejection, of refusing love to those who have a right to
expect that love from us. The horror is not in the creature. It is loneliness that each of us
fears.