Chapter 3

In chapter 3 of Frankenstein we find out that Victor is being sent of to a University but before he gets the chance to go his mother unfortunately dies. Victor takes his mothers death very badly and sees it as the start of the rest of his misfortune 'An omen, as it were, of my future misery.' This could insinuate that his downfall mentally starts here. This point is made more strong when Victor makes the statement 'Chance - or rather the evil influence, the Angle of Destruction, which asserted omnipotent sway over me from the moment i turned my reluctant steps from my fathers door.' Victor can tell that the events at home before he left put him in the state of mind, also on the path, for his future self-destruction. It also puts the feel across that maybe he was destined to take this path maybe as a lesson for science or even humanity?

In this Chapter you also hear Victors views on what i believe is life and death and also God. After his mothers death he makes the statement 'We must continue our course with the rest and learn to think ourselves fortunate whilst one remains whom the spoiler has not seized.' By 'spoiler' i believe he is referring to God and the way in which he takes lives and 'spoils' peoples families. This shows his views on life as well as he believes they all have to follow their 'course' which portrays his believe in destiny. I also begin to believe that Victors mothers death is what made the 'bring humans to life' theory in his head as he explains 'but when the lapse of time proves the reality of evil, then the actual bitterness of grief commences!' This could once again also suggest that he is talking about God as he sees him as the 'reality of evil' which leads him to start his experiments. This is also the audiences warning that things are going to begin to happen as he explains things are going to start commencing. Furthermore, it is also a warning that what is about to happen can only be bad as he is doing it out of 'bitterness and grief' which suggests his head is cloudy out of some sort of revenge.

Another reason shown in Chapter 3 as to why he would create the monster is when he gets sent of to University he makes the statement that he 'must now form my own friends and be my own protector' which could be seen as the monsters purpose. It sounds as if Victor is actually literally trying to make his own friend and protector. On the other hand, later on in the chapter when Victor talks to his lectures about the science in which he is interested in they tell him that he has wasted his time and needs to start his research and science based knowledge all over again. Victor gets very insulted by this and revels 'It was very different when the masters of science sought immortality and power, such view, although futile, were grand.' Maybe Victor decides to try and make the monster so that he can prove to the professors that he does no alot about science and is clever enough to full fill what other could not. The professes could be seen to off pushed him on to carrying out the experiment. This also reflects on the scientific matters of the time in which Frankenstein was written and also how the views were reflected on society.

I believe chapter 3 gives the audience alot of ideas and views on why Victor takes the drastic action that he does in the following chapters. It sets them up for the rest of the story with the background. Plus, it explains other factors about the story and Victor himself e.g. his thirst for knowledge, the science at the time it was written and a view in to how people would of taken Mary Shelley's radical views on bring a human back to live.