Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus

Clerval gives Frankenstein a letter from Elizabeth, who writes that she knows Frankenstein has been ill and hopes he will write to reassure her of his health. She also implores him to return home soon. Ernest, the elder of his two younger brothers, is 16 and wants to join the service but cannot until Frankenstein returns. Justine Moritz, another young woman Frankenstein’s mother adopted as a child, was recently called to her dying mother’s house but has since returned. Frankenstein’s youngest brother, William, is happy and healthy. Upon finishing the letter, Frankenstein immediately responds.

Two weeks later, Frankenstein is well enough to leave his apartment, and he introduces Clerval to his professors. He himself has a newfound “violent antipathy even to the name of natural philosophy” (52), and the sight of scientific instruments causes “agony.” Clerval later removes the scientific equipment from Frankenstein’s apartment. Frankenstein cannot bring himself to tell Clerval about the creature, and Clerval, though he senses Frankenstein has a secret, refrains from pressing him. At the university, Clerval studies languages, and Frankenstein, seeking a change, joins him.

In May, Frankenstein and Clerval embark on a walking tour of the surrounding area. They spend two weeks enjoying the outdoors. After months of darkness, Clerval helps Frankenstein regain the ability “to love the aspect of nature” (54). In Clerval’s company, Frankenstein becomes “the same happy creature who, a few years ago, loved and beloved by all, had no sorrow or care” (55). Clerval is thrilled with Frankenstein’s recovery; when they return to the university, Frankenstein’s “spirits” are “high,” and he feels “unbridled joy and hilarity” (55).

Frankenstein receives a letter from his father informing him that William was murdered. The previous Thursday, the family was unable to find William; the next morning, his body was discovered on the grass. Marks on his neck indicate strangulation. Elizabeth blames herself because she allowed William to wear a valuable necklace with a miniature portrait of Frankenstein’s mother. Since the necklace was stolen, Elizabeth believes theft was the reason for the murder. Frankenstein’s father begs him to return to console her.

Clerval comforts Frankenstein as he grieves, and Frankenstein begins the journey home. As he approaches Geneva, he contemplates how the mountains are unchanged. He asks the mountains and the lake how it is possible they are still beautiful and clear while he suffers.

When he arrives in Geneva, he sees lightning on Mount Blanc and stops to watch; he believes it is William’s “dirge.” As he stands in the storm, he sees “the filthy demon to whom [he] had given life” (60). Frankenstein is immediately sure that the creature killed William. The creature disappears, and Frankenstein, knowing it futile, does not pursue him. He wonders whether William was the creature’s first murder and is concerned that he “turned loose into the world a depraved wretch whose delight [is] in carnage and misery” (61).

In the morning, Frankenstein decides not to reveal what he knows about the creature because he will not be believed, and even if he is, no one will be able to catch the creature. He enters his home for the first time in years. Ernest informs him that Justine is being charged with William’s murder. The family only believes this is true because the day after the murder, a servant found the missing necklace in Justine’s dress. Frankenstein insists she is innocent, and his father hopes she will be found guilty at her trial.

When Elizabeth enters, Frankenstein notices that she is even more beautiful than she was before he left. Elizabeth is convinced that Justine is innocent and believes that if she is found guilty, she herself “never shall know joy” again (64).

Frankenstein sees the trial as the answer to whether his “curiosity and lawless devices would cause the death of two of [his] fellow beings” (66). He is distraught with the knowledge that he is the cause of William’s death and that Justine might also suffer for it.

At the trial, Justine is “calm” and “confident in innocence” (66). She was not home the night of the murder and that the next day, when a woman in town asked Justine what she was doing, she “returned a confused and unintelligible answer” (67). In her defense, Justine explains that she spent hours looking for William and then spent the night in a barn after the gates of Geneva were shut. She cannot explain how the necklace came to be in her dress pocket and hopes her “character” will prove her innocence. She believes the murderer must have put the necklace in her pocket as she slept but cannot imagine who that murderer was, for she has “no enemy on earth” (68).

Several character witnesses speak on her behalf. Elizabeth tells the court she grew up with Justine and that she has neither the disposition nor the motivation to commit this crime. Frankenstein wonders whether the creature put the necklace in Justine’s pocket. He believes his suffering is greater than Justine’s, for she is “sustained by innocence” whereas “the fangs of remorse [tear] [his] bosom” (69).

The next morning, Frankenstein returns to court to find that Justine confessed and was found guilty. He and Elizabeth visit her in prison, where she informs them that she is innocent but confessed to “obtain absolution” because she was threatened with excommunication (71). She cries that she will soon see William in heaven. When Elizabeth vows to prove her innocence, Justine says she does not fear death and that she leaves “a sad and bitter world” (72).

Frankenstein sees himself as “the true murderer” and suffers “[a]nguish and despair” (72). When Elizabeth says she wants to die with Justine, Justine hopes that this is “the last misfortune that [Elizabeth] will ever suffer” (73). Frankenstein laments that he is the cause not only of Justine’s death but also of his family’s grief.