Before our next meeting, write at least 250 words summarizing your reading of Frankenstein through chapter xvii and our in-class lecture. Your summary does not need to include everything that we cover, but you should select the information that you think is the most important. For example, you will want to include Mary Shelley’s full name, her birth and death years, some biographical details, and the major plot points from the novel. Of course, you may write more than 250 words, but to receive full credit, your comment must be at least that long. Write your summary in your favorite word processor, save your work, and then copy-and-paste it into a comment made to this blog post.
22 thoughts on “After Class Writing Assignment: Frankenstein through Chapter 17”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Paul Chandipersaud
Prof. Ellis ENG2420 E255
September 6, 2017
Frankenstein Summary
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly is the author of her novel named “Frankenstein” or “The Modern Prometheus”. Before reading this novel, I went in with the thought that it was a tale about a mad scientist creating a monster named Frankenstein like I’ve already seen in many movies and television shows. Oh, how wrong was I. This tale was nothing like I’ve thought it to be and after reading I find this version much more thought out and entertaining.
Shelly started her novel off with the narrator named Victor Frankenstein giving us details about his younger years, how his parents met, how they lived, the rest of his family, and two other main characters named Elizabeth and Henry. Henry was Victors childhood friend and Elizabeth was his so-called cousin whom his mom adopted, but the way Victor spoke of Elizabeth is was clear she was more than that to him. Later, as Victor got older he decided to leave for Ingolstadt to study philosophy which he feel very intrigued with. After meeting a professor named M. Krempe, Krempe tells Victor he has wasted his time with his previous studies and from then Victor decided to study philosophical sciences. As Victor got into these new studies, he became intrigued with the study of life, creation, and the human body. With these new interests, he decided to create his own form of life and he succeeds. Although Victor succeeded with his new creation of life, he was terrified of it and ended up running away. Victor left the creature in his room and later finds his friend Henry in Ingolstadt. He tries to takes Henry back to his room but he remembers he left the creature there alone and hesitates to go in the room. He does end up going inside only to find the creature was no longer there. Soon after with all these different emotions attacking Victor, he becomes ill but Henry aids him back to health. With his illness and schooling he has been away from home for very long and he decides to go back home to visit his family.
Before leaving, Victor gets a letter from his father informing him that his younger brother William was killed. When he gets home he goes to the scene where his brother died and he sees something watching him and realizes that it’s the creature he created and after seeing it he told himself that his creation was responsible for the death of his younger brother. When he went back home he was informed that a lady named Justine was her brothers killer nut he didn’t believe that to be true. The odds were set against Justine and after a trail, she was sentenced to death and she died. Victor now feeling responsible for two person’s deaths takes a sort of pilgrimage alone, where he yet again encounters his terrifying creation.
His reaction was to first destroy the monster he created but the creature persuaded him to go back to his cottage and listen to his tale. The creature then began to tell his story. He tells Victor about this family he spied on. This family taught the creature everything it knows and made it what it was today. His tale ended sadly however as the monster tried to introduce himself to the family, he was met with angry and frightfulness. They feared him because of how he looked. The monster began to ask questions of himself like “why am I here?’, “why was I made”, “why is it I have no memories of a family?’ etc. The family he spied on brought him joy but when he was rejected by them, his joy turned to anger and he sought revenge on mankind and his creator. He admitted to Victor that it was him who killed his younger brother. William told the monster who his father was and when he heard William say Frankenstein, he thought this is how he would begin his revenge, by killing his brother.
After hearing, all of this, Victor was filled with rage and wanted to destroy the monster. The creature blamed Victor of making him like this and it is because of Victor that he took these actions. The monster wanted one thing from Victor. He wanted Victor to create a female monster so that they may live together and be happy. The monster told Victor that if he does this, the monster and his significant other will flee from mankind and never cause trouble again. At first Victor hesitated to do it but he later changed his mind and agreed to the monsters demands. To do so Victor says he must go to England to study more and as he tells his father about his trip, his father admits to Victor that he wants Elizabeth and Victor to wed. Victor gratefully accepted this but he told himself he can’t do it until his deal with the monster is done so victor delayed the wedding for one year.
Saif Ahmed Prof. Ellis
ENG 2420 9/10/2017
Summary of Frankenstein
In Frankenstein or the modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly demonstrates the use of Science and the natural world around the character victor that can use the elements to bring life to an artificial person that which he has created through the knowledge gained from philosophical science and his own interest to see his creation become successful. The novelist Mary Shelley born 1797 and died 1851 produced the first ever successful science fiction story Frankenstein and took the world by storm because the story was very interesting as the character had shifted mentality and wanted to focus on giving life to a creature of his own making. The ideas that Mary Shelly came up with came from her own experiences in life and past Science ideas which came from Prometheus who had rational thinking which created a dystopia meaning where in society a person has his own thinking is own feelings of how a society should be ran not like a utopia where it is single minded like dictator controlling what happens and people don’t have their own opinions. She also used the idea of romanticism to create Frankenstein and bring him to life and this is the idea of giving a quality to being romantic and this was common in the 18th century. Galvanism was key to her success in this novel as the idea that putting current through a dead being activates the nervous system and the nerves move around to show that it is alive but it is really in theory not. Putting all these important ideas together Frankenstein was given life and victor was not too confident of the creature as it was ugly and how will be sustained in a society of people because it was bigger than normal people. Frankenstein was looking for a partner and blamed victor for making him like this a creature which people would take out if they found out that he killed two people close to victor. Victor was furious at his own creation and Victor felt that he should not let the creation live but Frankenstein said do you want to do that your own creation and that it was Victor that made him alone and he had no companion. Frankenstein was thinking rationally and he had his own opinions and feelings.
