RIASSUNTO LIBRO FRANKENSTEIN, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica RIASSUNTO LIBRO FRANKENSTEIN e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! FRANKENSTEIN MARY SHELLEY CHARACTERS  Victor Frankenstein, the main character was born in Geneva from a distinguished (of republic) family. His ancestors had been for many years’ counsellors and syndics. When he is 17, he attends the University of Ingolstadt, where he studies chemistry. He creates a monster that kills all his loved ones. He dies before he kills his enemy.  Father passed his younger days occupied by affairs of his country and he married early. He dies in Frankenstein’s arms after the death of Elizabeth.  Beaufort is his father’s friend and he was a merchant, who from a flourishing state, he fell through mischances into poverty. He couldn’t live in the country where he had formerly been distinguished for his rank; he went to live to Lucerne in wretchedness (miseria). His father tried to hide him, but when he went in a street near the Reuss, misery welcomed him.  Caroline Beaufort is the Beaufort daughter’s, who works to help her and his father, but in 10 months the man died. She became an orphan and then a beggar (chiede I soldi). Victor father’s conducted her to Geneva and 2 years after Caroline became his wife. They had a considerable difference of ages.  Elizabeth Lavenza is the orphan, who lives on the shores of the lake of Como. Victor parent’s deciding to take her with them and Victor protect her more than a sister. She marries Victor, but she is killed by the monster.  Henry Clerval is the son of a merchant of Geneva. He loves reading books of romance and chivalry. He is a handsome young man and he has 20 years old. He is a source of instruction and amusement for the protagonist. His dream is to visit India, so he could improve his knowledge of the various languages he speaks. He always assists his dear friend in every situation and trip. Thanks to his letters, his father and cousin may have news of Victor. Ha has been strangles (strozzato) by Frankenstein, because there is a black mark of finger on his neck.  M. Krempe is the principal professors of Ingolstadt and he teaches natural philosophy. He knows the secrets of science and he gives him a list of several books treating of natural philosophy. “You read, but you don’t understand, so you waste (sprecare) your time on those”.  M. Waldam is the professor of chemistry and he has 50 years old. Ha has grey hair, sweet voice and he is good (benevolente).  Monster is the gigantic stature, about 2.5 meters tall and proportionally large that Victor has created. He has a yellow eye and the yellow skin scarcely covers the work of muscles and arteries. He has black hair, teeth of a pearly whiteness, black lips and watery eyes that seemed of the same color as the dun-white sockets in which they are set. When he gets up from the laboratory, he goes in the forest near Ingolstadt. He recommences his travel. Monster attempts to integrate him into human social patterns, but all who see him shun him. From this moment he hates the men. Then the monster asks Frankenstein to create a female monster that could make his life more tolerable. When Victor decides not to obey to him, the creature declares war against his creator. He kills William and Elizabeth. After greeting (salutato) his dead master, he quits the vessel on the ice raft which brought him thither (là) and shall seek the most northern extremity of the globe; he shall collect his funeral pile and consume to ashes (cenere) this miserable frame.  William is his little brother of Frankenstein. He has blue eyes and curly hair. He has been killed by the monster.  Justine Moritz is a very amiable girl. Her mother is a widow with four children; she is the third one. She is the favorite of her father and when he dies; her mother treats her very ill. Elizabeth’s aunt picks up (preleva) the girl on her mother to allow her to live at their house. She learns the duties of a servant and she receives a great education. She is a Roman Catholic. When the aunt dies, she is called home by her mother. Madame Moritz dies and she returns to Elizabeth’s house. Justine has been accused of William’s murder and she confesses a lie (bugia) because she thinks that she might obtain absolution, but she is condemned and they kill her. She perishes on the scaffold (patibolo) as a murderess.  Felix is the saddest, he works for a farmer and then he helps his family. In the past he is educated in the service of his country.  Agatha is very gentle. In the past she had ranked with ladies of the highest distinction.  De Lacey is the father of Felix and Agatha and he is blind (cieco). He was descended from a good family in France, where he had lived for many years in richness, respected by his superiors and beloved by his equals. Before he lives in Paris, surrounded by friends and possessed of every enjoyment.  