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?
- Talk about Elizabeth Lavenza and the descriptions of her coming to join the Frankenstein family. What does Victor mean when he describes her as “my more than sister”? Reactions?
- On p. 35, Victor describes the monster coming to life: “His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!–Great God!” Why do you think the monster is not beautiful even though his separate parts were selected for their beauty? Why is this important in the novel?
In the Introduction to Frankenstein, the author writes about her trip to the Swiss Alps, and how she was nervous about her trip. Shelley also mentions how she is nervous about sharing her ghost stories. So this makes it seem like she is not the most confident in sharing this type of work. I think her introduction shapes your view of the book because it gives you context. Shelley wrote this book for a contest with other writers, and although Shelley wasn’t the most confident in her work, she ended up with one of the best female-gothic books. So far I honestly found some parts quite sad. For example, when Frankenstein came to life he wasn’t beautiful, although his parts were individually beautiful. It kinda downplays the whole creation process of what just happened. Life was made and the first thing that was pointed out was that it was not beautiful.
Shelley starts out Frankenstein with an introduction to the novel in which many people have not bothered to read. However, inside the author’s note she writes a few pages about her trip to the Swiss Alps and she seems extremely nervous about writing ghost stories. She is not confident in her abilities to write when put into a writing challenge with three others. This is nonessential however because she ends up writing Frankenstein, which was more successful and well known than her colleagues’ works that were completed during the same time frame. . This is one of the greatest pieces of Gothic literature, which improves her confidence in her work by the end of the introduction. This author’s note shaped how I read the novel because I assumed it would be very mundane due to the opening. However, that was not the case, and in the beginning of the novel she starts with a letter, setting the tone for the rest of the story.
In this novel, Victor finds his passion for science and natural philosophy through his university, and decides to create this beautiful monster. He carefully chooses what parts he wants to assemble Frankenstein with, believing them to be beautiful. The scene when the monster comes to life, and Victor is terrified and revolted. I believe this part to be very important, because Victor believed the parts to be beautiful when separated, but when they connected as one they became unnatural. This goes hand and hand with the major gothic theme of nature and corruption in this novel. Victor is constantly pointing out nature around him and his home. Victory ends up using his love of science to create this monster that ends up defying the laws of nature. This ends up making nature angry at victor when the weather starts to change. Victor faced retribution for the unnatural creature he created.
While putting together his monster, Victor choose all the most beautiful features. However, when the monster comes to life he is shocked and disgusted by what he has created. All of the parts were beautiful on their own but when pieced together they begin to lose their charm. Trying to recreate what nature has already created usually leads to nature fighting back, and what Victor created went against the cycle of life and went against what is natural. I agree with those who also wrote in their responses about the connection to nature within gothic novels, I think that victor immediately regrets what he did and notices that he went again the unspoken rules of nature.
Frankenstein specifically chooses beautiful body parts to create the monster. Victor thinks he is doing this for the betterment of humankind. However, when he is animated, Victor is terrified and disgusted. This is because the parts on their own were beautiful because it was something natural. Once it becomes the monster; it is no longer natural and is going against nature’s laws. This goes with the overarching theme of nature and the corruption of it in this novel. A big weight is placed on nature throughout this novel, as per usual in the gothic genre. Victor loves nature and goes on long tangents about the nature around his home and his appreciation of it. When he creates the monster, he is breaking natures laws and playing with life. After he creates him and realizes his mistake, he resolves to kill the monster to fix this breach of the laws of nature. This fear of the unnatural coincides with the fears around the time period this novel was written in. More and more was becoming known about science, and people were scared of the consequences of this, scared of the “unnaturalness” of it all.
