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Frankenstein
Mountaineers · 10th–12th
Liberty, however, had been a useless gift to me, had I not, as I awakened to reason, at the same time awakened to revenge. As the memory of past misfortunes pressed upon me, I began to reflect on their cause—the monster whom I had created, the miserable dæmon whom I had sent abroad into the world for my destruction. I was possessed by a maddening rage when I thought of him, and desired and ardently prayed that I might have him within my grasp to wreak a great and signal revenge on his cursed head.
This address caused a considerable change in the physiognomy of my own auditor. He had heard my story with that half kind of belief that is given to a tale of spirits and supernatural events; but when he was called upon to act officially in consequence, the whole tide of his incredulity returned.
In his first sentence Victor wakes up twice, once to reason and once to revenge. What do you make of the two arriving together?
Narration Tell the chapter back in your own words, from the landing at Evian to the moment Victor leaves the magistrate’s house. Then pick the one sentence you think matters most, and say why.
1. Elizabeth asks Victor straight out, “What is it you fear?”, and he tells her only that this night is dreadful. Why won’t he tell her what he fears, even tonight?Character
2. Later Elizabeth is laid out as if asleep, a handkerchief over her face and neck, but the picture Victor still sees wherever he turns is the first one, her body thrown across the bed. What is in that first picture that he cannot let go of?Inference
3. Exercise has always eased Victor’s mind, but on the lake he throws down the oar, and months later his vow to hunt the monster calms him for a while. What can the vow do that the oar could not?Theme
4. Victor says he must tell the rest “in a few words”, and he hurries past his father’s death and his months in a cell. Why, then, does he give the visit to the magistrate almost line by line?Author's choice
5. The magistrate promises to try and warns Victor to expect disappointment, and Victor calls that a refusal. What would you call it?Character
Make a Connection Think of someone in a story, in history or in your own life who gave everything to one cause after a great loss. What did the people around them make of it?
It was eight o’clock when we landed; we walked for a short time on the shore, enjoying the transitory light, and then retired to the inn and contemplated the lovely scene of waters, woods, and mountains, obscured in darkness, yet still displaying their black outlines.
The shutters had been thrown back, and with a sensation of horror not to be described, I saw at the open window a figure the most hideous and abhorred.
The death of William, the execution of Justine, the murder of Clerval, and lastly of my wife; even at that moment I knew not that my only remaining friends were safe from the malignity of the fiend; my father even now might be writhing under his grasp, and Ernest might be dead at his feet.
I see him now, excellent and venerable old man!
This address caused a considerable change in the physiognomy of my own auditor.
This address caused a considerable change in the physiognomy of my own auditor.
Who can follow an animal which can traverse the sea of ice and inhabit caves and dens where no man would venture to intrude?
1. Even as he swears revenge, Victor calls the creature “the murderer, whom I have turned loose upon society”. If he let it loose, what does he owe, and to whom?
2. Victor compares his manner to “the martyrs of old”, and the magistrate tries to soothe him the way a nurse would. Is Victor’s revenge a martyr’s devotion, or is it the madness the magistrate sees?