Frankenstein Chapter 3

1. What is the best meaning of “repugnance” as it is used in the following passage:

“In the university whither I was going I must form my own friends and be my own protector. My life had hitherto been remarkably secluded and domestic; and this had given me invincible repugnance to new countenances.”

1. Reread the following sentence from the text:

“Besides, in drawing the picture of my early days, I also record those events which led, by insensible steps, to my after tale of misery: for when I would account to myself for the birth of that passion, which afterwards ruled my destiny, I find it arise, like a mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys.”

The imagery in the passage represents…

3. Reread the following passage from the text:

“But here were books, and here were men who had penetrated deeper and knew more. I took their word for all that they averred, and I became their disciple. It may appear strange that such should arise in the eighteenth century; but while I followed the routine of education in the schools of Geneva, I was, to a great degree, self-taught with regard to my favorite studies. My father was not scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child’s blindness, added to a student’s thirst for knowledge.” 

What does the passage reveal about Frankenstein’s character?

4. Reread the following passage from the text:

“The ambition of the enquirer seemed to limit itself to the annihilation of those visions on which my interest in science was chiefly founded. I was required to exchange chimeras of boundless grandeur for realities of little worth.” [chimera = a thing that is wished for, but impossible to achieve]

What does Frankenstein’s use of the word “annihilation” suggest about his reaction to Krempe’s advice?