Rebecca Delgado
ENG 2420
Professor Ellis
Due: 9/13/17
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley is the author of Frankenstein or Frankenstein: A Modern Prothesus. She was born in 1797 to a feminist mother, Mary Wollstonecraft and a minister turned atheist father, William Godwin, who were both authors. Frankenstein was created by a then teenaged Shelley during June 1816 or “a year without summer.” She wrote the novel with her one night when hanging out with her husband, Percy Shelley and Lord Byron, an English poet. The novel was originally published under Anonymous, since it was unheard of a woman author. Her husband, Percy, created a Preface to convince people to buy it. Mary Shelley later died in 1851.
Frankenstein uses the narrative frame to to tell the story. Narrative frame is like a story within itself being told. Captain Walton starts off by writing his sister letters about a man named Victor, he just met. Then, Victor tells his story of how he made the Creature, but it is as if the Captain is telling it. The Creature then tells Victor how his life has been being seen as a demon. Lastly, the Creature and Captain Walton meet where he experiences first hand what Victor is going through.
Victor Frankenstein is a scientist who wants to create life and does so, thus creating the Creature. However, when he sees how hideous his creation is, he kicks him out to fend on his own. The Creature has learned how to survive by sleeping in a cave, eating berries, and learning how to speak French. He learns what it is to love by watching the DeLacey clan interact with one another, where he notices the elder DeLacey is blind. His attempt at interaction results in him being beaten by the son and the family fleeing their home. After that occurs, the Creature meets a boy by the name William who shares Victor’s last name. Upon hearing the name he kills the boy as revenge and realizes just how easy it is to take a life.
Frankenstein the modern day Prometheus is astounding, at least the introduction, beginning letter and volume 1. The intro sheds light as to the events that surrounded the birth of the book. Its reviled that accentually the book was the product of a challenge among a group of writers that was with Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly when she went to Switzerland with her husband. The challenge was to make a scary story that is really frightening. At the start of the challenge Mary was having writers block unable to come up with a scary tale that satisfied her idea of what a scary story should be. It wasn’t until after a discussion on the topic of science, which encompassed a known scientist at the time Erasmus Darwin that she had a breakthrough. It was on that night when she went to bed and woke up form a horrible nightmare that gave her the idea of the scary story which her book is based on. She won the challenge and her husband made her publish the book. Now today the book is known to be the bases by which all manner science fiction originates. The book uses narrative frames to tell the story, the book is accentually a set of letters by captain Walton to his sister on the events that transpired victor Frankenstein’s life and within the dialogue of victor we get a narration from his monster. As you go further into the story when we get the narration by Frankenstein’s monster we are introduced with a concept where the monster is humanized and his benevolent creator is demonized. Victor is pictured as a god or parent that brings his child into the world and abandons it. Not even hours after he has created him does victor cast it aside like a failed project. What is most fascinating is Mary Shelley’s use of Biological Galvanism to introduce the concept of taking a stitched together corpse and shocking it to life and her story that forces the reader to question whether or not living a life solely based on science and further exploring that field is right.
Jia Du
ENG 2420
Professor: Ellis
9/12/2017
On 9/6/2017, Professor Ellis started the class off by explaining the best way to take notes in class. He also discussed about Narrative Frames and how the history contributed to science fiction and how it made science fiction to what it is now (example, The age of enlightenment, Scientific Revolution, industrial Revolution, romanticism, etc. The professor also discussed about the background of the the book and the characters involved in the story. The book Frankenstein is by Mary Shelley. She was born on August 1797 and died February 1851. Her parents were Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin. Her spouse was Percy Bysshe. Shelly. Her father was a Political philosopher and her mother was known for writing the book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects.
Summary- Preface and Letters 1-4 Through Chapter 17.
The book begins with letters by Robert Walton who is a explorer and is on a voyage to the North Pole. One of his passions is to explore the world by sea. The first letter, he writes to his sister of his desire and drive to acomplish great things. He also writes about him wanting glory and a purpose in his life. In the next letter he writes about how he feels. Walton explained that he feels lonely and isolated. He lacks in friends and education whom he can share his dreams with. In the third letter, Walton and his crew sets sail to the north pole hoping to accomplish his goals. The next and last letter Walton discovers a man clinging to his life on ice. Walton and his crew rescues him and attempted to nurse him back to health. Later on Walton and the stranger quickly became friends who eventually tells Walton of his story.
Victor Frankenstein who was the stranger talked about his history and family background. He also talks about his intrest and his childhood. He also explained how Elizabeth got adopted by his family which resulted them becoming best friends. At age seventeen Victor leaves his family to pursue his education. Before he left, his mother has passed away from scarlet fever. Victor studied natural philosophy and then went on to pursue his study in science. He becomes extremely interested in the creation of life which allowed him to excel and master his field of work. So fascinated by this, he attempts to create his monster in his apartment. When he successfully created the monster, he was horrified by his appearance which resulted him escaping his apartment. Later on Victor falls ill and his friend Henry had to nurse him back to health.
Later on in the story his father sent him a letter stating that his brother William was murdered, which resulted him going to Geneva. He soon concluded that the monster he has created was responsible for killing his younger brother but Justine was blamed and was executed for it. As the novel continued on, the monster confronted Victor and began telling him the events of his life.
The monster tells Victor the events of his life from the beginning of his creation. He explained to Victor, his experiences of suffering he went though in the world and the knowledge he gained in that time. As the story continued on, new characters was introduced.
The monster deeply wanted Victor to accept him for who he is. As the monster gains more knowledge, his hatred for humans also becomes stronger. As the story continues, he kills William out of revenge for the Frankenstein family which resulted Justine and Moritz being blamed and executed for William’s murder. The monster later confronts Victor and tells him to create a female monster. Victor first refused but because of the monsters compelling offer, he later on agreed.
Alex Giffen
Prof. Ellis ENG2420 E255
September 13, 2017
Week 2 Summary
Frankenstein, written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 – 1851), is the original Science Fiction work. Originally published in 1818, the story tells of a scientist using unique sciences to try to reanimate life. The origins of Frankenstein were not a coincidence, but the culmination of many outside factors. Mary Shelley was alive during both the Industrial Revolution and the Romanticism age. These critical moments in history had a great impact on her work. The time was also a negative factor for the book as well. Early days made it hard for books to be widely sold, for one example. Being a woman in that period would have made it nearly impossible to become a successful writer. By publishing anonymous and with the review from her husband, a known author, it was able to get a foundation to become the classic it is today.
