Frankenstein chapter summaries

opening letter 1

written by Walton to his sister Margaret Saville in December of an undisclosed year in the 18th century

he is about to set out on a journey at sea to reach the “region of warmth, eternal light, an unparalleled beauty” - the north pole

he wants to discover a northern passage to countries on the other side of the world and to discover the origin of the North Pole’s magnetism

he says that he could’ve had a rich and easy life but didn’t and therefore feels he deserves to “accomplish some great purpose.”

he plans to rent a ship, hire a crew, and depart from Northern Russia in June

he is not sure if he will ever return

opening letter 2

sent to Margaret in March

Walton describes himself as lonely

he is worried his refined upbringing has made him too sensitive for the ”brutality” of life at sea

his resolution to carry out the journey is “fixed as fate” and he confesses his “romantic love for the marvellous” and his passion for the dangers of the sea

he attributes this to his fondness for Coleridge’s “the rime of the ancient mariner”

opening letter 3

sent to Margaret in July

shorter than the other two letters

describes Walton’s journey as a “triumph” so far

he says his men are loyal and resolved, and the weather has been fine other than the ice sheets in the ocean which suggest worse conditions to come

Walton closes his letter with a rhetorical question “what can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?”

opening letter 4 part 1

Walton says his crew have spotted something that had “the shape of a man but apparently of gigantic stature” on a dog sled across the ice followed by a smaller man

the next morning his crew members discover a European man in the sea

the man comes aboard and Walton says he showed “a benevolence and sweetness” he had never seen in someone before.

the stranger recovers over a few days and Walton says he loves him as brother and considers him the friend he never thought he would meet on his voyage

opening letter 4 part 2

Walton tells the stranger he is on a quest for knowledge - which upsets the stranger

the stranger tells Walton he has lost everything and is at the end of his life yet Walton wants to know more about the stranger’s sensitivity to nature

opening letter 4 part 3

the stranger says he’s decided to tell his story to either help Walton’s quest for knowledge or convince him to end it

he hopes Walton might “deduce an apt moral” from the tale

Walton tells the stranger his destiny has already been determined

he promises his sister he will take down the strangers story in a narrative

V1 chapter 1

Victor tells Walton how he was born in Naples but grew up in Geneva

his father Alphonse and his mother Caroline fell in love after Caroline’s father and Alphonse’s friend Beaufort died

when Victor was 5 - Caroline found Elizabeth in an Italian village and adopted her

they all adore Elizabeth and became to victor “more than sister”

Elizabeth and Victor refer to each other cousins

V1 chapter 2

Vf and El had a perfect childhood

she favoured poetry and he “longed to unravel the physical secrets of lige” and the “hidden laws of nature”

Victor also describes Henry Clerval, his well read schoolmate who possesses a “soaring ambition” to leave his mark on history

as he grows up - Victor becomes fascinated with “natural philosophy” and reads the thinkers in the field who want to "penetrate the citadel of nature”

one day when he sees lightning strike a tree he realises that the laws of science are beyond human understanding

he decides to focus on factual studies like maths

he does say that he eventually returned to natural philosophy leading to his “utter and terrible destruction”

V1 chapter 3

just before Victor’s 17 birthday - Elizabeth catches scarlet fever and Caroline visiting her passes it onto her - and she dies

her dying wish is for Victor and Elizabeth to marry

still grieving - Victor leaves for Ingolstadt

at university he meets Krempe and Waldman

Krempe tells VF his studies have all been a waste of time

Waldman gives a lecture which inspires VF to dedicate himself to revealing “to the world the deepest mysteries of creation”

he meets Waldman the next day - who supports his plan

V1 chapter 4

Victor works for two years ignoring everything including his family - then he discovers the secret to creating life

Victor wants to build a race of beings and begins with creature

he spends months alone building a body - stealing body parts from graves

he is spurred on by imagining a “new species that will bless him as its creator”

V1 Chapter 5

on a dreary night in November - Victor successfully brings his creature to life

but when seeing it - he is horrified by its appearance and abandons it

Victor runs away and returns to try and sleep but is woken by nightmares and awakes to see the monster by his bed reaching out and grinning

he runs out of the flat and sleeps outside

Victor wanders around Ingolstadt and runs into Henry Clerval who has arrived to embark on “a voyage of discovery to the land of knowledge”

