How To Read Literature Like A Professor By Richard Foster

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster talks about how characters close to the hero often die. Although it’s debatable whether Victor Frankenstein is a hero or not, everyone around him dies. William, Clerval, Elizabeth, Justine, his mother, and his father, all people close to him, died. The reason these deaths are so important is that they help contribute to character growth, plot progression, and theme development. One of the ways that the effects of death can be seen, is in the character growth of Victor. At the beginning of the book, when Victor’s mother dies, his reaction to death is quite normal. He grieves her loss, and feels sadness, but recognizes that this death was natural and he has to move on. (Shelly, 24) As the book progresses more people die around him,

(59-60) One final demonstration of additional character growth occurs when his newly wedded wife, Elizabeth, is killed by the monster. The grief and guilt that Victor previously felt now turns into vengeance. These feelings of revenge are further demonstrated as Victor deals with the additional death of his father from the news of Elizabeth's murder. This anger now turns into action as he then attempts to chase and hunt down his creation, the monster. (144-150) Equally important to the evolution of the story of Frankenstein is the plot development, which is often associated with the death of a character. Towards the start of the book, Victor is so disgusted with his creation that he hides from the monster. He wants to separate himself from his creation. However, this doesn’t happen. With the first death of William, Victor sees the monster in a flash of thunder and suspects that he is involved in William’s