Frankenstein Quotes

This article will discuss a few important quotes from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, there are few texts that have produced so many incarnations as Frankenstein. The figure of the bolt-necked, green giant is culturally ubiquitous. Perhaps surprisingly, Frankenstein’s creature (he doesn’t have a name in the book) is well-spoken, intelligent, and argues convincingly for his own rights within the community of man. Ultimately, Shelley’s text offers a complicated representation of the responsibilities and duties we owe to each other. If you haven’t read Frankenstein yet, you might find this summary or this character list helpful. 

All quotations are from the 1818 original text. 

Sex, Mothers, and Responsibilities

“‘It is well. I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your wedding-night.’” (176). 

Reading this threat from the creature to Victor in Volume 3, Chapter 3 of Frankenstein, you might find yourself thinking, “Huh – what a weird thing to say.” I assure you – it’s even weirder than you imagine. 

First, some background. Remember that earlier in the novel, Victor promised to make a female companion for his creature. Seeking solitude, Victor finds a cottage in the remote Orkneys to finish this task. Though he is “sickened at the work of [his] hands,” Victor makes good progress. However, as he thinks about the consequences of his new creation, he begins to have doubts. What if the creature’s female companion is “more malignant than her mate” (174)? What if the creatures beget “a race of devils…upon the earth” (174)? At this very moment, Victor looks up at the cottage window and sees the creature, its face full of “malice and treachery.” Terrified at the potential consequences of his actions, Victor tears his new creation to pieces. The creature comes to Victor, and, when the latter swears never to create a companion for him, makes the above threat. 

Frankenstein Quotes (Continued)

The way Victor sees it, the creature’s threat puts an expiration date on his suffering – the “period fixed for the fulfilment [sic] of [his] destiny” (177). In other words, Victor just thinks the creature is threatening to kill him. Victor doesn’t seem to grasp (or cannot grasp) the significance of the date – his wedding night. Let’s get the obvious out of the way – traditionally, the wedding night is when a marriage is sexually consummated. With this in mind, the creature’s threat becomes sexually fraught. The creature could have threatened Victor’s life in any number of more general ways. He could have said – “Sometime in the future, when you least expect it, I’m going to kill you (and/or everyone you love) – but he doesn’t. When the creature makes this threat, he’s effectively saying, “I’m going to be present on the night when you’ll be thinking about (or engaging in) sex with your wife. “ That’s just weird. 

Frankenstein Quotes (Continued)

You might be thinking that I’m making too much of this moment. You might be wondering if this isn’t a “blue curtain” situation. Let’s go back to the text and see what we can find. After Victor breaks his promise to the creature, it kills his friend Clerval and frames him for the murder. Victor spends months in an Irish prison before he manages to get back to Europe. Traveling through Paris with his father, he receives a letter from Elizabeth, his cousin/fiancee. In it, Elizabeth asks Victor if he loves another. This next moment is crucial. Asked in this letter if he loves another, Victor thinks immediately about his creature and his wedding night. He thinks, “On that night [the creature] had determined to consummate his crimes by my death” (192, emphasis added). In the context of a wedding night, to describe the creature’s violence as “consummation” cannot help but reinforce the sexual nature of the threat. 

Frankenstein Quotes (Continued)

Victor’s reaction to the monster’s threat is to insist that he and Elizabeth get married immediately upon his return to Geneva. (Ostensibly, Victor is worried that the creature may commit more violence before the wedding. In his view, it’s better to get it over with.) He writes back to Elizabeth assuring her that he loves no one else. However, in a very weird moment, he adds, “I have one secret…[which] I will confide…to you the day after our marriage shall take place” (193). 

Of course, Victor is mistaken as to the creature’s intentions. While he thinks the creature is going to kill him, the creature actually murders Elizabeth. We can put it another way. Victor thinks his wedding night will mark the end of his struggle with “the creature.” Unfortunately, “the creature” kills Victor’s (heterosexual) love object. While there’s nothing in the text to suggest that Victor has homosexual desires, the text does suggest that Victor has a complicated relationship to heteronormative sexuality. 

Speaking of heteronormative sexuality…

“I slept indeed, but I was disturbed by the wildest dreams. I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her; but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel.” (84). 

If all the talk about Victor’s wedding night wasn’t enough to convince you that he has some issues with sex, this quote should convince you. First, a bit of background. This quote appears just after Victor has animated the creature. Disgusted with his creation, Victor flees to his bedroom and tries to sleep. In this moment, which should be the pinnacle of his scientific accomplishments, he has this dream. So. Much. To. Unpack. You don’t have to be a Freudian to understand how significant this dream is. 

