Summary
Young Victor Frankenstein comes from a caring family.
His adopted sister, Elizabeth, loves him and he has a good
friend called Henry. He is intelligent and deeply interested
in science. At university he learns how to create life from
human body parts but, at the moment of his triumph, he
realises he has created a monster. The monster wants to
be loved but Victor rejects him and the monster escapes
from Victor’s laboratory. In his anger and frustration,
the monster first kills Victor’s brother, William, but then
comes to believe that he will be happy if he has a mate. He
asks Victor to make him a female companion, promising
to leave the country and commit no more evil in return.
Victor agrees but later has doubts and destroys the female.
The monster wants revenge and goes on to kill Henry and
finally Elizabeth on the night she marries Victor. Victor
pursues the monster across the North Pole and eventually
dies. The monster, saddened by the death, vows to kill no
more.
Chapters 1–2: Victor’s family adopt a young girl called
Elizabeth and they move to Geneva. Two more sons
are born, Ernest, the oldest and later William. Victor
makes friends with a boy called Henry Clerval. Victor is
very interested in electricity and chemistry and goes to
Ingoldstadt University to study. He becomes obsessed with
creating life and puts together a human form from parts of
dead bodies. The monster comes to life. It opens its eyes
and makes sounds. This distresses Victor and he falls very
ill. His friend, Henry, nurses him back to health.
Chapters 3–4: Victor receives a letter telling him his
brother, William, has been murdered. He is very sad and
travels to Geneva. On the way, he briefly sees the monster
in a forest. Justine Moritz, a servant to the Frankenstein
family, is arrested and executed for the murder. Victor is
terribly unhappy because he knows who the real murderer
is. He travels to the mountains where he meets the
monster again. He threatens to destroy the monster. The
monster replies that Victor is responsible for everything
because he created him and now his life is miserable
because people are unkind.
Chapters 5–6: The monster tells Victor his story. After
leaving the laboratory, he lived in a small hut next to the
de Lacey’s house. The monster watched the family and
secretly helped them by collecting wood. But one day, the
children saw the monster with their blind father and they
screamed and attacked him. They left their house in fear.
The monster was lonely, unhappy and he wanted revenge.
He burned the de Lacey’s house down and went to look
for Victor. Instead, he found his brother, William, and
killed him. The monster now wants a female companion
and Victor agrees to create one.
Chapters 7–8: Victor tells his father that he wants to
marry Elizabeth but first he must travel and study. His
friend, Henry, joins him and they travel to London. Victor
learns a lot from the scientists there and collects the things
he needs for the female monster. He then goes on his
own to the north of Scotland. One night, as the monster
looks in through the window, Victor destroys the female.
The monster is very angry and threatens revenge. Victor
takes a boat. He falls asleep and arrives in Ireland. There,
someone tells him that a dead body has been found and
Victor is arrested for murder.
Chapters 9–10: Victor is taken to see Mr Kirwin, the
local judge and he discovers that the dead man is his
friend, Henry Clerval. Victor is very distressed and spends
the next two months very ill in prison. His father goes
to see him and a month later Victor is found not guilty
of Henry’s murder. Father and son start the journey back
to Switzerland but stop to rest in Paris. A letter from
Elizabeth arrives. She tells Victor that she loves him and
wants to marry him. Victor decides they must marry very
soon before the monster takes his revenge.
Chapters 11–12: Victor and Elizabeth get married and
start their holiday in a hotel. That night Elizabeth is
murdered in her room. Victor sees the monster through
an open window and chases him. The monster escapes.
Victor follows the monster to the North Pole. He becomes
very ill and is rescued by Walton, the captain of a boat.
As he lies dying, he tells Walton his story and asks him to
promise to destroy the monster when he is dead. Victor
dies. The monster approaches the lifeless Victor and begs
forgiveness. When he realises Victor is dead, the monster
decides that he must die too and jumps into the water and
disappears.
