Chapter 6

Victor

Man consumed by moral guilt and dread from his experiments and abandonment of his created being. Still believes the created being threatens him directly. Attached to Elizabeth as cousin and intended spouse; tormented by memory and an impending cycle of murders.

Alphonse Frankenstein

Genevese public figure known for integrity, indefatigable attention to public business, and being guided by justice in love. Emphasizes patience and regular correspondence; expects affection to persist during the narrator’s studies.

Elizabeth Lavenza

Gentle, compassionate, morally steady orphan connected to Victor as cousin and intended spouse; capable of noticing Victor’s changes and responding with concern. Provides a moral anchor and embodies the best hope for Victor’s happiness and domestic stability.

Henry Clerval

Young man from Geneva; talented and fanciful with morally oriented ambition, drawn to enterprise and danger; devoted friend to Victor. Now at Ingolstadt; pursuing mastery of oriental languages with a plan to open his life to the East.

the creature

Physically deformed created being, socially shunned; self-aware and emotionally intense, driven by revenge and later by remorse/self-condemnation. Described as eloquent, intelligent, and capable of deep feeling.

Caroline Beaufort

Daughter of the merchant Beaufort; courageous and capable, able to sustain herself through plain work. Serves as the narrator’s mother in the story’s established context; emotionally significant to the narrator as someone associated with grief and memories.

the man of great research in natural philosophy

Knowledgeable scientific visitor/accompanying figure associated with demonstrations of electricity and galvanism during the family’s time near Belrive.

M. Krempe

Professor of natural philosophy in Ingolstadt; uncouth and gruff with repulsive manners, though capable of sound sense; believes in scientific secrets and self-importance.

M. Waldman

Fellow professor in Ingolstadt, around fifty; dignified in lecture, kind and mild in private; frames instruction with frankness and good nature.

the porter

A household servant connected to the narrator’s lodging and breakfast delivery. Functions as an attendant figure during the morning after the narrator’s flight.

Justine Moritz

Genevan household servant formerly associated with Victor’s family; remembered as frank-hearted and happy, later returned transformed by grief into a clever, gentle, extremely pretty young woman with expression reminiscent of Victor’s deceased aunt. Connected to Madame Moritz (widow) and her family history.

Ernest

Sixteen-year-old boy in Elizabeth’s family; active and spirited; wants to be a true Swiss and enter foreign service; dislikes study and spends time outdoors climbing and rowing.

Geneva

Victor’s native town and Elizabeth’s home; referenced through domestic life, social visiting, and stable landscape (blue lake and snow-clad mountains).

• Narrator’s father takes Caroline to Geneva after Beaufort’s interment.
• Caroline is placed under the protection of a relation in Geneva.
• Parents own a house in Geneva; narrator describes avoiding crowds and attaching to a few friends there.
• Geneva school routine is mentioned as part of his education.
• The narrator’s education in local schools is referenced as completed before age seventeen.
• The narrator does not visit Geneva for two years while absorbed in discovery.
• His father’s letters from Geneva enquire about his occupations and address his silence.
• Elizabeth’s letter dated in Geneva describes household changes and gossip.
• Victor’s convalescence prompts correspondence to family in Geneva.
• Victor arrives in the environs of Geneva as night closes around; gates are shut.
• Victor’s father’s house is where Victor enters at dawn.
• Justine returns around eight o’clock to the house in Geneva.
• She cannot search freely when the gates are shut.
• The trial and visits occur in connection with Geneva’s judicial institutions.
• Gates closing at ten o’clock shapes Victor’s dissatisfaction with staying in Geneva.
• Victor feels temporarily freer after retreat to Belrive.
• Victor returns home at once, enters the house, and is met with alarm.
• Victor returns to Geneva and struggles to recommence his work.
• Victor’s father speaks with him there about marriage and the cause of his unhappiness.
• Victor’s father reassures Victor that Elizabeth and Ernest are safe there.
• Victor decides that returning to Geneva is his remaining duty after release.
• Victor and his father return to Geneva.
• Elizabeth welcomes Victor in Geneva with compassion and tears.
• A marriage ceremony is performed in Geneva.
• The couple depart by water for their first days of happiness.
• Victor arrives
• his father dies of grief
• Victor later is imprisoned and then released
• Victor decides to quit Geneva for ever.
• Victor wanders the confines of town seeking a clue.
• Victor enters the cemetery at night and swears vengeance at the tombs of William, Elizabeth, and his father.

Italy

A country-region of travel described as a restorative for Caroline’s weakened frame after marriage; includes tours through a land of wonders and stops in parts of Italy.

• Immediately after their union, the parents seek the pleasant climate of Italy.
• From Italy they visit Germany and France.

