Frankenstein Chapter 17 - The End Flashcards
Prose Revision
Where does Victor go to create the female companion?
The Orkney Islands
Where are the Orkney islands?
They are a group of islands off the Scottish north coast.
What is the significance of Victor going to ‘the remotest of the Orkneys’ (page 125) to create the female companion?
It shows that what he’s doing is immoral and therefore must take place far outside of mainstream society.
‘the ____________ of the Orkneys’ (page 125)
remotest
Which phrase does Victor repeat to describe his creation of the female companion?
‘my labour’ (page 125/126)
What is significant about Victor describing his creation of the female companion as ‘my labour’?
It shows his reluctance to do it, in that he views it as hard and unpleasant work.
Why are the lakes of Geneva compared to ‘the play of an infant’, in contrast to the Orkneys?
It shows that Victor sees Geneva, his childhood home, as a place of innocence, whereas the Orkneys are a much darker and foreboding environment.
Which word (beginning with m) does Victor repeat when describing the Orkney islands and its inhabitants?
miserable, e.g. ‘miserable cows’/ ‘miserable huts’/ ‘most miserable penury’ (page 125)
How is the ocean surrounding the Orkney islands presented?
Ferocious and wild. Shelley personifies it - e.g. the ‘roarings of the giant ocean’ as a violent, animalistic force. This unpleasantness represents the darkness of the deeds that take place there.
‘___________ of the giant ocean’ (page 125)
roarings
Victor ultimately destroys the female companion because he fears it could lead to a ‘race of _____________’ (page 127)
devils
When Victor destroys the female companion, what does The Monster warn him - ‘I will be with you on your ________ night’ (page 129)
wedding
After discarding the remains of the female companion in the sea, Victor falls asleep in his boat and somehow floats to….?
Ireland
When Victor awakes in Ireland, he is immediately arrested for murder. When shown the body he straightaway realises it is…?
Henry Clerval
Who kills Elizabeth and when does this take place?
The Monster kills Elizabeth - as warned earlier in the novel, this takes place on her and Victor’s ‘wedding night’ (page 127)
How does Alphonse Frankenstein (Victor’s father) die?
He dies in a state of intense grief as a result of Elizabeth’s death.
In Walton’s final letters, what phrase does he repeat three times to convey the vastness and immensity of the arctic wilderness?
‘mountains of ice’ (page 162 - 163)
How does Walton’s view of the arctic change by the end of the novel?
He realises the power and unpredictability of the arctic, a setting that in his opening letters he had described as ‘obedient’ (page 19)
At the end of the novel, how does Shelley present the arctic as a deeply restrictive and claustrophobic setting
She describes how the men are ‘encompassed by peril’ (page 162), ‘surrounded by mountains of ice’ (page 162) and ‘immured in ice’ (page 163)
Who says: ‘learn my miseries, and do not seek to increase your own’ (160)?
Victor to Walton, suggesting, to an extent, he does learn from his transgressions.
How does Walton respond when his crew demands that, if the ice melts, they sail south and head for home?
He agrees, saying, ‘I cannot withstand their demands. I cannot lead them unwillingly to danger’ (page 165)
‘if we are lost, my ________ schemes are the cause’ (page 162)
mad
‘Farewell, Walton! Seek happiness in ___________ and avoid ambition’ (page 166)
tranquility
What are Victor’s last words to Walton? ‘Farewell, Walton! Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ________’ (page 166)
ambition
At the end of the novel, how does Victor die?
Victor dies from pneumonia whilst aboard Walton’s ship.
Who says the following: ‘if we are lost, my mad schemes are the cause’ (page 162)?
Walton, reflecting on how if his crew die trapped in the arctic ice he is ultimately to blame.
At the end of the novel, how does The Monster die?
The Monster doesn’t actually die in the novel - he floats away on an ice raft promising to ‘ascend my funeral pile…and exult in the agony of the torturing flames’ (page 170)
