Frankenstein Chapter 4

Frankenstein Chapter 4

Studies and Isolation

Victor's Studies A Man Obsessed: Chapter 4

Victor studies at the University with enthusiasm and, ignoring his social life and his family far away in Geneva, makes rapid progress. Fascinated by the mystery of the creation of life, he begins to study how the human body is built (anatomy) and how it falls apart (death and decay). After several years of tireless work, he masters all that his professors have to teach him, and he goes one step further: discovering the secret of life.

Privately, hidden away in his apartment where no one can see him work, he decides to begin the construction of an animate creature, envisioning the creation of a new race of wonderful beings. Zealously devoting himself to this labor, he neglects everything else—family, friends, studies, and social life—and grows increasingly pale, lonely, and obsessed.

Victor abandons everyone to study how to create new life

Important Quotes

"Two years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit (home), but was engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit of some discoveries which I hoped to make."

"After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; (...) I became capable of bestowing animation on lifeless matter."