Victor checks to see if the monster is still in the apartment, finds it empty and invites Clerval ill

he then falls ill with a “nervous fever” which lasts months

he is nursed by Clerval who doesn’t reveal the illness to anyone

when Victor recovers, Clerval asks Victor to send a letter to his family and gives him a letter from Elizabeth

V1 chapter 6

In her letter - Elizabeth tells Victor how Justine (a former servant of the Frankenstein’s) has come to live with them

Victor introduces Clerval to his professors who compliment him

Victor finds anything connected with science distressing so studies middle eastern language with Clerval

near the end of the term - Victor and Clerval take a journey around Germany whilst waiting to return to Geneva

the trip rekindles Victor’s love of nature

V1 chapter 7

when he returns from the tour - Victor finds a letter from his father telling him his younger brother William has been murdered

Victor and Clerval return to Geneva but find the city gate locked

Victor goes to where his brother died and on the way sees lighting playing over the peaks of Mont Blanc

Victor sees a figure resembling the monster near where William died and realises the monster has killed William - he realises his brother’s death is his fault

Victor arrives home next day and finds thaat Justine has been accused of William’s murder as a portrait of Caroline worn by William was found in her pocket

Victor announces that Justine is innocent but can’t say why as he fears everyone will think him insane

he is confident she won’t be killed over such circumstantial evidence

V1 Chapter 8

Victor wishes he could confess to the murder - but was not in the city at the time so would sound like nonsense

Justine maintains she is innocent but cannot explain how the photo ended up in her pocket

she is sentenced to death

Victor tries to speak to a member of the court who tells him Justine has already confessed

Victor and Elizabeth visit justine in prison and she explains she was pressured into confessing by her

V2 Chapter 1

Victor is in despair that his good intentions have resulted in so much horror

the Frankenstein’s go to their holiday home in Belrive to try and escape the memories of what happened

Victor has thoughts of suicide and begins to want revenge against the creature

Elizabeth tells him she no longer sees the world the same way after seeing the execution of an innocent person

Victor later decides to travel to Chamonix to relieve him of his “ephemeral sorrows”

V2 Chapter 2

As VF climbs a mountain called Montanvert he sees the creature

the creature speaks very eloquently saying he “ought to be thy Adam”

he continues that he was benevolent until Victor abandoned him

he begs Victor to listen to his story and Victor follows him to a cave in the glacier to sit and listen

V2 Chapter 3

The creature describes his early days after being created:

running from Victor’s apartment

first seeing light and dark

first feeling hunger and cold

and discovering fire and its ability to cook food but also burn (as it burns the Creature)

wherever he goes he terrifies humans

he finally finds refuge in a hovel in the woods overlooking a family’s house - watching their domestic ideal

V2 Chapter 4

The creature realises the family are sad because the father is blind and the family are poor and hungry

the creature feels very guilty for having taken the family’s food whilst they were away - so gathers wood and leaves it on their doorstep

he realises they communicate through sound and wants to learn their language

he learns that the young man is called Felix and the girl Agatha

later the creature sees himself in a pool of water

he realises why people have been running from him yet is convinced that kind words and actions will get people to see past his appearance

spring arrives and the creature is filled with hope

V2 Chapter 5

an Arabian woman named Safie arrives and brightens the mood of the DeLacey family

she does not speak their language so Felix teacher her from a history book

the monster listens and learns the language as well

he is disgusted that a race as noble as mankind is also capable of evil

he returns to the hovel one day to find 3 books: Plutarch’s parallel lives, Milton’s paradise lost, and Goethe’s Sorrows of the Young Werther

he associates with both god and Adam in Paradise lost

he feels despair upon learning about human society and realising he has no society of his own

he wishes he never learnt about human society

V2 Chapter 6

The monster discovers the history of the De Lacey family:

• Safie’s father was wrongly accused of a crime whilst living in Paris

• Felix offered to help free him and fell in love with Safie

• Safie’s father offered Felix his daughter’s hand in marriage if he helps them both escape