Germany

A country visited by the parents on travel after Italy.

• The parents visit Germany.
• De Lacey and Agatha end up confined as exiles and find a miserable asylum in a cottage in Germany

France

A country visited by the parents on travel after Italy.

• The parents visit France.
• Felix conducts the fugitives through France toward Lyons

Lake of Como

A lake whose shores are visited during an excursion beyond the frontiers of Italy; a setting for visiting cottages of the poor.

• Parents spend a week on the shores of the Lake of Como.
• Narrator’s mother and narrator visit a poor cottage in a vale/foldings near the lake.

Milan

A city near which the narrator’s father goes by himself; the poor cottage is visited after that. Also referenced as the origin of Elizabeth’s noble lineage.

• The narrator’s mother visits the poor abode when the father has gone by himself to Milan.
• Elizabeth is described as the daughter of a Milanese nobleman.

our villa (parents’ villa hall)

The narrator’s family residence; includes a hall where Elizabeth is found playing with him and where she is integrated into family life.

• Father returns and finds Elizabeth playing with the narrator in the hall of their villa.
• Elizabeth becomes the inmate of the parents’ house and companion of their occupations and pleasures.

a poor cot in the foldings of a vale

A singularly disconsolate poor cottage setting associated with penury and five hungry babes.

• Narrator’s mother notices the cot during a walk with the narrator.
• She finds a peasant couple distributing a scanty meal to five hungry babes.

Belrive (eastern shore of the lake)

A campagne on the eastern shore of the lake near Geneva; described as the main residence in seclusion and later the location near which the family witnesses a storm and seeks scientific interest.

• Family resettles to a house near Belrive after the birth of the second son.
• Thunderstorm occurs while they are retired to their house near Belrive.

the lake near Geneva

A lake associated with the eastern shore where Belrive lies; used as part of the description of the family’s Swiss home.

• Belrive is identified as being across the lake’s eastern shore from Geneva.
• Victor contemplates calm waters at Lausanne and later travels by road along its side toward Geneva.
• Victor crosses the lake in a boat during the storm to arrive at Plainpalais.

Jura

A mountain range behind which the storm advances.

• Thunderstorm advances from behind the mountains of Jura.
• Observed from the lake as they coasts opposite banks.

the old and beautiful oak

An oak tree near the family’s house, struck by lightning; later found destroyed in a peculiar way.

• Lightning turns a stream of fire into the oak; the tree disappears, leaving only a blasted stump.
• Next morning, the tree is found shattered into thin ribbons of wood.

Ingolstadt

University town in which Victor and Henry study; associated with their professors M. Waldman and M. Krempe and the college residence.

• The narrator’s arrival and lodging in a solitary apartment.
• He visits principal professors and attends lectures.
• He decides his future destiny after the day’s encounters.
• The narrator studies natural philosophy and chemistry there for about two years.
• Professors Krempe and Waldman are involved through lectures and instruction.
• The narrator makes chemical discoveries and gains esteem at the university.
• The narrator walks through streets in fear through rain and cold
• Henry Clerval arrives via a Swiss diligence stopping on a street near an inn
• The church in Ingolstadt is visible in the morning light/clock strikes sixth hour
• Victor introduces Clerval to the university professors.
• Walking tour occurs in the environs of Ingolstadt.
• Victor expects a letter fixing his departure date from Ingolstadt.

University of Ingolstadt

Institution where professors Waldman and Krempe lecture and interact with students.

• The narrator’s planned enrollment drives the travel timeline.
• Students are astonished by the narrator’s ardour and skill.
• Professors Krempe and Waldman respond to the narrator’s progress.
• Victor is introduced to the professors.
• Victor experiences distress during praise and discussion.

M. Krempe’s lecture context / professorial setting

The academic space in which Krempe questions the narrator and later lectures.

• The narrator delivers letters of introduction and visits principal professors.
• Krempe asks questions about the narrator’s science background and dismisses his alchemists.

the laboratory and its machines

The narrator’s laboratory workspace at Ingolstadt containing instruments and machines used for chemical work and experimentation.

• The narrator works obsessively until morning light disappears the stars.
• Later, he uses his refined capabilities as a foundation for his subsequent creation project.

Belrive

Region associated with earlier time near which a scientific visitor explained electricity and galvanism.

• Victor and the family retire there for mourning after Justine’s death.
• Victor uses boat trips on the lake when family sleeps.
• Victor’s house becomes a house of mourning, with Elizabeth despondent and less engaged in ordinary occupations.

a solitary chamber / cell at the top of the house

A secluded workshop space separated from other apartments by a gallery and staircase; where the narrator keeps his creation workshop.

