Chapters 8-12 Summary

Summary: Chapter 8 Justine confesses to the crime, believing that she will thereby gain salvation, but tells Elizabeth and Victor that she is innocent—and miserable. They remain convinced of her innocence, but Justine is soon executed. Victor becomes consumed with guilt, knowing that his secrets and the monster he created have now caused the deaths of two members of his family.

Summary: Chapter 9 After Justine’s execution, Victor becomes increasingly sad. He considers suicide but then he worries about what the creature will do to his family. Alphonse takes his children on vacation. During the trip Victor wanders alone toward the valley of Chamounix. The beautiful scenery cheers him somewhat, but not for long. One rainy day, Victor wakes to find his old feelings of despair resurfacing. He decides to travel to the summit of Montanvert, hoping that the view of a pure, eternal, beautiful natural scene will revive his spirits.

Summary: Chapter 10 He loves the scenery at the top of the glacier, but just then he spots a creature loping toward him at amazing speed. At closer range, he recognizes clearly the grotesque shape of the monster. He issues useless threats to the monster, but Victor is no match for the monster’s size and speed. Victor curses him and tells him to go away, but the monster, persuades him to accompany him to a fire in a cave of ice. NOTE: The Creature narrates Chapter 11

Summary: Chapter 11 The Creature begins the story of his life. (I = the Creature here). The Creature tells about how he found himself in the woods and learned to eat berries, drink water and build and use fire. Eventually he finds a village and wanders in. The people there are scared, and they scream and run away. Then they get together and attack him and drive him out of the village. He runs away and finds shelter in a little low shed attached to a cottage. He spends the night there because it is warm and dry. In the morning, he looks through a chink in the wall and sees a young woman doing chores. She looks gentle and kind. Later, he sees an old man and a young man too. The old man has silver hair. The young man is strong but seems very sad. The Creature finds that he can look into the cottage through a hole in the wall, and sees them talking and playing musical instruments. He decides to stay there for a while.

Summary: Chapter 12 (Still the Creature’s story). The next day the Creature keeps watching them and discovers that the old man is blind. He notices that the family seems unhappy, and eventually figures out that it is because they are poor. This makes him feel bad for stealing their food, and he decides to help them instead. He chops wood and does other little chores for them, all without being seen. He notices that even though they are unhappy, they are very kind to each other. The Creature starts to notice that the family members talk to each other, and he starts to try to learn their language. He learns a few words, and is fascinated when they read. He longs to learn to read too, but can’t see how that could happen. He wants to go introduce himself to them, but realizes that until he has a way to communicate with them, he better not do it or he’ll get the same reception he got from the villagers.