Frankenstein Synopsis By: Mary Shelley

Frame Story  The novel contains a number of "framing devices," which are stories that surround other stories, setting them up in one way or another. Robert Walton's letters to his sister frame the story that Victor Frankenstein tells to Walton, and Frankenstein's story surrounds the story that the monster tells, which in turn frames the story of the De Lacey family.

Letter 1  Letter from Robert Walton the explorer to his sister Margaret Saville  Details that he is a captain on the ship and headed to the North Pole to discover a passage to the Pacific, revealing the earths magnetism and discovering new things

Letter 2  Robert Walton writes another letter to his sister and discusses the fact that he has no friends, feels lonely and justifies his lonely passage

Letter 3  Robert Walton writes another letter to his sister and lets her know that the ship has sailed and he is excited and confident in his adventure

Letter 4  RW writes letter that details his ship getting stuck in the ice. While stuck, he encounters a man that is very sick. They offer assistance to the man; however, the man is reluctant to get on the boat. Finally, he agrees but is too sick to talk for two days- everyone on the boat is curious.  The last part of the letter states that the stranger will now tell his story. RW’s story ends

Chapter 1  The stranger is Victor Frankenstein. VF is now telling his story. He came from a good family and his family adopted a girl (who was his cousin) Elizabeth Lavenza who his mother wants him to marry

Chapter 2  Elizabeth and Victor are best friends  Discusses Henry Clerval- his best friend  He discusses the fact that he became enchanted with the mysterious natural world and science  Lightning strikes and he has electricity explained to him

Chapter 3  Plans to leave his family at 17 for schooling at Ingolstadt University  Right before he leaves his mother catches scarlet fever from Elizabeth and on her deathbed she says she wants Victor and Elizabeth to marry  Leaves for college and meets M Krempe who says all the things he studied have been wasteful  Attends Professor Waldman’s Chemistry class and his love of science returns

Chapter 4  Continues studying and realizes he is very interested in the creation of life  Begins trying to create life in his apartment and becomes so obsessed he ignores anything and everything- even his own health

Chapter 5  Months later, on a stormy night he completes his creation and brings it to life and he is terrified!  Walks into town and sees his friend Henry Clerval who ends of taking care of Victor for a few months while he is sick  Once he is feeling better, Henry gives Victor a letter from Elizabeth that came while he was sick

Chapter 6  Letter from Elizabeth expresses her concern over his lingering illness and she encourages him to write her soon  Victor introduces Henry to his professors but the thought of science and his creation makes him ill and he decides to go back home to Geneva  Henry and Victor go on a long walk through the country

Chapter 7  Still at school, Victor gets a letter from his father that says Victors younger brother, William, has been murdered  Returns home to Geneva, but he cant get in as the gates are locked. He visits the spot his brother was murdered and sees his creation and believes his creation is responsible  Justine-his adopted sister, is accused of the murder and Victor is afraid to express what he believes happened

Chapter 8  Justine knows she is innocent but confesses to the murderer because she believes it is the only way she will be spared  She is executed and Victor feels immense grief and guilt for the deaths of two members of his family

Chapter 9  Victor goes on a trip with his family to The ALPS and wanders off. As he wanders, he encounters his “creature” who wants to tell Victor his story. Victor follows him and the story begins.

Chapter 10  As he wanders to the top of a mountain, he encounters his “creature” who wants to tell Victor his story. Victor follows him and the story begins.

Chapter 11  Creature tells Frankenstein about his confusion of the world around him and how he had to learn everything first hand (speech, emotions, survival)  Discusses how it felt to be shunned by humans and how he had to take refuge in a hovel where he observes a family

Chapter 12  Observes family from his hovel for a long period of time and realizes that the family is not always happy because they are poor and have hardships, so he collects firewood for them  Sees himself for the first time and is horrified

Chapter 13  Realizes that Felix is unhappy. One day a lady, Safie appears. She does not know the language. Creature continues to observe and learns as she does

Chapter 14  Through eavesdropping he learns the history of the cottagers  Delacey is old man – all of them together make up the Delacey family  Agatha and Felix are Delacey’s children. Safie and Felix are in love  Safie’s story is that her father became obnoxious to the government, Felix helped her father escape and then the Delacey’s were thrown out of town and that is why they are in a cottage in the middle of the woods.

Chapter 15  Creature finds books in the woods, reads Paradise Lost and draws a comparison to himself  Also finds Frankenstein’s journal which detailed his work on the creation=creature  Wants friends, good heart. Waits until everyone but old man Delacey are gone from the cottage. Approaches wanting friendship and is denied that when the others show up unexpectedly

Chapter 16  Leaves for Geneva to find Victor. Swears off humans. Sees a little girl who falls into the river, saves her and is “rewarded” with a gunshot. He will never be accepted based on his looks only  Runs into William, wants him to be his companion. Ends up killing him and planting the evidence on Justine  Meets with Victor and tells him what he wants- a companion

Chapter 17  Creature wants a female companion. He guilt trips Victor into creating one for him and says that there is no need to worry, he (the creature) will be in touch with Victor  Creature swears that he will take his female companion to a remote area and they will not bother anyone  Victor feels somewhat responsible and agrees to the request

Chapter 18  Victor tries to put off the making of the creature for a while as he will need to go to England for parts  His father begins to worry about him and fears Victor may not want to marry Elizabeth. This is far from the truth and Victor asks to take a trip to England before the marriage. His father agrees and his friend Henry Clerval goes with him

Chapter 19  Victor can not get any work done with Henry along on the trip, so he encourages Henry to stay with a friend  Henry agrees to do that and Victor sets up a makeshift lab to begin his quest, even though the thought of creating another creature horrifies him

Chapter 20  While working on the second creation he begins thinking of the moral implications of creating a new creature. He is disgusted with himself and looks up to see creature peering in the window.  Realizing the horribleness of it all, he smashes the female creation to bits in front of creature  Creature is very upset and vows revenge- on Victors wedding night  As he is packing up his lab, he gets a letter from Henry who wants to continue their trip. He takes the creation and rows out to sea and sinks it and considers dying alone at sea when a storm comes; however, he ends up washing up on the shore of a town where he is greeted angrily and accused of a young mans murder

Chapter 21  The townspeople bring him to the town judge who then wants to see Victors reaction to the murdered mans body.  Victor sees the body and it is Henry Clerval with the monsters hand prints on his neck  Victor becomes very ill and is imprisoned  A visitor arrives at the prison and it is Victors father  At the trial, Victor is cleared of murder due to circumstantial evidence and returns back home to his father

Chapter 22  Victor receives a letter from Elizabeth-she is worried that he may not want to marry her. He does want to!  He wants to tell Elizabeth about creature but only once they are married. He remembers the monsters words about his wedding night  Victor and Elizabeth marry and depart for the family cottage for their “honeymoon”

Chapter 23  On the first night of their honeymoon, Creature makes true on his promise and kills Elizabeth  Victor returns home to tell his father who is so grief stricken he dies just a few days later  Victor finally tells a judge in Geneva about the monster; however, the judge does not believe him  Victor resolves to kill the creature himself

Chapter 24  His whole family is destroyed, so Victor departs for the North Pole to find creature  It is there that he tells Robert Walton his story and asks Robert to continue looking for creature even after his death  Victor dies and the crew on RW ship hears a noise in Victors room- it is creature mourning Victor  Creature says he never meant to be evil and wishes to die himself- he walks off into the darkness