The story of Frankenstein is told through multiple narrative frames. It begins with Robert Walton writing letters to his wife while he is at sea. While traveling he finds a man dying in the arctic. The man is rescued and is Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein decides to tell Walton his tragic story and the reader is reading Walton’s transcriptions of Frankenstein’s story. Frankenstein’s story begins as he tells of his early life, his family, and his studies. Frankenstein is obsessed with odd sciences that he advocates for. His determination to prove himself is what drives him towards making the Monster. After learning all he can, he tries to create a perfect being, but is disgusted at his creation and himself. The Monster escapes his home and then is lost for some time. When Frankenstein returns to his hometown he learns his brother was murdered. The town believes it was his sister, but Frankenstein knows it was his creation. One night, Frankenstein meets with the Monster, now more intellectual and is told the Monster’s story in another narrative frame. The Monster admits to killing his brother and getting his sister framed. He also learned so much by stalking a family and after being cursed by them, seeks a wife. He threatens Frankenstein and says Frankenstein is obligated to make him a mate. It ends with him saying he will find Frankenstein once he is done.
Our first day of discussion over Mary Wallstonecraft Shelley’s book “Frankenstein; Or the Modern Prometheus” was chock full of terms and history of the development of science fiction is a genre. The term that I liked the most, and have somehow needed to use more often, was “suspension of disbelief.” This is the admission that these stories will take you to a place where the impossible happens, where magic is real and newly created creatures can learn to speak within a year without proper schooling as far as we can tall, let alone said newly created creatures can actually exist, or where the supernatural is a normal occurrence and an expected trait. I am a huge fan of this genre, specifically the subgenres of steampunk and paranormal.
Mary Shelley was born in 1797, and died in 1851, a mere 54 years. In class we learn that her mother was a pioneer feminist, a woman who works for the rights of women. Shelley’s father was a minister turned atheist, so it is apparent that her parents were very unconventional people and probably raised her to be the same. In fact her father wrote a story about the dangers of conformity and discouraged the masses to succumb to the government. Shelley’s husband, Percey Shelley, was a previously married man with an avid science fiction interest, mainly in Romanticist poetry. It seems that Shelley wrote her book based on the events of the people she met, such as Dr. Darwin, who was a natural scientist, and Luigi Galvani, who experimented on animals by dissecting then and using electrical currents, a science called biological galvanism. During the year without summer, 1816, Percey Shelley helped Mary publish her book under an Anonymous name.
The story tells of young Viktor Frankenstein through the re-narrative of Robert Walton, an adventurer and explorer. Frankenstein tells of his interest in the electrophysiology and natural science. The story blurs out the way Frankenstein creates his creature other than letting us know that the man is shaped as a giant human, has a yellow skin, and is somehow made of organic muscles and nerves. After spending two years working himself sick creating this creature, Frankenstein’s success is met with awe from his professors and fear and disgust from himself. I am curious how much the professors truly know about the being that Frankenstein created. Another year passes before Frankenstein returns home upon hearing his brother has been murdered. The tragedy is that Frankenstein’s own monster killed his brother, but the town has hear his sister’s hysterical cry that she is the cause and, since it is a plausible and logical conclusion, they run with that. Had Frankenstein accepted his creation, taught him ethics and accepted him into his family as his mother had always encouraged him to do, perhaps the story would’ve changed and the monster would’ve ended up being more a bodyguard and comrade. One cannot create a perfect human when a creature is left to their own devices, because survival instinct is brutal and cruel.
Gabriel Higuera
Eng2420 E255
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly’s Frankenstein
To my surprise, the multiple versions of Frankenstein have all been very different from Mary Shelly’s original work. Perhaps to captivate younger audience a lot of events like the letters have been omitted from film versions and kids’ books or even how the monster is descripted has been showcase in a very different way from what was planted in my head as a child.
On 1816, “the year without summer”, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly sat with other writers in a cabin located near lake Geneva and challenged each other to write the most frightening inducing story between each other, on 1818 published the world famous novel known as Frankenstein or “the modern Prometheus” and published it anonymously as a name of a women in the book wouldn’t have been as respected at the time as say a man’s name on the front page. At the time where books had to actually be read in order for them to become well known, there wasn’t any other method for books to gain momentum otherwise. Mary since very young was surrounded by an uneventful past, starting with the death of her mother while being born to her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley passing.
The story starts with Captain Walton going off on an exploration trip to the northern hemisphere, while on his journey he rescues Victor who after gaining Captain Walton’s trust starts sharing the story which led to him to borderline madness. Victor is a scientist who wanted to pursue a deeper understanding of the natural sciences, leaving behind his family and what seems most importantly, Elizabeth. Victor is able to bring life to a lifeless being but regrets it almost immediately.
Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851), is an all-time classical novel that have been praised throughout time, subjected to countless in-depth discussions, educational purposes, and entertainment values featuring the infamous “creature” or “monster” who is named Frankenstein.
An interesting fact about Shelley, which possibly contributed to the ideas and making of Frankenstein, is that she have been surrounded by death since she was born. The first being her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, who died ten days after giving birth to her due to blood poisoning, her half-sister Fanny Imlay suiciding in 1816, and her husband in 1816 from drowning. Shelley’s parents were also both famous radicals. Shelley’s mother whom fought for woman’s equal rights and rights for education. A book written by her mother is A Vindication of the Rights on Woman in 1792. She believed that woman who were often considered inferior comes from the fact that many didn’t receive education. Shelley’s father, William Godwin, believed in the absence of government. As humans progressed with expanding and spreading human understanding and knowledge; government laws, ownership of property and so forth is obsolete.