Safie is Arabian and he comes to the house of Felix. She fell in love with Felix. Her mother was a Christian Arab, seized (sequestrata) and made a slave by the Turks; recommended by her beauty, she won the heart of the father of Safie. She was instructed in the principles of her religion and taught her to aspire to higher powers of intellect and an independence of spirit forbidden (proibito) to the female followers of Muhammad. Her mother died.  Safie’s father was the cause of the ruin of the De Laceys. He was a Turkish merchant and had inhabited Paris for many years and he became unpleasant to the government. He was seized (sequestrate) and cast into prison. He was tried and condemned to death. He was judged that his religion and wealth rather than the crime alleged (preteso) against him. He quitted the prison thanks to Felix, but at the end he betrayed (inganna) the De Laceys by escaping while they are imprisoned and exiled.  Mr. Kirwin’s is the magistrate to whom Victor has to give an account of the death of a gentleman who was found murdered last night. He prepares for him the best room in the prison and he provides a nurse and a doctor. At the university they study eastern languages for giving enough opportunities for his spirit of enterprise. Victor wishes to fly from reflection and hates his former studies. At the end of autumn he returns to Geneva and he spends some time with Clerval enjoying nature. When he has studied, he becomes unsocial, but thanks to his friend he can feel better. They return to the college and the peasant is dancing; he feels as having no limits. CHAPTER 7 Frankenstein’s father writes to him a letter telling him about his little brother’s murder. About five in the morning they discover William stretched on the grass (prato). When Elizabeth enters in the room where there is the corpse, she faints (svenne). The same evening has convinced her to let him wear the valuable miniature of his mother. This picture is gone and it is the temptation which urged the murderer to the deed. She weeps (piange) continually and accuses herself as the cause of his death. He wants that Victor comes to Geneva to comfort them. Henry comforts the man who walks up and down the room in agitation. Clerval comes with him to Geneva. The protagonist goes near his native thoughts and he remembers a multitude of feelings. He remains two days in Lausanne, where he contemplates the lake. The day he arrives on the sides of Jura, he sees the summit of Mont Blanc and the grief (dolore) overcomes him. He decides to go to Plainpalais, the place where William has been murdered. He cross the lake and the tempest starts; he compares it to a funeral rite for his brother. On the same spot he sees the figure of a monster on the Mont Saleve and understands it is his creature, which is responsible for the murder. This knowledge makes him feel desperate but he decides not to talk about it because he is afraid he will be considered mad (pazzo). Once he gets home his brother Ernest reveals that Justine Moritz has been accused of the murder. CHAPTER 8 At eleven o'clock the trial starts and Elizabeth decides to participate as a witness (testimone). Justine says that she passed the evening of the night on which the murder had been committed at the house of aunt at Chene, a village situated at about a league from Geneva. On her return, at about nine o' clock, she meets a man who asks her if she had seen anything of the child who is lost. She is alarmed by this account and she passes several hours in looking for him, when the gates of Geneva were shut and she was forced to remain in a farm belonging to a cottage. When she sleeps for a few minutes some steps disturbed her and she awakes. She quits her asylum. For the picture she can give no account. She can't give any explanations, but she thinks that the murderer place it there. Then Elizabeth addresses the court and she talks about Justine. She lives with her, she appears the most amiable of human creature and she nurses her aunt with the greatest care. Later she attends her mother during the illness and she is attached to William. The girl sustains her innocence. She had no reason to kill William and for the picture she says that would have given it to her if she had just asked for it. Justine confesses that she killed William, although she is innocent. Elizabeth comes to visit her with Victor and she doesn't want that she is killed for a murder she did not commit. Justine confesses a lie (bugia) because she thinks that she might obtain absolution, but she is condemned and they kill her. She perishes on the scaffold (patibolo) as a murderess. He feels remorse car William and Justine are the first unfortunate’s victims to his unhallowed (non consacrate) arts. CHAPTER 9 They go in the house at Belrive and he is seized by remorse. There he takes the boat and he passes the nights on the water. His father's health is deeply shaken by the horror of the recent events. Elizabeth is sad and discouraged. Victor, for redeem his soul from woe (dolore), he does wanderings (peregrinazioni) towards the valley. Two months after the murder (middle of august) he arrives at the village of Chamonix. CHAPTER 10 He spends the day walking with no precise direction in solitude for live in