• they all escape to Italy but when Felix’s role in the conspiracy is discovered - the De Lacey’s loose their wealth and are exiled from France

• Felix goes to Safie’s father to marry her but the father decides he doesn’t want his daughter marrying a Christian

• when Safie’s father tries to force her to leave back to Turkey with him - she escaped and went to find Felix

V2 Chapter 7

the Creature finds 3 books in the woods: Paradise lost, Plutarch’s parallel lives, and Sorrows of the Young Werther

the Creature associates with Adam at some points and Satan at others because he does not have the love of his creator

The creature mentions how he can now read the journal entries he accidently took with him from VF’s apartment which describe the creature

he curses VF for creating him

he decides he will reveal himself in the hope that men will see past his appearance

when Felix, Agatha, and Safe are out for a walk - he enters the cottage and introduces him self to Mr De Lacey - hoping that the blind man will not judge him

Mr De Lacey is kind but when the family return - Felix attacks the creature with a stick and Safie runs away

the monster then flees

V2 Chapter 8

The creature falls into a fit of rage until the beauty of the next day calms him

he decides to approach the De Laceys again to try make amends but when he gets there - they have moved out and he sees Felix terminating the lease with the landlord

Feeling now completely isolated from society the monster give into his rage and burns down the cottage

he dances around the burning cottage then heads to Geneva to find Victor

on his journey he saves a girl from drowning in a stream but is shot by her guardian

it takes him weeks to heal and he only becomes more angry and vengeful in this time

after a few weeks he makes it to Geneva where he finds a young boy

thinking the boy will be too young to be horrified by his appearance - the monster approaches him thinking they could be friends

William is instead very scared, shouting that his father is Frankenstein and that he will punish the creature

the creature becomes enraged upon hearing the name Frankenstein and strangles William

The creature finds a barn to sleep in - but finds Justine in there sleeping

angry that he will never experience female delight - he places a picture the boy wore in her pocket

after finishing his tale - the creature orders Victor to make a female counterpart for him

V2 Chapter 9

returning to Victor’s voice - he refuses to build the female fearing that two creatures will cause more murder

the creature argues the violence stems from his misery and that Victor is responsible for this

the creature says that if Victor creates him a companion, they will flee to south America and avoid human contact forever

Victor feels compassion toward the creature but still feels hatred when he looks at him

he agrees to build the second creature and the creature tells VF he will monitor progress

V2 Chapter 10

Victor questions if he should build the second creature or not and realises he will have to do research in England to complete it

Alphonse detects Victor’s distress but thinks it is a reluctance to marry Elizabeth

Victor assures his father he would love to marry Elizabeth

Alphonse then proposes they marry immediately to cure the family’s sorrows but Victor is too scared to marry with the bargain hanging over him so uses the trip to England to put the wedding off

Alphonse and Victor agree that VF and Clerval will go to England for less than a year

VF still feels like a wretch

V2 Chapter 11

VF and Clerval arrive in London

Victor returns to his isolated self - only talking to people that will help him build the second creature

Clerval is how VF used to be - wanting to meet and talk to everyone

the two travel to Scotland

Victor leaves Clerval with a friend and travels alone to a remote island in the Orkney’s to set up a lab and work on his project

V2 Chapter 12

One night Victor fears the creature he creates might refuse to live away from humans or that the two will create a ‘race of devils’

he looks up to see the creature grinning at the window and overwhelmed by loathing - destroys the second creature

the creature howls in agony and disappears

hours later the creature returns to the lab

he refers to Victor as man and promises he will “be with you on your wedding night”

Victor worries the creature means to kill him on the wedding night - leaving Elizabeth a widow

A letter arrives from Clerval suggesting they resume travelling

VF rows out into the ocean and dumps his lab materials

he is so happy that he naps in the boat

he wakes up to rough weather can’t get back to shore

Victor lands and a group of angry townspeople gather round the boat

he is a suspect in the murder that happened the night before

he is sent to meet with Mr Kirwin a local magistrate

V2 Chapter 13

in Mr Kirwin’s office - VF learns that a man in his twenties was found dead on the shore with black marks on his neck

witnesses say that a boat similar to Victor’s was seen at sea

Victor is taken to see the body and realising it is Clerval, falls into convulsions and remains delusional for two months

when Victor regains awareness he is in prison but Mr Kirwin treats him kindly, saying he will likely be released

he says that Alphonse has come to see him

two weeks later Victor is released because the court has nothing but circumstantial evidence

