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This article will provide a chapter-by-chapter summary of Mary �����������’s Frankenstein. A perennial favorite on the AP Lit Reading List, Mary ����������’s Frankenstein has spawned innumerable films, , books, and even . Sometimes credited as the , it tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who figures out how to create life. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t go well – violence and misery follow Victor and his creation. 

All quotations are from . 

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Frankenstein Chapter Summaries

Volume I 

Letters I-IV

����������’s Frankenstein is structured as a . This means that the story doesn’t begin with Victor Frankenstein. Rather, it begins with a set of four “letters” from Robert Walton to his sister Margarite Saville. The year is 1796 – Walton is setting off on a journey to the Arctic. He tells his sister about finding a ship and crew and sailing toward the North Pole. Besides being lonely, Walton has no real news. All this changes when he and the crew see a gigantic man riding a dogsled on the ice some half-mile away from the ship [spoiler alert: it’s Frankenstein’s creature]. 

The next morning, the ice begins to break up. When Walton wakes, he finds his crew on one side of the ship, trying to convince a man, stranded with a dogsled on an ice floe, to come aboard. This is Victor Frankenstein. Walton convinces Victor to come aboard. As to what he’s doing on an ice floe in the Arctic, Victor says only that he is “seek[ing] one who fled from me” (60). Victor slowly recovers his strength and promises Walton that he will share his story. In effect, Frankenstein is Victor’s story related through Walton. 

Chapter 1

In chapter one, Victor provides the story of his life. He was born in Geneva to a well-to-do family. His was a happy childhood. When Victor was four, his family adopted his cousin, Elizabeth (who he will eventually marry). As children, Victor and Elizabeth are joined frequently by Victor’s best friend, Clerval. Victor also has two younger brothers, Ernest and William. As a child, Victor was obsessed with the occult-inflected natural science. As he gets older, he becomes interested in more traditional science and mathematics.

Chapter 2

When Victor turns seventeen, he decides to go to the University of Ingolstadt, in Bavaria. Before he departs, his mother dies of scarlet fever. On her deathbed, she reaffirms her hope that Victor and Elizabeth will eventually marry. After the death of his mother, Victor proceeds to Ingolstadt. 

At Ingolstadt, Victor makes the acquaintance of two natural philosophy professors – Krempe and Waldman. Krempe is an unpleasant man to whom Victor takes an immediate dislike. On the other hand, Waldman is a charismatic chemist who encourages Victor’s studies and puts him on the path to his future destiny. 

Frankenstein Chapter Summaries (Continued)

Chapter 3

Chapter three tells of Victor’s obsession with overcoming death. After two years at Ingolstadt, Victor has advanced past the need of further instruction. Having turned to the study of anatomy and physiology, he becomes capable of  “bestowing life upon lifeless matter” (79). Victor spends a year in this pursuit, during which time he neglects his family and friends. His health suffers, but he is close to a breakthrough. 

Chapter 4 

On a dark and stormy night in November 1793, Victor succeeds in animating previously dead matter. (Please note: there is no lightning.) Though he has been working toward this moment for the previous two years, Victor experiences no joy at his success. Rather, when the creature opens his eyes, Victor is overcome by terror and flees. ()

While wandering the streets of Ingolstadt, Victor is surprised and overjoyed to see his childhood friend Clerval get out of a carriage. He brings Clerval to his apartment to find that the creature has disappeared. Victor succumbs dramatically to a nervous fever and is sick for months during which time Clerval nurses him back to health. When Victor is finally well, Clerval gives him a letter from Elizabeth. 

Frankenstein Chapter Summaries (Continued)

Chapter 5

Chapter five begins with a letter from Elizabeth. She writes at length about Justine Moritz, a servant in their household. (It’s never a good thing to be mentioned at length in a Gothic novel.) She also tells Victor of his brothers. Ernest is hale, hearty and is to become a gentleman farmer. William is five, beautiful, and a joy to behold. Elizabeth concludes her letter by entreating Victor to write soon. 

