Frankenstein: Chapter 4
Hallie Omohundro
Summary
Victor attacks his studies 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 and how it falls apart. After several years of tireless work, he discovers the secret of life.
Hidden away in his apartment where no one can see him work, he decides to begin the construction of a human being. He is so devoted to this labor, he neglects everything else in his life.
Characterization
When Victor completely cuts himself off from family, friends, studies, and social life, he grows increasingly pale, lonely, and obsessed.
Theme
Secrecy is a major theme in this chapter. Victor hides away and is secretly working on his great creation for years. His grief however, shows what keeping secrets can do to you.
Quote and Significance
"It was a most beautiful season; never did the fields bestow a more plentiful harvest or the vines yield a more luxuriant vintage, but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature. And the same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me caused me also to forget those friends who were so many miles absent, and whom I had not seen for so long a time."
The beauty of nature distracts Victor from his other worries. Nature’s beauty has the capacity to alter human feelings