Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Themes

Neph131

 

11/17/2014

Nature
Quote	Explanation
“ I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks… This breeze which has travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes.” (1)	The natural beauty of St. Petersburgh gives Walton a sneak peek of how great the North Pole will be. He enjoys that breeze that he felt on his face.
“I remained two days at Lausanne in this painful state of mind. I contemplated the lake; the waters were placid, all around was calm, and the snowy mountains, “the palaces of nature”, were not changed. (59)	Victor stayed at Lausanne and admired its natural beauty which portrayed gloom and despair. Even though the description of Victor’s view, “snow mountains”, “placid”, and “calm” doesn’t show any sign of cheer, but signs of melancholy, it is nature that heals his despair.
“Dear mountains! My own beautiful lake! How do you welcome your wanderer? Your summits are clear; the sky and lake are blue and placid. Is this to prognosticate peace or to mock at my own happiness?” (59)	Victor, in moment of melancholy, seeks forgiveness in nature. Having disappointed his village, he takes the blame for his brother’s murder. He weeps just by looking at his environment.
“Yet, as I drew  nearer home, grief and fear again overcame me… and when I could hardly see the dark mountains, I felt more gloomily.” (59)	Shelley uses nature to portray Victor’s mood and feelings. The “dark” mountains reveal how guilty and gloomy Victor feels inside.
“When I was about fifteen years old… we witnessed a most violent and terrible thunderstorm… I remained, while the storm lasted, watching its progress with curiosity and delight… and so soon as the dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared... “ (26)	Shelley uses nature to reveal that even at a young age, Victor relied on nature and was fascinated by it. This thunderstorm enhanced Victor’s curiosity about natural philosophy.
"I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation."	Victor’s obsession with bringing an inanimate body to life, going against nature, made him ignore his friends and family, and it even made him take less care of himself.
“When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it… Although I possessed the capacity to bestowing animation...” (38)	Victor is playing against nature. The author’s use of “power” signifies that Victor is playing God.
“I pursued nature to her hiding-places.”(39)	Victor exploited nature by trying to bring an inanimate body to life. He went beyond his naturalistic work.
“I took the boat and passed many hours upon the water. I was carried by the wind… I left the boat pursued to pursue its own course and gave way to my own miserable reflections… and I the only unquiet thing that wandered restless in a scene so beautiful and heavenly…” (75)	Victor wanted to become a part of nature that was beautiful and calm instead of being what he was, a man filled with guilt and fear; therefore, he takes the boat and sail on the water.
“I spent the following day roaming through the valley… the icy wall  of the glacier overhung me… and the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial nature was broken… the thunder sound of avalanche… reverberating along the mountains… they elevated me from littleness of feeling… although they did not remove my grief, they subdued and tranquilized it.” (80)	Victor always seeks nature. On his day trip to a mountaintop near Chamounix, the beauty of the landscape around him impressed Victor and it eased his depression for a while. He looked at the mountains, their size and strength, and felt revived. Nature once again overwhelmed his senses and manipulated his emotions with its beauty.

　

Secrecy
Quote	Explanation
“One secret which I alone possessed was the hope to which I dedicated myself... I pursued nature to her hiding-places.” (39)	Only Victor knows that he is working on giving life to an inanimate body. Only he knew that he was playing God all that time.
“Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance.” (43)	Victor kept his secret because he knows that not many humans would understand nor support the idea of playing God. Going back earlier in the novel when his father told him that was he was reading/studying was trash. His father wouldn’t have understand.
“Do not ask me… Oh save me! Save me !” (46)	Victor had rather going into deep illness and not tell his friend, Clerval, what he has done.
“He spared them this grief by concealing the extent of my disorder.” (46)	Even Clerval holds a secret about Victor’s condition. He doesn’t tell Victor’s family how sick Victor really is. He “spares them the grief”, meaning that knowing how such news would affect them, he keeps the news from them.
“I was absent when it was committed, and such a declaration would have been considered…”  (66)	Has Victor been there at the time of the murder, his secret would have been believable.
“Yet she appeared confident in innocence and did not tremble.”  (66)	Justine wasn’t all shaken up because she did not commit the murder and Victor knows it. Yet, he still holds his secret in.
“God knows how entirely I am innocent.” (67)	Not only God knows. Victor knows, yet when he tries to tell that Justine is innocent, the evidence tells differently. Victor would have been considered insane has he told them that a monster killed his younger brother.
“I do not hesitate to say that, notwithstanding all the evidence produced against her, I believe and rely on her innocence.” (69)	Has Victor spoken, Justine might have had a chance or at least one or more days to live. Victor’s secret got his own brother killed. Her case might have turned out different.
“He is more convinced of your innocence…” (72)	Victor’s silence is causing Justine to be in prison. His secret caused more damage than he presumed. He believes in Justine’s innocence because he knows who is responsible for his brother’s murder.
“This also was my doing.” (73)	Victor’s secret caused not only one death, but two. His own brother and his family’s servant were murdered because of his own creation that no one knows about.

