Frankenstein: Family, Society, and Gender Roles

The differences between the sexes and the roles of men and women in society and family.

He realizes he lacks valued qualities such as beauty, wealth, and intelligence, and has no family or companionship.

<p>His desire to interact with others and have a family shows that he has the capability to be human instead of cruel.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>They are a well-to-do, highly respected family in Paris.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Safie's father became an enemy of the French government due to his religion, leading to his arrest and condemnation.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He promises to give Safie's hand in marriage to Felix if he helps him escape.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>She wants to marry a Christian and live independently, making her own decisions.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He married a Christian Arab himself, yet refuses to allow Safie to marry a Christian.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>They are arrested due to Felix's actions and forced into exile in Germany.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He feels despondent and depressed while pondering his place in the world.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Adam was cared for and communicated with a loving creator, while the creature feels abandoned and lonely.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Knowledge shows him how much of an outcast he is from society and the difficulty of becoming accepted.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He believes they will be kind and compassionate, overlooking his deformities.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The older man listens kindly, but Felix beats him when he returns home.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He thinks he should have slowly introduced himself to the family to win their trust first.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He sees the cottage empty, and upon noticing Felix discussing leaving, he burns the house and garden.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He thinks Victor can offer him companionship and help alleviate his feelings of injustice.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He becomes bitter and desires revenge, especially towards Victor.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He saves her, but is shot by the man accompanying her, further fueling his hatred for mankind.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He hopes William will be his friend but kills him when the boy reveals his identity.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He does it as revenge for his lack of female love and companionship.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He demands that Victor create a female companion just like him.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Victor says he will not fulfill the request.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He promises to move away and never harm anyone again if Victor agrees.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He thinks that loneliness is the root of his vices, and having a companion will bring out his goodness.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He intends to watch Victor and reappear when Victor is finished.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Both experience loneliness and desire companionship.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Victor's father, Alphonse Frankenstein helped a friend, Beaufort, who fell on hard times. After Beaufort died, Alphonse cared for and eventually married Beaufort's daughter, Caroline.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Alphonse cares for Beaufort when he becomes poor. Caroline regularly visits and helps the poor. Elizabeth is adopted from a poor family who can no longer care for her.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Caroline and Elizabeth are both portrayed as virtuous women who are rescued, cared for, and protected by men. Elizabeth is also presented to Victor as a gift.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Victor enjoys an idyllic childhood and is doted on by his parents as they travel throughout Europe.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>When Caroline meets a peasant family who has taken in Elizabeth from a Milanese nobleman. The family can no longer afford to care for Elizabeth, so the Frankensteins adopt her.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He adores her and feels that she is 'mine to protect, love, and cherish' and she is 'my more than sister, since till death she was to be mine only.'</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Victor tends to avoid crowds and instead, forms close friendships with only a few people (Henry Clerval).</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Victor desires to learn about science— the secrets of heaven and earth, and the 'inner spirit of nature,' while Henry Clerval prefers the 'moral relations' of things, including history and literature.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>While his interest in science begins as an innocent search for knowledge, it grows to overwhelm and eventually destroy him and everything he loves.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He becomes obsessed with reading the works of early alchemists (Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus). An interest in alchemy then proceeds to an interest in anatomy.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>It reflects a Romantic focus on self-education and parallels Robert Walton educating himself about sailing the world.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>When he was 15 he saw a lightning bolt destroy a tree and wondered about the power of lightning and electricity.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>His destiny was to study the science of the unknown: 'It was a strong effort of the spirit of good...'</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Caroline hopes that Victor and Elizabeth marry each other.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>She becomes the family's maternal figure. Rather than grieving, she devotes herself to caring for the family.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He wants Henry to follow in his footsteps in the world of commerce and trade.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Victor is destined for evil—his destiny was to have the Angel of Destruction decide his future.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Victor finds M. Krempe to be conceited and condescending. Victor likes M. Waldman better, and respects him. He likes his lecture which prompted Victor to keep searching for answers to keep moving forward.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>In science, an ending point does not exist; however, because there is always more to learn and explore.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Human anatomy; how life is created, death, and decay.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He thinks his creation will be grateful to and appreciative of him, like both a father and great creator.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He becomes obsessed with science and his creation. It dominates his life at the expense of his health, family, and mental health.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Victor knows that he is doing something wrong and isolates himself from others so they will not learn of his actions.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He is disgusted and runs screaming from the room.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He dreams that he sees and kisses Elizabeth. Elizabeth then changes to his dead mother who starts to decay in his arms.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He is thrilled to see Henry Clerval. He jumps on furniture and runs around in excitement.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Henry asks Victor to write a letter to his father and Elizabeth.