Reading Journal, 'Frankenstein', Chapters 18 - 24

Chapter 18:

·         Victor learns that his father wants him to marry Elizabeth, but he is filled with ‘horror and dismay’. We know Victor is lonely, so it is questionable as to why he feels this way. This could be because he knows the monster may hurt Elizabeth.

·         Victor never refers to the marriage with Elizabeth as a ‘marriage’, but as a ‘union’. This emphasises his fear.

·         However, Victor does say that he loves Elizabeth that he ‘loves his cousin dearly’. Must question why Victor would accept the proposal and put her in danger. Yet this could explain the fear I mentioned above.

·         Shelley quotes Wordsworth’s ‘Tintern Abbey’ poem. The section she chooses is refers to mountains, just as Victor has done on many occasions.

·         Victor travels to England with Clerval and Victor makes it obvious that Clerval will be his next victim.

Chapter 19:

·         Victor begins to create the female monster.

·         Yet he is filled with dread as he begins: ‘it became everyday more horrible and irksome to me.’

·         There are clear differences between the creation of the female and the first monster. For one, there is much less description – there is only a page about it and also Victor shows his anxiety – ‘I grew restless and nervous’.

Chapter 20:

·         Shelley uses images of places in this chapter that reflect Victor’s state of mind, for example the image of his laboratory. Shelley then switches back to present day. This could show how Victor’s mind is uncontrollable and will not rest.

·         The significance of the moon could be important here – ‘eye of the quiet moon’. Victor personifies the monster; it is almost as if he is paranoid. 

·         There is a lot of changing between night and day. Time is clearly passing quickly, yet, for Victor it all merges into one. ‘Sun rose’ then the ‘sun descended’, Victor is lost emotionally.

·         When Victor meets the monster in this chapter, there is a major difference from when they previously met. Here, the monster is in control, rather than Victor: ‘I am your master’ and ‘obey’.

·         In chapter 17, we could sympathise with the monster, yet here I can sympathise with Victor more. The monster is applying the typical ‘monstrous’ traits by making threats: ‘I will be with you on your wedding night’.

·         There is reference to bonds between people in chapter 20. For the monster and Victor it is almost like a parent to child bond that has been broken. Some psychologists would suggest that this would be the cause of the monster’s horrific actions.

Chapter 21:

·         A body is found on the shore and Victor learns it is Clerval.

·         Victor is arrested and then released, but he is still stricken with guilt.

·         Clerval’s death could make prominent the corruption of innocence, as well as the monster’s being.

·         ‘A gloom and black melancholy…Clerval was forever before me.’ – links with Macbeth seeing Banquo’s ghost.

·         ‘Dream’ is repeated – confused state of mind?

·         The nightmares that haunt Victor suggest the horror is in his psyche.

Chapter 22:

·         Frankenstein returns to Geneva and marries Elizabeth.

·         ‘But the apple was already eaten’ – foreshadowing. Victor knows Elizabeth’s fate. This is also a biblical reference in the Garden of Eden.

·         It could be argued that the foreshadowing reveals too much so that readers guess quickly what will happen. This results in the fact that Elizabeth’s death is not as shocking.

·         Reference to ‘paradisiacal dreams’: this indicates that Victor sees himself as Adam and Elizabeth as his Paradise. But because Victor has already eaten apple, his paradise is lost to him.

Chapter 23:

·         Elizabeth is murdered and Victor is determined on revenge.

·         Shelley describes a storm. This pathetic fallacy predicts the monster’s arrival.

·         Can we sympathise with Victor?

·         Yes – all his loved ones are dead and he is in turmoil.

·         No – he left and abandoned the monster (and created it in the first place).

Chapter 24:

·         Victor tells Walton of his pursuit. He sees the monster in a graveyard and Victor tells Walton to kill the monster if he fails to do so himself.

·         Significance of sleep – Victor can only be with his family when he sleeps; he dreams of Elizabeth.

·         Victor travels far, however, nature only marks these travels, not his emotion.

·         Less references to nature as a whole, Victor is solely focussed on revenge. Changes the novel to more Gothic than Romantic.

·         ‘If you have known me as I once was you would not recognise me in this state of degradation.’ – Victor is sorrowful and it is clear he is full of regret.

·         ‘Seek happiness in tranquillity and avoid ambition’ – before Victor dies, he warns Walton of the destruction of ambition. He cannot die in peace.

·         When the monster realises Victor is dead, he finds that despite their hate for each other, they only had each other. For the monster, Victor was hope – the chance of a companion.

·         Walton is the only person who actually speak to the monster and does not try to kill him.

·         ‘I was the slave’ – the monster takes no responsibility for his actions, unlike Victor. We feel less sympathy towards him.