👥 The Characters

📖 Character profiles

Victor Frankenstein is a clever young man from a rich family in Geneva, Switzerland. As a student in Ingolstadt he becomes obsessed with one question: can a human being create life? He works alone, day and night, and finally builds a living creature out of dead body parts. But the moment it moves, he is filled with horror and runs away. For the rest of his life he is full of guilt and fear.

The Creature is made by Victor, but it has no name. It is very tall and strong, and people find its face horrible. Yet inside it is gentle and intelligent: it teaches itself to speak and to read. All it really wants is a friend. Because everyone runs away from it, it becomes more and more lonely – and finally dangerous.

Robert Walton is an explorer who sails towards the North Pole. He finds the sick Victor on the ice and writes the whole story down in letters to his sister. Elizabeth Lavenza grew up with Victor and becomes his fiancée. Henry Clerval is Victor's kind and loyal best friend. William is Victor's little brother, and Justine Moritz is a young servant in the family. Near a forest, the poor but friendly De Lacey family live in a small cottage – without knowing it, they become the creature's “teachers”.