Characters

Here is a summary of the main characters in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley:

Victor Frankenstein

• Passionate and enthusiastic
• Introverted
• Combines a dangerous ‘thirst for knowledge’ and a ‘child’s blindness’
• Enthusiastic
• Wants to discover secrets
• Challenges nature
• Isolated
• Forgets his family
• Abandons daylight
• Emotionally intense
• Won’t accept blame
• Bad parent
• Hypocrite
• Arrogant
• Imaginative

The Creature

• Hideous
• Well meaning at first
• Vengeful when thwarted
• Unnatural
• Rejected
• Satanic imagery
• Murderer
• Merciles.
• Innocent
• Child like wonder
• Loves nature
• Romantic
• Isolated
• Alienated

Robert Walton

• Ambitious
• Isolated from friends and family
• Blinded to the danger of his path
• Rapidly forms devotion to Frankenstein
• Idealistic
• Naïve
• Headstrong
• Romantic
• Selfish
• Passionate
• Determined
• Enthusiastic

All characteristics that link him to Frankenstein. Shelley prepares the reader, through Walton, for the characteristics they will encounter, at a far more advanced stage, in Frankenstein, who is unable to control his emotions and feelings fully.

Secondary Characters

Elizabeth Lavenza

• Angelic
• Beautiful
• Orphan
• Patient
• Kind
• Self-effacing
• Loving
• Idealised
• A form of perfection
• A creature set apart
• Idolised by Victor who is strongly possessive of her
• Religious imagery attached to her
• She becomes increasingly downcast as Victor distances himself from her

Henry Clerval

• Ambitious
• Obedient
• Noble
• Inspired by learning
• Devoted
• Honest
• Generous
• Ambitious
• Needs friends
• Romantic

Alphonse Frankenstein

• Loving
• Caring
• Emotional
• Fails to control his son’s budding scientific ambition
• His parenting is a contrast with Victor’s ‘parenting’ of the Creature

Caroline Frankenstein

• Loving
• Caring
• A powerful influence, even after death, on her family and Victor in particular

Justine Moritz

• Victim
• Upright
• Devoted
• Her unjust accusation of murder parallels Frankenstein’s unjust accusation of having murdered Clerval

The De Laceys

• Outsiders
• Kind and caring
• Ultimate rejection of the Creature

Safie

• Outsider
• Exotic stranger
• Determined
• Devoted

William Frankenstein

• Innocent victim
• Shows how even children reject the Creature

Professor Krempe

• Disliked by Victor
• Unattractive
• Almost unwittingly ‘saves’ Victor

Professor Waldman

• Passionate scientist
• Wins Victor for science