Abiturvorbereitung (Frankenstein by Mary Shelley)

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his wisdom and cultivation. They talk and Walton declares that he would sacrifice his own life for a greater good and for lasting fame. Frankenstein then begins his own story as a warning against the danger of such a philosophy of life. Chapter I The first chapter is about the introduction of the main characters and the dynamics between them. The chapter begins with Victor Frankenstein and how he describes his early childhood, that he is born in Naples but his parents have lived in multiple countries over the years like Germany or also in France. In Italy they adopted Elizabeth, at this time Victor is only a few years old. She is still an infant at that time, raised in a poor family with four other children. Her father is a Milanese nobleman, but held captive after committing a crime. Her mother has died while giving birth to her. From this point on Elizabeth is officially a part of the Frankenstein family. Victor sees from the beginning more in her than just his adopted sister, a deeper love than what is considered as normal. Chapter II Around the age of seven, Victor's younger brother William is born. At the age of 13, Victor discovers the works of Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus, all alchemists from an earlier time period. Chapter III Victor has obtained the age of 17 and is likely to leave for his studies to the University of Ingolstadt, but has to delay his departure due to distasteful events. After his parents decided for Victor to take upon his studies at the University of Ingolstadt, his journey to his destination had to be delayed, since Elizabeth suffered from scarlet fever. She recovered from it, but her mother Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein died. Victor then departs to Ingolstadt. At the university Victor meets his professors, they lead him to the modern researches of natural philosophy. Chapter IV This Chapter begins by displaying Victors dedication for his studies in science. He excels at the university and makes friends with one of his professors. He focuses on natural philosophies and wants to figure out the secrets of life. Pursuing this, he soon starts to search for his answers in the phenomenon that is death. Soon he reached the limits he had when studying at the university. In consequence he left and continued his studies on his own thus overcoming this difficulty. He does not stop his research until he unravels the secrets he desires. Now being capable of animating inanimate objects, he begins to build a human body in his apartment by gathering parts from all kinds of sources two of which being graveyards and slaughterhouses. During his works his physical and mental conditions worsen rapidly. Chapter V Victor finally finishes his creation. As soon as it comes to life Victor is immediately horrified by its appearance. Without hesitating Victor runs to his bed where he falls asleep, dreaming about Elizabeth and his creation. After waking up he finds the monster smiling at Victor, which causes him to run out of his residence and down the streets of Ingolstadt. Not returning for the whole night Victor meets his friend Henry Clerval in the morning, which he is glad to see. Henry wants to study at the university of Ingolstadt and also has the urge to visit his beloved friend after he and Victors family did not hear anything from him in months. After a quick talk Victor brings Henry to his residence where he fears that his monster will still be there. Confirming that the monster is not there anymore Victor is happy but shortly after falls to bed and stays ill for the next few months. Henry nurses Victor for the time. Chapter VI He receives a letter from Elizabeth with a lot of news about the family. He introduces Henry to the professors at the university and they both start studying there. Victor wants to return home. Henry and Victor also go for a hike in nature and Victor slowly recovers in the presence of his friend. Chapter VII This chapter is about Williams death. Coming home, Victor finds a letter from his father telling him to come home as fast as possible as his youngest brother died. It further explains how the family was on a walk, when William and Ernest went to play hide and seek, but William could not be found. Later on they discovered his strangled body. Victor departs immediately, but when he arrives at his town the doors are shut and he has to spend the night outside walking around. It is then that he catches a glimpse at the monster and is convinced it is the murderer on the spot. At home he finds out that Justine is being accused for the murder, since a necklace that William wore was found in her possession. Victor knows she is innocent but decides not to tell anybody about the monster, fearing they will think he is crazy. Chapter VIII Justine finally confesses the murder, even though she is innocent. She gets executed and Victor feels guilty about it, because his monster was the one who did it and