Frankenstein Analysis

Oh, where to begin. Light is associated with goodness and knowledge. Fire is symbolic of both human progress as well as the dangers of human invention. Er, or possibly the dangers of nature as oppo...

Although the frame story is exclusively set aboard Captain Walton's ship in the frozen waters of the Arctic, the events of the story happen all over Europe, from Geneva to the Alps to France, Engla...

Confused? We don't blame you. Frankenstein is made up of:Walton's letters, which includeVictor's story, which includesthe monster's story, which includesFelix's story (told in third person)What the...

Let's knock these babies out:(1) Gothic Fiction. Dark and stormy night? Check. Horrid monster? Check. Attempt to excite sublime feelings like terror and awe? Check and check. Sounds pretty gothic t...

Maybe it's just us, but we get a bad feeling when we read Walton's first letter to his sister:I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may...

Okay. Hands up out there if you did this at least once while reading the book: (1) rolled your eyes, (2) sighed with exasperation, (3) shouted, "Get over it already! Everyone has daddy issues!", or...

Well, Frankenstein is the name of the scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who creates the monster. Congratulations: you now know more than the average Joe, who thinks that the scientist creates a monst...

"Did I request thee, Maker, from my clayTo mould me Man, did I solicit theeFrom darkness to promote me?" —Paradise Lost, X, 743-45Have you ever screamed at your parents, "I didn't ask to be born,...

At the end of Frankenstein, Walton describes the monster's last move: He sprang from the cabin window as he said this, upon the ice raft which lay close to the vessel. He was borne away by the wave...

One the one hand, Frankenstein is short. As far as nineteenth-century literature goes, it's the equivalent of a 30-second clip on YouTube. But we wouldn't lie to you: it's not exactly easy reading....

Sister WivesVictor and his family are content, happy-go-lucky, adopting-future-wives-as-sisters kind of people. This is super boring. We sure hope something happens soon. Something like a conflict....

Victor becomes aware of the vast power and destructiveness of nature. He seeks an education at the University of Ingolstadt. Unfortunately, his professors don't exactly appreciate his interest in...

Mommie DearestVictor creates a monster and unleashes it on—we mean, abandons it in—the world.FrenemiesThe monster is super bummed that no one understands him, so he tries to punish Victor for a...

There is nothing to see here, people. Poor Victor doesn't even get to consummate his wedding—although there is a moment when Victor embraces Elizabeth's dead body with "ardour" (23.7). Still, we'...

John Milton, Paradise Lost; "Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay/To mould me Man, did I solicit thee/From darkness to promote me?" (Epigraph, 10.9, 15.3); the monster reads it at De Lacey's cot...