Frankenstein :: essays research papers

In a series of letters, Robert Walton, the captain of a ship bound for the North Pole,recounts to his sister back in England the progress of his dangerous mission. Successful earlyon, the mission is soon interrupted by seas full of impassable ice. Trapped, Walton encounters passe-partout Frankenstein, who has been traveling by dog-drawn sledge crossways the ice and isweakened by the cold. Walton takes him aboard ship, helps nurse him back to health, and hearsthe fantastic tale of the fanatic that Frankenstein created. victor first describes his early life in Geneva. At the end of a blissful childhood spentin the company of Elizabeth Lavenza (his cousin in the 1818 edition, his adopted sister in the1831 edition) and friend Henry Clerval, Victor enters the university of Ingolstadt to studynatural philosophy and chemistry. There, he is consumed by the desire to discover the secret oflife and, after several years of research, becomes convinced that he has constitute it.Armed with the knowledge he has long been seeking, Victor spends months feverishlyfashioning a creature out of old body parts. One climactic night, in the secrecy of his apartment,he brings his creation to life. When he looks at the monstrosity that he has created, however,the sight horrifies him. After a fitful night of sleep, interrupted by the phantasma of the monsterlooming over him, he runs into the streets, eventually wandering in remorse. Victor runs intoHenry, who has come to study at the university, and he takes his friend back to his apartment.Though the monster is gone, Victor falls into a feverish illness.Sickened by his horrific deed, Victor prepares to return to Geneva, to his family, andto health. Just before departing Ingolstadt, however, he receives a letter from his father making known him that his youngest brother, William, has been murdered. Grief-stricken, Victorhurries home. While passing through the woods where William was strangled, he catches sightof the monster and becom es convinced that the monster is his brothers murderer. Arriving inGeneva, Victor finds that Justine Moritz, a kind, gentle misfire who had been adopted by theFrankenstein household, has been accused. She is tried, condemned, and executed, despite herassertions of innocence. Victor grows despondent, guilty with the knowledge that the monsterhe has created bears responsibility for the death of two innocent loved ones.Hoping to ease his grief, Victor takes a vacation to the mountains. While he is aloneone day, crossing an enormous glacier, the monster approaches him. The monster admits the