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Frankenstein
Mountaineers · 10th–12th
Victor fears his story would be taken for madness. Does he owe it to Justine anyway?
The tension Victor is certain in an instant, from one flash of lightning, who killed his brother, yet he knows that if another man brought him such a tale he would call it “the ravings of insanity”; sure in private and silent in public, he still tells Elizabeth that Justine’s innocence “shall be proved”.
Watch two leaps to certainty: the household's, from a picture in Justine's pocket and her confused manner, and Victor's, from one flash of lightning near Plainpalais.
A letter from his father tells Victor that his youngest brother, William, has been murdered at Plainpalais and that a valuable miniature of their mother is missing. Victor travels home, lingers two days at Lausanne, and reaches Geneva after the gates have shut. Crossing the lake to see the place where William died, he walks into a storm, and a flash of lightning shows him a figure he knows at once as the being he made; in an instant he is sure it is the murderer. After a cold, wet night he reasons at dawn that no one would believe his tale, and resolves to stay silent. At home he learns that Justine Moritz, whom the family loves, has been accused because the picture was found in her pocket. He insists she is innocent, takes comfort from his father's hope of an acquittal, and promises Elizabeth that her innocence will be proved.
Start with the end of the father's letter, where he asks Victor to come home "not brooding thoughts of vengeance against the assassin, but with feelings of peace and gentleness". Ask what that asks of a grieving brother, then follow Victor across the lake into the storm.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the letter, the farewell to Clerval, the halting journey, the storm and the figure, the night in the rain, the dawn resolve, and the morning with Ernest, his father and Elizabeth.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes four or five sentences in its pattern about a choice of their own: a first thought, a pause, reasons that build on one another, and an "even if" that meets the strongest reply.
Debate Split the big question: one side argues that Victor owes Justine his story whatever it costs him, the other that a tale heard as madness would not help her. Each side must answer the other's best line from the chapter before the student decides.
Purpose The student practices weighing private reasons against a public duty, and testing a certainty by asking what it rests on.
Easier Read the storm and the dawn paragraph aloud together, list Victor's reasons for silence, and talk through discussion questions 2 and 3 before any writing.
On level Talk through all five discussion questions, then have the student write the last critical-thinking question in full: a thesis, the strongest objection, and a revision.
Harder Ask the student to bring Victor's question "who would believe, unless his senses convinced him" into the last answer, and to say whether his own certainty meets the standard he sets for others.
1. His father asks Victor to come home with "feelings of peace and gentleness," not "brooding thoughts of vengeance". By dawn, Victor has decided to say nothing about the figure he saw in the storm. Is that silence the peace his father asked for?Theme
What it asks It asks the student to judge Victor's silence by the first answer the chapter gives to the murder, his father's plea, and to say what the father means by peace.
In a way, yes: Victor gives up pursuit and vengeance, as the letter asked, and comes into the house to calm Ernest and cheer Elizabeth.
Come, Victor; not brooding thoughts of vengeance against the assassin,
These reflections determined me, and I resolved to remain silent.
I tried to calm Ernest
No: he drops the chase because it would be in vain, not out of gentleness, and his silence holds dread, the kind of wound the letter says will fester rather than heal.
but with feelings of peace and gentleness, that will heal, instead of festering, the wounds of our minds
my imagination was busy in scenes of evil and despair
I thought of pursuing the devil; but it would have been in vain
A strong answer The letter sets two homecomings side by side: one brooding on vengeance, one bringing a peace that will "heal, instead of festering, the wounds of our minds." Victor obeys the letter in one sense: he resolves to remain silent, so there will be no pursuit, and at home he tries to calm Ernest and tells Elizabeth to fear nothing. But in the storm he gave up the chase only because it "would have been in vain", and all night his imagination was "busy in scenes of evil and despair", so the secret he carries into the house heals nothing in him. A strong answer can argue that he keeps the letter's words and misses its purpose, or that silence is the only peace open to him, so long as it says what the father meant by peace.
2. The storm lifts Victor's spirits, and he cries, "William, dear angel! this is thy funeral, this thy dirge!" As he says these words, a figure steals out from behind the trees. Why might Shelley bring the figure in at that moment?Author's choice
What it asks It asks why the figure arrives just as Victor cries out to William, and what that timing does to his certainty and to the reader's.
The timing makes the figure feel like an answer to his cry, almost a sign, which helps explain why Victor is sure at once.
As I said these words, I perceived in the gloom a figure which stole from behind a clump of trees near me
No sooner did that idea cross my imagination, than I became convinced of its truth
The timing shows a mind already worked up by grief, dread and the grandeur of the storm, ready to see what it fears; placed there, the sighting invites the reader to doubt the certainty that follows.
