1. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Discussion chapter 8 and following

2. Chapter 8 “wretched mockery of justice”
“I commit my cause to the justice of the judges, yet I see no hope.”
A dire blow to Elizabeth---”How shall I ever again believe in human goodness?”

3. Chapter 8
“I did confess; but I confessed a lie. I confessed, that I might obtain absolution; but now that falsehood lies heavier at my heart than all my other sins.”
“But I the true murderer, felt the never-dying worm alive in my bosom…”

4. Chapter 8 “the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts”
Comments on the Criminal Justice System…People who are accused and treated unfairly…

5. Chapter 8 Justine’s confession was false--- Catholic beliefs
So that she would not be excommunicated from the church
She had to atone for her disgraceful conduct

6. Chapter 9
“Nothing is more painful to the human mind, than, after the feelings have been worked up by a quick succession of events, the dead calmness of inaction and uncertainty which follows, and deprives the soul both of hope and fear.”

7. Chapter 9 Victor says, “When I thought of him…”
“…but now misery has come home, and men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other’s blood…”

8. Chapter 9
“Thus not the tenderness of friendship, nor the beauty of earth, nor of heaven, could redeem by soul from woe: the very accents of love were ineffectual. I was encompassed by a cloud…”

9. Chapter 9 Journey motif Autobiographical
Elizabeth’s lack of belief in the justice system

10. Chapter 10
Role of Nature---finding nature’s qualities—healing of nature
“What were rain and storm to me?”
Adventure/Journey
“As I said this, I suddenly beheld the figure of a man, at some distance , advancing towards me at superhuman speed.”

11. Chapter 10
The wretch
“His countenance bespoke bitter anguish…unearthly ugliness rendered it almost too horrible for human eyes.”
“Devil, do you dare approach me? And do not you fear the fierce vengeance of my arm wreaked on your miserable head?”

12. Chapter 10
“Begone, vile insect! Or rather, stay, that I may trample you to dust!”
“Abhorred monster! Fiend that thou art!”
“Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.”

13. Chapter 10
“Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel.”
Ice—nature?
Irony---Victor’s thoughts of suicide

14. Chapter 10 Storm---Gothic Weather---symbol or signal?
Romantic---man is good ---society makes him do evil

15. Chapter 11 Frame story Darkness vs. light
“I was still cold when under one of the trees I found a huge cloak, with which I covered myself, and sat down upon the ground.”

16. Chapter 11 Nature Country scene “My place of refuge…” description
Pastoral family
Living plain and simple lives (Romanticism)
Writers praise of the simple family life
“My place of refuge…”
description

17. Chapter 12 Hovel Role of poverty Sister, brother, son
“reflected in the mirror…”
Acquiring the art of language

18. Chapter 12
“The pleasant showers and genial warmth of spring greatly altered the aspect of the earth. Men, who before this change seemed to have been hid in caves, dispersed themselves, and were employed in various arts of cultivation. The birds sang in more cheerful notes, and the leaves began to bud forth on the trees.”

19. Chapter 12
“Happy, happy earth! Fit habitation for gods, which, so short a time before, was bleak, damp, and unwholesome. My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipation of joy.”

20. Chapter 12 Celebration of the plain and simple common folk
Identification with creature by…

21. Chapter 13 The more moving part of the story Picture of country living
The books
“These wonderful narrations inspired me with strange feelings. Was man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous and magnificent, yet so vicious and base?”

22. Chapter 13 Creature’s recognition of self
“Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind, when it has once seized on it, like a lichen on the rock…”
“relationships which bind one human being to another in mutual bonds.”

23. Chapter 13
“But where were my friends and relations? No father had watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses…”
Romanticism

24. Chapter 13 Theme: Use of Knowledge
Theme: Social Injustice and the Government
Theme: Man’s good and evil qualities
Can a person be both good and evil

25. Chapter 13
Paradise Lost: Adam and Eve

26. Chapter 14 Background/exposition Why? Purpose of Shelley?
Questioning one’s existence?

27. Chapter 14
The Injustice suffered by the DeLacey family—the monster is not alone in suffering injustice

28. Chapter 15
“I learned, from the views of social life which it developed, to admire their virtues, and to deprecate the vices of mankind.”
Death and Suicide?

