Victor Frankenstein

"I am by birth a Genevese, and my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic"

- Chapter 1

Victor Frankenstein is the main protagonist and the titular character in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. He is the son of Alphose and Caroline Frankenstein, the brother of Ernest and William Frankenstein, the cousin/husband of Elizabeth Lavenza, the friend of Henry Clerval and the creator of the Monster.

While studying about science, Victor attempts to make a new discovery by reanimating a vile creature from the dead. He regrets making his creation and is about to have his life ruined.

Description
Victor Frankenstein is a tragic character with goals and expectations. Having always been interested in alchemy and philosophy, he attended university where he learns more about his subjects and looked up to his professors. But he soon regretted the subjects he enjoyed when he made the fateful decision of making the monster.

He faces a dramatic change throughout the novel. In the beginning, he was learning the basics of science and the facts of life, and towards the end, he is overwhelmed of his monster and vows to reverse the choice he had made. But his extreme ambition and exhausting journey would become his downfall. Even if he declares vengeance against the Monster, he ends up being like his creation: isolated and his innocence loss to the evil of nature.

Victor is compared to Prometheus, a Greek Titan who according to mythology, created mankind by constructing them out of clay and had the Goddess Athena breathe life into them. Prometheus was sympathetic and caring, as he helped his creations learn the aspects of survival, such as harvesting, hunting, and building their homes. However, Prometheus had stolen the fire from the Gods as knowledge and the Gods punished him for it. Victor may be like Prometheus, but his results and actions are more tragic. He discovers the facts of creating life itself, and rather than building one from scratch, he instead resurrected the living dead. Like how the Gods punished Prometheus for stealing from them, Victor was punished by the monster (or possibly from God himself) for not caring or helping his mankind creation and lost all of his loved ones closest to him.

Family History/Early Years
Victor was the firstborn child of Alphose Frankenstein and Caroline Beaufort. His ancestors were members in the government, with his father having an important political role and was a respected gentleman for his loyal dignity. He spent most of his younger years working in the community that he had little time to settle down and start a family.

Alphose befriended a merchant named Beaufort whose fell into poverty from misfortunes. He attempted to overcome his struggles and after paying his debts, he retreated to Lucerne with his daughter Caroline where he lived in misery.

Alphose was close with Beaufort and is devastated by his impoverished lifestyle. He is determined to connect with his friend again and get him back into business. Months later, Alphose found Beaufort’s home in an impoverished street near the Reuss river, where he saw Beaufort had saved what little money he had left from his misfortunes. Alphose would use the money to support himself and to look after him. 3 months later, Beaufort fell ill and Caroline attended him, as well as working in the fields but is unable to earn enough money to overcome their troubles.

Several months pass, and Beaufort’s health deteriorates. Caroline spends all of her time nursing him and unable to work. Within 10 months, Beaufort died in his daughter’s arms and Caroline is left a penniless orphan. Alphose found her grieving over her father’s coffin, and offered to care for her. After Beaufort was laid to rest, Alphose became Caroline’s personal guardian, and two years later they were married.

Alphose devoted himself into protecting his wife and caring for her after the traumatic events she had been through. He left his job from the government and the couple settled in Italy. They traveled to Germany and France, and their first child, Victor, was born in Naples. From his infancy, Victor accompanied his parents on their travels and for severals years was their only child. They loved him with affection, and Caroline longed to have a daughter.

When he was 4-5 years old, a young girl named Elizabeth Lavenza came into his family life. In the 1818 edition, Elizabeth is Victor's cousin who was taken into the family after the death of her mother. In the 1830 edition, she was discovered by Caroline among a group of orphaned children in Italy, adopts the girl and brings her home. Both Victor and Elizabeth grew up together, and they became close companions. Several years later, Victor's two younger brothers were born: Ernest and then the youngest William.

Victor's childhood was happy and blissful. He also had a close friend and schoolmate named Henry Clerval. Growing up, Victor was interested in natural philosophy and alchemy, and enjoyed reading books written by famous philosophers and alchemists such as Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus and Albert Magnus. Henry also had the same interests as his friend, and they both had something in common. One stormy night, Victor witnesses a bolt of lightning strike a tree near his house. He discovers the destructive power of nature for the first time and takes an interest in electricity.