therefore Victor caused two deaths in his own family. Chapter IX After Justines death Victor becomes depressed and even considers taking his own life, but his family manages to distract him from his thoughts for a while. They take a trip to Belrive where Victor explores nature, as it means a lot to him and had cheered him up several times. He is briefly distracted from his grief over Justines death but cannot quite get rid of sad thoughts. Chapter X Victor wakes up and finds old feelings of hopelessness resurface. When he reaches the glacier at the top, he is momentarily stunned by the sublime spectacle. However, as he crosses the opposite side of the glacier, he sees a creature rushing towards him at incredible speed. Up close, he clearly recognizes the grotesque monster shape. He launches threats of attack at the monster, whose enormous strength and speed him make it easy for Victor to escape.Victor curses him and tells him to go away, the monster, speaking eloquently, the persuades him to accompany a fire in an ice cave.Inside the cave, the monster begins to tell about events in his life. Chapter XI Sitting in the hut the monster starts to tell its tale: It first tells about his first experience and expressions as he awoke in Victors residence. It immediately flees into nature where it first experiences dark, hunger, thirst and other basic components of nature. It learns how to make fire and shortly after enters a hut in the morning. The man he sees shrieks and runs away, because he is scared of the monsters appearance. This chapter starts with the monster reflecting its observations while watching the cottagers. The monster soon discovers that the cottagers sadness and troubles originated from them being poor and because of its deep sympathy towards them, it decides to help them out by chopping some wood and secretly giving it to them. It continues to watch their avior and learn from them. ne day, the monster sees its reflection in the water and is deeply shocked by its appearance. As it looks very different from the cottagers Agatha and Felix, whom it considers to be beautiful, it views itself as an 'ugly monster'. The monster fantasizes about showing itself to the people who it was learning many important trades from like empathy or communicating verbally, but it is too scared to do so, as it fears their reaction towards its looks. Chapter XIII he monster encounters the arrival of Safie and the change of emotions shown in Felix' face. As the of Spring comes up, the cottagers work more in the garden and Safie, an Arabian girl, called very beautiful by the monster, arrives at the cottage, leading to a change in emotion of Felix. The cottagers teach Safie their language, while the monster watches and also learns from the lessons. The more the monster watches the more attached it gets to the cottagers and becomes more self aware. Chapter XIV The monster discovers the backstory of his "friends" De Lacey, Agatha, Felix and Safie. As it turns out De Lacey and his children held a high status in France, they had money, friends and were respected members of Paris' society. This changed a while after Safies father, a Turkish merchant, was unjustly imprisoned due to racist and xenophobic judges. Following the promise of the merchant's daughter's hand in marriage Felix assisted him in fleeing from France which in the end resulted in De Lacey's, Agatha's and They proceeded to live in Germany and Safie joined them later on, disregarding the wishes of her father to stay with him. Chapter XV At the start of the chapter, the monster discovers some books in the woods surrounding the village. The Monsters findings contain works of Goethe and John Milton. The monster reads these books and thinks that they are based on history although they are fictional works. he monster decides to reveal itself to the cottagers and thinks about how to do it best. It comes to the conclusion to talk with the old DeLacey since he thinks he's the wisest person within the family. When Felix, Safie and Agatha go out for a walk, the monster reveals himself to the old DeLacey. At first the talk between the monster and DeLacey goes well but the the monster learns that the old DeLacey is blind and can't see him. The monster begs the old man to stand with him. Finally, Felix, his sister and Safie return from their walk and are shocked at the sight of the monster laying beside the old man's feet. Felix attacks him and the monster runs away from the cottage. Chapter XVI The rejection that the monster got makes it mad and it decides to get revenge on the humans. When it goes to Geneva, it sees a girl drowning in the water stream. The monster wants to help her, so it gets her out. Her accompany sees its rescue as an attack which leads him to shoot at the monster. As it nears Geneva, it sees William, the little brother of Victor Frankenstein. Its rage overcomes it, so the monster strangles the boy to death. It also takes the necklace with it that has a picture of Caroline Beaufort, the mother of William. When it sees Justine, it