In chapter 2 Frankenstein describes the perfect with his family, which grew to include two younger brothers as time passed. Frankenstein was the kind of person who attached himself to only a few people, and Elizabeth and , a schoolmate, were his closest friends. At 13 Frankenstein became interested in life and studied theories of the creation of human life that, unknown to him, were outdated. He explains that,
‘If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded, and that a modern system of science had been introduced. I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside.’
In chapter 3, when he was 17, Frankenstein was about to leave for for college when Elizabeth got scarlet fever. As she was recovering, Frankenstein's mother, who had been nursing Elizabeth, fell ill. On her deathbed, she told Frankenstein and Elizabeth that she wanted them to marry. After a grieving period, during which Elizabeth was a great comfort despite her own sadness, Frankenstein left for Ingolstadt. Henry wanted to go with him, but his father wouldn't allow it. Frankenstein was nervous about being alone and away from everyone he knew and loved, but once there. A chemistry professor, M.Waldman, befriended him, and Frankenstein became devoted to the study of human creation and the spark of life that he had abandoned earlier. Waldman assured him that, ‘the labours of men of genius, however erroneously directed, scarcely ever fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind’. M. Waldman was horribly wrong.
In chapter 4 Frankenstein became an ardent student of chemistry and anatomy in his quest to determine what gives life. After two years of study at Ingolstadt, he decided returning home because his studies were so advanced that he couldn't progress any further at the college. But before his trip home, Frankenstein discovered the essence of life, which he refuses to reveal to Walton because he doesn't want Walton to follow his poor example. He said, ‘Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow’
After Frankenstein figured out what gives life, he experimented with creating a human being. He constructed a giant man, 8 feet tall with superhuman strength and endurance, from harvested body parts that he took from corpses. He worked secretly and without rest for almost a year, during which time his correspondence with his family and friends stopped. His health began to fall from the constant labour, little rest, poor diet, and lack of exercise, but he refused to stop working until his project was finished.
In chapter 5, Frankenstein brought his creation to life and all his illusions of grandeur were destroyed by the hideousness of the beast. He had constructed the monster in perfect proportion with parts he considered beautiful, but the end result was horrific. His perfect creation was a frightening disaster. "For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart." Frankenstein fled his laboratory and collapsed in his room. He woke from a nightmare to see standing over him, smiling with his hideous, black lips. Frankenstein ran away out into the city and walked until dawn. He ran into Henry Clerval in the city and was so excited to see his friend that he forgot about the monster that he had created until they returned to his apartment. The creature was gone, and Frankenstein was relieved, but as he and Henry talked, Frankenstein's illness made him have mad hallucinations of the monster. Frankenstein collapsed into a fever that left him in bed for several months, during which Henry cared for him. Frankenstein rambled on about the monster, but Henry thought it to be fever. He never asked Frankenstein what had happened, and he covered up the severity of Frankenstein's illness when he wrote to the Frankenstein family. When Frankenstein began to recover, Henry gave him a letter from Elizabeth.
Chapter 5 starts with ‘it was on a dreary night in November’ the word dreary means very miserable and dull, and this can refer to Gothicism. Once the creature is created, Frankenstein talks about it being beautiful ‘beautiful’, ‘lustrous black’ and ‘pearly white’. He also talks about it being ugly ‘horrid’, ‘yellow skin’, ‘watery eyes’ and ‘dun-white sockets’. These contrasts of negative and positive characteristics help create a more detailed image of the creature in the readers mind. When Victor saw his creation finally come to life, he realised the sadistic thing he had done, and abandons it. Here we realise that Victor is partly the villain in this story. He allows the monster to leave and wreak havoc in his life. The monster was not created as being evil, He states that he wanted acceptance from Victor, if Victor had not abandoned him then the fatal tragedies in his life might not have occurred.
I believe that chapter 5 is a good significance to the novel as it shows where Victor’s dreams are accomplished and broken, and where everything starts going wrong.
