Chaps 3-10

1
Frankenstein (2) Science and the Consequences
of Creation

• Chaps 3-10
• Main Issues
• The Nature of Scientific Creation vs.
• Family and Nature
• Destiny vs. Responsibility

2
Outline

• Chap 3-5
• Starting Questions
• Contemporary Science and Victors Pursuit of
  Knowledge
• Study of Death and Creation of Man
• Destiny or Choice
• Chaps 5/6-10
• Questions
• The Creature and Victors Responses (escape ?
  guilt ? duty)
• the Role of Family and Friends The Use of
  Letters
• The Role of Nature
• Justine and Frankensteins Secret
• Monster vs. Victor

3
Starting Questions

• Pursuit of Knowledge
• Under what conditions does Victor go to study?
• What does he feel about studying? How does he
  change with studying?
• Creation of Man Destiny and Responsibility
• In the previous chapter (2), Victor sees all the
  development as a matter of destiny. Do you
  agree?
• What are the characteristics of his creation of a
  man? Is it described clearly?
• The consequences?

4
Before Going to the University

• Elizabeth ill with scarlet fever,
• The Mother contracts it and dies of it.
• Before her death, she asks for Victor and
  Elizabeths union in marriage. (43)
• Victors mourning process
• cannot accept her departure reflections on her
  sounds and images ? in grief ? realizes his own
  duties to move on
• Elizabeths responses veils her grief and
  comforts others (44)
• Cherval cannot go.

5
Victor and his Study of Contemporary Science

• (45)Alone I loved my brothers, Elizabeth, and
  Clerval these were "old familiar faces," but I
  believed myself totally unfitted for the company
  of strangers. Such were my reflections as I
  commenced my journey but as I proceeded, my
  spirits and hopes rose. I ardently desired the
  acquisition of knowledge.
• Is he changed? Or is he just not sociable? (Are
  you in a way similar when going to college?)

6
Victor and his Study of Contemporary Science (2)

• Between two teachers natural philosophy (note)
  Mr. Kempe and Mr. Waldman
• M. Kempe you must begin your studies entirely
  anew. (46)
• ? Victor not disappointed, but not convinced
  either (46) by the little conceited fellow to
  exchange chimeras of boundless grandeur for
  realities of little worth (47).
• M. Waldman convinces him to believe in chemistry
  or modern masters and to explore different
  branches of natural philosophy. (47)

7
Victor and his Study of Contemporary Science (3)

• "The ancient teachers of this science promised
  impossibilities and performed nothing. The
  modern masters promise very little they know
  that metals cannot be transmuted and that the
  elixir of life is a chimera but these
  philosophers, whose hands seem only made to
  dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pore over the
  microscope or crucible, have indeed performed
  miracles. (47)

8
Victors Study of Life and Death

• Unless I had been animated by an almost
  supernatural enthusiasm, my application to this
  study would have been irksome, and almost
  intolerable (51)
• To examine the causes of life, we must first
  have recourse to death.
• From Death to the causes of life the science
  of anatomy ? process of decay of human body.
• Not afraid of darkness, churchyard. (note)

9
The Process of Discovery (p. 52)

• I saw how the fine form of man was degraded and
  wasted I beheld the corruption of death succeed
  to the blooming cheek of life I saw how the worm
  inherited the wonders of the eye and brain. I
  paused, examining and analysing all the minutiae
  of causation, as exemplified in the change from
  life to death, and death to life, until from the
  midst of this darkness a sudden light broke in
  upon me--a light so brilliant and wondrous, yet
  so simple, that while I became dizzy with the
  immensity of the prospect which it illustrated, I
  was surprised that that I alone should be
  reserved to discover
• so astonishing a secret.(?)
• ? The cycle of life how the human gets
  disintegrated into the non-human but life goes
  on.

10
The Creation of Man (2) Animation

• (p. 52) After days and nights of incredible
  labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering
  the cause of generation and life nay, more, I
  became myself capable of bestowing animation upon
  lifeless matter.

