Frankenstein Chapter 4 Analysis

In the beginning of chapter 4, Victor finally watches his result of toils in amazement and horror. Here, Victor describes the shape, the color, and the movement of the monster in details, as if drawing a picture of it, like this: I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a comvulsive motion agitated its limbs.

Watching the monster move in disgust, Victor feels two very opposite emotions at the same time. He certainly compares the monster to so many things, but the most representative ones are given in the phrases “Beautiful” and “Wretch.” In a way, he is quite proud of his own accomplishment, which is shown in his description: “His limbs were is proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! – Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion, and straight black lips.” However, in the other way, he is horrified and feels utter repugnance and panic with this “demoniacal corpse.” His horrified feelings are also shown in the climate of that day. “It was a dreary night of November” when he first saw his monster moving, and when he ran out of his apartment, he was “… wetted by the rain, which poured from a black and comfortless sky.” The ironic emotions of Frankenstein are contrary to how God felt when he created first human being; Adam. When God made Adam, instead of feeling aversion, he felt “good.”

            As scared as he was, he was wandering around in streets, not knowing what to do, or where to go. He also has nightmares, becoming increasing vulnerable and weak. His sentiment then is expressed in a passage from Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner here. The “one” in the passage, like Victor, feels fear, nevertheless full of curiosity. Speaking of fear and curiosity, he may also be compared to Adam, since Adam also feels scared of the warning but wants to taste the apple, probably from the curiosity.

Even after meeting Henry, his best friend, the fear continues to linger in his mind. It is true that he “… was unable to remain for a single instant in the same place; he jumped over the chairs, clapped his hands, and laughed aloud,” “… and his loud, unrestrained, heartless laughter frightened and astonished him. However, as he is seeing hallucinatios; “I imagined that the monster seized me; I struggled furiously, and fell down in a fit,” his laughters are not merely happy laughs, but they may be the dramatic expression of complex and extreme inner fears. Also, Henry nurses Victor for being sick, but this is not just physical illenss, but the mental one due to his fright of the monster.