Quotes From Frankenstein

Front 1

"So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein — more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation."

Back 1

-Frankenstein's ambition
-Glorified sense of self
-Desire to improve humanity

Front 2

"No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world"

Back 2

-Overflow of emotion
-Arrogance of Frankenstein, strong sense of yearning
-References to power of Nature
-Imagery of light; enlightenment, realisation

Front 3

“I will endeavour to resign myself cheerfully to death.”

Back 3

-Embracing all emotion (joy or melancholy)
-Paradox between cheerful and death effectively contrasts the two feelings
-Sense of Frankenstein's deep misery

Front 4

“His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.”

Back 4

-Descriptive quote
-Paints a horrifying and disturbing image
-Supernatural element typical of the Gothic genre

Front 5

“Company was irksome to me; when alone, I could fill my mind with the sights of heaven and earth”

Back 5

-Sense of isolation and alienation
-Desire to submerse himself in the sublime

Front 6

"I passed whole days on the lake alone in my little boat, watching the clouds and listening to the rippling of the waves, silent and listless. But the fresh air and bright sun seldom failed to restore me to some degree of composure”

Back 6

-Frankenstein has passed the point where Nature can comfort him
-His disconnection from humanity had severed his spiritual relationship with Nature
-Imagery and stimulation of the senses: aural and visual

Front 7

“For an instant I dared to take off my chains, and look around me with a free and lofty spirit; but the iron had eaten into my flesh, and I sank again, trembling and hopeless, into my miserable self”

Back 7

-Symbolism of chains: he is trapped and restricted
-Deep sense of misery

Front 8

“I never saw a more interesting creature; his eyes have generally an expression of wildness, and even madness, but there are moments when, if any one performs an act of kindness towards him or does him any the most trifling service, his whole countenance is lighted up, as it were, with a beam of benevolence and sweetness I never saw equalled.”

Back 8

-First description of Frankenstein
-Been reduced to the most basic human emotions
-Ironic he is being called a creature; he has become equal to his creation
-The wonder he experiences of kindness makes us think of the Monster, who once was capable of kindness and appreciating beauty, showing the same wonder himself. Frankenstein has become more appreciative of it because he has lost so much. They have reversed roles.

Front 9

"Even broken inspirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth.”

Back 9

-Walton's remark about Frankenstein
-Effect of Nature is obvious even to an observer
-High modality language

Front 10

"Anguish and despair had penetrated into the core of my heart; I bore a hell within me which nothing could extinguish’

Back 10

-Coated and emotive language to reflect individual experience
-Conflicting elements such as heart and hell reinforces saccharine nature of the novel
-Voiced from Frankenstein through his ongoing inner and physical struggles

Front 11

“Ruined castles hanging on the precipices of piny mountains; the impetuous Arve, and cottages every here and there peeping forth from among the trees, formed a scene of singular beauty...rendered sublime by the mighty Alps, whose white and shining pyramids and domes towered above all”.

Back 11

-NATURE, ALL THE NATURE
-OH HOW SUBLIME

Front 12

"I felt light, and hunger, and thirst, and darkness.”

Back 12

-Excerpt from the Creature's tale
-By describing his daily experiences, the reader is show that his desires are simple and very much like any other person
-Human in the most basic form; experiences life much like a young child

Front 13

“Soon a gentle light stole over the heavens, and gave me a sensation of pleasure”.

Back 13

-Conveys the Creature is not inherently evil or malicious and has as much capacity for good as anyone else
-Appreciation for beauty
-Humans capable of both good and bad, and so is the Monster

Front 14

“I formed in my imagination a thousand pictures of presenting myself to them, and their reception of me…by my gentle demeanour and conciliating words, I should first win their favour, and afterwards their love.”

Back 14

-Desire to be accepted into society: relatable to reader
-Imagination to escape reality

Front 15

“When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?”
“Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination?”

Back 15

-Creature turns his curiosity and desire for knowledge inwards
-Deep sense of isolation and loneliness as he realises his lack of identity and belonging
-Quality of introspection through consideration of own mind and thoughts

Front 16

“Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust...Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred.”

Back 16

-Discovers his own individuality; though this does not result in feelings of freedom and sublimity, but rather ones of loneliness and entrapment through his condition
-exploration of the Creature’s misery and isolation
-Shelley cautions us about meddling with Nature as the events of the story aim to teach us.

Front 17

“I declare ever-lasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me, and sent me forth to this insupportable misery.”
“I bore a hell within me…wished to tear up the trees, spread havoc and destruction around me, and then to have sat down and enjoyed the ruin”

Back 17

-rejection experienced by the Creature has the effect of discouraging his positive attributes, and spurring his decline into evil
-embraces the sentiments of anger and revenge

Front 18

“Let him [man] live with me in the interchange of kindness; and instead of injury I would bestow every benefit upon him with tears of gratitude at his acceptance.”

Back 18

-The Creature will be shaped by how he is treated; and therefore there is still possibility for change
-Despite the Creature’s angry tirade in previous chapters, he once again shows his capacity for hope and reason

Front 19

"...beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart."
"I beheld the wretch — the miserable monster whom I had created. "

Back 19

-Victor's reaction to creating the monster
-Spontaneous overflow of emotion

Front 20

"My vices are the children of a forced solitude that I abhor, and my virtues will necessarily arise when I live in communion with an equal. I shall feel the affections of a sensitive being and become linked to the chain of existence and events from which I am now excluded."

Back 20

-Alienation from society
-Virtues and vices as a result of treatment and acceptance

-Chain of existence; humanity

Front 21

"You can blast my other passions, but revenge remains — revenge, henceforth dearer than light or food! I may die, but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery."

Back 21

-Strong, overflow of emotions
-Existence driven by these emotions

Front 22

"The cup of life was poisoned forever, and although the sun shone upon me, as upon the happy and gay of heart, I saw around me nothing but a dense and frightful darkness..."

Back 22

-Life had been tainted through this experience

-Imagery of light

-Contrast between environment "happy and gay" and his soul in "dense and frightful darkness"

Front 23

"By the sacred earth on which I kneel, by the shades that wander near me, by the deep and eternal grief that I feel, I swear; and by thee, O Night, and the spirits that preside over thee, to pursue the daemon who caused this misery, until he or I shall perish in mortal conflict."

Back 23

-Refers to the earth as sacred; akin to being a place of worship
-Calls on spirits; elements of the Gothic

Front 24

"When I run over the frightful catalogue of my sins, I cannot believe that I am the same creature whose thoughts were once filled with sublime and transcendent visions of the beauty and the majesty of goodness. But it is even so; the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone."

Back 24

-The Monster to Walton
-Quality of introspection

-The fate which has befallen the Creature

Front 25

Philosopher Novalis said: "To romanticise the world is to make us aware of the magic,mystery and wonder of the world; it is to educate our senses to see the ordinary as extraordinary"

Back 25

Lowy and Sayre authors: "Romanticism could be seen as a response too the unfulfilled promises of the late 18th century."

Front 26

"nothing is so painful to the human mind as great and sudden change"

"you are my creator but I am your master"

Back 26

"the cup of life was poisoned forever...around me nothing but a dense and frightful darkness"

Front 27

Social theorist and philosopher Isaiah Berlin said Romanticism "embodided a new and restless spirit, violently seeking to burst through old and cramping forms...an effort to return to the forgotten sources of life"

Back 27

Critic Roger Camien said "Romanticism is aimed to broaden all human horizons and encompass the totality of our experiences"