Frankenstein quotations and notes
Letters= Walton
1,1- 2,2= Victor
2,3- = monster
Prometheus, chains, fire:
● ‘Modern Prometheus’- In Greek mythology, Prometheus stole fire from Zeus. As a
result, he was chained to a rock. Every day, the vulture would swoop down to pull out
and eat his ears and liver. Victor is a Promethean overreacher, making Frankenstein a
cautionary tale. He and the monster are both in a state of perpetual suffering- Victor lives
in paranoia and the monster wants justice and love.
● 2,3: ‘In my joy, I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out with a
cry of pain’- Monster has a Promethean identity and learns from his mistakes + acts
humanely, in direct contrast to Victor
● 1,7: ‘I believe that I have no enemy on Earth’-the monster decides to be wicked so he
burns down the hobble to cleanse himself of goodness to become the monster. Fire=
cleansing
● 2,8: fire is cleansing imagery, by burning down the DeLacey hovel he is destroying the
previous goodness in himself to become a monster as well as destroying the family that
causes him the most pain of all as his final rejection
Violation & rape, female body:
● Chapter 1,1: ‘The world was to me a secret, which I sort to discover’- Links to
Walton's discovery. You have to take control of something to uncover its secrets. Victor
takes control of nature, rape
● Chapter 1,1: ‘ruled my destiny’- Victor believes he was chosen to violate
● Chapter 1,2: ‘They penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works
in her hiding places’- nature is synonymous with the female body. Hiding places =
womb, vagina. The scientists are all men. They are the ones that violate the female body
and therefore nature
● 1,3: ‘Incredible labour and fatigue’- Childbirth
● Chapter 1,3: ‘I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life’- Victor
usurps God’s power and also the fundamental roles of women to give him a God-like
status. Post-childbirth he is haunted by those choices
● Chapter 1,3: ‘arrive at the summit of my desires’- Orgasm, creation is a sexual desire
for Victor
● Chapter 1,3: ‘pour a torrent of light into our dark world’- Victor views himself as a
saviour in violation
, ● Chapter 1,3: ‘my limbs now tremble, and my eyes swim with remembrance’- fear but
driven by climax of creation and desire to create life
● Chapter 1,5: ‘the end of my labours, and the beginning of my misfortunes’- regret
Nature:
● Chapter 1,3: ‘‘It was a most beautiful season….. But my eyes were insensible to
the charms of nature’-nature flourishes but Vicor is blinded by obsession
● Chapter 1,3: ‘I did not watch the blossoms or the expanding leaves’- Nature’s
natural fertility
● Chapter 1,4: ‘the rain pattered dismally against the panes’- nature is present outside
the workshop but can’t break through Victor’s hubris
● Chapter 1,4: Victor has nightmares, showing that he has disturbed the natural order and
usurped God and the roles of women through unnatural creation. He is also ill from guilt,
regret and fear
● Chapter 1,5: ‘the present season was divine indeed, the flowers of spring bloomed
in the hedges while those of summer were already in bud’- fertile. Nature & natural
world restored
● Chapter 1,6: ‘During our walks, Clerval endeavoured to raise my spirits’
● Chapter 2,2: ‘my heart which was before sorrowful, now swelled with something
like joy’- sublime nature is a healer
● Chapter 2,2: ‘The desert mountains and dreary glaciers are my refuge’- Nature is the
monster’s real parent
● Chapter 2,2: ‘these bleak skies I hail, for they are kinder to me than your fellow
beings’- vital principle from within, Victor’s isolation causes the monster to seek nature
for comfort
Fallen Angels, Paradise Lost:
● The epigraph is Paradise Lost. This foreshadows how the monster will be cast out and
become a fallen angel
● Chapter 2,2: ‘I ought to be thy Adam; but I rather am thy fallen angel’- Paradise Lost.
Seeking a parental figure. Like Satan, the monster feels that he has been cast out by
God
● 2,7: ‘Like Adam, I was created united by link to no other being in existence’- Like
Adam
● 2,7: ‘guarded by the special care of his creator’- monster vs Adam. The difference is
that the monster has no guidance whereas Adam is guided by his creator, God
● 2,7: ‘Many times I considered Satan the fitter emblem of my condition’- monster
realises he aligns himself more with Satan than God. God exiles Satan, he had good
intentions but was cast out by God
● 2,7: ‘no Eve shared my sorrows or soothed my thoughts’- the monster does not
have a female companion
