Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus

Frankenstein and Elizabeth know only “[h]armony” together. When Frankenstein is seven, his brother Ernest is born. Frankenstein becomes close friends with Henry Clerval, the son of a Geneva merchant. Clerval is “deeply read in books of chivalry and romance” and writes stories reminiscent of Arthurian tales (23).

Frankenstein has an idyllic and happy childhood. Elizabeth is “like a shrine-dedicated lamp” with her kindness (23). When Frankenstein grows “sullen,” Elizabeth comforts him. Clerval’s “noble spirit” also inspires him. Frankenstein will later enjoy reminiscing about his childhood, a time “before misfortune […] taint[s] [his] mind” (24).

Increasingly, Frankenstein yearns to learn “the secrets of heaven and earth” (23). When he is 13, Frankenstein reads the work of natural philosopher Cornelius Agrippa. When he tells his father how much he enjoyed the book, his father tells him not to “waste [his] time” on this “sad trash” (24). His father’s immediate dismissal of Agrippa only makes Frankenstein more interested.

Frankenstein reads more of Agrippa’s work and works by other similar writers. He appreciates that they are “men who had penetrated deeper and knew more” (25). In his reading, he seeks to learn “the elixir of life” and considers “what glory would attend the discovery if [he] could banish disease from the human frame” (26).

When he is 15, Frankenstein witnesses a violent storm during which lightning shatters a tree. Another witness explains electricity and, in the process, disproves Agrippa’s theories. Frankenstein is discouraged that “[a]ll that had so long engaged [his] attention suddenly grew despicable” (27). For a time, he feels disinclined to learn more about natural history. Ultimately, however, his “[d]estiny [is] too potent”—Frankenstein is meant for “utter and terrible destruction” (27).

When he is 17, Frankenstein’s parents decide to send him to the university in Ingolstadt, Germany. His departure date is delayed by his mother’s death of scarlet fever. On her deathbed, she tells Elizabeth and Frankenstein that her wish is for them to marry.

Clerval tries to convince his father to let him attend the university with Frankenstein, to no avail. As Frankenstein departs, he laments that he will now be alone to make his own friends and that he will miss his family. However, he is excited for “the acquisition of knowledge” (30).

His first morning in Ingolstadt, he meets “the Angel of Destruction” (31)—professor of natural philosophy M. Krempe, who tells him that “every instant” Frankenstein spent studying Agrippa and other alchemists “is utterly and entirely lost” (31). He writes down a list of books Frankenstein should read. Frankenstein is offended by M. Krempe’s brusqueness.

Frankenstein is enamored of another professor, M. Waldman, who tells the class that modern scientists “penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her hiding-places” (33). These scientists “have acquired new and almost unlimited powers” (33). Frankenstein wants to “explore unknown powers” and “unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation” (33). He appreciates M. Waldman’s suggestion that “modern philosophers were indebted” to the philosophers of old “for most of the foundations of their knowledge” (34). This day decides Frankenstein’s destiny.

Frankenstein begins to study natural philosophy. For two years, he does not return to Geneva. He is particularly interested in “the structure of the human frame” (36). He wants to know how life begins, so he decides to study death. Though sheltered as a child at Ingolstadt, he studies the “decay and corruption of the human body” (36). As he inspects corpses, he learns “how the fine form of man [is] degraded and wasted” (37). He ultimately discovers how to create life and is “surprised” that he “alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret” (37). He is thrilled that “[w]hat had been the study and desire of the wisest men since the creation of the world was now within [his] grasp” (37).

When planning how he will create a live being, Frankenstein decides to make it “of a gigantic stature” to ensure the minute work is easier to complete (38). He works “like a hurricane” as he attempts to break the boundary between “[l]ife and death” (38). He imagines that a “new species would bless [him] as its creator and source” (39).

As he works, he grows “pale with study” and “emaciated with confinement” (39). He witnesses “horrors” as he “dabble[s] among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay” (39). He loses “all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit” (39). His materials come from “[t]he dissecting room and the slaughter-house” (39), and he is disgusted by his own work.

Frankenstein works through the summer, not noticing the “charms of nature” (40) or the “expanding leaves—sights which before always yielded [him] supreme delight” (41). He does not contact his family. In retrospect, Frankenstein will realize that any study that “weaken[s] your affections” is “unlawful” and “not befitting to the human mind” (40). He suffers from fever and is nervous to the point where “the fall of a leaf startled” him (41).