The final chapters of Frankenstein further the numerous motifs and themes throughout the novel, while leaving the reader questioning who is at fault, who is the hero, and what each character’s role was. The narrative shifts again, going from Victor to the monster, then back to Victor and Walton for the last volume. Victor is horrified at the prospect of creating a companion for his creature, and hypothesizes them not retreating away from humanity, but interfering with it, and even procreating to create a new race of “monsters”.

The power that Victor has over creation, again builds on the theme of him being a God-like figure, and can be seen as him having a prejudice against women, since he assumes nothing good will come out of creating another creature. In reality, (it is worth arguing either side) creating a companion for the creature would have been highly beneficial for all parties. The source of all of the murders and atrocities being committed by Victor’s unconventional son stemmed from isolation and loneliness, because he is shunned by anyone with eyes. The creature still tries to reason with Victor, rather than killing him, another trait showing its humanity, and he threatens him when he sees Victor destroy his work in progress.

The creature’s vow to see Victor on his wedding night sends Frankenstein into an even deeper state of paranoia and obtuseness both socially, and within nature. Before, nature was a source of solace for Victor, but now he cannot go a step without being haunted by his creation. The creature continues to kill everyone close to Victor as he travels, including Clerval, a dear friend and someone who kept Victor sane. At this point all he had left was his father, and his “only source of joy,” Elizabeth. He seeks to be married, with the threat looming over him, but proceeds, and Elizabeth, not Victor, is killed, to his surprise, with his father passing away from shock shortly after.

Victor has nothing left; he has lost all sanity and becomes driven to the brink for revenge toward the creature, which had destroyed everything he loved. Who is at fault though? Would all of this grief and horror had manifested, had Victor taken the creature in like it was his own, and not some “fiend” haunting the countryside? Would it have become a killing machine had Victor given him a companion—the monster was only trying to make Victor feel the pain he had felt in his existence, and it even says on the last page, that it was still not equivalent:

“Farewell, Frankenstein! If thou wert yet alive and yet cherished a desire of revenge against me, it would be better satiated in my life than in my destruction…Blasted as thou wert, my agony was still superior to thine; for the bitter sting of remorse will not cease to rankle in my wounds until death shall close them for ever,” (166).

The creature essentially says that any revenge Victor could have been seeking, in this case killing him, could not have been greater than what he has had to endure being alive, and that Victor could never have felt a vengeance like his. Victor had people who loved him, and was human, and the creature never experienced love, or anything like himself, a true tragedy. His “triumphant ascension of his funeral pile” made the creature seem more like the tragic hero than Victor, and leaves the reader empathizing for it, something Shelly must have done on purpose with the varying and layered narration. Ending the story with the creature’s words showed that it was not a monster, but a more human creature, that was tormented by its creator and driven to kill.

Volume II of Frankenstein opens with Victor trying to navigate through his guilt. He makes his way to Chamonix where he finally encounters his monster again. Though the encounter isn’t in any way friendly, the monster is able to convince Victor to listen to his story. The perspective then switches over to the viewpoint of the monster who tells of his life after escaping Victor’s laboratory. He reveals that he had a couple run ins with various people which had all resulted in them running away. He also speaks of a particular family he watched for a long period of time that unknowingly taught him their way of life. They had given him hope, that maybe they could love him and accept him in a way that Victor did not. Yet after showing himself to them, the result ends in the same way as it had with others. After telling of his loneliness and his ardent desire to feel accepted and loved, the monster explains the hostility within him. He blames Victor for him becoming such a hateful being. The monster finally concludes his narration by essentially begging Victor to make him a partner. After much persuasion Victor agrees, and the two go their separate ways.

A reoccurring theme throughout this section was the inescapable loneliness that both the monster and Victor felt. In Volume I, when Victor is creating the monster, he speaks of how the admiration the monster will have for him will far surpass the admiration a child may have for their father. However, Victor seems to have confused admiration and love. Conversely, when the monster is created all he seeks is love and tenderness, yet that is something that Victor and all other humans are unable to give. There is an interesting notion of Sigmund Freud that plays out here. When the monster is created, his primary need is to receive affection from his creator, which he does not. Because of this, all his other needs are not met, and he must learn to function without any guidance. The result is that he becomes an angry and callous being. Additionally, Victor seems to project his loneliness and isolation onto the monster, perhaps adding to the monster’s hostility. The two beings are similar in their loneliness, as both are confined by themselves and yet seeking affection from someone else. Victor is confined by his over-romanticized view of mankind, which results in unattainable expectations of the world.  The monster, on the other hand, is confined to a life of loneliness solely by his appearance, but his short temperament has added to his already sinister complexion. Thus Shelley, in my opinion, is trying to relate to the reader that the monster and Victor are not too dissimilar.