The story is told through narrative frames, starting off with letters from Captain Walton to his sister telling her about the encounter with the man we know to be Viktor Frankenstein and his story. Viktor Frankenstein is then telling about the story of what the “creature” told him which ultimately then comes back to the “creature” actually speaking to Captain Walton himself. At a young age he came upon the books of Cornelius Agrippa, which sparked his interest despite the brief warning from his father not to waste his time with it, that it is outdated ideas in science. This served to be an important ignition for Frankenstein’s mind. Elizabeth late on had a severe fever and Viktor’s mother dies moments later from nursing Elizabeth due to being infected herself. Viktor then goes to the University of Ingolstadt for his studies, during which this time after he accumulated the necessary knowledge from various branches of science that the “monster” was born.
Now we move on to the story of the “creature” of how he was abandoned by Viktor at the moment he was born. How he endured hardship despite trying his best and how he grew more intelligent and rational such as when he discovered fire for the first time. From observing and living next to a family, he was able to learn how to speak and be literate but no matter how kind he was, he was deemed to be an abomination due to his appearance by all the humans he encountered even when he saved a life from drowning, his reward was gunshots. This ultimately caused the “creature” to plot against Viktor by killing his beloved William and Justine which in turn caused Viktor to chase down the “creature.” When they met, the creature made a proposal that he’ll leave Viktor’s family alone if Viktor creates a companion for him.
Now why exactly is Frankenstein recognized as a classic since it was written two centuries ago from today? Some reasons includes how Shelley incorporated countless themes, the connections of numerous ideas were integrated from the Age of Enlightenment to the Scientific Revolution, Industrial Revolution to literary forms from Romanticism, Sublime, Beautiful, and Gothic. Compared to when I read it in high school, I didn’t know all this information, so reading Frankenstein again with these information in mind definitely makes it much more interesting.
Paul Chandipersaud
Prof. Ellis ENG2420 E255
September 13, 2017
Frankenstein Summary *REVISED* *REVISED* *REVISED*
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly is the author of her novel named “Frankenstein” or “The Modern Prometheus”. Mary was born in 1797 and she died in 1851. Mary was the daughter of two famous radicals at their time. Her mother was a famous radical named Mary Wollstonecraft and her father was one of the first atheist named William Goodwin. Mary had many tragedies in her life like her husband Percy Bysshe Shelly dying, her mother dying soon after her birth, and her sister committing suicide. I believe her life events helped Mary write her novel “Frankenstein”. Before reading this novel, I went in with the thought that it was a tale about a mad scientist creating a monster named Frankenstein like I’ve already seen in many movies and television shows. Oh, how wrong was I. This tale was nothing like I’ve thought it to be and after reading I find this version much more thought out and entertaining.
Shelly started her novel off with the narrator named Victor Frankenstein giving us details about his younger years, how his parents met, how they lived, the rest of his family, and two other main characters named Elizabeth and Henry. Henry was Victors childhood friend and Elizabeth was his so-called cousin whom his mom adopted, but the way Victor spoke of Elizabeth is was clear she was more than that to him. Later, as Victor got older he decided to leave for Ingolstadt to study philosophy which he feel very intrigued with. After meeting a professor named M. Krempe, Krempe tells Victor he has wasted his time with his previous studies and from then Victor decided to study philosophical sciences. As Victor got into these new studies, he became intrigued with the study of life, creation, and the human body. With these new interests, he decided to create his own form of life and he succeeds. Although Victor succeeded with his new creation of life, he was terrified of it and ended up running away. Victor left the creature in his room and later finds his friend Henry in Ingolstadt. He tries to takes Henry back to his room but he remembers he left the creature there alone and hesitates to go in the room. He does end up going inside only to find the creature was no longer there. Soon after with all these different emotions attacking Victor, he becomes ill but Henry aids him back to health. With his illness and schooling he has been away from home for very long and he decides to go back home to visit his family.
Before leaving, Victor gets a letter from his father informing him that his younger brother William was killed. When he gets home he goes to the scene where his brother died and he sees something watching him and realizes that it’s the creature he created and after seeing it he told himself that his creation was responsible for the death of his younger brother. When he went back home he was informed that a lady named Justine was her brothers killer nut he didn’t believe that to be true. The odds were set against Justine and after a trail, she was sentenced to death and she died. Victor now feeling responsible for two person’s deaths takes a sort of pilgrimage alone, where he yet again encounters his terrifying creation.
His reaction was to first destroy the monster he created but the creature persuaded him to go back to his cottage and listen to his tale. The creature then began to tell his story. He tells Victor about this family he spied on. This family taught the creature everything it knows and made it what it was today. His tale ended sadly however as the monster tried to introduce himself to the family, he was met with angry and frightfulness. They feared him because of how he looked. The monster began to ask questions of himself like “why am I here?’, “why was I made”, “why is it I have no memories of a family?’ etc. The family he spied on brought him joy but when he was rejected by them, his joy turned to anger and he sought revenge on mankind and his creator. He admitted to Victor that it was him who killed his younger brother. William told the monster who his father was and when he heard William say Frankenstein, he thought this is how he would begin his revenge, by killing his brother.
After hearing, all of this, Victor was filled with rage and wanted to destroy the monster. The creature blamed Victor of making him like this and it is because of Victor that he took these actions. The monster wanted one thing from Victor. He wanted Victor to create a female monster so that they may live together and be happy. The monster told Victor that if he does this, the monster and his significant other will flee from mankind and never cause trouble again. At first Victor hesitated to do it but he later changed his mind and agreed to the monsters demands. To do so Victor says he must go to England to study more and as he tells his father about his trip, his father admits to Victor that he wants Elizabeth and Victor to wed. Victor gratefully accepted this but he told himself he can’t do it until his deal with the monster is done so victor delayed the wedding for one year.
Mellissa Valle
Prof. Ellis
ENG2420
After Class Writing Assignment: Frankenstein
Inclass
We learned a very effective note taking strategy called Cornell Method where it’s easier and more clear way to understand the material. In this case we studied what was happening during the time that the novel Frankenstein was written which was the Age of the alignment, Scientific revolution, Industrial revolution, Romanticism and Gothic.