• The narrator conducts clandestine construction work there.
• He gathers and arranges materials and attends to the detailed parts of his created being.

the narrator’s apartment / room

The narrator’s lodging/workroom where he assembled instruments of life and created the being; features rain against panes and near-burning candle light.

• The narrator infuses life into an inanimate body
• He observes the creature’s eyes open and flees in horror
• He later returns and finds the apartment empty after the creature has fled

the courtyard belonging to the house

A courtyard at the narrator’s lodging used as refuge during the rest of the night while the narrator paces in agitation and listens for sounds.

• The narrator takes refuge after fleeing the room
• He walks up and down, fearing the creature’s approach

the inn

A lodging/stop in the streets where diligences and carriages usually stop; located near where the Swiss diligence appears.

• The narrator pauses opposite the inn when he notices the incoming coach
• Victor is conducted by the magistrate and several persons to the inn after Kirwin’s instruction.
• Victor inspects corners and passages expecting the enemy
• Elizabeth retires to a room and later screams
• people of the inn gather around Elizabeth’s body
• Victor searches and then later later tries to arrange departure

the street outside the house

The rainy street in Ingolstadt where the narrator paces in fear and where the Swiss diligence stops.

• The narrator flees downstairs and later walks the streets all night/into morning
• Henry meets the narrator near the Swiss diligence stopping point

the college

Their residence/college where they return on a Sunday afternoon.

• Victor and Henry return after the perambulations.
• Peasants are dancing as they meet them on the way.

Lucerne

A town where Beaufort retreats to live unknown and in wretchedness with his daughter.

Reuss

A river used as a geographic reference point near the house where Beaufort hides.

Naples

A city where the narrator is born.

Austria

A country referenced as imprisoning the Italian father of Elizabeth’s orphan status; dungeons and confiscation occur under its power.

the frontiers of Italy (beyond)

Border region referenced as the route for an excursion when narrator is about five years old.

a mean street near the Reuss

Specific neighborhood in Lucerne-like geographic context where Beaufort’s house is located—described as mean and associated with misery.

a cottage (peasant abode)

The specific peasant home containing the family and the hungry children; described as penury in its worst shape.

the Swiss home

The family’s Swiss dwelling environment, surrounded by mountains and seasonal natural scenery.

Roncesvalles

A chivalric setting referenced through the play-acting and masquerades Clerval tries to stage.

the Round Table of King Arthur

Arthurian legend referenced as inspiration for Clerval’s plays and masquerades.

Roncesvalles / Round Table tradition (masquerades)

General chivalric/moral-theatrical context; not a distinct location but a narrative setting for childhood games.

Thonon

A Swiss location whose nearby baths are the destination of a pleasure trip mentioned in the narrator’s youth.

the baths near Thonon

A bathing destination near Thonon; part of the excursion during which weather keeps them inside an inn.

an inn near the baths (Thonon trip)

A lodging where the family stays during bad weather on the trip; depicted as the place where the narrator finds a volume of Cornelius Agrippa.

the town of Ingolstadt (with a high white steeple)

A visual landmark encountered upon approach to the city.

the narrator’s solitary apartment

A private lodging room in Ingolstadt where the narrator spends the evening alone.

M. Waldman’s lecturing room

A classroom/lecturing space where Waldman enters and delivers public lectures on chemistry.

M. Waldman’s laboratory

Waldman’s private laboratory containing various machines.

a house of mourning

The domestic space described as closely resembling death’s repose, where the family remains after the mother’s death.

a churchyard

A site of burial and decay, described as merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life.

vaults and charnel-houses

Dark underground or storage spaces associated with death and decay used for anatomical observation.

the dissecting room

A room used for anatomical study by dissection.

the slaughter-house

Place where animals are killed and processed, used as a source of materials.

the fields

Countryside scenery described as beautiful during the narrator’s summer of work.

cemetery-like spaces / grave (implied)

A general reference to places associated with graves and the grave’s dampness.

the college / his college

The narrator’s academic setting in Ingolstadt where Henry and the narrator walk together afterward.

the stairs at the narrator’s lodging

The entry/walk-up area to the narrator’s apartment that the narrator uses to anticipate whether the creature remains.

the gates of the court

Gates belonging to the courtyard/compound where the narrator stays overnight; opened by the porter in the morning.

the church of Ingolstadt

A prominent church building with a white steeple and clock visible in morning light.

the window shutters

Shutters on the narrator’s room through which moonlight enters during the narrator’s night confrontation with the creature.

the environs of Ingolstadt

Outlying countryside around Ingolstadt used for perambulations and a pedestrian tour described as salubrious and scenic.