In the second section of Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, Victor Frankenstein succumbs to an overwhelming darkness in his psyche after his brother William is killed by his creation. He is distraught not only because of his responsibility to creating the Monster, but the fact that he cannot clear the name of Justine Moritz, the girl who was a ward of the Frankenstein family and executed wrongly for the murder of William Frankenstein. Alphonse Frankenstein, Victor’s father, attempts to clear the minds of his family from their recent terrors and takes them to Belrive, Switzerland as a distraction. Victor experiences a bout of happiness surrounded by nature and free of trouble, taking a boat and traveling across Lake Geneva often to relax. One day on one of his expeditions, this time to the Summit of Montanvert, Victor runs into the Monster again. They argue for a while, with Victor threatening violence. Eventually he relents to the Monster’s requests and follows him into a cave where the Monster recounts his life.

The Monster explains to Victor the hardships of his short life, and how he taught himself to understand the world. The Monster talked about how he first encountered fire, the first time he viewed himself, and his encounters with humans. He quickly came to understand beauty, and fear when he encountered humans. He also learned language, and kindness from a poor family he watched from afar. Eventually he gathered the courage to speak to one of the residents of the poor household, De Lacey, who is blind and would not be able to view his horrific features. Unfortunately the other members of the household returned and drove him off with disgust, leaving the Monster alone without a familiar again. The Monster’s thirst for companionship drives him mad with rage against his creator who left him to ruin. The Monster talks about how he found the Frankenstein residence and killed William while blaming Justine for the murder.

After this recounting of events, the Monster requests that Victor creates a companion for him. Victor vehemently refuses, horrified at the thought of bringing another Monster into the world when the first one killed two people so close to him. The Monster is persuasive however, and makes promises to travel to an uninhabited place and live there with his companion for the rest of his life, never bothering Frankenstein again. Eventually realizing that he has no way of controlling the monster, Victor gives in to his demands and agrees to create a companion for the Monster.

A theme that has intrigued me in this story has been education and knowledge decreasing the quality of life of characters. Victor Frankenstein pursues the knowledge to create life from the dead, and manages his goal. Unfortunately for him, the knowledge does not improve his reputation or acclaim, but backfires and ruins his life and harming those he loves. The Monster, in the second section of the book, gathers knowledge of the world around him, and its people. But as he does this, he comes to realize how isolated he is as a freak of nature. The knowledge he gains depresses him, and eats away at his mind driving him to murder for revenge. This knowledge warps his mind and thoughts, instead of improving his life. The books he reads on human culture and nature do not draw him closer to companionship with humans, but rather pushes him farther away the more he learns.

In Volume II of Frankenstein author Mary Shelly depicts the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein in deep distress after his creation killed his younger brother William. Victor wants vengeance on the monster that killed Justine and William. In order to “seek relief” from the situation Victor goes to the valley of Chamounix. In nature the protagonist is nostalgic of his pleasant childhood. Shelly describes the sublime valley as giving the protagonist consolation. While in the wilderness Victor encounters the creature he created. The creature demands Frankenstein listen to his story and threatens to kill more people if he does not. The monster explains his journey in the wildness and the challenges he encountered when attempting to interact with humans. The creature is fascinated with everything that he sees and has a thirst for knowledge like Victor. After wandering in the woods the creature notices a cottage and observes the people in it. He calls the people in the cottage his “protectors”. The monster continues to struggle with how ugly he is, considering that is the reason why people are afraid of him. A blind man named De Lacey lives in the cottage with his family who came to Germany after being banned from France. The creature hopes to talk to De Lacey and believes because he is blind that the man will not run away in fear. One afternoon when everyone in the house left the creature talks to the blind man but the monster is then violently kicked out of the college after the children come back to see De Lacey. The monster reiterates how he wants to have a relationship, someone to sympathize with him. Then when walking through the forest during the day the creature saves the life of a girl then is shot. At this point the creature wants to get revenge on Victor for creating such an ugly monster that continues to be alienated. In search of Victor the monster goes to Geneva and finds William and explains how he killed William and framed Justine. When the creature is finished telling his story he demands that Frankenstein create an ugly female monster. The creature longs for a connection with another creature. After arguing with the monster Victor finally agrees to make another creature.

A reoccurring theme throughout the novel is the power of nature to comfort man. At times the presence of nature affects the characters in ways that human relationships cannot. While in the mountains Victor explains how the sublime sights of nature, “subdued and tranquillised[1]” his guilt. Nature is able to offer Victor relief that the relationship with his sister Elizabeth cannot give him. The creature is also enamored by nature. He explains how his, “spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature[2]”. For both Victor and the monster he created the power of nature offers the characters serenity.

