FRANKENSTEIN - Part 1

by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein is a story that is set in a framed narrative.  Captain Walton is telling the story of his travels to the North Pole which includes telling the story that Victor Frankenstein told him.  It also includes a point of view from the monster, but that is beyond Part 1.  As I looked into Framed Narratives, especially for this story, I found images that helped to clarify this process.  One image is shown below which I found to be very useful in understanding the complex workings of the story lines:

Framed Narrative

Now, in discussing the story, Part 1 in particular, the first part I found to be really interesting was when Victor Frankenstein was doing his research into how bodies undergo the decomposition process.  This had to be a very time consuming process of just sitting in crypts watching and observing bodies decay and get eaten by worms.  I am getting my minor in Thanatology (Study of Death) and I found this point to be both interesting and freaky.  I just cannot imagine the smell that Victor would have been exposed to since I assume there was no embalming process during that time period.  Pretty gross research and I believe that he became crazed during this period.  With that state of mind, it would be hard to say that his narrative is reliable in any way.

The second picture above was the closest one I could find that was similar to what I pictured in my mind.  I think that the movie monsters all give him too much attractiveness.  If he was made of clay and dead body parts, he had to be a very gruesome creature.

Towards the end of the story when Victor and Elizabeth are visiting Justine in jail, Victor brings up the subject of worms again.  He said, "But I, the true murderer, felt the never-dying worm alive in my bosom, which allowed of no hope or consolation" (Shelley, pp.59).  I found it interesting that he compared his body to that of the rotting corpses he observed in his research.  I think those images were forever in his mind and had obviously become part of him.

On an end note, about the beginning of the story and to answer the question posed by Dr. K, I believe that Captain Walton is travelling to the North Pole simply to learn more about travelling the seas.  He wants adventure on his own and he trained up by working with other boat captains.  He seems to want to learn beyond his meager education that he received when he was younger.

Works Cited

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein.  New York:  Norton, 2012.  Print.

Narrative Framed  Image, https://www.slideshare.net/kehoskin/frankenstein-narration