Author : Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley(1797-1851) English novelist, travel writer, and a feminist writer. Daughter of William Godwin English journalist, political philosopher and novelist, and Mary Wollstonecraft English writer, philosopher, fighter for women’s rights
Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus’ summary:
Victor begins to tell Walton the story of his life. One day when he was with his mother with whom he visited families for charity, where they met Elizabeth, a orphaned girl . She moves with the Frankenstein family and to Victor in his companion of games and adventures, growing with them an immense affection. Then Ernest and William are born. He knows who his only friend Henry Clerval would be. After VĂctor’s mom dies, he travels to Ingolstadt, England to continue his studies in physics and chemistry and where he meets Professor Waldman who gives him the guideline for the specialized knowledge of these subjects and their application in science. VĂctor decides to create a new “being” based on this knowledge that he got. He had the secret of giving soul to matter, the construction of a body to receive it, with all its network of fibers, muscles, veins and all that .
Once his creation is finished, Victor is astounded by the terrifying creature that has just been born. Clerval comes to live in Ingolstadt and patiently, without imagining what happened, takes care of the health of Victor who falls seriously ill because of his fatal experiment. He receives a letter from Elizabeth telling him how much they miss him and hopes that he would soon be well to return to Geneva. He tells the news of the family members and the arrival to the house of Justine a charming little one who now works and lives with them, and Elizabeth seems to be really happy. Victor recovers little by little with the support of Clerval who takes care of him and reanimates him to leave his depressive state. Victor Frankenstein only waits for his father’s letter to warn him that it is a good time to return, but instead receives the news that his little brother William died.
Victor travels immediately to Switzerland, and finds the doors of his town already closed at night, walks a little in the rain around the place where they are supposed to have found his little brother, and being in front of that immensity repeats the name of the deceased evoking his memory, a ray illuminates in the distance, the gigantic and deformed figure that then was his enemy. The next morning Victor meets with his family who in full mourning tell Victor the terrible news that Justine is the main suspect of the murder of William, since they found it sleeping in a barn near the place of the facts with the picture of Mrs. Frankenstein in her pocket, the same as the murderer will rob William after killing him. Victor scared assures that Justine is innocent and that he knows who the real murderer is. When there is no evidence in favor of Justine, she is sentenced to death, later for fear she accepts that she was responsible for the murder, Elizabeth suffers a tremendous disappointment in receiving the news but she still goes to see her with Victor . Justine asks for forgiveness and swears her innocence of what Elizabeth was always safe. She finally dies as guilty. Victor unable to resist the despair that overwhelms him, travels to the Alps in search of a rest that will help him to forget for a few moments, his tragic destiny to remember the landscapes of his childhood when his life passed in complete happiness.
I’m still reading → to be continued
“Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus”, often credited as the first true science fiction novel, was written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in 1818. As a wager amongst friends, Mary, Percy Shelly (Her Future Husband), Lord Byron and John Polidori, had challenged each other to write the scariest ghost story they could come up with. Inspired by the conversations of galvanism and the occult amongst the troupe and a woeful family history in the macabre, Shelly produces Frankenstein; the tale of a man playing god who, as Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park best describes, was “so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
In a narrative that reaches levels of meta I’d thought only performed in Inception, we are told a frame story by Mary Shelly, telling the story of ship captain Robert Walton, telling his sister the story of a sickly Dr. Victor Frankenstein, telling the story of creature he’d created living within the world of man. By the end of which (I may have read ahead a bit), I’d expected us to close out with a final letter from Walton telling his sister “And THAT’S why I’ve given up on adventuring.”
Though his hubris and cowardice, Victor causes the deaths of his brother, his sister, and later his wife to be. He has lost everything, simply because he could not accept the awesome responsibility of the life he’d created. And although at first is complacent to the monsters demands, it is here Victor soon realizes the only rational solution would be to destroy his creation, and put an end to the terror he and it’s kind might reak upon the earth upon the creation of a mate.
Jacob Banschick
Prof. Ellis
ENG2420
Jessica L. Roman
Prof. Ellis ENG2420 E255
September 12, 2017
Frankenstein Vol. 1 & 2
“Frankenstein”, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851), was published in 1818 with the final revised work released in 1831. The novels conception started as a competition when in 1816 Lord Byron challenged Shelley (then Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin) and three others including Percy Shelley, who she would later marry, to write the best ghost story. Almost 200 years later her progeny is still a fixture in our literary history and pop-culture.
The themes in “Frankenstein” are heavily influence by the personal life experiences of Mary Shelley as well the social changes of the time. From her personal scope, she experienced excessive loss in her life, her mother died 10 days after her birth, years later her half-sister committed suicide and she would go on to suffer the loss of young children. Shelley, who was well educated by her father, also took inspiration from the rationality of the Age of Enlightenment and the methodical thought of the Scientific Revolution. Elements of the sublime and gothic are also present, primarily in the thought process of the characters and the setting of the story itself.
Written as an epistolary novel, “Frankenstein” begins with a series of letters from former romantic poet and current explorer, Captain Robert Walton, to his sister. In his first letters, Walton expresses his elation with news of an upcoming voyage to the North Pole. As time goes by Walton becomes less confident in the success of this trip and details feelings of loneliness. When Walton’s ship is suddenly trapped by treacherous ice, he and his crew come across a distressed Victor Frankenstein. Walton’s next letters to his sister are filled with both joy and concern on this newest edition to the ship. He explains the instability of his mental state and how profound Frankenstein is during moments of clarity. The longest of Walton’s letters is the telling of Frankenstein’s horrific story, and how they came to found him in such a remote part of the world.