puts the necklace into her pocket. It leads to the death sentence of Justine since people think that she is responsible for William's death. Chapter XVII Victor and the Monster are in a small hut on the Montanvert. The Monster threatens to end his life if he is not going to create a partner for him. He convinces Victor to once again redo the process and create life. Victor understands his intentions and agrees to his command. Chapter XVIII Victor desires to travel to England, even though his whole family is against it at first. He tells his father that he truly needs this journey to finds himself after his depression, but in reality his plan is to give his creation its will. The will would be the creating of a companion for the monster, against its loneliness. Henry Clerval is eager to accompany his childhood friend on this tour. Victor on the other hand fears to maybe have to choose between Henry and fulfilling his mission. Then after destroying the harm that the monster could bring over Elizabeth, his plan is to marry her. Chapter XIX Victor Frankenstein and Henry Clerval travel together through England. They visit Oxford as well as Edinburgh. Henry is enjoying himself, while Victor is always thinking about the real reason for the trip. He wants to finally complete his task of creating a new companion for his first creation. So he leaves Henry by a friend of his in a small scottish town, then travels up north on an island of the Orkneys. After being alone, he sets up everything to start his work. His health gets worse just like the first time around, often even has problems to continue his work. Chapter XX Victor decides to not create the second monster. The monster then threatens Victor to haunt him on his wedding night. Later, after Victor has thrown the corpse of the creation he has worked on into the sea, a storm pushes Victor's sailboat out to the sea. The local folk are holding him captive, thinking he committed the murder that had occurred earlier in their village. He is then sent to the local magistrate Mr. Kirwin to receive his sentence. Chapter XXI Victor is in Ireland and is introduced to the magistrate Mr.Kirwin. He is accused of murder since witnesses say that they saw Victor on the boat, throwing a corpse overboard and that they found the body on the beach. The judge wants Victor to look at the body so he can draw conclusion by Victor's reaction. Victor realizes that the body belongs to Henry and recognizes black stains on his neck. As soon as he notices and realizes that the monster is responsible, he starts to collapse. After recovering for 2 months, Mr.Kirwin decides to write a letter to Victor's father Alphonse Frankenstein. The father supports him and Victor is freed since he was on Orkney Islands at the time of the murder. His father and him are now returning to Geneva. Chapter XXII On their way home they make a stop in Paris before the rest of their trip to Geneva. Victor receives a letter from Elizabeth where she asks him if Victor were in love with a different girl since he has been sick at lot of times. He replies with a letter in which he says that Elizabeth is his only source of joy in his life and that she does not have to worry. The thought of marriage frightens Victor because he knows the monster will be there and attack him which might lead to either his or the monsters death. As Victor and his father arrive in Geneva, Victor and Elizabeth finally meet again and everyone starts planing the wedding. After Elizabeth confronts Victor again about her suspicion he tells her that he has a secret which he will reveal after the marriage. At the wedding day, everything goes according to plan and the freshly married couple leave for their honeymoon. Chapter XXIII Victor and Elizabeth are on honeymoon and Victor worries about the monster and that Elizabeth could be in danger. He decides to search for it when she's sle While this Victor hears her screaming and realizes that the monster had just killed her, he gets the desire for revenge. After that he returns home to tell Alphonse the awful news. Because of the shock and grief about all the dead persons he loved, the father dies a few days later. Victor finally breaks his secret and tries to convince a magistrate in Geneva that an unnatural monster is responsible for the death of Elizabeth, but the magistrate does not believe him. Victor resolves to devote the rest of his life to find and destroy the monster. Chapter XXIV After Elizabeth's death Victor aims for revenge on the monster for killing his loved wife. He begins his revenge by thinking of resolutions for his craving and comes to the decision of traveling all over the world to chase the monster so he can kill it. He was looking for clues to catch the monster and one night he even thinks he hears it and tries to come after it, but the monster escaped again.Victor found out that the monster avoids seas and other kinds and with more time passing by, the monster left letters and clues for him so he got more frustrated and bitter. His last spot was an