Respond to anything that particularly interests you in the first part of Frankenstein. But here are some prompts to get you started thinking:
- What are your reactions to the author’s introduction to the novel? Does Shelley seem confident in her own work? Why or why not? Is there anything in this introduction that shapes how you read the opening chapters of the novel itself?
- Why do you think Mary Shelley chooses to begin the novel with Walton’s story rather than directly with Victor Frankenstein himself? What does she gain by using this framing device?
- Discuss the role of Elizabeth Lavenza in the novel as we first meet her.
- On p. 35, Victor describes the creature coming to life: “His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!–Great God!” Why do you think the creature is not beautiful even though his separate parts were selected for their beauty? Why is this important in the novel?
- Mary Shelley tends to use the term “creature,” but “Frankenstein’s monster” is the popular term we use today What does it mean to be a “monster”?
The role of Elizabeth Lavenza is very odd throughout the first 6 chapters of the novel. Elizabeth is adopted by Victor’s mother when she discovers the orphaned child in Italy. Even though Elizabeth is adopted as Victor’s sister, Caroline decides that Victor will marry Elizabeth. Since Elizabeth is his now sister, she lives very closely with Victor. Not only are they siblings, and forced to do certain things together, they also become best friends as they grow up. Then, in chapter 3, Elizabeth and Victor get married after they lose their mother. This makes Elizabeth his wife. Finally, in the following chapters, Elizabeth seems to become Victor’s mother as well, seeing as she becomes his caretaker. By playing the role of his sister, best friend, wife, and mother, Elizabeth is affectively the most important (and really only) female presence in Victor’s life and she fills all roles for him. While it is certainly very odd to consider your sister, best friend, wife, and mother to be one person, I think the choice on Shelley’s part serves to show just how isolated Victor seems to be. I would like to warn that I have already read this book, so I can’t help but think of the bigger implications of his isolation that we see throughout the story, but to avoid spoilers, I can say that Victor’s isolation is central to his character and directly influences the decisions he makes later on in the novel. The isolation and its effects highlight the dangers of not having that human connection or connection to a natural family.
I thought that Shelley’s decision to begin the novel with the series of letters from Walton to his sister was a very strong one. Admittedly at first I was a bit confused as to why we were being fed this series of letters from this kind of delusional man, but once I realized what she was doing I was really sucked in. I think that, whether this was her intention or not, through this action Shelley was able to immediately entice the reader. By planting us in the aftermath of the story, she is giving us an insight into the occurrences of the story and the impact it has had on at least one of the characters, who we can assume is Dr Frankenstein. Even through his confusion and limited knowledge of Frankenstein’s situation, Walton is able to surmise that whatever Victor was looking for had disturbed him deeply and sort of ruined his life, which gives the reader an insight into the aftermath of the experimentation
I actually really enjoyed hearing from Shelley herself before I began the letters and beginning chapters. To me, Mary Shelley seems hesitant to be confident in her own work. When she initially began writing Frankenstein, it was only a short story, until Percy Bysshe Shelley encouraged her to expand upon it. It seems to me that Shelley felt out of her element when writing a ghost story, especially in the presence of literary greats such as Lord Byron and her husband. She even points out that she is the product of two great writers and really enjoyed writing in her childhood, but for some reason she remains hesitant to feel confident in Frankenstein.
I haven’t read more than excerpts from Frankenstein before this, but I did know the story of how it came to be, and how people didn’t believe that Mary was the sole author of the novel. Those assumptions from readers were unjustified and I think may be the root cause of Mary’s hesitation. The introduction gave me great insight to how Mary Shelley views this story, which was such an interesting contrast from its popularity today. I was honestly shocked going from the introduction to the letters, because from the very instant the letters begin, you can tell that this is a super well written and expansive piece of writing.
