Frankenstein Isolation Quotes – Flashcards
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
Letter 2, Page 18 "But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil. I have no friend, Margret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate in my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavor to sustain me in dejection."
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.9.14 This quote relates to the topic of isolation because Robert Walton is completely alone on his journey of information. He blames this fact on his higher intelligence and how his education has put him in such a place that no one else can relate to him. There is also the statement that if he tried to console in anyone they would "despise (him) as romantic." Referring to the time period, as Foster recommends, adds a new perspective on education during this time and how it can create strong barriers between the educated and those who are not. This theme is relevant throughout the novel.
question
Chapter 3, Page 44 "I threw myself into the chaise that was to convey me away and indulged in the most melancholy reflections. I, who had ever been surrounded by amiable companions, continually engaged in endeavoring to bestow mutual pleasure-I was now alone. In the university whither I was going I must form my own friends and be my own protector."
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.11.14 This quote was found in the middle of the action preceding the death of Victor's mother and the beginning of the move to Ingolstadt to further his education. Because of the loving and care he received from his parents, Alphonse Frankenstein and Caroline Beaufort, Victor found himself "totally unfitted for the company of strangers." Fosters idea that writers kill off characters to cause a change in the plot, or a change in other characters comes into play here. The isolated Victor is different in many ways including his manner, and the way he goes about his education, now much more focused and almost obsessive. He has no one to comfort him and this leads to the madness of creating the monster.
question
Chapter 4, Page 55 "Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime."
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.11.14 The isolation being portrayed by Victor is now moving from not only psychological but physical as well. Countless hours that Victor has spent creating this monster has caused him to become ill, malnourished, and deprived of sleep. Obsessiveness has driven Victor into this state of mind which then pulls him away from any, and all, outside communication. This trait of Victors adds an imperfection to his character, something Foster would describe as symbolic. A flaw in Victors character is bringing him to destruction and will eventually create something that he views as a monster.
question
Chapter 6, Page 66 "I saw plainly that he was surprised, but he never attempted to draw my secret from me; and although I loved him with a mixture of affection and reverence that knew no bounds, yet I could never persuade myself to confide to him that event which was so often present to my recollection but which I feared the detail to another would impress more deeply."
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.13.14 Isolation stated in this quote has moved away from a physical isolation involving other people to Victor being isolated by his own mind. The event, creating the monster, has turned Victor into someone so paranoid he is afraid to tell anyone anything even if it were to make him feel better. Because of Victors situation and the things that he has gone through, Victor finds himself trapped in his thoughts. Not allowing for himself to heal after the even has created a monster in Victor that will escalate into something much bigger. Having nothing else to do with himself, as Victor contemplates everything that has happened to him, the situation, involving the monster and even his family life, worsens.
question
Chapter 7, Page 74 "No one can conceive the anguish I suffered during the remainder of the night, which I spent, cold and wet, in the open air. But I did not feel the inconvenience of the weather; my imagination was busy in scenes of evil and despair."
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.13.14 Now that Victor has returned to his place of birth, although under strange circumstances involving the death of William Frankenstein, isolation is seen in his journey where he finds the monster he created almost six years before. As he strolls through the woods during a horrible storm everything is changed. Referring back to Foster and his statements involving rain, it can be inferred that the rain storm taking place on a dark night is symbolizing something. Isolation being shown involves an alone Victor Frankenstein left to reflect on his previous and current choices. Shunned out by the city with gates because of the time of day, and shunned out of his college because of family matters, has left him in a middle stage between family and being able to sustain himself.
question
Chapter 12, Page 105 "what chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people, and I longed to join them, but dared not. I remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night before from the barbarous villagers, and resolved, whatever course of conduct I might hereafter think it right to pursue, that for the present I would remain quietly in my hovel, watching and endeavoring to discover the motives which influenced their actions."
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.15.14 Now that the novel is being told from the creatures point of view rather than by Victor, a new level of isolation was introduced. Because of the creatures hideous looks and his obvious monster like demeanor he is treated with immediate rejection by anyone who crosses his path. The creature is so curios with the life that surrounds him he has to approach humans in a way so they are never conscious of them but he does't feel alone. The main factor of the creatures isolation is that if someone does become aware of him, he is afraid he will get hurt. This takes away any chance of him forming any real relationship.
question
Chapter 13, Page 115 "And what was I? Of my creation and creator I was absolutely ignorant, but I knew that I possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property. I was, besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man."
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.15.14 Throughout the descriptions of the travels involving the creature, the creature begins to accumulate this new sense of self. Although destructive to his confidence, the creature becomes aware that he is a monster with nothing to his name, turing him into an outcast not welcomed in any society. The creature become isolated by his own fate, he blames Victor, his creator, for this doomed outcome. Realizing his situation, the creature becomes obsessed with changing reality and fitting in. This leads to a false confidence and will eventually lead to the creatures rage.
question
Chapter 15, Page 125 "Increase of knowledge only discovered to me more clearly what a wretched outcast I was. I cherished hope, it is true, but it vanished when I beheld my person reflected in water or my shadow in the moonshine, even as that frail image and that inconstant shade."
