Frankenstein Chapters 1-4

Chapters 1-4

Victor Frankenstein is a Genevese who was born to a man of repute and wealth. His father had married his mother, Catherine Beaufort after her father who had been Victor's father's friend had passed away in squalor. He had left his beautiful daughter orphaned and stricken with poverty. Victor's father had rescued Catherine from poverty and later married her although they had differed from one another in age, they still shared deep love and devotion for one another. The couple traveled across Italy and other parts of Europe for the benefit of Catherine's health. Victor, their eldest child, was born in Naples, and they showered him with love and affection.

Catherine was a charitable person, who strove to help the less fortunate emerge from the terrible circumstances that she had faced near the end of her father's life. As the Frankensteins were traveling in Italy, they discovered a beautiful child being raised by peasant farmers near Lake Como. Catherine learned that the child was of noble birth, she had been given to the care of her foster parents after her mother had passed and her father had been lost in the struggle for liberty in Italy.

Catherine was at once taken with the child, and given the weak economic situation of her foster parents, Catherine adopted Elizabeth Lavenza into her household. Victor had been five at the time, and his mother presented Elizabeth as a present to him. To Victor, Elizabeth, now his cousin, was his constant companion and his most prized possession.

Victor recounts a happy childhood spent in the company of his endearing parents and a calm Elizabeth. Their tempers were quite different from one another, while hers was a passion for the silence of winter and the gentle words of poets, Victor was occupied with a passionate curiosity directed to the heavens. He spent a lot of time playing with his friend, Henry Clerval, who was fascinated by the tales of heroes and the lessons of chivalry. In his youth, Victor was very interested in Natural Philosophy, and he discovered the works of ancient authors that wrote about fantastical things like the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life.

His obsession with the subject was not one driven by want of wealth, but rather a thirst for knowledge. These substances promised to banish all ailments of the body, summon ghosts of the deceased, besides supplying the holder with plenty of wealth. Victor was caused to lose interest in the study of such concepts after he had witnessed a thunderstorm that smote an oak close to his home. The next morning, he was accompanied by a scholar to the site of the lightning strike, and the descriptions of electricity and galvanization captured his imagination and he turned his attention to the study of the sciences and mathematics. Victor now believes that this new obsession with the sciences was an act of some guardian angel that strove to save him from tragedy, but destiny wasn't to be denied.

At age 17 Victor was to be sent to the university of Ingolstadt, but before he could leave, his cousin Elizabeth was afflicted by the Scarlet fever. Victor's mother continued to nurse Elizabeth back to health despite the entreaties of her family to be careful. Alas, Elizabeth recovered but the disease claimed Catherine's own life. Victor was deeply affected by the death of his mother, but life couldn't halt, and the day for him to leave arrived. Henry had wished to accompany Victor to the university and pursue a similarly liberal education, but his desires were suppressed by his merchant father who foresaw little use for such study.

Victor was sad to leave but he was also excited at the prospect of being able to pursue knowledge and study all the curiosities that had occupied his mind since childhood. He arrived at Ingolstadt and first introduced himself to M. Krempe, a professor of Natural philosophy. His interaction with the professor was not pleasant, as the professor had expressed outright contempt for the ancient authors that Victor had so earnestly studied. He made mention of a course he was going to be teaching the following week, which included lectures on chemistry by M. Waldman, and Victor decided to attend one such lecture on chemistry.

He was greatly influenced by the professor's deferential attitude towards the ancient philosophers and expressed glorious potential in the pursuit of modern natural philosophy. Victor from then onwards pursued education with M. Waldman as his mentor.

Victor threw himself headlong into the study of chemistry and the other branches of Natural Philosophy. His professors and fellow students were surprised by the speed at which he was able to progress, and by the second year of his education, he had made significant discoveries in the use of chemistry apparatus. Just as he was beginning to consider his education completed and a return to his family, he was fascinated by another scientific pursuit. Victor wished to discover the forces at work in life, so he began to study physiology and the process by which death decayed the body.

In his study, Victor made a phenomenal discovery, he was able to conceive the source of life and bestow animation. With a vision of fathering a new species of man, Victor set to work on creating a large human body and then bestow it with life. His experiments consumed him, they emaciated his body and made him feel nervous of spirit. He tortured animals, dug into graves, and committed many other immoral acts in the blind pursuit of science.

Analysis

The novel casts women in one of a few passive roles, particularly evident in the language that surrounds the meeting and marriage of Victor's parents. Catherine submits herself to Victor's father as if she were completely helpless in improving her situation on her own. The same kind of roles are ascribed to other major female characters in the book, such as those of Elizabeth Lavenza and Justine Moritz.

These chapters in the book are rife with foreshadowing of the tragedy in Victor's tale, even as he dwells on the happy memories of his childhood he cannot help but remark at events that served as omens to the misfortune that would visit him later in life. The use of foreshadowing has a paradoxical effect on the reader, on the one hand, it helps build suspense as the reader wonders about the nature of the tragedy that causes Victor such grief. Conversely, it drains some of the suspense as the reader begins to feel that all is indeed doomed for Victor.

Victor makes remarks throughout the narration of his tale that remind the reader that the story is specifically being told to Robert Walton, who then narrates it to his sister, Margaret. This creates multiple layers of complicated narration in the book.