As he tells it, Frankenstein’s story begins with the most genial of upbringings, his father and mother are described as the most caring of people to him, his adoptive cousin, and his siblings both biological and adoptive. The first of a series of tragedies in Frankenstein’s life is the loss of his mother to scarlet fever when he was 17. While still mourning her death Frankenstein’s father insists his son, make no delay in starting his studies at the University of Ingolstadt. While attending university Frankenstein describes his encounters with two professors in particular, Professor Kremp and Professor Waldman. Professor Waldman admonishes Frankenstein when he tells of his interest in the alchemist works of Cornelius Agrippa while Professor Waldman almost fosters his interest. During his tenure at Ingolstadt Frankenstein proves himself to be among the best and brightest, until one fateful day a stroke of genius that ultimately cements his fate comes to him. Frankenstein discovers the secret to creating life and not with alchemy but with the sciences. From that day on he works tirelessly, to the point of madness, to discover all he needed to know of both the functions of life and death. Without any regard to the consequences of his work, Frankenstein proceeds to feverishly and successfully to create life.
Once his work is complete Frankenstein, now clear of the passion and madness that drove him, sees the grotesque creature he has created and immediately realizes his unforgivable mistake. In a fit of fear, Frankenstein flees his apartment and abandons his creation and so starts his spiral of pain ad misery. The guilt of what he has done gnaws on his conciseness regularly and he is haunted with thoughts of the atrocity he brought into the world. Only with the care of his best friend, Henry Cerval, does Frankenstein begin to improve both mentally and physically. When he is finally well again Frankenstein returns to his home in Geneva only to be greeted with more tragedy. Frankenstein discovers his youngest brother has been murdered and another adoptive member of the family, Justine, is blamed. On hearing this news, Frankenstein immediately surmises this is not the work of Justine but of the monster he created. Despite his and his family’s efforts Justine is put to death and number of deaths he is responsible for grows.
In the midst of his misery, Frankenstein and his family take a trip to Chamonix, on this trip Frankenstein is briefly at peace but is ultimately ceased again by his despair. While out wandering one day Frankenstein is at last confronted by the creature. Horrified and furious he tells his creation to go away or stay and be killed by his hand. However, employing cunning linguistics the monster persuades Frankenstein to accompany him and hear his story. The creature, articulately and intelligibly, tells Frankenstein all he has experienced. He begins by describing how lost he was with no one to guide him and details the struggles of learning everything from seeking shelter and nourishment and discovering people ran in fear and horror whenever they saw him. The creature then goes on to explain how he acquired language, literacy and learned to understand social interactions from observing a family he watched and ultimately grew to love. At this point the creature begins to realize how alone he is and how much he desires companionship acceptance. In addition, it is around this time he discovers the journal of Frankenstein among his few belongings and can finally identify his creator. After over a year of watching, the family creature plans to approach the family in search of companionship, he decides the blind father would be the best to befriend at first because he could have no bias towards his ghastly form. Unfortunately, these efforts are in vain and the family immediately relocates after discovering, to their horror, the creature speaking with the father.
In the aftermath of his rejection, the creature vows to seek vengeance on not only the humans who have shunned him but also his creator who doomed him to this miserable existence. The creature makes his way to Geneva in search of his maker and carries out the first of his killings. The creature admits to Frankenstein the circumstances under which he killed his little brother and framed Justine. At the close of his story the creature beseeches Frankenstein to have pity on the miserable lonely life he has condemned him to and to create another like him. If Frankenstein agrees to this, the creature swears he will live away from civilization with his mate and never kill again. Frankenstein becomes convinced he does owe the creature some comfort and is persuaded by his vow to not kill again. The volume ends with Frankenstein agreeing to his terms and sickened with himself and his fate.
Pierre Polycarpe
Prof. Ellis ENG2420 E255
September 6, 2017
Frankenstein Summary
At first, I must that I thought that the story was boring and I had a tough time staying focus. However, as the I read along the story began to develop. The story of Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus was composed by Mary Shelley Wollstonecraft in the 18th centuries.
Mary Shelley was born I 1797 and in 1851. Mary was daughter of two radicals. She was named after her mother Wollstonecraft who later passed after giving birth to Shelley.
The story began with Shelley presenting Victor, the narrator. Victor gave us a granular information about his family’s background and experience, date of birth, closest companion and Elizabeth, his future spouse. Victor and Elizabeth grew up together as best friend despite their differences. According to shelley, Elizabeth was the calmer one. She biased herself with following aerial creatine of Poets while Victor was striving for more knowledge.
At the age of 7, Victor’s parents have decided to pursue life in Geneva where he struggled with making friends. In fact, one can argue that Victor only had one friend and his name was Henry Clerval. The son of a merchant in Geneva. Victor started reading Cornelius Agrippa at the age of 13. At the age of 17, his parents have decided that he should attend the University of Ingolstadt because his father thought it was necessary for his education.
After the death of Caroline, Victor didn’t linger any longer. As he was getting ready to leave, he had a hard time saying goodbye to his good friend Henry Clerval and Elizabeth, his future wife.
The very first day that Victor met Prof Krempe, he didn’t like him very much simply because Prof Krempe informed him that his previous studies were nonsense, and that he has been wasting his time. Instead, he suggested several books to Victor and the help of Prof Waldman.
As Victor pursuing his studies he started to learn about anatomy and the function of the human bodies because he was passionate about it. Victor later successfully created a Monster. I must say at first, it almost seems like Victor was fascinate about the result of his work the way he explains the features of the monster’s body. He described it as something beautiful. Then when the monster woke up later, Victor ran out the room and spend the night in the courtyard. While some people might argue that he was afraid that created a monster most important Victor didn’t expect the monster to come alive.
I don’t think Victor’s expectation was to hurt the monster but the fact he isolated himself from the monster influenced the creature feel some sort of way. As a result, the monster kill ends up killing Victor brother.
