Transcript Frankenstein Notes Chapters 11–12

Frankenstein Notes Chapters
11–14
Chapters 11 & 12
• Monster understands the importance of family the more
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he is isolated
Cottagers’ devotion to each other reminds Monster of
Victor’s abandonment
So, their kindness actually causes the monster to suffer.
Both his solitude and his namelessness compound his
lack of identity.
Monster has a childlike reaction to springtime = the
sublime
With the greenery, he is able to forget his own ugliness
and unnaturalness = healing
Chapters 11 & 12 (cont.)
• Monster sees knowledge as dangerous because it can
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have negative consequences.
Knowledge is permanent and irreversible.
Monster = a product of knowledge, spins out of Victor’s
control
Narrative at this point = perspective transitions from
Victor to the monster.
Both narrators = emotional, sensitive, aware of nature’s
power, and concerned with the dangers of knowledge
Both = express themselves elegantly, Romantically,
melodramatically.
Layered narrative = Monster speaks through Victor,
Victor speaks through Walton, and Walton ultimately
speaks through Romantic Shelley.
Chapters 13 & 14
• Subplot = Safie and the cottagers = adds yet another
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layer of narrative to the novel.
Monster = Ultimate Outsider = deformity, ability to
survive extreme conditions, and grotesque
Victor = outsider = awful secret separates him from
friends, family, and society.
Cottagers = Outsiders =
– Father = Muslim Turk in Paris = a threat to his life from the
prejudiced and figures in power.
– Safie = feelings of being oppressed by Islam’s confining gender
roles = she seeks escape to the more egalitarian ideas of
Christianity.
Chapters 13 & 14 (cont.)
• Monster = fascinated with the relationship of Felix and
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Safie = his desire for Victor to accept him.
BUT – Felix bravely helps Safie’s father escape vs.
Victor’s unwillingness to save Justine
AND - Felix’s compassion for Safie contrasts Victor’s cold
hatred for the monster.
Language and communication = center stage in these
chapters
– Monster begins to understand and produce written and spoken
language.
– BUT he cannot communicate with others; he is only a voyeur
• His language comes in handy finally when he encounters
Victor on the glacier.
Chapters 13 & 14 (cont.)
• Monster discovers various texts including Paradise Lost.
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– introduces him to Adam and Satan = he compares
himself to them.
offers to show copies of Safie’s letters to validate his
plight and gain Victor’s sympathy.
he falsely assumes that Paradise Lost is historically
accurate and he hopes that his story can win Victor over.
Motif = passive woman, a gentle creature who submits
to the demands of the active, powerful men around her.
– Safie boldly rejects her father’s attempt to return her
to the constraints and limitations of life in
Constantinople = makes her one of the strongest
characters in the novel, despite her minor role.
Safie = outsider but she manages to gain acceptance.