45 pages • 1 hour read
Mary ShelleyGris Grimly's Frankenstein
Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | YA | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Volume 3, Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Volume 3, Chapter 1 Summary
On his way back to Geneva, Frankenstein was plagued by the thought of having to create another monster. He hated the idea but hoped that doing so would finally end his anguish. Hearing of some new natural philosophers in England, Frankenstein headed there. He planned to stay for two years, complete the project, and then come home to marry Elizabeth. Hearing this made his father happy.
Frankenstein took a carriage to Strasburg, where he met up with the jovial Henry, and together they took a ship to London. Frankenstein was moved by the beauty of the English countryside and by his friend Henry’s continual lust for life. In the narrative present, Frankenstein wistfully recalls his friend, who appears in a red-and-white pinstriped suit, grinning from ear to ear.
Volume 3, Chapter 2 Summary
Frankenstein studied and worked hard as he prepared for his task, leaving Henry to complete his work in Scotland. As he stared out at the beauty of the English countryside, Frankenstein realized that the wonders of the world no longer stirred anything in him and saw for himself a future of emptiness and despicability. He came to an almost abandoned cliffside town and an empty house that made a perfect laboratory for his work. Then, Frankenstein began his project, with sorrow and shame consuming him. Still, he held out hope that when his work was complete, his life could proceed with a certain normality.
Volume 3, Chapter 3 Summary
Three years after creating the first monster, Frankenstein was in his small laboratory staring at his unfinished second creation. Unlike before, he reflected on the potential consequences of this decision, knowing that this female would have free will and might not even want to be near the first monster. If she did, the pair could have children and thus inflict damage for generations to come. Frankenstein looked out his window and saw the monster staring inside with a devilish grin on his face. He decided in that moment to destroy the female creation, kicking it and breaking it into pieces. Hours later, the monster stormed into the cabin and asked Frankenstein what his intentions were, and Frankenstein answered that no threat would convince him to create another monster. The monster left but warned Frankenstein that he would return on Frankenstein’s wedding night.
The next day, Frankenstein woke up and knew he had to clean up his mess before leaving the cabin forever. He put everything into a basket and took it out onto the water to drop it into the sea. Afterward, Frankenstein lay down and fell asleep, and when he woke up hours later, he was miles away from shore. Eventually, Frankenstein came upon land but had no idea he had drifted to Ireland. He received a rude welcome from the locals, whose town had just experienced a murder the night before and who noticed Frankenstein’s haggard appearance.
Volume 3, Chapter 4 Summary
Frankenstein was brought to see Mr. Kirwin, a magistrate, who heard from several witnesses about the night of the murder. When Frankenstein heard that the victim, a young man, was found on the shore with strangulation marks around his neck, it reminded him of William’s death. Several witnesses explained that on the night of the murder, they saw a man come to shore in a small boat and leave shortly after. Since Frankenstein had appeared on the same shore, Kirwin suspected that he was the murderer and ordered that he be brought before the body. When he was, Frankenstein instantly recognized Henry and fell violently ill.
After two months of illness, Frankenstein woke in prison, where he had time to reflect on what he had done. He also grew even thinner and took on the appearance of someone who was near death. One day, he heard that he had a visitor and assumed it was the monster; he panicked and raged, fearing what the monster might do to him. When Frankenstein’s father turned out to be the visitor, it was a great relief to Frankenstein. During his trial, it was proven that Frankenstein was in Scotland at the time of the murder. He was allowed to go free, but it was observed by another inmate that Frankenstein looked guilty regardless.
Volume 3, Chapters 1-4 Analysis
Henry’s death gives new meaning to The Cost of Unthinking Ambition. Frankenstein talks about his friend as though he were family, and his lengthy descriptions of Henry’s strong character, lust for life, and loyalty make it evident just how important he was to Frankenstein. Henry is the light in Frankenstein’s life—quite literally in Grimly’s depiction, as the pages where Henry features are noticeably brighter. In this way, he is a foil to the dark and brooding Frankenstein and lifts him up out of his sorrows. His death therefore marks not only the loss of another loved one but also the further erosion of Frankenstein’s hopes.
Frankenstein refers to Henry in the past tense before even reaching the point in the narrative in which he dies, foreshadowing Henry’s death. By the time the monster vows to return on Frankenstein’s wedding night, it seems foreordained that Frankenstein’s story ends with the loss of everyone he loved. However, this sense of fatality erases Frankenstein’s own agency in events, suggesting that he has still not grasped the importance of Taking Responsibility for One’s Choices—in particular, the decision to destroy the second monster. Frankenstein offers various rationalizations for this choice, such as the fact that this new creature would have free will and might reject the first monster just as everyone else did. However, Shelley implies that personal antipathy plays a large role. Unlike the first time he undertook this endeavor, Frankenstein now cannot ignore the disconnect between his heart and his current undertakings: “It was indeed a filthy process in which I was engaged. I went to it in cold blood, and my heart often sickened at the work of my hands” (135). It is also telling that he destroys his second creation only upon seeing the monster smile—an expression that strikes Frankenstein as “ghastly” but that could just as easily indicate happiness.
Frankenstein reaps the consequences of this choice almost immediately. After disposing of the second creation, Frankenstein washes up on the coast of Ireland and is accused of his own best friend’s death. It is a twisted irony considering how much he blames himself for the deaths that his monster caused, and Frankenstein’s imprisonment evokes his figurative (if not literal) guilt. As one of his fellow inmates observes, “He may be innocent of the murder, but he has certainly a bad conscience” (155). During this time, Frankenstein’s appearance degrades dramatically; he becomes emaciated, his eyes bulge, his head is shaved, and he physically recoils from the world. Frankenstein starts to experience firsthand How Misery Makes a Monster, growing ironically closer to the creation he despises in the process.
Related Titles
By Mary Shelley