The picture appeared a vast and dim scene of evil
This noble war in the sky elevated my spirits
A strong answer Victor calls the storm "This noble war in the sky" and makes it William's funeral and dirge, and the figure steps out as he says these words. Placed there, the sighting feels like a reply to his cry, which helps explain why he is convinced the moment the idea crosses his mind. The same placing can be read the other way: on the road home he already saw "a vast and dim scene of evil", and now, near the place where William died and with his spirits raised to a pitch, he is ready to see what he dreads. A strong answer weighs both effects and says which one the chapter's next lines make more convincing.
3. Ernest says the picture in Justine's pocket and her confused manner leave "no hope for doubt." After one flash of lightning, Victor decides, "The mere presence of the idea was an irresistible proof of the fact." Which certainty stands on firmer ground?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to set two certainties side by side, the household's and Victor's, and to judge what each one rests on.
The household's: they refused to believe it until the picture in her pocket and her confused manner "almost forced conviction" on them, while Victor took a glimpse in the dark and an idea for proof.
No one did at first; but several circumstances came out, that have almost forced conviction upon us
discovered in her pocket the picture of my mother
The mere presence of the idea was an irresistible proof of the fact.
Victor's: he knows what no one else in the house knows, that the being exists and is loose near Geneva, while their case rests on one object and on a confused manner that illness might explain.
I saw him too; he was free last night!
Justine had been taken ill, and confined to her bed for several days.
A strong answer The household has something anyone could check: the missing picture, found in the pocket of the clothes Justine wore that night, and a confusion of manner when she was charged; and Ernest says no one believed it at first. Victor has a figure seen by lightning and an idea that came so fast he calls its mere presence proof. Yet he alone knows that the being exists and is loose near Geneva, and Justine's confusion might come from illness, since she had been confined to her bed for several days. A strong answer says what each certainty rests on, and what each leaves out, before choosing.
4. Victor's father believes Justine is guilty, yet he hopes "that she will be acquitted." Victor says, "This speech calmed me." Why might a hope be enough to calm him?Character
What it asks It asks why Victor is calmed by so little, and whether the calm rests on trust in a fair trial or on his need to stay silent.
The calm is reasoned: Victor is sure Justine is innocent, and sure that no fair trial could convict her on what was found.
I had no fear, therefore, that any circumstantial evidence could be brought forward strong enough to convict her.
If she is, God forbid that she should suffer as guilty.
The calm is convenient: a hope from a father who believes her guilty is thin ground, and it clears the way for Victor's silence.
for indeed I had rather have been for ever ignorant than have discovered so much depravity and ungratitude in one I valued so highly.
My tale was not one to announce publicly
A strong answer The father speaks of the "depravity and ungratitude" he has found in Justine, and he only hopes that, if she is innocent, she will be acquitted. Victor hears more than that: he is "firmly convinced" that she is guiltless, so he has "no fear" that circumstantial evidence could convict her. One reading takes the calm as honest trust in a fair trial. Another notices that it comes just before he tells himself that his tale "was not one to announce publicly", so the hope also clears the way for his silence. A strong answer weighs both and asks what the calm would cost Justine if Victor is wrong about the trial.
5. A short note, Victor's father writes, "would be a cruel kindness," so he tells the hard news plainly. Victor later tells Elizabeth that Justine's innocence "shall be proved". Is that comfort a true kindness, or a cruel one?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to test Victor's comfort to Elizabeth against the standard his father set for hard news, and to decide whether a sincere promise can still be a cruel kindness.
A true kindness: Victor believes what he promises, and Elizabeth, alone in her faith, badly needs hope.
I was firmly convinced in my own mind that Justine, and indeed every human being, was guiltless of this murder.
rendered me hopeless and despairing
fear nothing, but let your spirits be cheered by the assurance
A cruel kindness: like the short note the father would not send, it hides how things stand, and she asked for means to clear Justine, not for a promise.
that would be a cruel kindness, and I dare not do it
You perhaps will find some means to justify my poor guiltless Justine.
A strong answer The father refuses a short note because Victor would have expected "a happy and glad welcome" and found "tears and wretchedness". Victor's promise can look like the opposite case: he truly believes Justine will be acquitted, and Elizabeth, who has stood alone in believing Justine, has been "hopeless and despairing". But she asked him for "some means to justify" Justine, and he gives assurance while keeping back what he believes he knows. A strong answer decides whether sincerity makes comfort kind, and tests that against the father's reason for telling hard news plainly.