Victor is determined to protect his family from the creature so return to Geneva with Alphonse

V2 Chapter 14

On the way to Geneva - Alphonse and Victor stop in Paris to let Victor regain strength

his father tries to get him to engage with society but Victor doesn’t feel he deserves to

Victor tells his father he murdered Justine, William, and Clerval but his father thinks he is deranged

Victor receives a letter from Elizabeth expressing her desire to marry him, but that she is worried he has taken another lover whilst away

victor remembers the creatures vow and decides that whether he kills the creature or the creature kills him, he will be free

Victor replies saying he wants to marry immediately but adds he has a terrible secret to tell her the day after they are married

Victor and Alphonse arrive in Geneva a week later and Victor and Elizabeth marry ten days later

as Victor and Elizabeth sail to a cottage by lake Como - Victor’s fear of the creature’s arrival destroys his happiness

Elizabeth tries in vain to cheer him up by pointing out the beauty of nature

V2 Chapter 15

a storm arrives after VF and E arrive at the cottage

V is armed with a pistol and send E to bed for her safety against the creature

as he searches the house - VF hears a scream and finds Elizabeth dead

he sees the creature at the window, fires at it, but misses

VF rushes back to Geneva

the news of E’s death overwhelms Alphonse and he dies a few days later

VF goes mad for months and is kept in a cell

when he regains his senses he tells a magistrate the entire story to hopefully enact justice on the creature

the magistrate doesn’t fully believe VF and thinks finding the creature will be impossible

VF curses the magistrate and humanity saying “how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom” and resolves to seek revenge on the creature himself

V2 Chapter 16

VF decides to leave Geneva forever

he visits the graves of his family and hears the creature laughing

the creature calls him “a miserable wretch”

Victor chases the creature but looses him

for months he tracks the creature north toward the Artic - led by clues and taunts left by the creature

Victor chases the creature onto the frozen ocean with sleds and dogs - comes within a mile of the creature’s sled before the ice breaks up under Victor’s sled

he is then rescued by Walton’s ship

the narrative returns to the present and Victor begs Walton to take vengeance on the creature if he sees it as victor knows he is about to die

closing letter 1

August 26 letter

Walton tells Margaret he believes VF’s story and recalls how Victor described himself as the victim of ‘lofty ambition’ which brought him to despair

Walton is sad that Victor and him could have been friends

he says that he has “sought one who would sympathise with and love” him

closing letter 2

September 2 letter

Walton tells Margaret his ship is in grave danger as it is surrounded by ice

he blames himself saying the crew may die because of his “mad schemes” and he fears a mutiny

closing letter 3

September 5 letter

Walton says that crew have demanded they turn the ship around as soon as the ice frees them

Victor speaks up telling the crew they should “be men” because they set out to be “benefactors of their species”

the speech changes the crew’s mind but Walton fears this will not be for long

he says he’d rather die than return in shame and with his “purpose unfulfilled”

closing letter 4

September 7 letter

Walton says he has agreed to the crew’s demands to turn the ship around

he considers it an injustice

closing letter 5

September 12 letter

Walton says he has turned back but that his hopes of glory and utility are crushed

Victor objected to Walton’s decision to turn the boat around saying his objective to kill the creature is still firm

he tries to rise and return to the ice but is too weak

he still affirms that he acted well trying to defend society from the creature then dies

Walton interrupts his letter when he hears a disturbance in the cabin where Victor’s body lays

he returns to the letter, telling Margaret that he has seen the creature crying over VF’s body

Walton’s first instinct when he sees the creature is to close his eyes

the creature tells Walton he always felt pity and remorse for VF

Walton calls him a 'wretch’

the creature explains how he hated himself even when doing evil, saying he is a “fallen angel”

he also wonders why only he is considered a criminal and not Felix, the young girl’s guardian, or VF

he promises to end his life on a burning pile, springs from the cabin back onto a breakaway sheet of ice and disappears