15th March 2018

Timeline – Frankenstien

What happened in the letters…

Robert Walton captained the ship

  • “a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. This expedition has been the favorite dream of my early years.”

Sailed into the Arctic

  • “I am going to unexplored regions to the land of mist and snow.”

Stuck on ice + saw the gigantic figure on the sled

  • “a being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature.”

Pick up ill old man

  • “You may conceive my astonishment on hearing such a question addressed to me from a man on the brink of destruction…”

Walton + Frankenstein develop the friendship

  • “My affection for my guest increases every day. He excites at once my admiration and my pity to an astonishing degree.”

What happened in the chapters… 

Dr. Frankenstein is a child, Geneva is his home

  • “I am by birth a Genevese, and my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic”

We are told about his family

  • Caroline  became his wife.”
  • ” I, their eldest child, was born at Naples, and as an infant accompanied them in their rambles. I remained for several years their only child.”
  • “…this child was thin and very fair.
  • “On the birth of a second son, my junior by seven years, my parents gave up entirely their wandering life and fixed themselves in their native country.”

Travels to Ingolstadt university

  • When I had attained the age of seventeen my parents resolved that I should become a student at the University of Ingolstadt.

Elizabeth (sister) gets ill, a mother gets ill. Mother Dies

  • “Elizabeth was saved, but the consequences of this imprudence were fatal to her preserver.”

Initially disappointed by the university

  • “Have you,’ he said, ‘really spent your time in studying such nonsense?”

Chemistry teacher inspires Frankenstein, showing him that science isn’t all nonsense 

  • “They ascend into the heavens; they have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers.”
  • “‘I am happy,’ said M. Waldman, ‘to have gained a disciple; and if your application equals your ability, I have no doubt of your success.

Tells us he has a secret

  • “you expect to be informed of the secret with which I am acquainted.”

The monster comes alive

  • “I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.”

Was ill

  • “You have been ill, very ill, and even the constant letters of dear kind Henry are not sufficient to reassure me on your account. You are forbidden to write — to hold a pen; yet one word from you, dear Victor

Brother is murdered

  • “William is dead! — that sweet child, whose smiles delighted and warmed my heart, who was so gentle, yet so gay! Victor, he is murdered!

Goes home

  • What do you intend to do?”… “To go instantly to Geneva: come with me, Henry, to order the horses.”

Moster ends up in his hometown

  • “A flash of lightning illuminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect more hideous than belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it was the wretch, the filthy daemon, to whom I had given life. What did he there? Could he be (I shuddered at the conception) the murderer of my brother? No sooner did that idea cross my imagination, than I became convinced of its truth; my teeth chattered, and I was forced to lean against a tree for support. The figure passed me quickly, and I lost it in the gloom.”

Justine is condemned 

  • “The ballots had been thrown; they were all black, and Justine was condemned.”

Justine dies

  • “And on the morrow Justine died. Elizabeth’s heart-rending eloquence failed to move the judges from their settled conviction in the criminality of the saintly sufferer.”

 

 

 

Join the conversation! 1 Comment

  1. Jess, a good start to the timeline. Make sure you finish this off now that we have finished the novel.

    Reply

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