Victor is heartened by Elizabeth’s letter and writes back immediately. Now feeling much improved, Victor introduces Clerval around Ingolstadt. In turn, Clerval introduces Victor to the languages and literature of the “the orientalists.” While their return to Geneva is delayed by winter, they make the most of their time in Ingolstadt, wandering for a fortnight in the surrounding countryside.  

Chapter 6 

Upon his return to Ingolstadt, Victor receives a letter from his father telling him that Wiliam has been murdered. Victor returns immediately to Geneva. As the city gates are closed when he arrives, Victor takes a boat to Plainpalais, south of Geneva, where William’s body was found. A terrific storm rolls in – rain, thunder, and lightning fill the sky. Suddenly, as a flash of lightning illuminates the landscape, Victor sees his creation – “the wretch” – in a clump of trees near him. The creature flees, but Victor realizes instantly that his creation murdered William. 

In the morning, Victor makes it back to his home, where the whole family is grieving. He greets his father, his brother, and his cousin, Elizabeth. Victor wants to tell his family about his creation, but he knows that anything he says will sound insane. When Ernest says that the murderer has been discovered, Victor is shocked. It turns out that one of their servants, Justine Moritz, has been arrested for murdering William and is set to go to trial this very day. (The locket that William was wearing around his neck was found in her possession.) Because Victor knows she’s innocent, he reassures his family.

Frankenstein Chapter Summaries (Continued)

Chapter 7

Justine goes on trial in chapter seven. Victor is in agony because he knows no one would believe his story. Though Elizabeth speaks eloquently in Justine’s defense, public opinion is against her and she is found guilty. After the guilt verdict is announced, Elizabeth is horrified to hear that Justine has recently confessed to the crime. However, when Victor and Justine go to visit Justine in prison, Justine tells them that her confession was a lie. She only admitted the crime to receive absolution from her confessor. (As an aside, the same dynamic plays out in �Ѿ��������’s The Crucible.) Elizabeth is relieved that Justine is innocent, but her inevitable execution wracks Victor with guilt. 

Volume II

Chapter 1

The two months since the death of Justine have not lessened Victor’s misery. He is obsessed with vengeance upon the creature he created. Both Elizabeth and his father try to calm him, suggesting a family trip to the Chamonix Valley. Victor consents. While the mountain scenery distracts him at times, he cannot forget his guilt. 

Chapter 2

The next day in Chamonix, the weather cooperates – Victor and his family have a diverting time in the countryside. For the first time since the death of William, Victor begins to feel somewhat normal. Though it’s raining heavily the next day, Victor decides to summit Montanvert alone. He’s enjoying the moody mists and glaciers when he suddenly sees his creation bounding over the ice toward him. 

Enraged, Victor tries to kill his creation, but is no match for the creature’s strength and speed.  The creature tries to reason with Victor, arguing that Victor has a duty to his creation. He asks only that Victor listen to his story, adding that if Victor does what he wants, “I shall again be virtuous” (119). Against his better judgment, Victor follows the creature to a mountain hut and listens to his story. 

Frankenstein Chapter Summaries (Continued)

Chapter 3

The creature begins the story of his coming to consciousness. He relates to Victor the first sensations he felt after fleeing from Ingolstadt. When he enters a village to forage for food, the creature is pelted by stones and forced to flee. Eventually, he takes refuge in a small shed attached to a cottage. From his place in the shed, he can observe the cottage’s inhabitants – a blind old man and his son (Felix) and daughter (Agatha). He watches them go about their daily routines – cooking, farming, singing, and reading – and is thoroughly enamored with them all. 

Chapter 4

The creature continues to watch the cottagers over the winter. He realizes that while they are happy, they are also very poor. The creature secretly helps them when he can, bringing firewood and sweeping snow off the path. As he watches and listens, he begins to learn their language. By the end of the chapter, the creature begins to hope that his speech will help him overcome his ugliness. 

Frankenstein Chapter Summaries (Continued)

Chapter 5

Chapter five concerns the creature’s growing awareness of his isolation. One day, a woman named Safie arrives at the cottage. She is “Arabian” (Turkish) and does not speak French. We will find out later how she and Felix met earlier and fell in love. Safie’s arrival also allows the creature to master language more quickly. Because Safie does not speak or read French, Felix and Agatha give her lessons – lessons which the creature observes and benefits from. 