University of Ingolstadt
At age 17, Victor prepares to leave home to attend university in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. Before he was able to enroll, Elizabeth falls ill with scarlet fever, and Caroline looks after her. Elizabeth recovers, but Caroline contracts the illness and before she dies, she hopes that Victor would marry Elizabeth one day.

After coping with his mother's passing, Victor has a hard time saying goodbye to his family before he departs to Ingolstadt. At the university, he meets his professors: M. Waldman of chemistry and M. Krempe of natural philosophy. Victor was told by Krempe that his studies on the alchemists were a waste of time, and has a hard time getting along with him. But Victor looked up to Waldman and paid close attention to the professor's chemistry lectures. Afterwards, he decides he wants to study it, too.

For the next two years, he becomes focused on his research and ignores his family back home. He also began studying human anatomy and life after death. After all the research he finds, Victor is finally convinced he has found the answer to create life. In the privacy of his apartment, he starts his project by constructing a humanoid creature made from body parts he had collected from cemeteries and morgues. He completely cuts off any contact with his family and finds himself alone but obsessed. He works so hard that it nearly has a toll on his health, and it takes him months to build his project.

Bringing the Monster to Life/Tragedies
In November, Victor finally completes his "human" and brings it to life. But when he stares at his creation, he immediately recoils in disgust and terror. He imagined his human would be beautiful and perfect; but he instead made a giant, 8-feet tall hideous monster. Victor runs from the room and tries to go to bed. He is troubled by nightmares of where he kisses Elizabeth and then she transforms into the corpse of his dead mother. He wakes up to find the Monster standing at the foot of his bed and runs out of the apartment and onto the streets of Ingolstadt.

While wandering around aimlessly and avoiding his "haunted" apartment, he runs into Clerval, who has also enrolled at the university and brings him back to his apartment. When they arrive, he fearfully looks around for the Monster, but is relieved when it is gone. But Victor has become so weak and delirious from all the hard labor he has endured the past few months that he has a nervous breakdown, and was shaken from seeing the hideous creature. He suffers a high fever and spent the whole winter recovering while his friend took care of him. When spring arrived, Victor was feeling better and receives a letter from Clerval written to him by Elizabeth from back home.

The letter explains several updates that had happened while Victor was away, including about a family friend named Justine Moritz moving back into the family's household after losing her mother; since she lived with the Frankenstein's as a child after her own family rejected her. This makes him cheerful again and he immediately writes back.

Once Victor has recovered, he introduces Clerval to his professors. Despite being praised by them, Victor feels very unsettled whenever he sees anything that is related to natural philosophy, as it reminds him of how he created the monster. Both men study foreign languages together, and when the end of their term is near, Victor goes out for a walk with Clerval in the countryside of Germany and he feels calm and comforted by the beauty of nature. He plans to return home in the fall, but extreme weather made the trip home impossible, and was forced to stay until May.

Upon returning to the university, Victor finds a letter from his father with tragic news. His youngest brother William has been murdered, and he makes his way back home as soon as possible. But once he gets there, it was getting dark as a storm appears, and the Geneva gates have been closed. He was forced to spend the night outside in the woods. He sees lightning strike over the mountainous peaks of Mont Blanc and comes across the area where his brother's body has been found, where he spots a figure resembling his creation lurking near the crime scene. He believes the Monster is the one who killed William.

The next day, when Victor arrives at his family home, Ernest informs him of even more tragic news; Justine Moritz has been accused of William's murder. The boy's locket was found in her apron pocket by the police and most of the evidence points out against her. Victor tries to proclaim Justine's innocence, but couldn't explain everything himself because no one may believe him and think him insane. He even wishes he could confess in her place while at her trial.

Justine was convicted and sentenced to death. Victor talks to a court member and finds out that she has confessed. He and Elizabeth visit her in her prison cell, with the girl saying she had confessed a lie and was ready to meet her fate. She was executed the following morning, and Victor is filled with shame that he has indirectly caused the deaths of two innocent loved ones.

Meeting the Monster Again
Following the tragedies, Victor becomes severely depressed and has thoughts of suicide. The Frankenstein's travel to their vacation home in Belrive, where even the natural beauty doesn't lift Victor's spirits. Elizabeth has told him that she may be losing her innocence after witnessing the tragedies that had befallen on their family. He cannot reveal the truth to his family about the "true murderer".