Christopher Gonzalez
ENG 2420 E – 255
Professor Ellis
September, 13 2017
So far from reading the 1831 version of Frankenstein I am rather surprised. While I have never read the books and only seen depictions of Frankenstein in movies, I expected this story to have a different tone. When I hear of the word Frankenstein I think tragedy. Now while the story indeed had tragedy and loss, that only came later in Victor’s life. He came from a rather close and loving family and lived in what seemed to be an inviting community. Things indeed changed after the death of Victor’s mother and then later on his brother. The films always put much more emphasis on the animating of Frankenstein’s monster and the very well-known quote, “He’s alive!” However, in the story, Victor seems more frightened by what he’s created rather than joy and fascination. He does not embrace his monster but runs from it every chance he gets and calls him demon. After the death of his brother William he suspects, without a doubt, that the monster is to blame. In recent years Frankenstein’s monster has been portrayed as rather dimwitted, barely speaks or when he does, speaks like a child using incomplete sentences. However, in Mary Shelley’s story, the monster speaks perfect sentences, even goes as far as comparing himself and Victor to the fallen angel and god respectfully.
In class, we discussed the life of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein herself. Like the story, tragedy was no stranger to her. She was born Mary Wollstonecraft in the year 1794 and perished din 1851. She was daughter to two of the most famous radicals of their time. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft for whom she was named was a novelist and wrote stories as well, was a pioneering feminist and fought for equal rights for women. One of her works was “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.” Sadly, she died only ten days after Mary Shelley’s birth. Her father was an English journalist and priest turned atheist named William Godwin. He wrote works such as “Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness” and “Things as They Are; or The Adventures of Caleb Williams.” Mary’s work, Frankenstein,” was the first to depict human problem based on science and technology. In it, Victor, the protagonist, chooses alchemy over science and magic to find the source of life much how Gilgamesh searched for eternal life. “Frankenstein” or “The Modern Prometheus” was published in 1818.
Brianna Grant
Eng2420 E255 Science Fiction
Prof. Ellis
City Tech
9 September 2017
During lecture on September 6th, 2017, Professor Ellis expounded on the cultivation of science fiction. He provided needed classifications, definitions and thinkers that’s were essential to science fiction throughout history and so much more.
He began the lecture with elaborating on intricate thinkers and their works from 2150-23,000 BC- (Modern Era). Such as Guildomesh, Yohan Kepler, Shakespeare’s “The Tempist,” Sir Francis, and Jonathan Swift. We began with Guildomesh (Mesopotamia of Guildomesh) who is best known for going on a journey to once again anger the “gods” to find eternal life, but then realizing that eternal life is unattainable but memory is forever. Next, we have Yohan Kepler who was a natural philosopher. He studied the solar system and had a heliocentric view of the universe. Shakespeare’s “The Tempist” (1610-1611) was about his play “Prospero” about a controlled island dystopia. Next, Sir Francis Bacon wrote the 1627 “The New Atlantis” which entailed a community of scientists on an island that came to the conclusion the science realized a new world.
The next topic of the lecture was onThe Age Enlightenment, scientific revolution and the Industrial Revolution in which Prof. Ellis provided seven characteristics. Two of these characteristics are:
(1) Reason enables one to break free from of superstition.
(2) In realizing reason once realizes how to think and act correctly.
The scientific revolution began with the work of Culpernicus on a heliocentric world and challenged the church. It was a time of scientific observation and hypothesizing about the universe. The Industrial Revolution (1760-1850) which was the time of Industrial organization, produced and agricultural advancements that also produced the thought process of human mind, spontaneous emotional response and that poetry gives nature meaning.
Lastly, he discussed Frankenstein through Chapter 17 and elaborated on the literature and author of Frankenstein Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s (1797- 1851) biological information, the ideas of Frankenstein, biological galvanism in the work and even the main characters narrative frame in Frankenstein. Mary Shelley was the daughter of two of the most famous radicals of the 1700s. Her mother Mary Wollstonecraft fought for equal rights for women and education and evens wrote a book 1792 entitled ” A Rendition the Rights of Woman.” Mary Wollstonecraft died 10 days after Mary Shelley’a birth. Her father William Gowd was a minister who turned atheist. He garnered fame from writing the book “Inquiring Considering Political Justice Influence on Mora/ Happiness” in 1793. This book described individual rational humans can progress and anarchism absence of the imposing government.
Frankenstein or a Modern Day Prometheus, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, is a unique science fiction story. Originally it was conceived through a game between M.W.S, her husband, and friends during a brief get away. The competition was to scare each other with a tale of horror. According to M.W.S, she managed to gain the story through a dream, and from the insistence of her husband was able to put it to paper, in regards to showcasing her pedigree, as her parents were Mary Wollstonecraft and Willam Godwin. The tale is that of gothic horror but mostly focused on the sciences of the time, since the focus was on philosophers.
The story starts off with the introduction of a scientist and sailor/explorer by the name of Captain Walton, he was charting the unknown ice caps, and on his journey discovers Victor, who was in pursuit of something, despite his health. From there, we see the two characters interact and it shifts from Captain Walton’s basic narrative, to Victor talking through him describing what happened to him. In the story we discover what Victor’s life was like, and how he was raised. He had a seemingly normal and loving childhood. He was close to his parents and his dear friends Clerval and Elizabeth, the latter who would be raised with his parents and inducted somewhat into the family. Victor growing up had a unique case of obsession when it came to literature, especially those involving philosophy at that time, otherwise known today as science. Growing up with that kind of thinking lead him to finally pursue studies of the subject and seek out science and alchemy to the point of perverse obsession.
The obsession was pretty strong with him, as he even knew it in a sense to be wrong in the eyes of others, but he still did it anyway. In his pursuit of knowledge, he conducted an undertaking, and created the creature. In doing so he created it in a manner that was unfitting for others. It was pieced together of various different bodies, and made larger than a normal man. However when it was created, it was like an infant, but in the eyes of Victor, he’d finally seen the horror of what he had created. He ran from the creature and hid, falling into a depression over what he had created. His friend Clerval, having known Victor was away in his studies and making little contact with him and his family sought Victor out to try and connect. After doing so they came up with the idea of visiting home once again, but the return home was not what it seemed. Tragedy had struck the family, his little brother William, was murdered, and the accused of the deed was a family friend Justine. From there we see the trials of Justine take place and witness how it takes a toll on Victor and Elizabeth, as well as the whole family.