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.15.14 As the creature is becoming educated by the villagers, through his hovel, he is also becoming aware of the situation and the depression he is experiencing. Seeing himself in the reflection of the water adds recognition to the creatures isolation. He knows what he looks like, so he knows why people are reacting so severely to his presence. Although this leads to anger and a need for revenge, the always evolving sense of self adds reliability to this novel and a feeling of compassion towards the creatures isolation from humanity.
question
Chapter 15, Page 127 "I am an unfortunate and deserted creature; I look around and I have no relation or friend upon earth. These amiable people to whom I go have never seen me and know little of me. I am full of fears, for if I fail there, I am an outcast in the world forever."
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.15.14 As the creature is becoming much more educated, owed to the villagers, he is becoming creative in ways to escape his eternal isolation. His first idea is to confront the blind man, as he can not see his hideous stature, and enlighten him of his situation. Isolation is becoming too much for the creature to handle and he believes because of his new ability to communicate, he can create friends of the people he has examined for over a year. The creature explains his situation is terms of isolation trying to confide in De Lacey - but without success. His isolation is increased but this and the creature is forced to leave these people he referred to as his 'protectors'.
question
Chapter 16, Page 132 " I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a state of utter and stupid despair. My protectors had departed and had broken the only link that held me to the world."
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.16.14 After the dejection of his friends, the monster returns to the village to further his efforts of companionship. Hearing about the family fleeing the village because of his presence leads to isolation building into anger. The creature, now isolated completely with no help with entering the real world now only has time to think about his situation. Now, without his teachers and protectors, the creature is alone and angry, blaming Victor and wishing for only revenge against his creator. Anger then leads the creature to pursue his creator on a long, and lonely, adventure to Geneva.
question
Chapter 17, Page 142 "I felt as is I were placed under a ban-as if I had no right to claim their sympathies-as if never more might I enjoy companionship with them."
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.16.14 Narration moving back to Victor, he is reflecting on the creatures request to have a companion. Feeling trapped by this new job, Victor becomes isolated by his own mind. Like before, Victor is always very consciences about what he shares with others and what he keeps to himself. Will this overthinking hurt him in the end? Because of Victor's new task he must also isolate himself from everyone else to complete a lady creature before his life is ruined by the first creature that he created.
question
Chapter 24, Page 209 "But it is even so; the fallen angle becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone."
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.21.14 As the creature is reminiscing back on his life while talking to Walton he understands that even the most horrible people, including Lucifer the fallen angle, have people to confide in. The creature has no one. Remembering all of the crimes that he has committed causes the creature to rethink his decisions and the decisions made by society. By mentioning the relationship between Felix leaving his friend in need brings the further discussion of isolation that is socially acceptable and isolation that doesn't occur. The creature is going to die with no one even though he tried to find companionship.
question
Chapter 23, Page 189 "Melancholy followed, but by degrees I gained a clear conception of my miseries and situation and was then released from my prison. For they had called me mad, and during many months, as I understood, a solitary cell had been my habituation."
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.21.14 When Victor decides to make the tough decision of telling the Magistrate about the creature and what he was responsible for he was locked away for being delirious. Society had doomed Victor as crazy. Could nothing this insane ever be true? What were societies obligations to Victor, a victim of his own madness? The isolation he feels when locked alone is good for his mind though, this time gave him a free space to think about what he had been through even though he never seemed to fully be conscious of his situation.
question
Chapter 22, Page 176 "But I felt that I had no right to share their intercourse. I had unchained an enemy among them whose joy it was to shed their blood and to revel in their groans. How they would, each and all, abhor me and haunt me from the world did they know my unhallowed acts and the crimes which had their source in me!"
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.21.14 After Victor is aware of his dear friend Henry Clervals death and he is accompanied by his father and he is pushed to rejoin society. The strange habits of Victor wanting to always be alone prevents himself from being able to fully intervene back into reality. Victors isolation is created by himself by retreating from humanity to please the creature. Referring to other humans as "creatures of an angelic nature and celestial mechanism" is another factor that proves how far off Victors thinking has become because of the lack of communication with others.
question
Chapter 21, Page 171 "I thank you, but all that you mention is nothing to me; on the whole earth there is no comfort which I am capable of receiving."
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.20.14 The accusation of Henry Clervals death is another factor that further pushes Victor into isolation. Now that he has no one to accompany himself on his journey he has nothing to look forward to. The kindness Mr. Kirwin shows Victor is a lost cause because of the stubbornness that causes Victor to consider himself helpless. He is isolated in the sense that Victor will allow no one else into his life. He is alone.
question
Chapter 20, Page 161 "Shall each man," cried he, "find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone? I had feeling of affection and they were requited by detestation and scorn."
answer
Jessica Butterfield 10.19.14 The creature considered himself very deserving of a mate. After Victor destroys his new creation the creature is sent into a fit of rage and revenge. According to his knowledge, the creature is the only being on earth that is no fit for a mate, the only thing he truly desires. This is isolation that society has deemed. Victor is so afraid of something different how could he possible create something similar to it? It just can not be done.
