| “fearless, and therefore powerful.” – Creature 3.3 | “Beware; for I am […]” |
| “love, I will cause fear” – Creature 2.9 | “If I cannot inspire […]” |
| “but I am rather the fallen angel.” – Creature 2.2 | “I ought to be thy Adam; […]” |
| “but I am solitary and abhorred.” – Creature 2.7 | “Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; […]” |
| “The whole series of my life appeared to me as a dream” – Victor 3.4 | “[…]; I sometimes doubted if indeed it were all true, for it never presented itself to my mind with the force of reality.” |
| “I am alone.” – Creature 3.7 | “The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; […]” |
| “misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.” – Creature 2.2 | “I was benevolent and good; […]” |
| “heaven and earth that I desired to learn” – Victor 1.2 | “It was the secrets of […]” |
| “vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” – Victor 1.5 | “For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream […]” |
| “No: from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me and sent me forth to this insupportable misery.” – Creature 2.8 | “There was non among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies? […]” |
| “they all died by my hands.” Victor 3.5 | “William, Justine, and Henry- […]” |
| “I have no friend, Margaret:” – Walton Letter 2 | “[…] when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy” |
| “knowledge and wisdom”, “may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been.” – Victor Letter 4 | “You seek for […], as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes […]” |
| “how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge” – Victor 1.4 | “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, […]” |
| “pour a torrent of light into our dark world.” – Victor 1.4 | “Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and […]” |
| “instantly informed me that it was the wretch, the filthy daemon to whom I had given life.” – Victor 1.7 | “A flash of lightning illuminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect, more hideous than belongs to humanity, […]” |
| “bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us.” – Creature 2.2 | “All men hate the wretched; how then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art […]” |
| “a blot upon the earth from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?” – Creature 2.5 | “When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, a monster, […]” |
| “be of the same species and have the same defects. This being you must create.” – Creature 2.8, cliffhanger ending | “I am alone, and miserable; man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must […]” |
| “You can blast my other passions, but revenge remains” & “tyrant and tormentor” – Creature 3.3 | “[…] – revenge, henceforth dearer than light of food! I may die, but first you, my […], shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery.” |
| “banished myself forever from my native country and wandered a friendless outcast over the earth than have consented to this miserable marriage.” – Victor 3.5 | “If for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish intention of my fiendish adversary, I would rather have […]” |
| “I had prepared only my own death, I hastened that of a far dearer victim.” – Victor 3.5 | “But, as if possessed of magic powers, the monster had blinded me to his real intentions; and when I thought that […]” |
| “when all human kind sinned against me?” – Creature 3.7 | “Was there no injustice in this? Am I to be thought the only criminal, […]” |
| “tranquility and avoid ambition” – Victor 3.7 | “Seek happiness in […]” |
| “an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven” – Walton Letter 1 | “I feel my heart glow with […]” |
| “my soul which I do not understand.” – Walton Letter 2 | “There is something at work in […]” |
| “determined heart and resolved will of man?” – Walton Letter 3 | “What can stop the […]” |
| “pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.” – Frankenstein 1.3 | “So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein — more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will […]” |
| “the principle of life proceed?” – Victor 1.4 | “Whence, I often asked myself, did […]” |
| “a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success.” – Victor 1.4 | “No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like […]” |
| “the miserable monster whom I had created.” – Victor 1.5 | “I beheld the wretch – […]” |
| “I was shut out from intercourse with them, except through means which I obtained by stealth” – Creature 2.5 | “I admired virtue and good feelings and loved the gentle manners and amiable qualities of my cottagers, but […]” |
| “form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?” – Creature 2.7 | “Accursed creator! Why did you […]” |
| “shone in mockery” – Creature 2.8 | “The cold stars […]” |
| “havoc and destruction around me, and then to have sat down and enjoyed the ruin.” – Creature 2.8 | “I, like the arch-fiend, bore a hell within me, and finding myself unsympathized with, wished to tear up the trees, spread […]” |
| “those whom we have lost to those who yet live.” 3.5 | “Heavy misfortunes have befallen us, but let us only cling closer to what remains, and transfer our love for […]” |
| “pride of wisdom! Cease; you know not what it is you say.” 3.6 | “‘Man,’ I cried, ‘how ignorant art thou in thy […]” |
| “endure the violence of the change without torture such as you cannot even imagine.” – Creature 3.7 | “My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not […]” |
| “the last of human kind whom these eyes will ever behold.” – Creature 3.7 | “Farewell! I leave you, and in you […]” |
| “ice, which closed in the ship on all sides” Walton letter 4 | “Last Monday (July 31st) we were nearly surrounded by […]” |
| “Strange and harrowing must be his story, […]” Walton letter 4 | “[…] frightful the storm which embraced the gallant vessel on its course and wrecked it – thus!” |
| “I beheld the accomplishments of my toils.” – Frankenstein 1.5 | “It was on a dreary night of November that […]” |
| “grief and fear again overcame me.” – Frankenstein 1.7 | “Yet, as I drew nearer home, […]” |
| “dark mountains, I felt still more gloomily.” – Frankenstein 1.7 | “Night also closed around; and when I could hardly see the […]” |
| “I foresaw obscurely that I was destined to become the most wretched of human beings.” – Frankenstein 1.7 | “The picture appeared a vast and dim scene of evil, and […]” |
| “He was soon borne away by the waves, and lost in darkness and distance.” – Walton 3.7 (last line) | “He sprung from the cabin window, as he said this, upon the ice raft which lay close to the vessel. […]” |
| “lake, making it appear like a vast sheet of fire” – Frankenstein 1.7 | “Vivid flashes of lightning dazzles my eyes, illuminating the […]” |
| “more hideous than belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it as the wretch, the filthy daemon to whom I had given life.” – Frankenstein 1.7 | “A flash of lightning illuminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect, […]” |