29. Chapter 15
“As I read, however, I applied much personally to my own feelings and condition. I found myself similar, yeat at the same time strangely unlike to the beings concerning whom I read, and to whose conversation I was a listener.

30. Chapter 15
I sympathized with, and partly understood them, but I was unformed in mind; I was dependent on none and related to none. ‘The path of my departure was free;’ and there was none to lament my annihilation. My person was hideous and my stature gigantic. What did this mean? Who was I?

31. Chapter 15
What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination? These questions continually recurred bit I was unable to solve them.”
Significance of Paradise Lost

32. Chapter 15
“I discovered some papers in the pocket of the dress which I had taken from your laboratory.”
‘Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that eve you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, make man beautiful and alluring, after his own image…

33. Chapter 15
“Increase of knowledge only discovered to me more clearly what a wretched outcast I was. I cherished hope, it is true; but it vanished when I beheld my person reflected in water, or my shadow in the moonshine, even as that frail image and that inconstant shade.”

34. Chapter 15 Curses Significance of the seasons Friendship
Establishing empathy through the monster; describing thoughts and feelings

35. Chapter 15
“I am blind, and cannot judge of your countenance, but there is something in your words which persuades me that you are sincere. I am poor, and an exile; but it will afford me true pleasure to be in any way serviceable to a human creature.”

36. Chapter 15 Reactions at the end of the chapter
Reading ---influenced by the Romantics
In search of “Eve” ---creation of “Eve”

37. Chapter 16
“Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed?”
Comforting powers of Nature

38. Chapter 16
“At length the thought of you crossed my mind…my father, my creator…”
Travels
The role of Nature
Exposition

39. Chapter 16
Connections between Victor and the creature

40. Chapter 17
“The prospect of such an occupation made every other circumstance of existence pass before me like a dream; and that thought only had to me the reality of life.”

41. Chapter 17
Companion theme---not new (think Robert Walton)
Extra notes

42. Chapter 18 “I feared the vengeance of the disappointed fiend…”
Father/son conversation concerning Elizabeth
“…but one feeling haunted me, which filled me with fear and agitation. During my absence I should leave my friends unconscious of the existence of their enemy, and unprotected from his attacks…”

43. Chapter 18
Travels
Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey”

44. Chapter 19
“Company was irksome to me; when alone, I could fill my mind with the sights of heaven and earth; the voice of Henry soothed me, and I could thus cheat myself into a transitory peace.”
“…in Clerval I saw the image of my former self…”

45. Chapter 19
“But I am a blasted tree; the bolt has entered my soul; and I felt then that I should survive to exhibit, what I shall soon cease to be ---a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity, pitiable to others, and intolerable to myself.”

46. Chapter 20
“…yet still the words of the fiend rung in my ears like a death-knell, they appeared like a dream, yet distinct and oppressive as a reality.”
“The sun had far descended, and I still sat of the shore, satisfying my appetite, which had become ravenous…”

47. Chapter 20
“free enough for honest folks”

48. Chapter 21
“I saw the lifeless form…I gasped for breath; and throwing myself on the body, I exclaimed, ‘Have my murderous machinations deprived you also, of life…”
Parallel with Justine

49. Chapter 23
Gothic images/symbols
Victor’s feelings

50. Chapter 24
“The deep grief which this scene had at first excited quickly gave way to rage and despair…”
Ministers of Vengeance

51. Letters at end “Since you have preserved my narration…”
Time ---length of story
“This ice is not made of such stuff as your hearts may be, it is mutable and cannot withstand you if you say that it shall not…”

52. Letters “He showed unparalleled malignity and selfishness, in evil…”
“instrument of mischief”
“…now it is ended; there is my last victim.”