On the Frankensteins family’s trip to Italy, when Victor was five, they met Elizabeth Lavenza. An orphaned noble who was fostered by a poor peasant family who could barely afford to feed her. Victor’s mother, Caroline, saw Elizabeth amongst a group of dark-haired children as she stood out with the golden features that made her seem angelic. After learning of Elizabeth’s story, Caroline adopts Elizabeth with the permission of Victor’s father Alphonse and brings her back to Geneva. Carolina did not see Elizabeth just as a daughter but as a possible wife for Victor. Therefore she tells Victor that Elizabeth is a gift for him; thus, he refers to her as his “my more than a sister.” I find the relationship between Elizabeth and Victor very weird. The fact that his mother gifted her to Victor at the age of five is very weird, and the way he refers to her as more than a sister just sounds strange.
I have purchased an edition of Frankenstein that appears different then the audio I chose to match it. The original 1818 text by Mary Shelly loses the sense of deep love and tenderness I hear within the audio. I am interested to hear what the audio reads even as it, in no way follows the text in my hard copy.
Something that appears rather thought provoking is the relationship between Robert Walton and Stranger. Walton expresses an aching desire to find a valuable acquaintance in a man. Following the letter describing his wish, just that desire is directly met by a stranger on ice. The novel describes their relationship with kindness and affection as they grow a comfortability and respect towards each other. However, from what I heard in the audio, not mentioned in the book, is a wonderfully intuitive and tender relationship challenging how one would define gender stereotypes of this time. As I heard in the audio, upon Walton’s description of his desire for a true friend and his endeavors of travel, Stranger, with tears in his eyes, “placed his hand on [Robert’s] face” (page unclear, possibly 26/27), and encouraged him to recognize what he is feeling and to always hold true to himself; he encouraged him to be happy with what he has. I find this too to be an interesting contrast with the equivalent interaction from the text. Stranger replied to Walton with an, “I agree with you” (page 27), keeping up a more formal conversation.
Since reading the letters, I have purchased a new audio book to correctly follow the text. I will, however, continue to question the role gender and emotions play within the character relations in Mary Shelly’s, Frankenstein.
This is my second time reading the book and I still cannot get over the fact that victor’s mom and dad (Caroline and Alphonse) married after Caroline’s dad (Beaufort) passed away who was best friends with Alphonse, is that not a little weird. Carrying on with weird, Caroline had a total of 3 kids and lived past their births and lived in Geneva with Alphonse and after victor grew up, he found science very interesting by reading all these wonderful things and more. I still don’t know how he got onto the idea of science though, but he obviously loved it enough to go study it at university and to eventually create Frankenstein an ugly and terrifying monster. I still also do not have any idea why Victor is so scared of his creation because after all, he created it not anybody else. I also do not remember the character, Justine Mortiz, and why she came back around.
Victor chose the parts to create his monster. He chose them carefully and chose parts he believed were beautiful. It is important to notice how the monster does not come out beautiful. I believe that this is important because it shows how things that aren’t meant to be are terrifying and wrong. Victor is trying to force all these beautiful parts together, but they are not natural. When nature creates living things they are beautiful because they are the way they are meant to be, but when Victor tries to selfishly recreate the beauty of nature it goes horribly wrong. I think its important to show how nature is a big theme in many gothic novels, and how the weather will change when nature is angry at Victor. His monster turning out ugly can be seen as a punishment for Victor trying to recreate natures beauty in an unnatural way.
In the opening letters of the novel, we are introduced to Robert Walton, who is leading a crew on a ship headed to the North Pole. Shelley is quite clever for introducing Walton through letters, since we learn of the setting and details on his personal life through the private letters. The audience can see that Walton is a lonely man with an earn for more in life, such as someone to share his dreams with. This is important to the novel as it plays a role in foreshadowing what may occur later on in the book. Walton’s story is not far off from Frakenstein’s. The framework of narration draws in the audience and creates a personal feel, describing the rough conditions of being stuck in the ice, which creates a mood of gothic and gloomy times. The audience gains curiosity about the man found on the ice, but is warned by Victor to remain cautious of gaining too much knowledge. Walton, like the audience, is eager to hear of what confessions Victor Frankenstein has, but is steadily declined until several days later. This a great opening to the story because it helps draw in the audience through the narrative of story-telling through letters and pulls them in to continue reading more.