Frankenstein Characters

Victor Frankenstein

-Protagonist/Narrator

-Study in Ingolstadt, discovers the secret of life

-Creates an intelligent yet grotesque monster

-Recoils in horror from his creation

-Keeps the monster a secret; feels guilty of his creation

-Feels responsible for all actions and crimes of the monster

-Suspect for murdering best friend

-Becomes very ill & inprisoned

-Innocent youth fascinated by science into a disillusioned guilt-ridden man

The Creature

-Created by Victor Frankenstein

-Tries to integrate himself into human social patterns

-Feels abandoned and seeks revenge against his creator

-Murders William, Justine, Henry Clerval, and Elizabeth

Robert Walton

-Arctic seafarer; letters open and close the book

-Picks Victor Frankenstein up off the ice & nurses him back to health

-Listens to Victor's story

-Records the tale in a series of letters to his sister, Margaret Saville, in England

Alphonse Frankenstein

-Victor's father

-Sympathetic towards his son

-Allows Victor to pursue his interest in science

-Consoles Victor in moments of pain

-Stays with Victor during his inprisonment and takes care of him and takes him back to Geneva with him

Elizabeth Lavenza

-Adopted by Victor's family

-"Cousin" of Victor

-Embodies the novel's motif of passive women

-Waits to get Victor's attention

-Marries Victor Frankenstein

-Murdered by the monster on the night of their wedding

Henry Clerval

-Victor's best friend

-Nurses Victor back to health in Ingolstadt

-Follows in Victor's footsteps to become a scientist

-Cheerful vs. moroseness

-Murdered by monster

William Frankenstein

-Victor's youngest brother

-Strangled by the monster in the woods

-His death burdens Victor with tremendous guilt about creating the monster

Justine Moritz

-Adopted into the Frankenstein household

-Blamed and executed for William's murder

-Confessed that she killed William; took blame from the monster/Victor

Caroline Beaufort

-Daughter of Beaufort

-Taken in and marries Alphonse Frankenstein

-Dies of scarlet fever (contracted from Elizabeth)

Beaufort

-A merchant and friend of Alphonse Frankenstein

-Father of Caroline Beaufort

Cottage people: The DeLacey's

DeLacey

Felix

Safie

Agatha

-Family that the monster watches and begins to learn to speak from

-De Lacey (blind old man) begins to take in the monster because he could not see appearance.

-Felix and Agatha (chidren) tell the blind man to push the monster away because he was different from everyone

-Safie (foreign woman)

-Beat and chased the monster away when he revealed himself to them

M. Waldman

-Chemistry professor who sparks Victor's interest in science

-Dismissed alchemists' conclusions

M. Krempe

-Professor of natural philosophy at Ingolstadt

-Dismisses Victo'r study of the alchemists as a wasted time

-Encouages Victor to begin his studies anew

Mr. Kirwin

-Magistrate who accused Victor of Henry's murder

-Takes Victor to see the body of Henry

Romantic Ideas

-Intuition is more trustworthy than reason

-Feelings over logic

-The individual is at the center of life and God is at the center of the individual

-Nature is made up of symbols: people can learn about the supernatural through nature

-Aspire to the ideal: change what is to what it ought to be (make everything the best that it can be)

Elements of the Romantic

-mythical story

-democracy

-freedom

-supernatural

-revolution

Gothic Literature/Horror

-combines elements of horror and romanticism

-subgenre of romantic literature

-came before modern horror- inspired it

-gives nature the power of destruction

-most common thing is the indication of mood through weather/atmosphere

Romanticism (def)

Artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the 18th century

Frame Story

An outer story that frames/continues the main story

Elements of Gothic Horror

-mystery and suspense

-terror

-dreams

-supernatural element of ghosts, vampires, etc

-architecture: haunted houses, castles, wild/remote settings!!

-loneliness

Archetypal characters (types)

-Gothic (byronic) hero: sensitive, intelligent, confident, moody, self centered

-Protagonist: usually isolated (voluntarily or involuntarily)

-Villain: the epitome of evil, due to either own fall from grace or something that happened to them

-Wanderer: isolation, wandering the earth as some form of punishment (either self inflicted or not)

-Virginal female: pure, perfect, innocent female, who may become corrupted by the villain

Setting

-atmosphere of horror and death

-deteriorating decaying scenery