Frankenstein Chapter 17 - The End

Question 1

Where does Victor go to create the female companion?

Answer 1

The Orkney Islands

Question 2

Where are the Orkney islands?

Answer 2

They are a group of islands off the Scottish north coast.

Question 3

What is the significance of Victor going to ‘the remotest of the Orkneys’ (page 125) to create the female companion?

Answer 3

It shows that what he’s doing is immoral and therefore must take place far outside of mainstream society.

Question 4

‘the ____________ of the Orkneys’ (page 125)

Answer 4

remotest

Question 5

Which phrase does Victor repeat to describe his creation of the female companion?

Answer 5

‘my labour’ (page 125/126)

Question 6

What is significant about Victor describing his creation of the female companion as ‘my labour’?

Answer 6

It shows his reluctance to do it, in that he views it as hard and unpleasant work.

Question 7

Why are the lakes of Geneva compared to ‘the play of an infant’, in contrast to the Orkneys?

Answer 7

It shows that Victor sees Geneva, his childhood home, as a place of innocence, whereas the Orkneys are a much darker and foreboding environment.

Question 8

Which word (beginning with m) does Victor repeat when describing the Orkney islands and its inhabitants?

Answer 8

miserable, e.g. ‘miserable cows’/ ‘miserable huts’/ ‘most miserable penury’ (page 125)

Question 9

How is the ocean surrounding the Orkney islands presented?

Answer 9

Ferocious and wild. Shelley personifies it - e.g. the ‘roarings of the giant ocean’ as a violent, animalistic force. This unpleasantness represents the darkness of the deeds that take place there.

Question 10

‘___________ of the giant ocean’ (page 125)

Answer 10

roarings

Question 11

Victor ultimately destroys the female companion because he fears it could lead to a ‘race of _____________’ (page 127)

Answer 11

devils

Question 12

When Victor destroys the female companion, what does The Monster warn him - ‘I will be with you on your ________ night’ (page 129)

Answer 12

wedding

Question 13

After discarding the remains of the female companion in the sea, Victor falls asleep in his boat and somehow floats to….?

Answer 13

Ireland

Question 14

When Victor awakes in Ireland, he is immediately arrested for murder. When shown the body he straightaway realises it is…?

Answer 14

Henry Clerval

Question 15

Who kills Elizabeth and when does this take place?

Answer 15

The Monster kills Elizabeth - as warned earlier in the novel, this takes place on her and Victor’s ‘wedding night’ (page 127)

Question 16

How does Alphonse Frankenstein (Victor’s father) die?

Answer 16

He dies in a state of intense grief as a result of Elizabeth’s death.

Question 17

In Walton’s final letters, what phrase does he repeat three times to convey the vastness and immensity of the arctic wilderness?

Answer 17

‘mountains of ice’ (page 162 - 163)

Question 18

How does Walton’s view of the arctic change by the end of the novel?

Answer 18

He realises the power and unpredictability of the arctic, a setting that in his opening letters he had described as ‘obedient’ (page 19)

Question 19

At the end of the novel, how does Shelley present the arctic as a deeply restrictive and claustrophobic setting

Answer 19

She describes how the men are ‘encompassed by peril’ (page 162), ‘surrounded by mountains of ice’ (page 162) and ‘immured in ice’ (page 163)

Question 20

Who says: ‘learn my miseries, and do not seek to increase your own’ (160)?

Answer 20

Victor to Walton, suggesting, to an extent, he does learn from his transgressions.

Question 21

How does Walton respond when his crew demands that, if the ice melts, they sail south and head for home?

Answer 21

He agrees, saying, ‘I cannot withstand their demands. I cannot lead them unwillingly to danger’ (page 165)

Question 22

‘if we are lost, my ________ schemes are the cause’ (page 162)

Answer 22

mad

Question 23

‘Farewell, Walton! Seek happiness in ___________ and avoid ambition’ (page 166)

Answer 23

tranquility

Question 24

What are Victor’s last words to Walton? ‘Farewell, Walton! Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ________’ (page 166)

Answer 24

ambition

Question 25

At the end of the novel, how does Victor die?

Answer 25

Victor dies from pneumonia whilst aboard Walton’s ship.

Question 26

Who says the following: ‘if we are lost, my mad schemes are the cause’ (page 162)?

Answer 26

Walton, reflecting on how if his crew die trapped in the arctic ice he is ultimately to blame.

Question 27

At the end of the novel, how does The Monster die?

Answer 27

The Monster doesn’t actually die in the novel - he floats away on an ice raft promising to ‘ascend my funeral pile…and exult in the agony of the torturing flames’ (page 170)