arctic area where he got a clue from some inhabitants who said that they saw a huge monster. This clue was very important for Victor and he got himself a sled and continued chasing the monster on a frozen sea. Within chasing the monster Victors dogs died and he even broke inside the ice, leaving him fighting for his life.Gladly he was saved by a young man named ert Walton and his crew got the chance to recover from his accident a little t. Victor told Walton his tale and Walton documented everything with great interest, but he also felt great grief towards Victor.After telling his whole story to Walton Victor asks him if he is willing to keep on chasing the monster to kill it in case Victor might die and Walton agrees. Chapter XXV Victor's only task now is to kill his creation, but he is no longer in shape to do it. Because of the life threatening danger the crew of Walton wants to return but Victor manages to convince them to continue their trip/ journey. Shortly after that Victor dies without having finished his mission to kill the monster. After that the monster enters the ship to grab Victor and takes his body with him. Before doing this Walton confronts him about destroying Victors whole life. Mary Shelley Born: 30th August 1787 in London daughter of feminist Mary Wollstonecraft & political philosopher William Godwin - Mother died only 10 days after giving birth to her daughter - Mary started writing at a young age -> had a happy childhood Father published her first poem when she was 10 years old age of 17: Mary eloped with the poet Percy Bysshe -> got married in 1816 - had 4 children, 3 died at a young age 1816: holidays in Switzerland with friends -> had a challenge where every person should write their own ghost story -> Mary wrote Frankenstein first published anonymously 1818 -> anonymously because female authors were often not accepted by the politics - Percy Shelly died 1822 Marry started to publish his works - Starts traveling with son her Percy - died 1st February 1851 -> due brain tumor (maybe) role of Nature in Frankenstein General information • Reason for existence of human and science Victor • Nature helps Victor: The role of nature • Provides him through melodies (p. 96 II. 43-46) • The more Victor studies the more he loses respect towards nature (creating a human creature) The creature • Nature helps him: provides food and drink to fill his needs (p. 96 II. 19-21) calming him down (ch. XI) material that humans can use like wood/gives warmth, comfort (p. 104 I. 45) Provides him through melodies (p. 96 II. 43-46) -> important to Victor (often shown through detailed description) - . Mary Shelley • She places nature in a very important point: ● him reflection of hisself: he is different than the cottagers ,,ugly" (p.105 l. 32) gives him knowledge about where food comes from/gardening (p. 105 II. 44/45) learns about seasoning (p. 105 II. 44/45) underlining the emotional state of mind of the characters (e.g. the nature is portrayed as beautiful by Victor when he recovers from his illness that befell him shortly after the birth of his creature) during Victor's and Elizabeth's honeymoon their happiness is underlines by sunshine Nature and the sublime • Mary Shelley continued the trend of connecting nature to the sublime by giving her characters one-on-one interactions with nature - underlining the plot (e.g. when there are bad situations like the family searching William there are thunderstorms) • The way in which every character reflects the sublime nature greatly varies in regard the amount of respect they have towards nature • Victor wants nature to be his ,,companion" rather than his guardian Natures impact had only a temporary effect on Victor Shelley is advising her readers to respect nature and its powers unlike Victor • The novels description of nature depends on the amount of astonishment each character has towards nature -> descriptions vary differently which is paralleled with the different levels of respect they have towards nature The Romantic movement • Theme of nature was very common during Romantic era • But Shelley put a twist on representing nature and the sublime Shelley infers that nature can be beneficial to humans only if the humans respect nature in return • Views nature as source of inspiration, creations and comfort as well as force of terrifying power and cruelty Era marked by technological and scientific progress (Industrial Revolution): Romantic authors often portray the conflict between the natural world and the modern society The ethics of science What is sciences? Oxford: "the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment." What is ethics? Oxford: "moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity." ●People always enjoyed inventing and discovering things Although a lot of inventions and discoveries have made people lives easier, ethical dilemmas which occurred, need to be considered What is a dilemma? A dilemma is a situation that forces you decide between two negative things. No matter how you decide, something negative