1. At dawn, before he knows that anyone has been charged, Victor decides "to remain silent." At home he learns that Justine will be tried that day. Which of his dawn reasons still hold?
What it asks It asks the student to sort the reasons Victor gives himself at dawn and to test each one against a danger he did not know of when he gave them.
Few still hold: the dawn reasons answer a plan to hunt the murderer, and saving Justine needs no one to catch anything.
My first thought was to discover what I knew of the murderer, and cause instant pursuit to be made.
And then of what use would be pursuit?
The weightiest one holds: a tale that sounds like madness could not clear Justine, and might even hurt her cause.
looked upon it as the ravings of insanity
a tale otherwise so utterly improbable
A strong answer At dawn Victor's first thought was to "cause instant pursuit to be made", and his reasons answer that plan: no one would credit a tale "so utterly improbable", and even if they did, "of what use would be pursuit?" A thesis might argue that most of the case for silence falls with the news: saving Justine needs no one to catch the creature, so only the first reason is left standing. The strongest objection is that the reason left standing is the weightiest: a story heard as "the ravings of insanity" might do her no good at her trial. A revision might grant the objection and still hold that the news changes what the tale is for, from catching a murderer to saving a life, so the dawn reasons no longer settle the question on their own.
2. Through the cold, wet night, Victor comes to see the being he made as "my own vampire, my own spirit let loose from the grave". What, then, is his silence protecting?
What it asks It asks what Victor's silence shields, and from what, once he has come to see the being as his own.
Others: a grieving family that needs him as a comforter, could do nothing with such a horror, and would only be sent on a hopeless chase.
Come, dearest Victor; you alone can console Elizabeth.
Besides, the strange nature of the animal would elude all pursuit
Himself: if the being is his own spirit let loose, telling the tale means confessing that he made it.
my own vampire, my own spirit let loose from the grave
the living monument of presumption and rash ignorance
A being whom I myself had formed, and endued with life
A strong answer Victor calls the being "my own vampire, my own spirit", and later "the living monument of presumption and rash ignorance which I had let loose upon the world". To tell the tale is to confess the making. A thesis might argue that the silence protects that confession more than it protects anyone else. The strongest objection is that Victor gives open reasons of another kind, a tale no one would credit and a creature no one could catch, so the silence may spare a grieving family a horror they could not use. A revision might hold that both are at work, and that the confession he would have to make explains why the open reasons persuade him so quickly.
3. Victor fears his story would be taken for madness. Does he owe it to Justine anyway?
What it asks It asks the whole of the chapter's question: whether Victor's debt to an accused girl holds when the only truth he can offer will sound insane.
He owes it: she faces trial for murder, the cost of seeming mad is his and not hers, he made the being, and he has promised that her innocence will be proved.
and that shall be proved
Alas! who is safe, if she be convicted of crime?
which I had let loose upon the world
He does not owe this: a tale heard as madness could not help her, and he sincerely expects her to be acquitted.
its astounding horror would be looked upon as madness by the vulgar
I had no fear, therefore, that any circumstantial evidence could be brought forward strong enough to convict her.
A strong answer A thesis might argue that the debt holds whatever the risk: Justine is to be tried for a murder Victor believes he can explain, the cost of seeming mad is his and not hers, and he has already told Elizabeth that her innocence "shall be proved". The strongest objection takes Victor's reasoning seriously: a tale that would be "looked upon as madness" might do Justine no good, and he is sure no circumstantial evidence could convict her. A revision might narrow the debt, from proving the tale to telling what he saw and letting others judge, or might tie it to the trial, so that it comes due if the evidence goes against her. Either way, a strong answer weighs his reasons against her danger and does not settle the matter by calling him simply prudent or simply a coward.
A being whom I myself had formed, and endued with life, had met me at midnight among the precipices of an inaccessible mountain.Given or supplied with a power or quality; an older word, close in meaning to endowed.
I well knew that if any other had communicated such a relation to me, I should have looked upon it as the ravings of insanity.Wild, senseless talk, like that of someone in a fever or out of their mind; talk no listener takes seriously.
We have no trace of him at present, although our exertions to discover him are unremitted; but they will not restore my beloved William!Kept up without any pause or easing off; the same idea as the more common word unremitting.
Is this to prognosticate peace, or to mock at my unhappiness?To foretell, or to be a sign of what is coming; it shares a root with prognosis, a doctor's forecast.
Beloved and venerable parent!Worthy of deep respect, especially for age, wisdom or long goodness; related to venerate, to honor deeply.
No one would believe it at first; and even now Elizabeth will not be convinced, notwithstanding all the evidence.In spite of; without being changed or stopped by.