Frankenstein4

A detailed Summary of Frankenstein4

Protagonist: The protagonist in the novel is Victor Frankenstein. He is the main character who contends with the conflict in the novel. His decision to create life provides a problem that he attempts to escape but eventually marks his death.

Antagonist: The antagonist in the novel is also the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein. Victor may have directed all of his hate and blame towards the monster he created, but is worst enemy lay within himself and his refusal to accept responsibility for his actions.

Conflict: The main conflict in the novel is based on the "monster" Victor Frankenstein created in his laboratory. He neglects his responsibility to the monster he created by ignoring its existence, and his cowardice leads to inner feelings of guilt and unhappiness that ultimately cause his life to unravel and the people he loves to perish. His refusal to be accountable for his action brings the misery and misfortune that constitute the foundation of the novel.

Chronology: Robert Walton writes in his first letter to his sister Margaret Saville about his desire to explore the world. His second letter then tells about his preparations for a crew and more about how he desires to explore

The pursuit of seizing control over the possibilities that lay beyond human reality constitutes the fundamental foundation of the novel Frankenstein. There is a desire in the novel to achieve greatness through means that are not plausible, such that the attempt can only bring ruin upon those that strive to attain these goals. Two men in the novel, Victor Frankenstein and Robert Walton, pursue greatness through methods that prove both immoral and illogical, leading to the near death of one, and the untimely death of the other.

Theme: There are two themes in Frankenstein. This first is related to the role of the Creator and his relationship with human beings. The message of the novel tells us that humans cannot rival God, for they do not have the authority over the creation of the life of another human being. It is not their place to decide who lives and who dies. In the novel, Victor Frankenstein's attempt to create another human being brought only misfortune and misery into his life, as if he was being punished for his attempt on divinity, thus displaying the message of the inauspicious consequences of striving to rival the heavens.

Flashback: Flashbacks are not used in the novel Frankenstein, at least not in the context by where the author takes the reader back to a certain time period in the past to relate events in the third-person viewpoint. However, it must be noted, that the vast majority of the novel is set as a sort of flashback because it consists of a character, Victor, relating the past incidents of his life in the first-person viewpoint. While this may not be considered a genuine flashback, it still deviates from the chronological order in which the novel is presented in the beginning, and thus contains some of the characteristics of a flashback.

The second theme imbedded into the novel is concerned with the acceptance of responsibility. This message proclaims that one must abide by the effects of his or her actions. One who flees or denies the results of his or her behavior will surely be plagued with guilt and despair that will never surrender until accountability is accepted. Victor, by creating the monster, owed the monster an honest effort to provide for his well-being and assure his safety. By disowning these obligations and treating the monster with disgust, Victor violates his responsibility to the monster and begins the journey down the road of sorrow and ruin that his evasions have set him upon. This theme promotes the "honesty is the best policy" that can be found in so many other works, such as The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allen Poe.

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Approximate Word count = 2995
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels