Frankenstein 4

     As I read chapters 6 through 8 of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, I once again notice a change in narrator. In chapter 6, a letter from Elizabeth makes up much of the chapter. While she is not the narrator of the story, the inclusion of this letter shows us a bit of her point of view of what is happening in this point in the story. The same goes for chapter 7 when a letter from Victor's father is included. I liked that Shelley includes other's points of view in the novel because we are not only hearing one person's thoughts.
     This novel seems to have death as one of its central themes. These few chapters bring extremely sad news to Victor. He learns from the letter from his father that his brother, William, has been murdered. After rushing home, he learns that Justine Moritz, a girl who grew up at the Frankenstein residence, has been accused of the murder. The Frankensteins know she is innocent, but she pleads guilty anyway and is sentenced to death. Frankenstein realizes these deaths are his fault: his monster he created is obviously responsible for the murder of William. Because of William's murder, Justine is killed as well. The last sentence of chapter eight gave me the chills upon reading it.

"...William and Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts" (Shelley, 60). 

     This sentence seems to foreshadow more deaths to come because of this monster. Victor obviously regrets creating his monster and is petrified as to what will happen.

     I noticed in the footnote that this marks the end of Volume I of the novel. Shelley seems to have finished the first volume with a cliffhanger purposefully.