Victor travels to Chamonix, France, a place he enjoyed visiting as a boy. He is delighted by Chamonix's beauty, and it brings him back good memories. But he felt miserable again when he watched a rainstorm outside of the family cottage while his father and cousin were asleep. He decides to go exploring one bleak morning and climbs up the summit of Montanvert, surrounded by glaciers. He looks out at the view, but his peace was disturbed when he sees a large man running towards him. When he sees it was the Monster, Victor becomes angry and curses the creature, wishing for its destruction. His creation eloquently reminds him he is his offspring and begs him to hear him out, to which Victor does. He is taken inside a glacier cave and while sitting by a fire, he listens as the Monster narrates how he was always rejected and scaring others because of his terrifying, ugly appearance, and that he tried to be kind and generous to the humans, but had failed. Victor was pleaded by the Monster to make him a female companion just like him so he will never be alone.

He originally resents that idea, as he feared the two manmade monsters would cause more death and destruction to others, and the Monster claims his miserable loneliness was caused by his creator. If Victor does make a female mate, both monsters would flee to South America and disappear from humans forever. Feeling compassionate but still having intense hatred towards it, Victor agrees to make a second creation, and the Monster would watch his progress.

Victor goes to England/Scotland
After meeting the Monster again, Victor questions himself of his wisdom of making a female creature and fulfilling the Monster's request, so he would put the project on hold. He also finds out that in order to require more information on the creation, he would have to travel to England for some research. He is still racked with guilt and depression over the deaths of William and Justine, as well as being horrified of the unexpected task he finds himself forcing to do. His father notices his son's stress and convinces him that marrying Elizabeth would put his depression at ease. Victor agrees on that idea, since he loves her as his future wife, not just as his adoptive sister, and is the only source of happiness in his life. When asked by Alphose if he marries immediately to cure the family's sorrow, he refuses and wouldn't marry her until he has created the female companion for the Monster. He would use the trip to England as an excuse to place the wedding on delay.

Victor arranges for his journey to England in August, which would be about a two-year tour. He would be accompanied by Clerval, since he is wanting to still pursue his studies and Alphose and Elizabeth wanted him to go with him for his friend's safety. Victor is happy that his friend is coming with him, and in Clerval's presence, he would be safe from the Monster. He promises Elizabeth they will marry as soon as he returns home.

Victor and Clerval travel through Germany and Holland on the Rhine before arriving in London in October. They stay in the city throughout the winter, and Victor continues to be miserable. He avoids the townsfolk, unless they may have some information on how to make a second monster. He becomes more impatient in wanting to get the task done.

In March, the two friends travel to Scotland, but when they get there, Victor urges Clerval to stay behind in a local town. Once the men parted, Victor travels alone to the Orkney Islands where he sets up a laboratory in an abandoned shack and starts work to complete the female creation. He has a hard time progressing, knowing just how grotesque and hideous a female monster would be. One night, while working in the lab, Victor starts thinking what would happen if the female monster came to life. He is afraid of the fearsome consequences, such as the female creature not wanting to seclude herself from humans, or she and the Monster would produce offspring he calls "a race of devils". When Victor looks up, he sees the Monster smiling at him through the window. In a fit of rage and fear, he tears apart the unfinished project. The Monster becomes upset and disappears, while Victor leaves his lab and stays in a room.

Hours later, the Monster comes back into Victor's room. He angrily scolds his creator for breaking his promise and warns him "I shall be with you on your wedding night". After the Monster leaves, Victor is worried that his creation’s sworn vow would mean his own death, and would leave Elizabeth alone as a widow. The following night, he receives a letter from Clerval, telling him he is waiting for him in Perth and they would continue their travels in India.

Victor cleans up the laboratory and two days later, he takes a boat and rows off the island. He dumps the rest of the female monster's remains in the ocean water and falls asleep in the boat. But when he wakes up, a strong storm occurs and the winds prevent him from going back to shore. He fears that his boat will be blown far out into the Atlantic Ocean and he would die at sea. Before long, the winds change and Victor reaches a shore in Ireland, joyful to be alive. When he lands, the townsfolk greet him rudely and accuse him of a murder committed the previous night. He is arrested and taken to the local magistrate Mr. Kirkwin.