A passage that stood out to me is the first time the monster feels emotion. He said, “I felt sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature: they were a mixture of pain and pleasure, such as I had never before experienced, either from hunger or cold, warmth or food; and I with drew from the window, unable to bear these emotions[3]”. I believe that the monster having emotions humanizes him and allows the reader to feel sympathy for the monster. A trait that separates humans from animals is the profound want to create deep connections and relationships. If the creature merely wanted to destroy Victor out of tribal instinct the reader would not feel as bad for the monster. Opposed to the monster wanting to harm Victor because of his inability to form relationships.

[1] Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Frankenstein (New York: Dover Publications, Inc.,1994), 66.

[2] Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Frankenstein (New York: Dover Publications, Inc.,1994), 81.

[3] Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Frankenstein (New York: Dover Publications, Inc.,1994), 75.

After Justine’s execution, Victor starts to become extremely sad and even contemplates suicide.  He is held back by the thought of Elizabeth, his father, and the beautiful scenery at his family home.  Victor then finds himself in despair once again and looks to find something pure with natural beauty so he ventures to the summit of Montanvert, where he comes across his monster.  The monster convinces Victor to come back to his ice cave and here is where the perspective changes in this book to that of the monsters.  The monster describes his acclimation to the world through sensations of light, dark, hunger, thirst, and cold.  He also discovers fire, which he learns is beneficial for food and warmth.  The monster stays away from humans because of the fear they had when they saw him.  He discovers a family who is always unhappy due to poverty and he does what he can to help them out, like gathering wood for their use.  He learns the names of his neighbors by repeating the sounds he hears from them.  Then, a woman named Safie shows up to their house and they become happier that she is around.  The monster learns the language perfectly and also learns history from Ruins of Empires.  The monster learns family and human relations, which makes him feel more pain from his isolation.  He tries to approach the blind neighbor, De Lacey, so he wouldn’t fear his exterior; however, the others come back before he could explain his situation and they are horrified so Felix drives him away.  The monster now vows his revenge against human beings and Victor in general and strangles Victor’s brother, William, to death.  The monster then implores Victor to create a female monster to be his mate, which Victor agrees to do because he feels responsible for the damage his monster has done by being his creator.

A passage that stood out to me was on the bottom of page ninety-five, where the monster says to De Lacey, “They are kind – they are the most excellent creatures in the world; but unfortunately, they are prejudiced against me.  I have good dispositions; my life has been hitherto harmless and in some degree beneficial; but a fatal prejudice clouds in their eyes, and where they ought to see a feeling and kind friend, they behold only a detestable monster.”  This quotation stood out to me because it shows the judgements that human beings jump to of something different and not of the same human beauty in their eyes of what they are accustomed to.  Anything different will be isolated or disliked in this society and it shows in this quotation.

The second half of Mary Shelley’s novella, Frankenstein, portrayed the lonely creature’s journey and attachment to an estranged family. Victor Frankenstein happened to cross paths with his creation while clearing his mind in the woods. Frankenstein listened to the tale of his creature, which created a shift in narration from Victor to the nameless creation. He began by explaining the sensations that overwhelmed him causing much confusion between touch, sight, and smell. However, his natural instincts allowed him to follow the moon, which in turn introduced him to the warmth of the fire that was left behind by travelers. Warmth becomes a constant motif in the second volume of the novella because it is essentially the feeling that he seeks in life. He soon found a hovel closely situated to a cottage that housed Mr. De Lacey, Felix, Agatha, and Safie. After months of observing the family, the creature was able to understand language, emotions, literature, and social interactions, however; he remained uninformed in mind. His yearn for a family and acceptance grew exponentially, which led him to enter the cottage one day when only blind Mr. De Lacey was home. The incidents that occurred in the house caused the creature to venture off on a tangent, destroying anything in his way. Upon helping a young girl avoid drowning, he was shot by a townsman, which even furthered his rage and self loathing. This drove him to discover the town of Geneva where Victor Frankenstein’s family once resided. While rummaging through the woods, he stumbled upon William Frankenstein and strangled the boy until he was lifeless. He even admitted to placing the evidence that helped convict Justine’s guiltiness on her while she slept in the barn. However, his encounter with Justine furthered his desire to seek companionship from a creature similar to himself. Towards the end of their conversation, the creature begs of Frankenstein to produce an additional life form that would serve as the creature’s companion.