I really enjoy that Shelley starts the novel off with a series of Walton’s letters. This narrative of a young man exploring and his loneliness is really enticing to me and, from what I know about Frankenstein, fits the theme of the rest of the book. The beginning is very mysterious and draws you in, especially when Walton and his crew see the first person on the sled go by, who seems larger than the average person, and then pull Victor aboard their boat. I think also that by seeing Victor through the eyes of the self-proclaimed “romantic,” sympathetic, and lonely Walton, we develop sympathy for Victor and a want to know his story. I believe the letters serve the purpose of connecting us to the character of Victor through Walton so that we are more impacted by his story, especially when Victor says hearing his story may alter what path Walton decides to follow. Frankenstein is famously a story about human desire and nature, so it’s fitting to see the story be introduced by highly personal letters by a man driven by passion and discovery while he simultaneously yearns for companionship.
I really enjoyed how Shelley started off with Walton’s story rather than with Victor’s. It made me wonder how many details are being misremembered or altered due to how much time has past since the events and his telling. The way she tells through Victor telling Robert reminds me, also because she herself makes me references to it, of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge. The Ancient Mariner also starts off by talking to another person to then retell his story in hopes of teaching others the lesson he learned. In comparison, Victor is telling Robert so he does not make the same mistakes as he has. This framing device also makes the storytelling more intimate as at times he stops to address Robert’s reaction or what he guesses he is about to say. Starting off with Robert’s story additional adds a depth to Robert and a care for him as a character that would not have been established by just mentioning him briefly but thanks to the in-depth letters in the beginning, the reader can feel an attachment to Robert but can also use him as a parallel to Victor himself. Overall it makes for better storytelling and feels like it is a ghost story within itself.
I think Shelley’s use of the word creature is pretty integral to the characterization of Frankenstein’s creation rather than our preference of monster. I think that Shelley was trying to humanize the creation, especially in the respect of religion i.e. creator and creation//God and Adam. The monster has human feelings and is driven by the same things that drives all of humanity, a desire to be accepted, and like most humans his monstrous actions do not come until he has been scorned and rejected by the rest of humanity. There are many ideas of what a monster is, ranging from fictional beings, physical appearance and deformity, as well as the motivations and subsequent actions of a person. In a lot of ways the Creature does fit this description he is unattractive, large, and “deformed”, and to readers of the novel (rather than characters in the novel) he is a fictional being. However, I think Shelley’s motive in naming, or otherwise not naming, him Creature is a choice based on the motivations and driving force behind the Creatures actions as a response to trauma, rather than pure evil motivations. Often times, when we characterize a human as a monster, it is because there is no base behind their violent actions, other than their enjoyment of the affliction of said action. This is not the case with the Creature, and while that does not excuse him, it does make him considerably human.
Elizabeth Lavenza is an interesting character to me. She is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, orphaned girl who is adopted by Victor’s charitable mother. Later, Victor’s mother says she is a “gift” to him. I find that language interesting, as later on, she is quite literally a gift in Victor’s life. For example, Victor says that whenever he would get too “…sullen in my [Victor’s] study, rough through the ardour of my nature,… she was there to subdue me to a semblance of her own gentleness” (20). Elizabeth is presented as this pure and grounding character, completely contrasting with Victor’s hunger to learn the unknown. Elizabeth takes on the role of a maternal figure in Victor’s life after the passing of his mother. She is described as caring for his father and two brothers while he is gone. The idea of her maternal role can be highlighted later on when Victor has a nightmare where he is holding her, kissing her, when she suddenly transforms into the corpse of his dead mother. That can be both representative of the maternal role she plays in his life and also be foreshadowing, since loneliness seems to be a prominent theme within the novel so far.
Despite being classified as a Female Gothic novel, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein starts more differently than I had imagined. We follow Robert Walton, a masculine figure full of energy and hope, rather than an immediately falling into an ominous, scary atmosphere or a tormented lady. All I know about Frankenstein is that he is not the creature, yet I had a vision of a gloomy, dark city with a heroine in it. Where I got this idea from I’m not sure, as I only know the basics of this story…body parts were collected to build a creature that’s known today as Frankenstein’s monster.