11
Destiny and Responsibility

• Victor cannot stop his interest
• Sees it as destiny
• (chap 2) His Views e.g. nothing can alter my
  destiny (p. 30 38 42)
• (chap 4)
• P. 45 Chance--or rather the evil influence, the
  Angel of Destruction, which asserted omnipotent
  sway over me from the moment I turned my
  reluctant steps from my father's door--led me
  first to M. Krempe
• M. Waldman gives him some books, which decides
  his future destiny. (49)

12
Destiny and Responsibility (2)

• Hesitates over how to use his power but persuaded
  by his obsession, ambition and pride pp. 52-55
• Obsession and single-mindedness his supernatural
  enthusiasm for something irksome
• Ambition and Pride Thinks that he alone finds
  the secret. (p. 52) What had been the study
  and desire of the wisest men since the creation
  of the world was now within my grasp.
• p. 53 I was encouraged to hope my present
  attempts would at least lay the foundations of
  future success.

13
The Creation of Man and Victor

• P. 54-55 continued expression of pride,
  transgression of boundaries and obsessiveness
• Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds,
  which I should first break through, and pour a
  torrent of light into our dark world.
• If I could bestow animation upon lifeless
  matter, I might in process of time (although I
  now found it impossible) renew life where death
  had apparently
• devoted the body to
  corruption.
• restless, frantic, (54)
  engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit. (55)
• his lack of
  correspondence

14
Victor Then and Now

• His Father V thought him unjust then now he
  sees himself as not being altogether free from
  blame.
• pursuit of study affects his affections and
  taste for simple pleasure (pp. 55-56)
• Isnt this a good reminder for us to balance our
  own passionate pursuit (of knowledge,
  happiness, etc.) with maintaining our sympathy
  for those around us and our simple pleasures in
  regular lives?

15
After the Creation (chaps 5-10) Questions

• What are Victors responses to his creation of
  the creature? Why is he disgusted by the
  creature?
• How does he fail to be responsible?
• What do you think about the use of letters in
  these chapters?

16
The Creation Negative and a Collage

• The negative words used even when he describes
  his efforts e.g. dabbled among the unhallowed
  damps of the grave or tortured the living animal
  to animate the lifeless clay? (54) collected
  bones from charnel-houses and disturbed, with
  profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the
  human frame. filthy creation
• Collects materials from charnel house, dissecting
  room and slaughterhouse ? implications monster
  as a collage, symbolic of our own identities

17
The CreationA Collage

• pp. 57-58 --mixture of beauty and horror The
  creature His limbs were in proportion, and I had
  selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!
  Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the
  work of muscles and arteries beneath his hair
  was of a lustrous black, and flowing his teeth
  of a pearly whiteness but these luxuriances only
  formed a more horrid contrast with his watery
  eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as
  the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his
  shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.

18
Victors Dreams

• Two kinds of dream his dream of creation and
  his nightmare of his mother and Elizabeth ?
• I embraced her, but as I imprinted the first
  kiss on her
• lips, they became livid with the hue of death
  her features appeared to
• change, and I thought that I held the corpse of
  my dead mother in my
• arms a shroud enveloped her form, and I saw the
  grave-worms crawling
• in the folds of the flannel.(58)
• nightmare as a condensation of Victors multiple
  desires and feelings
• of guilt and horror over his lack of
  responsibility, and his assumption of the role of
  a Creator (? the Mothers role)
• of desire for Elizabeth and the mother.
• Signs of death intertwined with that of life.
  (later the mothers portrait as evidence of
  Justines guilt p. 79)

19
Victors Views of the Monster and First Responses

• First Responses the wretch, the miserable
  monster Escape, glad to see his enemy fled
  ill, sees his creature as his enemy haunting
  him (p. 61)
• (temporary relief with Clerval and in nature)
• The fathers letter about Williams death?
  Remorse
• (p. 80) the monster as the living monument of
  presumption and rash ignorance
• (pp. 91-92) I had been the author of
  unalterable evils, and I lived in daily fear lest
  the monster whom I had created should perpetrate
  some new wickedness.

