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Frankenstein Summary 125770 Views


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Description:

This story goes as you might expect—a sprinkling of science, endless amounts of death and despair, and a whole lot of ugly monster. Oh joyous day!

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:01

Frankenstein, a la Shmoop. My name is Captain Walton.

00:10

After I'd failed at everything else, I took off for the Arctic in search of fame and glory,

00:15

because... okay, in retrospect, it doesn't make a ton of sense.

00:19

But there I was on my ship, just floating around, when my crew and I came across this

00:22

guy who was so cold, he'd turned into a Popsicle.

00:26

Turns out his name was Victor Frankenstein, and boy, did he have a story.

00:30

It all started when Victor was a kid. He wanted to do something completely insane with his

00:35

life, like harnessing the power of lightning...

00:37

...or joining a rock band...

00:39

...or marrying his adopted sister, Elizabeth.

00:44

In college, Victor was determined to make a name for himself as a scientist.

00:47

He overcame every obstacle in his path, and figured out a way to reanimate the dead.

00:53

I would have looked for a cure for cancer, but hey, that's just me.

00:57

Victor decided he couldn't reanimate just any corpse. Using Play-doh and toothpicks,

01:02

he patched together a body to bring to life.

01:04

But then, during the reanimation process, something went horribly, horribly wrong.

01:11

The Play-doh didn't hold up to Victor's weird science, and his creation turned outÉ fugly.

01:16

Like, really, really fugly.

01:18

Then a stray toothpick flew out of nowhere and jabbed Victor in the eye, sending him

01:23

running from the room in search of a first aid kit.

01:26

Unfortunately, Victor's creature thought his maker fled because of his fugliness, so the

01:31

creature made like a tree andÉ leafed. According to Victor, things went downhill

01:37

from there. When his kid brother was murdered, he just knew the monster had committed the

01:42

crime.

01:43

The monster told Victor to make another monster...

01:45

...a female one this time, please and thank you, so the original monster could have a

01:49

girlfriend.

01:49

If Victor would just create a woman for him, then the soon-to-be world's most monstrous

01:49

couple would disappear forever. Victor thought the whole reanimation thing

01:50

might go better if he constructed the body out of haggis, so he retired to the north

01:51

of Scotland and got to work on monster part deux.

01:54

However, as Victor worked, he kept thinking about the potential consequences of his actions.

01:58

What if his creations had babies? What if those babies had babies?

02:01

Victor wasn't sure the world could handle it.

02:03

So...he destroyed the monster's girlfriend... while the monster watched. Not his best idea

02:12

ever. In retaliation, the monster murdered Victor's

02:15

BFF.

02:17

Then, once Victor had married his adopted sister, the monster offed her, too.

02:23

Next, Victor's dad dropped dead of grief. How many deaths are we up to now?

02:30

Victor chased the monster towards the North Pole, and was just about to ask Santa Claus

02:34

and his reindeer for directions, when my crew and I picked him up.

02:38

Victor begged to continue north; my crew was tired of icebergs and polar bears, and wanted

02:43

to go south. Guess who won that argument?

02:47

And then, of course, because there hasn't already been enough death in this story, Victor

02:51

kicked the bucket, too.

02:54

The monster showed up on my ship to mourn his maker's demise, miserable because killing

02:59

people had alienated him from humanity even more than his hideous appearance had.

03:04

So... if you take anything away from this tragic tale, just remember this:

03:08

Be very, very careful what you sculpt out of Play-doh.

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