Sharon Rios
Science Fiction
The birth of Frankenstein stemmed from the author’s personal history, and the universal scientific discoveries throughout her generation. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in London on August 30th, 1797 and died on February 1st, 1851. She married a poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and was the daughter of a philosopher and political writer, William Godwin. Her mother who died after labor was a known feminist and the author of The Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). Mary Shelley loved reading from her father’s library and enjoyed daydreaming and passing time by writing stories.
Frankenstein is also known as the Modern Prometheus in the sense that Prometheus stole fire from the Gods and gave it to the human race while Dr. Frankenstein stole the secret of life from the Gods and created human life with dead body parts. Prometheus was punished by Zeus that chained him to a rock for an eagle to feast on his liver. Frankenstein will always be reminded of his sins by the haunting of his creation.
Frankenstein is known to be the first evidence of Science Fiction as a genre through Mary’s mixture of natural science in a functioning society. Before her novel, monsters were created through witchcraft or supernatural abilities. Frankenstein is created with human intelligence and philosophy. During Mary’s time, people were just starting to understand science and its capabilities. Electro-stimulation was the closest experimentation between life and death. What I found interesting was the monster’s sense of self, his placement in the world, and his real human-like emotions, that is ironically more human than his creator’s. This can directly be linked to Mary’s influence of the Age of Enlightenment throughout history.
Frankenstein, or the modern day Prometheus is a novel is Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley wrote in 1818 about a man, Victor Frankenstein that brings a creature to life and the chaos in his and the monster’s life that comes about because of his existence. The story is structured within a narrative frame, a story within a story.
The story starts with letters via Captain Walton, then Victor Frankenstein life up until the creation of the monster, then it jumps back and forth with the monster and Victor talking about the past and present. The book is reminiscent of the scientific revolution when was a concept used by historians to describe the emergence of modern science during the early modern period when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology (including human anatomy) and chemistry transformed the views of society about nature. Frankenstein does not shy away from that, having the monster come alive out of one big science experiments that Victor does after seeing and studying so much science in his youth.
The story starts with Robert Walton to his sister, Margaret Saville and various telling of his journey to the North Pole, his lack of friends and picking up a stranger, who turns out to be Victor. Victor then starts to narrate the story, starting from childhood, far into his adult years. He tells of his family, his adopted relative Elizabeth, and of how his mother, becomes sick and dies when Victor was young. After taking an interest in science as a younger man, Victor in his apartment starts to begin work on a creature. He neglects family, friends, a possible social life, while growing more pale and lonely as time passes. When Victor completes his creation and brings it to life, its awful appearance horrifies him. After seemingly abandoning the monster, Victor’s youngest brother, William is murdered and Caroline Frankenstein is framed for the murder by the monster and Caroline is executed. The monster is then found by Victor and the monster tells of his journey, that includes learning of the world around him, how fire works, the English language, his own realization of how ugly he is and what he did to survive.
Summary of Frankenstein
Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) is labeled as the first science fiction novel of all time. Before this story no one else had used science and technology to portray as story such as Frankenstein. Frankenstein was published anonymously because at the time women writers were not that admired. I believe Mary Shelley’s life experience had an impact on her writing Frankenstein. Many people in Shelley’s life passed away, and the monster from Frankenstein is built from peice of dead people and brought back to life. Frankenstein tells a story of being responsible for your actions. The scientist who creates the monster, Victor Frankenstein ends up finally creating the monster after tons of hard work only to be terrified with the monster comes to life and he runs away. Victor seems to think the problem will just go away on its own and he leaves. The monster is forced to wander around and figure out life on his own. He finds out that whenever he gets near anyone they run away. There is a murder in the town and a trial is had to find the murder. The narrator hints it could be the monster, but someone else is convicted instead. Victor decides to travel to get his mind off things and comes across a giant ice cave. Inside the cave he runs into the monsters who can now speak. Victor still has resent for the monster and does not trust him. The monster tries to reason with Victor and ends up telling him a story of what has happened to him.
Konstantinos Perselis ENG 2420
Marry Wollstonecraft Shelley is English novelist, and also the author of Frankenstein or you can say the modern day Prometheus. Marry Shelley was born August 30, 1797 in Somers town England and died February 1 1851 in Chester square, her parents are Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin. In the story Frankenstein it begins with Robert Walton out at sea writing letters to his wife and when Walton was traveling he found Victor Frankenstein dying in the artic, when Victor was saved he decided to tell Walton about his tragic story, the reader is now reading Walton’s transcriptions of Victors story. In Victors tragic story he talks about how he was obsessed with science and not the normal kind, and because of his obsession for that type of science he goes and creates the Monster, but in trying to make the perfect being at the end he was disappointed and disgusted at his creation, then the monster escapes its home and is gone for some time. After when Victor comes back to town he learns of his brother being murdered and the town thinks it was his sister but Victor knew that it wasn’t her but it was his creation. Then one night Victor meets with his creation and now the story shifts from victor telling his story to start telling the monsters story, but when Victor and the monster meet the monster admits to murdering his brother and trying to have his sister framed for it. The monster now smarter he learned a lot from stocking a family and then being cursed by them, then goes to seek a wife, that’s when the monster threatens Victor to make him a mate and that he will find Victor once he’s done making him his new mate. So in class we learned how the story is being told in different narrative frames and that Robert Walton is telling the story of Victor Frankenstein how he made his monster and how his creation was telling his life story to Victor. Marry Shelley’s Frankenstein was the spark of the science fiction era and how Marry incorporates a lot of her life into the story of Frankenstein, for example when Marry was born her mother died 10 days after her birth, and Marry had a sister that eventually committed suicide and Marry was exposed to all this death and she wrote about bringing life to the dead so all those deaths in the family really inspired her.