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>She writes that she is regretful that she was not there to take care of Victor when he was so sick; that his father is doing well; Ernest is now 16 and wants to enter the military; the story of how Justine joined the family; of little William and his new girlfriend of 5 years old; some gossip of the town.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>At age 12, Justine lives with the Frankensteins after her own mother mistreats her. When her mother later becomes sick, Justine leaves the Frankensteins to care for her mother, but returns after her mother passes away.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>William has blue eyes, curly hair, and dark eyelashes. He has dimples and is a happy child. He seems to be between 7 and 10 years old.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Victor realizes that his lack of communication with his family has caused them pain and anxiety, he immediately exhausts himself writing a letter to them.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>They really like him and they think he's a great student. The irony is that Victor used this knowledge and these talents to create a monster that would eventually destroy him.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Asian languages or Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Through his companionship and attentiveness, Clerval lifts Victor's mood and gets him back to feeling like a normal person and his old self.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>William was either strangled or his neck was broken— a fingerprint was found on his neck.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>She gave William a locket with his mother's picture to wear around his neck— she thinks it was what the murderer wanted.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Nearly 6 years.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>During the day the mountains appear placid and welcoming. At night he feels they are dark and gloomy, and a sense of evil.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Lightning 'plays on the summit of Mont Blanc' and flashes about the Alps of Savoy illuminating the lake at its base. A flash of lightning also illuminates the creature in the distance.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He hesitates at first because the monster escaped. He thinks people will think he's crazy and doesn't think he is strong enough to go after him.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He believes that his family knows the monster killed William, and that they have captured the monster.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The locket containing the picture of Caroline Frankenstein is found in Justine's pocket.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>She trusts Justine and considers her part of the family that she knows really well. She firmly believes she knows Justine is incapable of committing such a crime, especially against William.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Since he was not in town at the time of the murder, Victor believes that he will be viewed as a madman if he tells who he believes murdered William.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>She provides contradictory answers to questions, cannot account for her whereabouts, and does not know how the locket got in her pocket.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>She does not have any enemies, and believes that her character and behavior to this point in her life will set her free. She can't fathom someone so evil as to deliberately destroy her.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Elizabeth says Justine acted as a mother to William and would not have hurt him. Elizabeth also says that Justine wouldn't have needed to steal the locket.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He states that he is worse off because he is plagued by guilt and remorse because he created the monster.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>She was hoping to be absolved and to be saved; she was forced into it out of fear of hell and eternal damnation.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Justine is never provided a lawyer; convicted on circumstantial evidence; doesn't receive a trial by jury; bullied into confession; and immediately executed, not allowed time for an appeal.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He gets really depressed and extremely remorseful; unable to sleep and wants to be alone.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He takes the boat onto the lake and ponders suicide.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>When Victor created the being, he sought to create life and dispel death. Now he only thinks of destroying the creature.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He created the being that murdered William.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Shelley describes the setting as 'desolate' similar to Victor's desire for solitude, and 'melancholy,' akin to the depression that Victor experiences. The storm growing in the valley foreshadows Victor's meeting with the creature.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The creature says that he was originally benevolent and kind, but that humans’ disgust and rejection caused him to become full of hatred and evil.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The creature tells Victor that he will leave everyone at peace if Victor complies with his conditions, but will continue to murder if Victor doesn't do as asked.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He was once good, but has been turned evil because he is miserably lonely.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The creature's point of view.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The creature does not understand anything about his surroundings or his body. As he wanders into the forest, he gradually learns to utilize his senses, eat berries, and drink water.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The creature finds a small, abandoned fire and gets burned when he puts his hand on it. Through observation, he learns to maintain the fire by adding wood to it. He then uses the fire for heat and to cook food.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The creature learns that he is not wanted or liked by humans. He realizes that humans are only tolerant of people similar to themselves. He also experiences the cruelty of man.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>His decision to isolate himself from humans is understandable given the human reactions he has experienced.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The family consists of an elderly blind man, his son, and daughter. The son and daughter constantly worked, while the father plays music. Each of the family members seems sad but they are benevolent and warm to each other.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The creature thinks the De Laceys live luxuriously since they have shelter, fire, food, clothing, and each other. In reality, the De Laceys work hard for everything they have, are deep in poverty, and struggle just to eat.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He stops eating their food and begins cutting wood and placing it at their door each night.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He observes the De Lacey family for 'several revolutions of the moon' or several months.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The creature learns about family relationships, kindness, speech, music, and reading by observing the family.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He thinks that if he can speak to humans, they will overlook his frightening appearance.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>When Victor made the creature, he felt that he was forming a race of superior beings. Now the supposedly 'superior' creature thinks that a family who most humans would look down on is truly superior.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>By observing the family, the creature learns to speak as the family teaches Safie to speak and read French.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>He only leaves his hovel at night and stays away from villages and other areas inhabited by humans.</p> Signup and view all the answers