While reading the second volume of Frankenstein, I found a passage on pages 68-69 that was emotionally moving. He creature emotionally confesses to his creator that he will not seek vengeance on Frankenstein because he is the creature’s “lord and king” and that his misfortunes had caused his benevolence to turn rotten. He claimed that he is excluded from all the bliss in life due to his unattractively superior body figure. While reading this passage it is hard not to emphasize with the creature because all he hopes for in life is to feel acceptance and the warmth of kindness from other humans.

In the second section of Mary Shelley’s novella Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein finally officially meets his creation. Frankenstein is back in Geneva with family because of his brother William’s death and one day goes exploring in the wilderness. When he finishes scaling some rocks, he notices the figure of a tall, dark person in the distance; this figure turns out to be the being he created. Instead of running away, Frankenstein starts yelling at the creature, who tells him to come to a nearby hut and listen to his story. If Frankenstein does not let him recount his life experiences, he warns, more people will be killed. Reluctantly, Frankenstein agrees, and the rest of the section is the creature telling his story. The monster talks about his time wandering the wilderness and being confused by even the most basic aspects of nature, most notably the moon. After much wandering, he came upon a cottage with a family in it and spent the rest of his time in a “hovel” next to it. From just watching the family every day, the creature learned how to read, speak, and understand French. Because he spent so much time in this hovel, it makes sense that the creature is very articulate. What was perhaps the most striking aspect of this chapter was the despair the monster felt because his appearance caused people to run away and treat him horribly. He explains to Frankenstein that he is very lonely and just wants a companion, much like Frankenstein himself. The way he describes the family shows how emotional he is, a quality he also shares with Frankenstein. At the end of this section, he demands that Frankenstein create a female companion for him who is “of the same species” and has “the same defects”[1]. After some debate, Frankenstein agrees and the creature leaves the hut.

The theme that I found most prevalent in this section was that of friendship and companionship. All the creature wants is to be accepted by others and have someone with whom to exist. This desire is very similar to that of his creator, Frankenstein, who values his friendship with Clerval and his relationship with Elizabeth more than anything. The monster’s tone in his narration shows extreme tenderness towards the family in the cottage (before Felix attacks him) and his unwavering eagerness to be close to other people. His request at the end of Chapter Seventeen further demonstrates his need for companionship and how this need reflects Victor’s own.

A passage that stood out to me is on page 91. It is in the section where the creature recounts the books he read during his time in the hovel. The book he describes in this passage is the Sorrows of Werter. What I found most interesting was his ability to analyze the texts he read even before his reading was fully developed. He applied the characters’ situations and personalities to his own, finding both similarities and differences between the two. Towards the end of the passage, the monster asks a series of questions about his origin that he was not able to answer at the time he read Werter. He questions his purpose in life and his future, both questions he also cannot answer. This passage shows the creation’s ability to read and understand literature and its application(s) to his own life. His constant self-reflection parallels Frankenstein’s: they both call themselves wretches and at some point question their life’s purpose.

[1] Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Frankenstein (New York: Dover Publications, Inc.,

1994), 104.

Frankenstein begins to take a turn towards the “monster’s” perspective in pages sixty through one hundred twenty one. While Frankenstein’s perspective still plays a role, the monster’s perspective on life is a heavy feature to this reading. The monster meets with Frankenstein and begins to discuss his life where the reader realizes what the monster has gone through. From first finding out where he was to eventually learning language, the reader can see how truly intelligent this creature is. Victor is able to realize this also and this creates a strong connection between the two when he notices all the similarities between them. Victor notices that they both share a love for sublime nature, they both are concerned with the power of knowledge, and very sensitive. The monster goes on to speak about the cottagers that he, unknowingly to them, has lived with and the role that they play in his life. With such a developed subplot, the reader can understand the connections the monster has made to these people and the role that they play to him. Except when the monster tries to approach them, he is scolded away, causing him to have vengeance towards all human beings especially Victor. The reader can feel his emotion toward the human race and how he wants to be a part of something so bad which is why he tries to convince Victor to create another being like himself. Victor is very up and down about what he wants to do but promises he will make another female creature for the monster. During this process Victor begins to have second thoughts and destroys his progress. The monster is furious, swearing to Victor he will see him on his wedding day. The chapter ends with Victor fleeing back towards Clerval until he is thought to have murdered someone in a nearby town.

A passage that really stuck out to me was in chapter 15 when the monster talks about his identity. “”Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred.” ( Pg 93) This passage stuck out to me because the monster started to realize what he truly was and how much this not only disgusted him but every one else. This is one part where the monster realizes that the knowledge he obtained has hurt him and what his personal identity is. Although he may not have a name or even a species, he knows that he is hideous and without anyone else in his species he will forever be lonely. This passage captures his emotions towards himself and shows what everyone else believes of him.