will happen. Inspiration -Is it possible to predict the long-term consequences of every new invention? -How can inventors avoid unintended tragedies caused by their creations? -Who is responsible for the outcomes of newly created inventions? -Are the risks of negative outcomes from our inventions worth the potential gains? Why is it considered wrong to create life scientifically? -human's dignity > You are not supposed to create life for a certain reason, e.g. savior sibling -You cannot predict all possible consequences > How will the creation develop? react? behave? What is done nowadays to prevent scientists like Frankenstein from undertaking the same experiences? -safeguards -protocols -institution approvals but: it is nearly impossible to predict all of the consequences of our current and future scientific and technological advances How does progress in science and technology affect people's lives? -viability of our planet and evolution of society ->health, medicine, bioengineering -> genetic engineering, transplantation, transfusion, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, etc. Human identity Victor's view on - Outer appearance is very important -> it's a family thing (father married Caroline because she was beautiful, they adopted Elizabeth because she is pretty) -> outer appearance is an important topic in the novel -Wanted the creature to be the ideal human (disappointed) -Strives for perfection + does what he thinks others expect him to -Believes that parents have a great deal in how one's life will work out Artificial intelligence The theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence like translation between languages or speech recognition. Is the monster Al? -Made of flesh (not a computer/robot) -Is not being controlled (free will) -Not created for certain tasks -Has feelings + has human intelligence Is the creature a human being? Yes Formed by human bodies Very emotional + capacity for self- reflection (sad when he loses the cottagers, empathy when he saves the girl, angry when Frankenstein does not do Able to communicate and be part of a community Wants to have relationships with others Cottagers showed him what it's like to be human (before he did not know what it's like to worry about more than food and shelter) No Has no name -> no self-identity, is like property Very aggressive, brutal (this however is the result of isolation and abjection from society) An uninvolved observer (Walton) says it is "savage inhabitant of some undiscovered island" Has no friends/ community Is very ugly (he himself decides he's not human because of his appearance) -> however, ugliness reflects other people's inability to accept what's different Has no family/someone who raised him up/taught him human ethics Not born or otherwise developed by human cells Has never experienced love and care first- hand Names the monster is called: "wild beast that had broken the toils" (monster, p. 127, 1.9) "al -fiend" (monster, p. 127, l. 15) "monster, ugly wretch, ogre" (monster, p. 137, II. 30-31) "deamon" "thing" "creature" What he says about himself (scene when he sees his reflection for the first time): "At first, I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror and that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest densations of despondence and mortification. Alas! I did not yet entirely know that fatal effects of this miserable deformity." (Chapter 12) Importance of interaction with others -V. begins to lose himself and his identity when he isolates himself in order to perform his experiments (things that used to be important to him lose their meaning) -The monster's problems result in him being rejected from society -> wants a companion → Both the monster and Victor are on a journey of self-discovery. Relevance today/ gothic Issues of identity and loneliness - creature would like to fit in the society - fails to find a rule in society today: find a rule in society is more important than ever -> people want to fit in Hard when you are unique: physical, emotional or sexual differences Prejudice & homeless - Bulling and identity are issues of prejudice Creature everywhere rejected because of his appearance Racism and prejudice today a big role in our society Gothic - stery and supernatural role Most of important things happen at night The myth of Prometheus Prometheus was demigod - created human from clay Stole fire from the Mount Olympus for the people - Defied the rules of the gods -> Zeus punished him Chained him to a mountain and sent a eagle to eat Prometheus liver everyday -> it grew back every night Compared to Frankenstein Compared to human striving for scientific knowledge without being aware of the consequences these actions might have -> in the novel: the scientists focused on bringing on bringing a dead human body to life that he does not think about the consequences of his experiment Prometheus disregards the "natural order" by transgressing Zeus's law-> in the novel: the scientist might do the same by trying to bring a dead body to life