Section 2
The early chapters of the novel provide a background for Victor Frankenstein’s character. His life is plagued with grief much like that of Mary Shelley. His childhood though, is a happy one much like Mary Shelley’s, spent with his cousin (or adopted sister, depending on the edition) Elizabeth.
He attends Ingolstadt University, to study natural philosophy and chemistry. This is where he becomes engaged with the idea of creating life. After several years of research, he is certain he has discovered the secret.
From these early chapters we learn about Victor’s relationship with Elizabeth. Although they grew up like brother and sister, they were very close, and fell in love. When Victor was 17 Elizabeth had scarlet fever, which his mother caught whilst nursing her back to health, and died. On her deathbed, she was begging Victor and Elizabeth to marry. Victor goes to Ingolstadt and soon becomes absorbed in his studies, forgetting Elizabeth and his family in Geneva. He begins to lock himself away with his studies, and becomes completely consumed by his thirst for the secret of creation. All this just builds up until Chapter 5, where he finally creates the monster.
Section 3
Chapter 5 is by far the most significant of the entire novel, where Victor finally completes his creation, and brings it to life, only to be horrified by the grotesque appearance of the monster. He tries to sleep only to be haunted by nightmares of Elizabeth and his mother’s corpse. He runs out of his house when the monster wakes him up with a gruesome smile, and returns the next day to find the monster gone.
This chapter is what decides the fate of Victor Frankenstein from then on. Weakened and shocked at his monstrous creation, he comes down with nervous fever, and his long lost friend Henry Clerval, looks after him for several months. Once Victor has recovered Henry gives him a letter from Elizabeth.
From this chapter onwards, Victor has turned from an obsessed scientist, frantic on discovering the secret of life, to a remorseful, weak victim of the horror he created. After a build up of growing insanity, the monster continuously haunts his life, and he can never escape it.
Section 4
Victor’s character changes very suddenly in chapter 5, where once he was a borderline madman, he became a weak, fragile person who had endless remorse over his awesome lack of sense during his isolated period. For the whole of the novel up to this chapter he is seen as the “mad scientist” who has no emotions, and is only spurred on by his work, this is true to a certain extent, he forgoes all contact with his family, and care for his own health, just to pore over his beautiful creation. Once he has brought it to life, he can suddenly see the horror in the eyes of the monster. His humanity is suddenly resumed by the sheer shock of the full realisation that this beautiful amazing life he was making is nothing but a horrible mangled mixture of bodies which will only cause grief and despair.
Section 5
Mary Shelley uses various writing and language techniques to develop the gothic, dark atmosphere in chapter 5. First and foremost is pathetic fallacy, although in the novel, Victor uses the night of the storm so he can harness the power of lightning. The storm is also signifying the horror and fear that is not being shown by Victor’s character. Shelley uses adjectives that are dark and depressing, even when describing the weather, to portray the evil in what is happening.
Section 6
The key themes in the novel are horror, death, and life. Chapter 5 links to all these, creating life from death.
A lot of information about life in the 19th century can be gained from this chapter. The fact that Victor can go so long without contact with his family to focus on his work, without it being a clear problem to him, shows that there was a lot of lenience in that situation. This was because the males in the household were supposed to go and work, while the women stayed at home.
This chapter is also reflecting on the scientific developments that were continually happening, like the discovery of electricity and the ability to perform blood transfusions. These were completely amazing things that had never been comprehended, and people thought that soon anything would be possible by the miracles of science. Shelley was making this clear by showing the most incomprehensible of all ideas coming true.
Section 7 – Conclusion
Chapter 5 is the most significant chapter in the novel for many reasons. Firstly, it is the chapter that the monster is created in, which is ultimately the most important part of the novel. The creation of the monster is what leads to the rest of Victor’s life that is described in the novel, in his depression, illness, emotional weakness and his search for peace in finding the monster.
Chapter 5 teaches us that during the 19th century, there was a lot of description in novels, and Frankenstein is no exception to the idea. In the 19th century writers also tried to write novels in a way that wouldn’t just tell a story. Writers tried to use different styles and structures to make social comments, and include their own opinions.
Mary Shelley’s main aim in writing the story of Frankenstein was to rival the horror and fear inflicted by German ghost stories she had read when in Switzerland with Lord Byron. These were horrific, terrifying stories of death and murder, to incite fear in the minds of the reader. Shelley wanted to write a story even more gruesome than those of her fellow writers. To this day Frankenstein is still one of the scariest horror novels ever penned.