Answers to "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Guided answers

Neph131
11/03/14

Letters 1-4

1. All the letters are written by Robert Walton
2. The letters are being written to Mrs. Saville which is Robert’s sister.
3. Walton was in St. Petersburg when he wrote the first letter. He is on a venture based on Uncle Thomas’s books on voyages. He is travelling with several sailors on a venture to discover the North Pole. He has a passion for seafaring. He wants to hire a ship when he gets to Archangel. He wants to engage as many sailors as necessary. He wants to sail sometime in June.
4. Walton is now in Archangel. The heart is always free willing of doing good or bad. No matter how hard you try, it’s never enough.  
5. Nearly a month has elapsed between the 3rd and 4th letter. The sailors were surrounded by ice, which closed in the ship on all sides, a situation that got dangerous when they got caught in fog.  
6. The man said that he was there to seek the one who fled from him. The man’s limbs were nearly frozen and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering .  
7.  This stranger is the only one who talks to Walton, and he is the only person that Walton can relate to.
8. Because he knows that his fate is nearly fulfilled, and doesn’t want Walton to make the same mistakes.

Chapter 1-5

9. The man’s name is Victor Frankenstein, son of Caroline Beaufort and Alphonse Frankenstein. His name isn’t mentioned until further into the book (page 24, ch 2) He is from Geneva. He studied at Ingolstadt.
10. Caroline Beaufort was the daughter of Victor’s father’s best friend. She was taken in by Victor’s father after her father died. She later married Alphonse, Victor’s father. She died from the scarlet fever after an adopted child of the family had it.
11. Elizabeth Lavenza was an orphan that Caroline, Victor’s mother, adopted in Italy. She’s a gift to Victor.
12. Henry Clerval is Victor’s friend from childhood who nurses Victor when he got sick.
13. Cornelius Agrippa is an author, whose work that Victor discovers when he got stuck to a party due to bad weather. Victor sees Cornelius’ work as trash. He tells Victor not to waste his time on such work. Victor continued to read Cornelius’ work anyway.
14. As Victor’s father said, a modern scientist would also say that the natural philosophy that Victor is learning from Agrippa is sad trash.
15. Victor’s curiosity towards electricity started. He turned away from Cornelius’ works. He then begins to studying the laws of electricity and galvanism.

16. He credits Krempe and blames Waldman for his destruction.
17. Elizabeth caught the scarlet fever, then later recovers. Victor’s mom caught the fever and soon died from it.   
18. Victor’s father thought that it was necessary in order for Victor to complete his education, that he should be made acquainted with other customs other than those of his native country.
19. To Victor, M. Krempe’s manners were repulsive.  He tells Victor that all the time that Victor spent studying was a waste of time.

20. M. Waldman teaches chemistry. Victor admires M. Waldman’s ways.  Victor’s study  natural philosophy opposes the study of chemistry because it’s more like science versus God.  It becomes a case of nature versus nurture. Victor found a true friend in him. M. Waldman influenced Victor’s interest in science studies.
21. Victor spent his time studying natural philosophy and chemistry. He didn’t go home. His progress was fast.  He made some discoveries on improving chemical instruments. He was enthusiastic about study the human body and he technically shut down his social life.
22. In movies, Frankenstein is the monster. Based on the book, Frankenstein is the doctor who created the monster.

23.       Victor tried to create a beautiful man  and then he got scared by the creature's features.

24. The creature tries to connect with Victor who leaves his apartment in fear.
25. Victor meets his childhood friend, Henry. He was delighted to see Henry. He brought Henry to his home and saw no sign of his creation. Victor fell ill of a fever for several months. Clerval stayed to nurse him.