15th March 2018

Frankenstein – Timeline

  1.  Robert Walton captained the ship: “How slowly the time passes here, encompassed as I am by frost and snow… I have hired a vessel and am occupied in collecting my sailors.”
  2. Sailed into the Arctic: “I am going to unexplored regions, to ‘the land of mist and snow’.”
  3. Stuck on ice and saw a gigantic figure on a sledge: “Last Monday (July 31st) we were nearly surrounded by ice, which closed in the ship on all sides, scarcely leaving her the sea-room in which she floated.” (stuck on ice) “… Fixed on a sledge and drawn by dogs, pass on towards the North, at the distance of half a mile; a being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature, sat in the sledge and guided the dogs.” (saw a gigantic figure)
  4. Picked up an ill man: “…From a man on the brink of destruction and to whom I should have supposed that my vessel would have been a resource which he would not have exchanged for the most precious wealth the earth can afford.”
  5. Walton and Frankenstein develop a friendship: “My affection for my guest increases everyday. He excites at once my admiration.”
  6. Frankenstein ia a child, Geneva is his home: “I am by birth Genevese, and my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic.”
  7. We hear about his family, Mum, Dad, adopted sister and younger brother: 
  8. Elizabeth (sister) gets ill and Frankenstein’s mum looks after her but then she dies: “Elizabeth was saved, but the consequences of this imprudence were fatal to her preserver. On the third day my mother sickened; her fever was accompanied by the most alarming symptoms, and the looks of her medical attendants prognosticated the worst event. On her deathbed the fortitude and benignity of this best of women did not desert her.”
  9. Frankenstein travels to Ingolstadt to go to university: “When I attained the age of seventeen my parents resolved that I should become a student at the university of Ingolstadt.”
  10. Initially disappointed at his uni as he is told everything he has studied is out of date: ‘Have you,’ he said, ‘really spent your time in studying such nonsense?’”
  11. Chemistry teacher inspires him and gives him hope that its not all nonsense: 
  12. 2yr of study. After this he becomes interested in anatomy: 
  13. Studies death and decay in funeral homes: 
  14. Change in narrative voice he begins to address the reader via Robert Walton:
  15. Tell us he has discovered a secret: I see by your eagerness and the wonder and hope which your eyes express, my friend, that you expect to be informed of the secret with which I am acquainted.”
  16. Spends almost a year on his ‘creation’: “So deeply was I engrossed and the wonder and hope which your eyes express, my friend, that you expect to be enforced of the secret with which I am acquainted.”
  17. His ‘creation’ comes to life: “I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.”
  18. He gets ‘very ill’: “but I was in reality very ill, and surely nothing but the unbounded and unremitting attentions of my friend could have restored me to life.”
  19. Clervel comes and takes care of him: “but I was in reality very ill, and surely nothing but the unbounded and unremitting attentions of my friend could have restored me to life.” 
  20. His sister sends letters: “My dearest cousin, you have been ill, very ill, and even the constant letters of dear kind Henry are not sufficient to reassure me on your account.” 
  21. His father sends a letter to say William died, his younger brother: “William is dead! – that sweet child, whose smile delighted and warmed my heart, who was so gentle, yet so gay! Victor, he is murdered!” 
  22. He goes back to Geneva: “By degrees the calm and heavenly scene restored me, and I continued my journey towards Geneva.” 
  23. He thinks he sees his creation on the outskirts of Geneva and then is convinced that the ‘monster’ killed his brother: “The whole train of my progress toward the creation; the appearance of works of my own hands at my bedside.” 
  24. His family tells him it is Justine who has killed his brother, but Frankenstein thinks otherwise: “This speech calmed me. I was rmly convinced in my own mind that Justine, and indeed every human being, was guiltless of this murder.”
  25. Frankenstein went to the mountains that he went to as a kid:
  26. His family is depressed because of losing William and Justine
  27. Frankenstein feels extremely guilty but he still wouldn’t have switched places with Justine: 
     

 

 

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Writing