With Felix and Agatha’s help, Safie learns to read via Volney’s Ruins of Empires. Through this book, Safie (and the creature) learn history, ethics, and morals. As the creature learns more about human society, he begins to understand his own isolation. He wonders what future he has without family, friends, or relations. 

Chapter 6

In chapter six, we find out how Safie came to meet Felix De Lacey. A few months earlier, Safie had just arrived in Paris when her father, a wealthy Turkish merchant, ran afoul of the French government. Both Safie and father were imprisoned. Felix De Lacey, the son of an affluent family, was present at the trial and was outraged at this miscarriage of justice. Felix planned to break Safie’s father out of prison. In return, Safie’s father implied that Felix would have Safie’s hand in marriage.

Things go poorly for the De Lacey family after the jailbreak. While Felix, Safie, and her father escape to Italy, Agatha and her father are imprisoned in Paris. Felix hears this news and returns to Paris to plead their case. All three are imprisoned for months – they are eventually exiled, impoverished. When Safie’s father learns that Felix is now exiled – and worse, poor – he immediately begins to plan their escape back to Constantinople. Safie has no desire to return to Turkey. Once her father leaves Italy, she makes her way back to her lover, Felix. 

Frankenstein Chapter Summaries (Continued)

Chapter 7

In a truly fortuitous turn of events, the creature finds some books while wandering in the forest – The Sorrows of Young Werther, Plutarch’s Lives and Paradise Lost. These books prompt all sorts of self-awareness. From Werther he learns the despair of unrequited love; from Plutarch the virtues of law; from Paradise Lost he learns of the duty of a creator to the created. (Additionally, the creature can now read the pages of Victor’s journal that he happened to have.)

The creature resolves to talk to the cottagers directly. He chooses a time when the old man is alone so that his first impression will not be affected by his ugliness (remember, old man De Lacey is blind.) He knocks on the front door of the cottage and is admitted. Next, he outlines his situation and the old man offers to help. Things go bad when Felix, Agatha, and Safie return. Horrified at this appearance, Felix starts to beat him. In despair, the creature flees back to his hiding place. 

Chapter 8

With this rejection, the creature is bereft of hope. He waits for the De Lacey family to return to their daily rhythms, but the cottage seems to have been deserted. One day, Felix comes to collect some things – the creature overhears that the family have quit the area and will not return. Outraged at this abandonment, the creature waits until nightfall and then burns the cottage to the ground. 

After some thought, the creature decides to make his way to Geneva to appeal to Victor. One day, while near a river, he sees a small girl fall in. He takes her from the water and manages to get her to the bank. Just then, a man happens by and thinks the creature is hurting the girl. He takes out his gun and shoots the creature. 

When the creature makes it to Geneva, he tries one last time to connect with humanity. When a young boy walks by, the creature grabs him, thinking that this youth might be free from prejudice. Instead, the boy insults him mercilessly. When the boy says his father is Monsieur Frankenstein, the die is cast. The creature strangles William and then, later, slips his locket into the pocket of Justine.

At the end of his harrowing tale, the creature demands that Victor make him a companion, “one as deformed and horrible as myself” (155). 

Frankenstein Chapter Summaries (Continued)

Chapter 9

In return for a companion, the creature promises to relocate to the wilds of South America, never to be seen again. Though he has his doubts, Victor consents. The creature is elated and promises to watch his progress anxiously. After the creature leaves, Victor descends down the mountain slowly and rejoins his family. They return to Geneva, where Victor attempts to enjoy daily life. 

Volume III

Chapter 1

Victor tries to feign happiness but is weighed down by his promise to the creature. His father asks him if he is having doubts about his eventual marriage to Elizabeth. When Victor says no, his father suggests an immediate marriage. Victor doubts whether he is in any shape for a wedding. As he needs to talk with a few scientists abroad, he suggests a two-year research trip to England. His father gives his blessing and Victor agrees to marry Elizabeth upon his return. . 

Clerval accompanies to England and loves every minute of their journey. From the narrative present, Victor mentions to Walton that Clerval has died, though he doesn’t provide any details. 

