Frankenstein Key Quotations edexcel 3-19th-Century-Novel

Frankenstein: Key quotations

The assessment objectives specify that you should be able to “use textual references, including quotations.” In other words, it is important that you back up points you make about Frankenstein with both direct and indirect references to the novel.

Having an extensive knowledge and understanding of the text will mean that you are able to answer any question that comes up in your exam to a high level, with quality evidence.

A good way to revise quotations is to group them by character or theme. This will help you to understand links between quotes, also helping to ensure that you have a solid understanding of character and thematic development.

Below you will find key quotations and analysis, organised according to the following themes:

• Ambition 

• Nature versus nurture 

• Power and control

• Science and nature

• Gender 

• Isolation and companionship 

Ambition

The theme of ambition is central to Frankenstein. By making the creature, Victor is presented by Shelley as trying to be God-like, giving life. He also has ambitions to defy nature through his scientific endeavours. 

Paired quotations

Meaning and context

• In the first quote, Victor suggests that it was his desire for scientific knowledge that led to his downfall

• The second quote details a conversation between Victor and his father, after his father called Agrippa’s theories “sad trash”:

  • It suggests that Victor would have stopped his scientific pursuits had his father fully explained the way in which modern science undermined Agrippa’s theories 

Analysis 

• Both of these quotes could be used together to argue that Victor does not consider himself ultimately responsible for his creation, or for his ambitions:

  • In the first quote, Victor’s simile likens his ambition to an unstoppable river that “swept away” his “hopes and joys”: 

    • This creates the sense that Victor’s ambitions are an autonomous force of nature, outside of his control

    • It also implied that Victor has crafted the narrative to persuade the reader that he is a victims of his ambition, rather than in control of it, perhaps to gain sympathy

    • Within the context of the Romantic focus on the power of nature, the natural simile of “a mountain river” creates an intense sense that Victor perceives his ambition as overpowering

  • The second quote adds to the idea that Victor does not consider himself responsible for his ambition:

    • Victor criticises his father for only calling Agrippa “sad trash” rather than for explaining “that a modern system of science had been introduced which possessed much greater powers than the ancient”

    • Victor indicates that an understanding of modern science would have made him disengage with his scientific pursuits

Paired quotations

Meaning and context

• The first quote details Victor’s advice to Walton:

  • It suggests that Victor understands that his ambition was the key reason for his downfall

• In the second quote, Victor tells Walton’s crew that they should continue their voyage despite being trapped in ice

Analysis 

• The first quote suggests a degree of self-reflection, and perhaps that Victor is trying to position himself as a tragic hero:

  • Here, Shelley may be suggesting that humans would be better in a state of nature, as Rosseau argued:

    • The sense of destruction in “how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge” juxtaposes with the desire for a peaceful life in “how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world”

    • The language contrasts with the vigour in, “are you, then, so easily turned from your design?”

    • This implies that Victor has not lost his ambitious traits and that there has been a lack of character development throughout the story

• The contrast between these two quotes suggests that Victor has not learned from his past mistakes:

  • The second quote is from a section of the text that Walton controls, not Victor, helping to lend it more reliability: 

    • This could be used to illustrate how the powerful are able to control others’ perception of events and are able to craft their own narratives

Paired quotations

Meaning and context

• The first quote implies that Walton desired prestige over ease

• The second quote indicates that Victor wanted to make a creature in order to have control over a being that would always have loyalty towards him 

Analysis 

• Both quotes demonstrate that Victor and Walton desired prestige through their ambitions:

  • Walton’s says that he “preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path”: 

    • This suggests an intense desire for “glory” and prestige above all else

  • In a similar way, Victor is presented as valuing his own personal gains from his scientific development:

    • This reveals his desire for power over a “species” that will “owe their being” to him

• Together, these quotes imply that both characters desire personal gains from their ambitions:

  • This could be a criticism of individualism and the idea of the Romantic genius

Meaning and context

• Here, the creature highlights how his understanding of his role in society has caused a deep feeling of sadness and a desire to return to a natural state