20
Victors Views of the Monster and First Responses
(2)

• First encounter wants to extinguish the spark
  which he so negligently bestowed (99)
• End of chap 10 For the first time, also, I felt
  what the duties of a creator towards his creature
  were, and that I ought to render him happy before
  I complained of his wickedness. (102)

21
Temporary Relief Victor and his Friends/Family

• Clerval
• comes to rescue just in time (59) and brought
  back Victors memories of his family
• Nurses V when he is sick
• Moves his apparatus away
• Never asks to draw secret from him (68)? Victor
  does not tell either.
• Interested in oriental languages ? Victor finds
  in them temporary amusement (69)
• Taught V to love nature and the cheerful faces of
  children
• Recovery (p.62) observe outward object with
  pleasure thanks Clerval (62, 70)

22
Clerval ? Nature

• ? gaiety regained chap 6 (70) A selfish
  pursuit had cramped and narrowed me, until your
  gentleness and affection warmed and opened my
  senses I became the same happy creature who, a
  few years ago, loved and beloved by all, had no
  sorrow or care. When happy, inanimate nature had
  the power of bestowing on me the most delightful
  sensations. (70)
• ? A serene sky and verdant fields filled me with
• ecstasy. (chap 6) ? (chap 7, after the letter)
  The sky was serene and, as I was unable to
  rest,(75) (more later)

23
Family (2) Elizabeths Role

• Letter to show concern and to report the recent
  development of his family members (father,
  Earnest)
• Happy and contented with doing trifles. (p. 64)
• Reminds Victor of the way Justine arrives and
  she used to be his favorite.
• Justines return ? prepares for the later
  development

24
Letter Writing

• The fathers and Elizabeths letters make them
  more present in Victors life and the novel as a
  contrast to Victors negligence of them.
• Unconvincing in terms of story-telling
• a convention in the 19th-c novel.

25
Letters Another Narrative Function

• As evidence of identification (identityartificia
  l construct)
• Elizabeth Lavenza when introduced to
  Frankenstein's family, she has her mother's
  fortune secured to her "via accompanying
  documents" (F, 65)
• Safie -- arrives at the de Lacey cottage in
  possession of the "letters" composing hers and
  Felix's earlier relationship (F, 148)
• Frankenstein -- on the Irish shore along with
  letters which conveniently identify him to the
  local magistracy during the period in which he is
  comatose

26
The Roles of Nature

1. Frankensteins object of study Natural
   Philosophy the causes of nature
2. Nature // human nature F, as well as the
   monster, finds solace in naturebefore they get
   entangled in their battle of revenge
3. the natural ? F changes the natural course of
   life (larger and later implication) ?
   Frankenstein Food//GM food

27
Victor and Nature (chap 7/8)

• Finds solace in grander nature (the sublime) // a
  motif of the Romantic hero
• (p. 74) "'Dear mountains! My own beautiful lake!
  how do you welcome your wanderer? Your summits
  are clear the sky and lake are blue and placid.
  Is this to prognosticate peace, or to mock at my
  unhappiness?'"
• ? tempest (76) This noble war in the sky
  elevates his spirit
• sees the monster at the spot of the murder

28
Victor and Nature (chap 9/10)

• after the Justine case
• Like a Romantic Hero, he seeks to release his
  passions and forget himself by wandering in grand
  natural scenes. (the Alpine valleys) ? cease to
  fear
• (94) The immense mountains and precipices that
  overhung
• me on every side, the sound of the river raging
  among the rocks, and the dashing of the
  waterfalls around spoke of a power mighty as
  Omnipotence--and I ceased to fear or to bend
  before any being less almighty than that which
  had created and ruled the elements, here
  displayed in their most terrific guise. Still,
  as I ascended higher,

