| My ardour was indeed the astonishment of the students, and my proficiency that of the masters | Victor perceives himself surpassing all others at the University, and emphasises his A word…. (my…masters) |
| with how many things are we upon the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries | Condemns the failures of others in his field, in a similar way to Walton lamenting the crapness of his crew. (with…inquiries) |
| a spirit of almost supernatural enthusiasm | What allows Victor, superman as he is, to continue with his undertakings. (a…sm) |
| To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death | Demonstrating the inextricable link between death and life of which the Creature is a result. (To…death) |
| I was led to examine the cause and progress of this decay, and forced to spend days and nights in vaults and charnel houses | Poor old Victor has to do all his ‘profane’ ‘unhallowed’ work. (I…houses) |
| I paused, examining and analysing all the minutiae of causation, as exemplified in the change from life to death, and death to life, until from the midst of this darkness a sudden light broke upon me – a light so brilliant and wondrous, yet so simple | The moment of his epiphany, after complex detailed examination. The symbolism of knowledge as light. Arrogance clearly displayed. (i…simple) |
| the creation of a being like myself | Godlike intentions, in terms of appearance. Would fail miserably. Or does he? (the…myself) |
| A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me | Wishes for the future of his Creation. Poignantly ironic expectation of love and gratitude. Godlike aspirations. Dialogue of species and race. (a…me) |
| No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs | His expectations of parenthood, mirroring his own experience but belying what is to come. (No…theirs) |
| my person had become emaciated with confinement | Physical effects of his solitary pursuits. Falling apart, nearing death as the Creature nears life. (my…confinement) |
| the moon gazed on my midnight labours, while, with unrelaxed and breathless eagerness, I pursued nature to her hiding places. | Personification of moon stressing isolation from humans. Horrible cruelty to nature; invasion of her privacy. Potential sexual overtones. (the…places) |
| seemed to have lost all soul and sensation but for this one pursuit | Blurring of ego and id. Becoming almost a droid, losing humanity as Creature gains his? But does the Creature have a soul? Raises this key question. (seemed…pursuit) |
| often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation | His loathing of the task, which as an affront to all that is human – and to the natural order of things. (often… occupation) |
| if no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with the tranquillity of his domestic affections, Greece had not been enslaved; Cæsar would have spared his country; America would have been discovered more gradually; and the empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed | The historical consequences of masculine ambition. Accords with the Creature’s fave books. (if…destroyed) |
| doomed by slavery to toil in the mines | How Victor sees himself during his undertakings – relates to themes of destiny, slavery, labour, and isolation from nature. (doomed…mines) |
| I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime | Raising question of guilt. Solitude. Implies the guilt he will come to feel – and that he is deserving of it. (I…crime) |
| With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony. | Victor prepares to ‘give birth.’ Assonant ‘a’s. (with…agony) |
| rain pattered dismally | The weather at the time of the birth. (r…ly) |
| I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! — Great God! | Victor’s aesthetic expectations compared with reality – and a supplication to the almighty. (I…God!) |
| muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me | Victor’s rather biased and somewhat unfair condemnation of the Creature’s first – Adam-like – interactions: an unreliable narrator? (muttered…me) |
| ‘wretched’ – alienated – ‘wretch’ – marginally human – ‘monster’ – inhuman – ‘daemon’ – antihuman | The Creature’s shifting nomenclature, which foreshadows his shift from miserable to evil. |
| because he knows a frightful fiend doth close behind him tread | Last line of The Ancient Mariner section Victor recites as he flees the Creature. Gothic. (because…tread) |
| a voyage of discovery to the land of knowledge | What Clerval snr has allowed Henry to go on. Very resonant for story’s audience. (a…knowledge) |
| I thought I saw the dreaded spectre glide into the room | Victor’s supernatural hallucinations, of a Gothic nature. Dehumanising Creature – and making it seem like a spirit, dead, when it has only just received life. (I…room) |
| unbounded and unremitting attentions of my friend | Clerval’s attention to his ill friend. (unbounded…friend) |
| It was a divine spring; and the season contributed greatly to my convalescence | Spring’s effect on Victor – while the burgeoning of nature has a similar effect on his estranged Creature. (it…convalescence) |
| The blue lake, and snow-clad mountains, they never change; — and I think our placid home, and our contented hearts are regulated by the same immutable laws. My trifling occupations take up my time and amuse me | Elizabeth describes her domestic homelife by comparing it to the calm of the beautiful in nature. The lake is a symbol of peace and idealised childhood safety. A sort of dramatic irony, as we know that Victor has already jeopordised all this. Patronising account of a woman’s domestic role. (the…me) |
| Justine was the most grateful little creature in the world | Patronising description of Justine’s reaction to education. (Justine…world) |
| I felt as if he had placed carefully, one by one, in my view those instruments which were to be afterwards used in putting me to a slow and cruel death | Victor experiences – already – a Prometheus-like torture as Waldman discussed science. Has he lost the battle with the palpable enemy he discerned last time Waldman spoke in the novel? (I…death) |
| When you read their writings, life appears to consist in a warm sun and a garden of roses, in the smiles and frowns of a fair enemy, and the fire that consumes your own heart. How different from the manly and heroical poetry of Greece and Rome! | A description of Oriental poetry, with close links to gender differences and roles. (When…Rome!) |
| Study had before secluded me from the intercourse of my fellow-creatures, and rendered me unsocial | A passive-voiced lamentation of the effects his studies have had on him – as though it were only their fault, not his at all (study…unsocial) |
| I became the same happy creature who, a few years ago, loved and beloved by all, had no sorrow or care | After Henry has restored him to health, he experiences the exact joy that his ‘creature’ can never have. (I…care) |
| The peasants were dancing, and every one we met appeared gay and happy. My own spirits were high, and I bounded along with feelings of unbridled joy and hilarity | The concluding lines of Chapter 6 spell happiness and hyperbolic joy – evidently precluding an immense fall in the mood of the novel, just before William’s death (spoiler alert!) Possible noble savage references. (The…hilarity) |
Frankenstein Quotes – Chapters 4 – 6
February 18, 2020