Chapter 2

After Victor and Clerval have spent a few months in London, they receive a letter from an acquaintance in Scotland inviting them to visit. They agree and travel north in the spring. Unsurprisingly, Victor’s promise to the creature dulls all enjoyment. He tells Clerval to tour Scotland alone and rents a cottage in the Orkney islands to complete his work. 

Frankenstein Chapter Summaries (Continued)

Chapter 3

Settled in his laboratory in the Orkneys, Victor is nearly finished with the creature’s companion. At this moment, he begins to have doubts. What if the two creatures have children? What if she is even more cruel? In this moment, He looks up to the window of his cottage and sees the creature at the window, its face full of “malice and treachery” (174). Suddenly resolved, Victor tears his new creation to pieces. The creature sees what Victor has done and howls in despair. 

Back in his apartment, Victor doesn’t have to wait long before the creature comes to talk. The creature threatens him with every sort of misery, but Victor refuses to change his mind. Enraged, the creature tells Victor, “I shall be with you on your wedding-night” (176).  

Once the creature leaves, Victor takes all his scientific equipment out on a boat and dumps it in the ocean. Exhausted, he falls asleep on the boat and drifts out to sea. When he wakes, he’s in the middle of the ocean. He fights with the waves and currents until he makes it to a small town on the coast of Ireland. He arrives to whispers from the townspeople and is taken promptly to a Magistrate to answer for some crime. 

Chapter 4

Victor is taken into custody for murder. At first, Victor is merely puzzled – as he was on the Orkneys when the body was found, he knows he can easily prove his innocence. However, when they take Victor to view the body, he sees that it’s the body of his friend Clerval. He collapses in convulsions and is held in prison for two months. When he recovers his strength, the Magistrate brings Victor’s father to visit him. Though despairing, Victor proves his innocence and leaves Ireland with his father. 

Frankenstein Chapter Summaries (Continued)

Chapter 5

Victor and his father travel to London and then to Paris, where Victor receives a letter from Elizabeth. In it, she asks if he does not love another. Victor writes back immediately to reassure her of his love – though he tells her he has a monstrous secret he will share with her the day after their marriage. Victor interprets the creature’s earlier threat (“I shall be with you on your wedding night”), as implying his own death – which he welcomes. Consequently, once they arrive in Geneva, Victor moves ahead quickly with the wedding.

Chapter 6

The evening after their wedding, Victor tells Elizabeth to retire while he anxiously paces the hallways of the inn where they are staying. Just when he dares to think something must have delayed the creature, he hears Elizabeth scream. All at once, Victor realizes that the creature always meant to kill Elizabeth, not him. 

After Elizabeth is murdered, Victor’s father dies of grief a few days later. With his family and friends dead (where is Ernest?) Victor sets his sights on revenge. He tells the whole tale to a Genevan Magistrate and asks for help. The Magistrate demures, and Victor swears to continue his mission of revenge. 

Frankenstein Chapter Summaries (Continued)

Chapter 7

The last chapter details the final stage in Victor’s quest for revenge that will eventually bring him to Walton’s boat. After he finishes his story, Walton returns to the narrative present, telling his sister that the ship is stuck in ice and the crew wants to return home. Victor tries to continue on his journey, but is too ill – he dies shortly after. 

Walton hears a voice coming from where Frankenstein’s body lies. When he enters, he sees the creature. Though his first thought is to attack the creature, he instead asks it to stay. The creature then gives his own account of his relationship with Victor. While it’s easy to condemn his actions, the creature explains how guilty and miserable he’s been these past few years. At heart, he is good – he has been driven to evil by loneliness and anger. 

With the death of Victor, the creature declares his work complete. It remains only to die himself. To Walton’s amazement, the creature jumps back onto an ice floe and is “borne away by the waves, and lost in darkness and distance” (221). 

Frankenstein Chapter Summaries – Wrapping Up

�����������’s Frankenstein touches on so many of our modern concerns about science, religion, and the ethics of technology. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the issues raised in �����������’s text are as pressing today as they were 200 years ago. If you’ve found this article helpful, I’ve also written summaries on 1984, Brave New World, Beloved, The Crucible, The Great Gatsby, and Hamlet.