29
Victor and Nature (chap 9/10)

• (more on chap 10 pp. 96, 98) ? grief subdued,
  pleasure found (? cannot find comfort in nature
  ? later wandering in North Poles)
• p. 96 These sublime and magnificent scenes
  afforded me the greatest consolation that I was
  capable of receiving. They elevated me from all
  littleness of feeling, and although they did not
  remove my grief, they subdued and tranquillized
  it.
• P. 98 My heart, which was before sorrowful, now
  swelled with something like joy

30
Justines Case Lack of Justice in her Trial

• Suspicious because 1) shes out all night 2)
  when being questioned, she looked very
  strangely 3) the picture found on her clothes
  pocket 4) she falls ill (hysterical) immediately
  after the body is found.
• Her self-defense
• Out at an aunts house
• Goes looks for Williams and sleeps only a few
  minutes at a place near the dead body
• Her character
• Forced to confess a lie (87)

31
Victors Silence in the Justine Case

• What do you think about Victors silence re.
  Justines innocence?
• P. 76 has no doubt that the monster is the
  murderer
• "My first thought was to discover what I knew of
  the murderer, and cause instant pursuit to be
  made. But I paused when I reflected on the story
  that I had to tell (77) ? nobody would believe
  it
• Nobody could arrest him. (77)
• "I was firmly convinced in my own mind that
  Justine . . . was guiltless of this murder. I had
  no fear, therefore, that any circumstantial
  evidence could be brought forward strong enough
  to convict her" (80) ? the story will induce
  horror and be seen as mad

32
Victors Silence in the Justine Case

• Remorse 85
• Still silent 88
• 90 believes that he does it with good intention.

33
The Confrontation between Victor and the Monster

• The Monsters plea for his right to be happy
  (Victors duty), to cherish his life
• His plea for compassion and justice
• His threat of having more power of seeking
  revenge
• Listen to my story and then decide. ? Gives
  Victor a choice

Frankenstein 1) fight (Begone, or let us try
our strength in a fight, ) 2) selfish concern
(You have made me wretched beyond expression.
)
34
The Monsters Plea

• Identity and right "I will not be tempted to
  set myself in opposition to thee. I am thy
  creature, and I will be even mild and docile to
  my natural lord and king, if thou wilt also
  perform thy part, the which thou owest me."
• Equity, justice and compassion "Oh,
  Frankenstein, be not equitable to every other,
  and trample upon me alone, to whom thy justice,
  and even thy clemency(??) and affection, is most
  due" (100)

35
Note (1) The Resurrection Men

• In the beginning of the nineteenth century,
  London surgeons and students bought and mutilated
  thousands of dead bodies that had been stolen by
  the so-called resurrection men, the lowliest
  members of society. During this period, the
  midnight quiet of graveyards could suddenly erupt
  in gunfire and confrontation between the
  "resurrection men" (or grave robbers) and
  authorities.

36
Note (2) Natural Philosophy

• In natural philosophy, we discussed the
  phenomenon in the Nature world, including
  cosmology, material objects, space, time, motion,
  natural law, and the origin of life, etc. I think
  the range is wider than physics and science,
  because natural philosophy also discuss something
  metaphysical. The major difference between
  natural philosophy and science lies in the
  "goal." Science searches for "what" and "how" in
  the Natural world however, natural philosophy
  searches for "why" (the ultimate reason).
  Therefore, these two kinds of knowledge can exist
  at the same time and they do not conflict.
  (Alfonso Liu)
• Considered to be either the counterpart, or the
  precursor of modern science (source)
• Studies of cosmology, chance, elements and
  quantities of nature. In todays univ, occupied
  mainly by Physics professors.

37
Reference

• "Mary Shelley Frankenstein", in Literature and
  Its Times Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works
  and the Historical Events that Influenced Them,
  Volume 1 Ancient Times to the American and
  French Revolutions (Prehistory-1790s), edited by
  Joyce Moss and George Wilson, Gale Research,
  1997.