At the magistrate's office, Victor hears the witnesses testify against him, claiming they found the body of a young man washed ashore. They thought he had drowned but saw he had black marks on his neck, as if he had been strangled. Around the same time, they discovered a boat at sea that resembled a lot of Victor's. He is brought by Mr. Kirkwin to see the body. When he sees that it was Clerval, he falls into convulsions and suffers a long illness for two months. During this time and while still delirious, he confesses in his own language that he was the killer and fantasizes the Monster coming after him. After he regains some of his health, he saw that he was imprisoned but a nurse and doctor had treated him. Mr. Kirkwin became more sympathetic towards Victor as he visits him in his cell, and informs him he has a visitor. Victor fears it was the Monster, but it was Alphose who arrives. He tells him of the family back home and came to him after finding out about Clerval's death. Victor is overjoyed to see his father again and begins to improve.

Two weeks later, Victor is released since the court does not have any evidence against him, and both he and his father make their way back home to Geneva. On the way, they stop in France for Victor to regain most of his strength. He doesn't feel like he has the right to engage in society when Alphose is wanting to help him.

Victor's Final Happy Day
While travelling in France, Victor tells his father he is responsible for the deaths of William, Justine and Clerval, but Alphose thinks him insane and Victor doesn’t say anything more about it. He receives another letter from Elizabeth while staying in Paris. She is worried that he may be in love with someone else during his absence but still loves and understands him. Victor remembers the vow the Monster made that he will be with him on his wedding night, and decides that if he either kills the Monster or it kills him, he would at least be free from his suffering and would resolve to fight back if it is planning to attack him. He writes back that he wants to marry immediately, but adds that he has a disturbing secret he will tell her the day after their wedding.

Victor and Alphose arrive at Geneva a week later, and as the wedding preparations are being made, he gets more anxious about his pending confrontation with his creation. Elizabeth is worried about him, but he assures her everything will be fine soon. 10 days later, Victor and Elizabeth marry and set sail to their honeymoon at a cottage in Lake Como before planning to go to Cologny afterwards. Victor's thoughts of the Monster's attack dissolves his happiness and his new wife attempts to cheer him up with the beauty of nature, but it doesn't help him. As he travels through the landscape of Mont Blanc, Victor has no idea that these happy moments were to be his last.

At sunset, the couple arrive at Evian and a storm starts to brew as they walk to the cottage. By the time they arrive, it has started to rain and Victor urges Elizabeth to go to bed. He arms himself with a pistol and walks up and down the halls, afraid that the Monster would strike at any moment. He suddenly hears Elizabeth scream in terror, and after hearing her scream a second time, he rushes to her room. He finds her on the floor strangled and he faints in shock. He was consoled by several people in the inn but when he approaches Elizabeth, she was confirmed dead. He sees the Monster outside smiling and shoots him with his pistol but misses. The Monster flees and everyone else looks for the murderer. As Victor grieves over Elizabeth's body, he realizes all along that it was his bride that was actually targeted by his creation; not himself.

Fearing for his father and brother Ernest, Victor returns to Geneva. He’s relieved they are both fine, but Alphose dies in his arms from grief after hearing the news of Elizabeth's death a few days later. Victor becomes insane and was placed in a cell for several months. After regaining his senses, he tells his whole story to the local magistrate and hopes he will avenge his family's deaths on the Monster. The magistrate listens but doesn't believe him and thinks chasing down the murderer would be impossible. Victor then devotes his entire life to finding the Monster and destroying it for good. He also curses the magistrate and all of humanity for being ignorant of his suffering.

Chase to the Arctic/Victor and Walton
Victor decides to leave Geneva forever, as his painful, tragic memories are now associated with his once happy home. He gathers some money and jewels belonging to his late mother that he would need and departs on his journey. On the way, he stops in the Geneva cemetery one night where Alphose, Elizabeth and William are buried and views their graves. As he vows revenge, he hears the Monster's laughter and calling him a "miserable wretch". He goes after the Monster, but it disappears in the darkness.

For months, Victor tracks down his creation across the globe. He would often find taunting messages left behind by the Monster, offering him clues of its whereabouts. The pursuing continues until Victor reaches the Arctic, where he learns from the Russian locals that a giant man had stolen some food and a dogsled. He takes a sled with a pack of dogs and uses them to travel across the ice floes after the Monster. He is unsure if he would survive the brutal conditions of the Arctic Circle, but he presses on anyway.

