Victor Frankenstein is the main narrator in the story. He is a professor who overreaches. In his youth he was enthusiastic about the medical profession. He went to university in Inglostat with his friend Clerval, leaving his adopted sister Elizabeth, his father and his two brothers Ernst and William in Geneva. At University he becomes interested in where human life comes from and looks to death and decay for some answers. His persuits will lead to consequences that will affect him and his family. His actions affect his future.
He harnesses the power of electricity to shock the creature and bring him to life. He was expecting the creation to be beautiful, but he found it to be a wretch or creature. He realises he had made a disastrous mistake, but it is too late to reverse it. Victor pays for his actions because he usurps the role of God.
The monster is the creation of Victor Frankenstein. At first he cannot speak and is run out of town by villagers, who are revolted by his appearance. He hides in a forest were he suffers from the cold, hunger and loneliness. He watches a family, Agatha, Felix and their blind father in a cottage and learns to read and speak through watching them, when he tries to talk to the blind old man, Felix throws him out and beats him viciously with a stick. The monster reads Victor’s journal about creating the creature. The creature then realises what he is. He vows revenge on Victor Frankenstein, and goes to Geneva and kills his youngest brother William.
Mary Shelley overturned the usual gothic horror convention of a violent thunderstorm to create an eerie atmosphere by making the “Rain patter dismally against the pains of the windows”. Mary Shelley also gives an eerie atmosphere by describing a poorly lit room “candle nearly burnt out” which give the reader the impression of a pessimistic mood. “Morning dismal and wet” reveals it could be a depressing eventless day. “Rain poured dismally from a dull comfortless sky” this is the point when Dr Frankenstein realises that he has made a huge mistake in creating the monster and knows that he will have to pay the consequences. Dr Frankenstein thought the monster was ugly and didn’t even give it a name.
Mary Shelley’s choice of vocabulary creates a sense of horror in chapter five. She uses language with diamond cut precision to describe the creature what Frankenstein creates. “Lustrous” this reveals the quality of the creatures hair how it is thick, shiny and flowing, this is one of the only nice features of the creature it was as if the creature was beauty as well as horror too. “Shrivelled complexion” describes the skin of the monster. It reminds the reader that the creature was compiled of dead decomposed bodies. “Yellow skin” this is an unusual description of the monster this gives the impression that the monster is not healthy but ill or sick. People with yellow skin are often very ill. “Pearly whiteness” is another one of the only nice features of the creature which suggest that his teeth shone like pearls in his shrivelled complexion. She also calls it a “creature” which tells the reader that the creature is treated like an animal and has no name which shows that Dr Frankenstein never valued his disastrous creation. The monster was describes as “dull” which reveals a not at all inspiring character, nor exciting but, very dead and not life like. The word “dull” gives the reader the impression of something being boring, tarnished, uninteresting, and lifeless.
Victor’s health suffers. He is punished for his actions. His guilt and regret causes him to have fits. “Oh save me, Oh save me” He suffers hallucinations and he fell down in a fit. Like Prometheus Victor Frankenstein will pay for his actions against god in creating life from dead matter.