Walton’s letters to his sister are dripping with desire as he sets out on a massive Arctic adventure, thinking he has discovered his calling in life. The North Pole, with its vast, icy landscape, is not the setting I had pictured for a Female Gothic novel, which I associate more with decaying mansions, hidden secrets, and oppressive environments. When I hear sailing I think of Portuguese fishermen or Jaws…not Frankenstien.
What interested me the most is how this cheerful beginning goes against what I preserve the Female Gothic to be. Walton’s enthusiasm and sense of adventure make the opening feel almost like a different genre. However, there is an underlying loneliness in his letters, his longing for a true friend hints at isolation, a key Gothic theme, I think. I find it interesting how Shelley brings readers into a sense of wonder before introducing darker elements. There’s a lot more to lose that way.
I found Mary Shelley’s choosing to start with letters from Walton’s story intriguing because it made me feel more like an outsider than I already was reading Victor Frankestein’s retelling. It also gives Frankenstein this air of mystery to him, because what truly could lead a man venturing out on his own to chase down another man almost 8ft tall? As the novel starts with Walton’s side, I feel myself becoming closer and connected to him. We are both eagerly listening to Frankenstein’s story and wondering what could have led the scientist stranded. But it also makes me less sympathetic to Frankenstein. I am not saying that he is a terrible person, for all I know, but to see him from somebody else’s point of view and then hear how he talks about how magnificent his life was and how he has been an intelligent being since birth. It distorts me into thinking that he thinks so highly of himself that he himself believes he is a God. However, now, his curiosity is his downfall because what a shame! He is just too intelligent. He created life out of various body parts and yet refuses to give his creature any acknowledgment besides fear. And how he talks about his creature? Just made me not want to give Frankenstein any sympathy. Whereas if we started the book by following Frankenstein off on his journey to college, we would have grown closer with him, believing we created the creature alongside him, but that would also ruin the mystery of the said creation and what caused Victor to spiral into a mess. We would also have felt more emotions towards him and shared his thoughts of how the creature is a monster rather than a being who craves to be human.
Shelly’s use of the word creature demonstrates her attempt to humanize the creation of Frankenstein. Victor created Frankenstein through scientific discovery and experiments. The connotation of the word creature leads readers to think of something human, a being that was created and possesses some human like quality. By referring to Frankenstein as a creature instead of a monster, Shelly humanizes him, resulting in feelings of empathy from the readers.
The term monster is usually associated with something supernatural, often larger than human life, and painfully grotesque. While Frankenstein is large and ugly, Shelly makes it very apparent that he is not supernature, but the result of Victor’s life’s work. I think that in modernity, the word monster has less to do with the supernatural and characterizes those who lack emotional intelligence. The creature demonstrates his mental capacity, even emotions as the novel progresses (I read ahead some), leading him to fall more into the category of a creature rather than a monster.
I really enjoyed the beginning of the novel because it opens with letters. I think this is a unique and creative way to introduce the story, as it allows the reader to learn about the characters and their perspectives in a more dynamic way. By using letters, Shelley provides a view of events that makes the reader more engaged as this approach creates a sense of mystery and intrigue and encourages the reader to piece together the story themselves, which I find to be an incredibly effective way to start a novel.
Another aspect I found fascinating is how we often refer to the creation in the story as “Frankenstein’s monster,” yet the text refers to it as “creature.” This distinction is thought-provoking because the term “monster” often evokes fear or horror, suggesting something dangerous or misunderstood. On the other hand, “creature” has a much softer connotation. For me, the word “creature” feels more closely tied to “creation,” which evokes beauty, intelligence, or even potential. This linguistic choice made me question whether the being should truly be labeled as monstrous at all or if that label is more of a reflection of society’s inability to understand or accept it.