After days of chasing, he was nearly close to the Monster when the ice between them breaks, leaving him stranded with most of his dogs already dead. Victor himself is on the brink of death from exposure when a ship appears, and the captain Robert Walton and his crew witnessed some of the chase. When asked for help, Victor refuses but when he was told the ship was going up North, he agrees to let the captain bring him on board. As Victor recovers inside the cabin, he is constantly questioned by the crew of his presence in the Arctic but Walton stops them from bothering him. Before long, Victor develops a friendship with the captain, who is travelling to the Arctic to pursue knowledge and discoveries. He tells Walton he has lost everything and cannot restart his life but the next day, he decides to use the opportunity to tell his whole story to Walton.

Death
After concluding his narrative, Victor knows that he will not survive much longer and makes Walton promise that if he dies, he will kill the Monster for him. During this time, the friends talk about different subjects and Victor even arranges all of his narratives notes written down in Walton’s letters. He refuses to tell the captain how he made the Monster and even tried to teach him lessons he learned from his failed ambition that victimized him. He does accept being a friend to Walton, though his only goal left is to destroy his creation.

A few days later, Walton's ship is stuck around the ice and the crew constantly convince their captain to give up his expedition and leave the Arctic when it clears up. Victor even tells the men that they should return home as heroes, and hopes their bravery would return to motivate their goal.

The men are moved by Victor's speech, but after 2 days, they again urge Walton to turn the ship around and leave. As the captain finally consents and his ship goes back South, Victor says to his friend that unlike him, who was forced to abandon his quest, he still wants to complete his goal of finishing off the Monster. He tries to get out of bed, but is too weak. A doctor is summoned and tells him he has only a few hours left to live.

Now on his deathbed, Victor tells Walton about his past being blameless for creating the Monster and not making a companion for it. His creation had made him responsible and should have accepted his duty for humanity. He once again asks Walton to destroy the creature if he ever sees it, then he dies.

Personality/Appearance
Victor starts life as innocent and naïve, as well as being blissful. He was affectionally loved and care for by his family, and he was originally free and unaware of the dangers and corruptions of life he would encounter later on. Whenever he is with his friend Henry Clerval and adoptive sister Elizabeth Lavenza, Victor is always happy and cheerful, as when they are in his presence, they make him enjoy life.

As Victor matures into an adult, he is fascinated with studies of alchemy and science he was interested in as a child, and wanted to make more discoveries of it. He is curious of what answers they would hold and trying them out for himself. After entering university, Victor becomes more intelligent and focused on his subjects, and before long, finds himself being an expert on his research. He even develops a love for science as he believes could improve something on his goals and expectations. When he starts building the Monster, he is very hard-working and determined, since he hopes that the "human" he makes would be like what he imagines.

Besides his knowledge and diligence, Victor is also weak, cowardly and reckless, which would contribute to his demise. He is so horrified by his Monster, that he can hardly look at it without shuddering. The very sight of the Monster often makes him sick and feverish, even thinking it and its actions makes him feel worse. Victor's constant fear makes him fail to keep his family and friends safe, and he had also failed to help the Monster fit into society or even teach it how to be more human. In addition, he is unaware of how his creation secretly follows his every step, and when he leaves his loved ones alone, he indirectly allows them to be vulnerable to the Monster's murderous attacks. When pleaded by his creation to make him a female monster, Victor is reluctant to accept the request, as he fears of the consequences when he does fulfill his task, and is even more worried when the Monster threatens death and destruction if he refuses. He ends up selfishly deciding that he would not allow any of this to happen, and his careless acts allows the Monster to cause more chaos.

Whenever his creation destroys anyone he truly loves, Victor falls into a fit of depression. He has thoughts of ending his life and will forever be racked with guilt of indirectly causing their deaths without saving them. His loved ones convince him to look at the beauty of nature and be cheered up. When he and Henry walked through the German countryside, he is astounded by its immense beauty and it temporarily brought back peace into his mind and soul. Towards the end of the novel, however, his constant fears and anxiety don't help restore him. Victor's depression also causes him to spiral into insanity. After discovering the deaths of Henry and Elizabeth, he would fall into convulsions and be mad with grief that he had to be confined until he regains his senses.