Analysis 

• This suggests that living in a state of nature is the ideal, and that the desire for societal development causes distress and unhappiness:

  • The use of an exclamatory sentence and the disrupted speech at “Oh,” creates a sense of intensity: 

    • This implies that the creature has profound “sorrow” due to his attainment of knowledge

  • The very base senses of “hunger, thirst, and heat” suggest a primitive state:

    • His desire for this, emphasised by the exclamatory nature of the sentence, suggests a profound desire to return to a more natural state 

    • This conforms with Rousseau’s view that people would be happier in a state of nature

Nature versus nurture

Paired quotations

 Meaning and context

• The first quote is when the creature realises that he has been causing suffering to the De Lacey family and resolves to stop this

• The second quote is from the creature’s speech to Walton right at the end of the novel, where he states his remorse and regret

Analysis

• In the first quote, the creature is presented as empathetic:

  • He would rather satisfy himself with “berries, nuts and roots” from a “neighbouring wood” instead of “stealing” from the De Lacey family’s “store” of food:

    • He understands that the De Lacey family are in “poverty”, suggesting that he has the ability and desire to be benevolent

• The second quote demonstrates how contrastingly the creature acted after his rejection by the De Lacey family:

  • Shelley uses intense violent imagery of the creature “strangl[ing] the innocent” and “grasp[ing] [them] to death”:

    • This vividly portrays the creature engaged in demonic acts after his rejection

Meaning and context

• Victor has just walked in to see that Elizabeth has been killed by the creature

Analysis

• This evidences that, over the course of the text, the creature has become a fiend: 

  • The imagery of the creature “grin[ning]” and “jeer[ing]” suggests that the creature is mocking the death of Victor’s partner: 

    • This implies that the creature has no sympathy for Victor and that any kindness he once felt has disappeared

Power

Meaning and context

• Here Shelley highlights Victor’s paranoia and sadness at the death of Clerval

• He believes he sees eyes that sometimes appear to be the creature’s, and sometimes Clerval’s

Analysis

• The word “penetrated” creates a sense of immediacy and intensity:

  • This highlights Victor’s paranoia due Henry’s death and the creature’s presence: 

    • Victor once had a kind of power over the creature as he crafted him

    • In this quote, the power dynamics between the two have clearly shifted

  • The deep sense of fear and sadness shows that Victor is plagued by his creation, just like Prometheus:

    • Prometheus’s creation led to his own downfall and into a figurative eternal hell 

Meaning and context 

• This quote suggests that Victor has modified Walton’s (and the creature’s narrative) in its entirety

Analysis 

• The phrase “corrected and augmented” leaves little doubt that Victor has altered the narrative:

  • The fact that Victor is presented as “principally in giving the life and spirit to the conversations he held with his enemy” underlines his position of control:

    • This suggests that Victor symbolises powerful society’s control of the marginalised

Science and creation

Meaning and context

• This underlines the intensity of Victor’s childhood ambition 

Analysis

• This quotation suggests that Victor’s desire is amoral:

  • The word “penetrate” has sexual connotations:

    • This implies that Victor is violating nature

    • Due to the Romantic emphasis on the power and purity of nature, this creates a sense of disgust

    • Through this presentation, Shelley seems to be representing Galvanism negatively

Meaning and context

• Victor’s first description of the creature he has made

Analysis

• This highlights the grotesqueness of Victor’s scientific experiments:

  • The repetition of “beautiful” and the use of short, sharp sentences, such as “Beautiful! Great God!” creates a sudden and tense atmosphere:

    • This sets a foreboding scene and tone, foreshadowing the horrifying appearance of the creature 

  • The use of colour imagery, such as in “black lips” and “dull white”, creates a sense of distortion and illness:

    • This suggests that the creature is unnatural

• The appearance of the creature seems to symbolise the horrors of playing God and distorting nature

Gender

Paired quotations

Meaning