Frankenstein Characters Flashcards
The doomed protagonist and narrator of the main portion of the story. Studying in Ingolstadt, he discovers the secret of life and creates an intelligent but grotesque monster, from whom he recoils in horror. He keeps his creation of the monster a secret, feeling increasingly guilty and ashamed as he realizes how helpless he is to prevent the monster from ruining his life and the lives of others.
Victor Frankenstein
The eight-foot-tall, hideously ugly creation of Victor Frankenstein. Intelligent and sensitive, the monster attempts to integrate himself into human social patterns, but all who see him shun him. His feeling of abandonment compels him to seek revenge against his creator.
The creature
The Arctic seafarer whose letters open and close Frankenstein. He picks the bedraggled Victor Frankenstein up off the ice, helps nurse him back to health, and hears Victor’s story. He records the incredible tale in a series of letters addressed to his sister, Margaret Saville, in England.
Robert Walton
Victor’s father, very sympathetic toward his son. He consoles Victor in moments of pain and encourages him to remember the importance of family.
Alphonse Frankenstein
An orphan, four to five years younger than Victor, whom the Frankensteins adopt. In the 1831 edition, Victor’s mother rescues her from a destitute peasant cottage in Italy. She embodies the novel’s motif of passive women, as she waits patiently for Victor’s attention.
Elizabeth Lavenza
Victor’s boyhood friend, who nurses Victor back to health in Ingolstadt. After working unhappily for his father, he begins to follow in Victor’s footsteps as a scientist. His cheerfulness counters Victor’s moroseness.
Henry Clerval
Victor’s youngest brother and the darling of the Frankenstein family. The monster strangles him in the woods outside Geneva in order to hurt Victor for abandoning him. His death deeply saddens Victor and burdens him with tremendous guilt about having created the monster.
William Frankenstein
A young girl adopted into the Frankenstein household while Victor is growing up. She is blamed and executed for William’s murder, which is actually committed by the monster.
Justine Moritz
The daughter of Beaufort. After her father’s death, she is taken in by, and later marries, Alphonse Frankenstein. She dies of scarlet fever, which she contracts from Elizabeth, just before Victor leaves for Ingolstadt at age seventeen.
Caroline Beaufort
A merchant and friend of Victor’s father; the father of Caroline Beaufort.
Beaufort
The professor of chemistry who sparks Victor’s interest in science. He dismisses the alchemists’ conclusions as unfounded but sympathizes with Victor’s interest in a science that can explain the “big questions,” such as the origin of life.
M. Waldman
A professor of natural philosophy at Ingolstadt. He dismisses Victor’s study of the alchemists as wasted time and encourages him to begin his studies anew.
M. Krempe
The magistrate who accuses Victor of Henry’s murder.
Mr. Kirwin