Frankenstein Quotes (Continued)

On the one hand, you could easily say that Victor’s dream is a clear example of Oedipal desire – Victor wants to have sex with his mother. But that feels too easy (and banal). Let’s look more closely at what’s happening in the text. Having just created life, Victor dreams of kissing Elizabeth (the woman he is supposed to marry). The moment he kisses her, she turns into his dead mother. That much is clear. Rather than focus exclusively on the Oedipal relationship, I want to talk about how this moment juxtaposes three modalities of mothering. The text presents Victor’s (scientific) life-giving abilities, Elizabeth as (potential) mother to Victor’s children, and, finally, Victor’s own mother. 

This is not to say that we should overlook the dream-shift from Elizabeth to Victor’s mother. Rather, I think the focal point of Victor’s dream is the kiss. This sexual gesture toward the future mother of his children changes Elizabeth (in all her specificity) into just another dead mother. In this moment, motherhood – even potential motherhood – reduces the individual to an interchangeable archetype. 

Frankenstein Quotes (Continued)

The question becomes – how is this reading applicable to Victor’s situation? Let’s look at the moment of the creature’s “birth” to see how Victor responds to his becoming a mother. Recall that Victor has worked for over two years on this project. Given his investment, you would expect him to be glad when he sees “the dull yellow eye of the creature open” (83). Surprisingly, this is not the case. Victor calls this moment a “catastrophe” and describes his “breathless horror and disgust” (83, 84). 

What terrifies Victor? The fate of dream-Elizabeth offers a clue. If becoming a mother “kills” the individual, what takes its place? I would argue that mothering necessitates a reciprocity that Victor cannot accept. In other words, motherhood calls into being an ethical relationship, with all its attendant responsibilities and duties. In this reading, what terrifies Victor are the ethical and existential responsibilities of motherhood. 

Speaking of duty and responsibility…

“‘Remember, that I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Every where I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.’” (118-119). 

Recall the context of this quote. The creature has murdered Victor’s brother, William. Justine, the family’s beloved servant, has been wrongfully executed for the crime. Trying to get this horrible episode out of their minds, Victor and his family have taken a trip to Chamonix. Victor chooses to hike by himself one day and encounters the creature on a glacier. The creature and Victor go to a mountain hut where the creature appeals to Victor’s sense of justice and duty. 

Frankenstein Quotes (Continued)

The creature argues that Victor owes him something. In other words, there are certain duties inherent in the act of creation. Of course, the creature’s argument is that Victor owes him a companion. However, more basically, the creature is arguing that theirs is a relationship based on reciprocity – that is, mutual responsibility. If the act of creation (i.e., motherhood) implies certain responsibilities, then Victor’s rejection of the creature (and motherhood more generally) becomes a rejection of reciprocity and responsibility. 

Speaking of reciprocity…

“‘If I have no ties and no affections, hatred and vice must be my portion; the love of another will destroy the cause of my crimes…My vices are the children of forced solitude that I abhor; and my virtues will necessarily arise when I live in communion with an equal. I shall feel the affections of a sensitive being, and become linked to the chain of existence and events.’” (158)

This is a profound statement. In effect, the creature is arguing that his evil actions are a function of exclusion rather than any inherent quality. In other words, the creature argues that his actions are merely a result of the cruelty he himself has experienced at the hands of humanity. This is an indictment of both humanity as a whole and of Victor specifically. Recall that the creature has tried to be kind – he helped the De Lacey family, only to receive a beating, and he saved a young girl from drowning, only to be shot. He is destined to be hated and reviled no matter what good he tries to do. This persecution is a direct result of his appearance. 

Speaking of ugliness…

“‘His words had a strange effect upon me. I compassionated him, and sometimes felt a wish to console him; but when I looked upon him, when I saw the filthy mass that moved and talked, my heart sickened, and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred.’” (158)

I want to point out the fact that Victor is, in fact, convinced by the creature’s argument. That is, when Victor listens (as opposed to looks), he manages to empathize with the creature. (And agrees to his request.) However, when Victor looks at the creature, he can see only a “filthy mass.” The text suggests that this is Victor’s failure (and the failure of humanity). Try as Victor may, he cannot separate the creature’s external form from his internal personhood and his potential goodness.  

Frankenstein Quotes – Wrapping Up

In an age of AI, CRISPR, and ChatGPT, there is no doubt that Frankenstein raises important questions around the ethics of science and technology. At the same time, the text poses much more basic questions as to the rights, responsibilities, and duties we have to individuals and to our communities. If you’ve found this article helpful, I’ve also analyses of 1984, Brave New World, Beloved, The Crucible, The Great Gatsby, and Hamlet.