English
Tina Heesel
Frankenstein and the monster:Two
independent characters or two souls in one
body? The attempt of a psychoanalytical
interpretation
Seminar paper
Hauptseminararbeit
Institut für Anglistik der RWTH Aachen
Thema:
Frankenstein and the monster: Two independent characters
or two souls in one body?
The attempt of a psychoanalytical interpretation
Tina Heesel
Für das Hauptseminar:
Gothic Novel
WS 2004/05
Aachen, den 21.03.2005
Table of contents:
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 3
1.1 Psychoanalytical basic knowledge ................................................................................... 4
1.1.1. Freud´s model of personality – the mental apparatus .............................................. 4
1.1.2. Ego Defence Mechanism ......................................................................................... 4
1.1.3. Human drives ........................................................................................................... 5
1.1.4. The psychosexual development ............................................................................... 5
1.1.5. The topographical Model ......................................................................................... 6
2. Analysis of the text................................................................................................................. 6
2.1. Victor´s earliest childhood .............................................................................................. 6
2.2. Victor´s youth and puberty.............................................................................................. 8
2.3. Victor´s departure to Ingolstadt....................................................................................... 8
2.4. Victor´s studies and his plan to create a human body ..................................................... 9
2.5. The birth of the monster ................................................................................................ 10
2.5. Victor´s first collapse .................................................................................................... 12
2.6. The positive development of the monster ..................................................................... 13
2.7. Victor´s apparent recovery ............................................................................................ 14
2.8. The Creature´s development to a real monster.............................................................. 14
2.9. The letter of the father................................................................................................... 15
2.10. Justine´s execution ...................................................................................................... 15
2.11. Victor´s longing for revenge ....................................................................................... 16
2.12. Victor´s departure to the Alpine valleys ..................................................................... 17
2.13. A companion for the monster...................................................................................... 18
2.14. The revenge of the monster......................................................................................... 18
2.15. Victor´s homecoming.................................................................................................. 19
2.16. The wedding- night ..................................................................................................... 19
2.17. The final hunting ......................................................................................................... 20
3. Conclusion............................................................................................................................ 20
4. Bibliography......................................................................................................................... 24
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1. Introduction
This essay deals with Mary Shelley´s “Frankenstein”. People who do not know the book but
only its title often associate the name Frankenstein with the monster. Why do many people
think that Frankenstein is the monster?
The question to be discussed in this essay is if Victor and the monster are both single and
independent characters or if the monster can be described as Victor Frankenstein´s double.
This essay is the attempt to interpret the book from a psychoanalytical point of view. The
analysis refers to the major works of Sigmund Freud.
At first I describe and explain some basic knowledge of Sigmund Freud, such as his model of
personality or rather the mental apparatus with its three organisational units ID, EGO and
SUPEREGO. After that I name some tools the EGO can use, called Ego Defence Mechanisms,
but this is only done very generally. The human drives have to be mentioned and explained
because they are very important for the question to be discussed. Because Victor
Frankenstein´s life is analysed chronologically the psychosexual development has to be
referred to, too. Last but not least Freud´s conception of the human psyche is mentioned and
explained. It is important to say that I always refer to Freud when speaking about
psychoanalytical expressions in this essay, even when they are not always named as those.
After the explanation of the psychoanalytical basic knowledge which is important for this essay
I start the analysis of Victor Frankenstein´s life. As mentioned before, this is done
chronologically: from the time of his birth to his death. The different stations in his life are
shortly summarized and afterwards analysed and psychoanalytically interpreted in a very
detailed way. There are many quotes from the text because it is not possible to prove some
claims without referring to the text.
At the end of the analysis I summarize the most important results. After that I shortly discuss
these results critically and give possible alternatives.
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