Literary Analysis Frankenstein

Jessica Wright

Professor Roger Alderman

ENG 245-95

25 June 2023

Frankenstein Analysis

Literary monsters all share one element: complex morals that in turn cause carnage amid dramatic female fainting. Mary Shelley wove one such moral tale centered on the conventional role of women and the consequences of meddling with life and death that culminated in Frankenstein.

In the beginning chapters, the narrator, Robert Walton, pens letters detailing his oceanic escapades to his sister Margaret in England (Shelley 3-14). This juxtaposition of gender expectations— an adventurous man encouraged by a distant, domesticated woman —sets the tone of the novel and how Shelley later depicts the female companions of the main male protagonists. Furthermore, Margaret

He killed six people by the end of his rampage, half of whom never died at his hands. For example, after the murder of William, the creature places a miniature picture belonging to the child “securely in… her [Justine’s] dress” (92), effectively framing her for the crime and condemning her to death. Through this action, the monster reveals a ruthless commitment to ruining the life of his creator by destroying all familiar to Victor; however, the remaining two deaths were not wholly intentional. Alphonse, the head of the Frankenstein family, dies of grief after living through the monster’s fatal strangulations of William, his youngest son; Henry Clerval, a family friend; and Elizabeth, an adopted daughter turned daughter-in-law. The emotional strain of “the horrors that were accumulated around him” (129) and his constant worry concerning Victor ultimately killed him, not the creature, even though the event helped further the monster’s agenda. Finally, after months of pursuing his tormentor, Frankenstein succumbs to an illness caused by self-neglect and years of grief. Before Victor’s suffering and demise began in earnest, though, the creature confronted his creator with a proposition involving the creation of a female companion, one that Victor refused on numerous occasions. The monster swore to “desolate his [Frankenstein’s] heart” (93) by killing everyone he holds dear while ensuring he experiences “dread and misery” (109). Thus, according to this promise, the monster never intended to kill Victor; in contrast, he wanted him to remain alive for as long as possible. Throughout the later chapters, the creature causes destruction directly with his hands and indirectly through the aftermath of his