Frankenstein Reading Journal- Chapters 21 -23

Chapter 21

• When victor thinks of his dead friend he is 'parched with horror'. The realisation, that he is responsible for his friends death causes, an absence of life in victor (as water is the key to life) so it is as if through creating a life in the creature, victor has destroyed his own.
• 'Murderous machinations' He describes, what he had originally called a life creation, as a machination, or crafty plot with a sinister end. These are purposeful acts, so there is the suggestion that perhaps victor was aware of what he was doing all along, because surely some one with his knowledge could not make the mistakes victor did, unless they were purposeful. gothic suggestion of a doppelganger?
• describes his body as 'the human frame' so he likens himself to the creature because his body is a 'frame' rather than a human body. Perhaps because he believes his actions a symmetrical to that of the creature so he does not feel he deserves to be called human.
• 'I was doomed to live' - though all his friends have suffered death, he suffers the most because the loss of companionship is worse than death. Also suggests that life is a doomed subject on a whole, so his project to crete life was one of doom from the beginning.
• the fact that his work to create life had rid victor of life is emphasised 'I was a mere skeleton'.
• His life is sustained threw the taking of 'laudanum' - making victor the weak figure that he had sought to defeat, proving that knowledge is not everything.

Chapter 22

• 'The voyage came to an end' the beginning of the chapter, could reflect the end of victors happiness, which is respectively the end of his life, which is rapidly approaching.
• 'I abhorred the face of man' - reflects how Victor has lost his mind, and all that is dear to him. Throughout the book, it has been made clear that victor, and man as a whole, only function correctly with companionship, and now that, the essence of life, is the one thing that victor loathes. So surely he must be doomed?
• 'A thousand times would I have shed my own blood, drop by drop, to have saved their lives'. Proof that Victor wants to repent for his crime and willing would. But his knowledge has limits, and it seems that he is overwhelmed by the disaster he has created as he cannot think of a way to right the wrongs he has done.
• '[if we get married] nothing on earth will have the power to interrupt my tranquillity', Elizabeth's words in her letter to victor. Ironic because both the reader and victor know that if they do get married the creature has promised to be there one their wedding night, and he will interrupt the tranquility!
• decided to go ahead with the wedding, shows courage on victors part. arms himself with 'pistols and a dagger' almost as if his madness had driven him to believe that will be enough to kill the creature. It is as if his love for elizabeth has either given him a new sense  of hope, albeit slightly false. Or his lust to be with Elizabeth forever has ruined his sense of knowledge and perspective.
• 'how happy and serene nature appears' a juxtaposition to what lies ahead.

Chapter 23

• 'the wind... rose with great violence in the west... suddenly a heavy storm of rain descended' Pathetic fallacy, the weather is already against them. It foretells an extreme yet sudden situation, which cannot be good - the murder of elizabeth perhaps?
• When he realises Elizabeth has been murdered he focuses heavily on his anatomical make-up; 'the motion of every muscle and fibre was suspended... i could feel the blood trickling in my veins, and tingling in the extremities of my limbs' - It is as if he has turned himself in to the life less 'material' he used to create his monster. because he has become a monster through his creation, and because with out Elizabeth, he might as well be dead.
• Describes Elizabeth as 'inanimate' he always describes his creation of life as 'animate' so this harsh contrast reflect his strength of grief.
• Victor describes his later actions as a form of 'instinct'. This is arguably, what the creature has been doing through out the novel, so victors similarities with the creature are growing.
• Victor describes his life as a 'tale of horrors', brought upon by his lust for knowledge and ambition, similar to that of macbeth.
• Victor curses his creation: ' cursed, cursed be the fiend' - a replicate of what the creature did in chapter 15 - parallels between the figures deepening further.
• 'Man, ... how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom!' - victor has learnt his lesson, and realises the full power of man and the destruction it can cause, all because of wisdom, knowledge and ambition.