Summary of Frankenstein

The novel opens with the letters written by Robert Walton to his sister in England explaining about his adventurous journey to the north pole. On the way he met another ambitious scientist Victor Frankenstein, who had been too weak to travel due to extreme cold and hunger and was nursed back to good health.

Victor at first describes his early childhood  in Geneva to Walton. He entered the university of Ingolstadt to study natural philosophy and chemistry. With the passage of time he developed his interest to find out the secret of life. He became so passionate to his dream of searching the secret of life that he started working on it. He spent months to create a new being out of dead human beings. After a rigorous attempt, he finally got his creation completed. When he looked at his own creation, it was so frightening and disgusting monster that  he was horrified and ran from there. He made a regret of creating the monster. He fell sick and his friend Henry took care of him.

For a change, he decided to go to Geneva, but before he set off his journey to Geneva he received a letter from his father describing that his brother was murdered. On his way to home, in the woods, he caught a glimpse of the monster. Victor was convinced that the monster had been the murderer of his brother. In Geneva, Justine a poor and gentle girl was accused of the murder of Williams and was executed. At that time, Victor felt too guilty thinking that his hideous creature had been responsible for the two innocent murders.

From Geneva, Victor went to the mountains for the vacations. He unexpectedly met the monster there and the monster narrated his journey up to that time. Moreover, he convinced Victor to create another female monster for his companionship. Victor then returns to  the Orkneys and started working on female monster reluctantly. He was about to finish his another grotesque creation, he thought of the ethics of his profession and his learnings. He looked at the window where the monster was impatiently waiting for his mate. Victor thought of the possible disaster of creating the mate for the monster and without second thought, he destroyed his creation and ran from there. The monster full of anger vowed to take revenge on the night of victor’s wedding.

Next day Victor was arrested for the murder of his own friend Henry. Shocked Victor denied any knowledge of  the murder. He knew that his friend had been the victim of monster’s revenge. When he got married to Elizabeth, he was afraid of the monster’s threat upon his life, but on the night of marriage when Victor was awake due to worry Elizabetha was killed in her chamber. Grief stricken Victor returned home with his father who also died shortly after the arrival at the village. Victor lost all his near and dear relatives. He was as alone as the monster. He then vowed to find the monster and destroy it. He found the traces of the monster towards the north. He almost caught the monster, but the sea below them swelled and the ice broke into pieces. Victor met Walton at this point and after spending some days together victor died. When the monster knew about  his creator’s death, he told Walton about his unbearable pain, sufferings, suffocation, loneliness and hatred. He too wanted to end his life along with the agony and went from there to die.