| “Inspirited by this wind of promise, my day dreams become more fervent and vivid.” – Walton letter 1 | “This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. […]” |
| “original era of my being; all the events of that period appear confused and indistinct” – Creature 2.3 | “It is with considerable difficulty that I remember the […]” |
| “death she was to be mine only.” – Frankenstein 1.1 (last line) | “my more than sister, since till […]” |
| “immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.” – Frankenstein 1.2 (last line) | “Destiny was too potent, and her […]” |
| “engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit of some discoveries which I hoped to make.” – Frankenstein 1.4 | “Two years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was […]” |
| “effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world.” – Introduction | “Supremely frightful would be the […]” |
| “my day dreams have become more fervent and vivid.” – letter 1 | “Inspirited by this wind of promise, […]” |
| “when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate in my joy” – letter 2 | “I have no friend, Margaret: […]” |
| “heart and resolved will of man?” – letter 3 | “What can stop the determined […]” |
| “the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been.” – Frankenstein, letter 4 | “You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that […]” |
| “joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded.” – Creature | “I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from […]” |
| “very existence of the species of man a condition precarious and full of terror.” – Victor | “A race of devils would be propogated upon the earth who might make the […]” |
| “pursued nature to her hiding-places.” – Victor | “unrelaxed and breathless eagerness, I […]” |
| “malignant than her mate… And delight, for its own sake, in murder and wretchedness.” – Victor | “she might become ten thousand times more […]” |
| “fought and conquered, and who know not what it is to turn their backs on the foe.” – Victor | “Oh! Be men, or be more than men… Return as heroes who have […]” |
| “cowardice and indecision; I come back ignorant and disappointed.” – Walton | “Thus are my hopes blasted by […]” |
| “tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged.” – Victor | “trembling with passion, [I…]” |
| “grown pale with study” – Victor | “my cheek had […]” |
| “grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay” – Victor | “dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the […]” |
| “disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame.” – Victor | “collected bones from charnel-houses and […]” |
| “bless me as its creator and source” – ch4 | “A new species would […]” |
| “dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room” – ch5 | “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the […]” |
| “fair exotic is sheltered by the gardener” – How Victor describes his mother, objectified as an “exotic” flower. | “He strove to shelter her, as a […]” |
| “exquisitely beautiful.” | “She [Justine] was dressed in mourning, and her countenance, always engaging, was rendered, by the solemnity of her feelings, […]” |
| “yet I see no room for hope.” – Justine ch8 | “I commit my cause to the justice of my judges, […]” |
| “I became nervous to a most painful degree” | “Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and […]” |
| “instigated me to toil and revenge” – Victor, supernatural | “The spirits of the dead hovered round and […]” |
| “helpless, and alone.” | “I was wretched, […]” |
| “when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the cottagers, I abstained” – Creature | “I had been accustomed, during the night, to steal a part of their store for my own consumption, but […]” |
| “sublime ecstasy that gave wings to the soul and allowed it to soar” – Victor & the setting | The “unstained snowy mountain-top” “filled me with a […]” |
| “some entirely destroyed, others bent” – foreshadows Creature, could link to the “utterly destroyed” “beautiful oak” after a “flash of lightning” from ch2 | “trees lie broken and strewed on the ground, […]” |
| “whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery” – Victor (a double to the creature’s “I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend” | “I was their plaything and their idol, and something better – their child, the innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven, […] |
| “restore happiness to these deserving people” – Ch12, Creature mirrors Frankenstein’s well-meaning desire to “renew life”. | “I thought (foolish wretch!) that it might be in my power to […]” |
| “I almost began to think that I was the monster that he said I was.” – Justine mirrors Creature | “Ever since I was condemned, my confessor has besieged me, he threatened and menaced, until […]” |
| “beauties of the setting sun” – Clerval mirrors the Creature: “My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature” | “Joyful when he saw the […]” |
| “yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.” ch5 | “I saw the dull […]” |
| “nearly fulfilled” – Victor, cyclical theme of fate | “My fate is […]” |
| “the miserable monster whom I had created.” | “I beheld the wretch, […]” |
| “What was I?” – The creature | “Who was I? […]” |
| “monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification.” – The creature | “At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the […]” |
| “animated smiles of the charming Arabian, were not for me.” – The creature, 2.5 | “The gentle words of Agatha and the […]” |
| “uncouth and inarticulate sounds which broke from me frightened me into silence again.” – the Creature, Glenn Ligon ‘Study for Frankenstein 1992’ | “Sometimes I wished to express my sensations in my own mode, but the […]” |
| “superstition or to have feared the apparition of a spirit.” – Frankenstein, 1.4 | “I do not ever remember to have trembled at a tale of […]” |
| “dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick. I could have torn him limb from limb, as the lion rends the antelope. But my heart sank within me as with bitter sickness, and I refrained.” – Creature, 2.7 | “Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore me from his father, to whose knees I clung, in a transport of fury, he […]” |
| “Do you share my madness?” – Victor | “Unhappy man! […]” |
| “I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms” – Victor, 1.5 | “her features appeared to change, and I thought that […]” |
| “such loathsome yet appalling hideousness.” – Walton, 3.7, Shelley breaks the framing structure by having Walton see the creature himself without the narrative of Frankenstein, brings the horror of the gothic monster closer to the reader. | “Never did I behold a vision so horrible as his face, of […]” |
| “I am interrupted.” 3.7 | What Walton quote shows Shelley attempting to disturb her audience with a disruption in the narrative? |
| “companion had lighted, he thus began his tale.” – 2.2 | “seating myself by the fire which my odious […]” |
Frankenstein Key Quotes
February 19, 2020