the best manner this trip and the nature. While he is climbing the Montanvert he meets the creature, he has created. He spring (salta) on him and he wants to kill him, because he killed William and the innocence Justine. The creature says how he can kill the monster he created with his own hands. They enter toghter in the hut (rifugio) and he consents to listen and Frankstein begins his discour seating in front of the fire which his creature has lighted. CHAPTER 11 The monster starts to tell his story from the beginning. When he gets up from the laboratory, he goes in the forest near Ingolstadt. He lies on a brook (sponda), resting from his fatigue, he eats some fruits and later he finds a huge cloak (mantello). He begins to distinguish his sensations and his eyes become accustomed to the light. In the place where he is established there is no food and he also loses his fire. He arrives in a small hut (capanna), where there is a shepherd (pascolatore) who is doing the breakfast. When he sees him, he shutters (urla) and escapes. The creature decides to remain in that place. He recommences his travel and he arrives in a village, but he is attached by the local people. He takes refuge in a low hovel (brutta casa). He isn't alone; in the cottage there are an old blind (cieco) man and his two children (a girl and a boy). They are sad. They spend the days milking (mungendo) and during the evenings they play the guitar, sing and read toghter, while the monster looks at them. CHAPTER 12 He looks at the three people in the cottage in every moment, when they work, eat… He doesn’t understand why the two young people weep (piangono) a lot. They are poor, so during the night he helps them. In the morning the cottagers find a great pile of wood on the outside. The girl spends the day in repairing the house and cultivating the garden. The monster learns some words from them. He discovers their identity; the girl’s name is Agatha and the boy’s name is Felix. They are very happy that the creature helps them; they think that is God and they thank him. He wants to restore happiness to these deserving people; he looks upon them as a superior being who would be the arbiter of their future destiny. CHAPTER 13 Spring advances rapidly. A beautiful lady, accompanied by a countryman, taps at the door. When Felix sees her, he is very happy; she is the Arabian Safie. The boy instructs her to learn the language, allowing the monster to learn it too. They read the Volney’s Ruins of Empires; through this work, the monster obtains a cursory knowledge of history and a view of the world. Man appears as the evil principle and also can be conceived of godlike. He comprehends that he is a monster and the mean to overcome the sensations of pain is the death. He hasn’t friends or any other relation and he demands himself “What was I”. CHAPTER 14 The monster tells the De Laceys’ story: they save a Turkish merchant from a death sentence, and then the son falls in love with the Turk’s daughter, Safie. They write some letters and the monster have the copies to give to Victor. Felix helps her father to escape; he procures passports and conducts the fugitive through France to Lyon and across Mont Cenis to Leghorn, where the merchant wants to pass into some parts of the Turkish dominions. The government of France is very angry at the escape of their victims. Her father betrays (inganna) them by escaping while the De Laceys are imprison and exile. They remain confining for 5 months before the trial takes place. They are deprived of their fortune and condemned to a perpetual exile from their native country. They find an asylum in the cottage in Germany and the traitor send a small quantity of money to aid them. The merchant wants that her daughter thinks no more of her lover. He hires a vessel for her to deliver them to the French government. Taking with her some jewels and a sum of money, she quits Italy with her attendant who dies; so she continues the voyage and he arrives to the cottage. CHAPTER 15 Then he arrives in an Irish city, where he is welcomed by a rude man and an ill-looking man takes him to Mr. Kirwin’s; he is a magistrate and Victor has to give an account of the death of a gentleman who was found murdered last night. CHAPTER 21 Different men express what they have seen that night: - About ten o’clock Daniel Nugent, a fisherman with his son and brother were out fishing, when they observed a strong beast rising (crescente). They put in the port. As he is proceeding along the sands, he strikes his foot against something and fells on the ground; he falls on the body of a man. The man didn’t die in the water, because the clothes aren’t wet. He is a handsome young man, about 20 years old. Ha has been strangles (strozzato) and there is a black mark of finger on his neck. Mr. Kirwin desires that he should be taken into the room where the body lays. He would observe what effect the sight of it produce upon Victor. When he sees the lifeless form of Henry Clerval he gasps for breath. He has strong convulsions and fever. He calls himself the murderer of William, Justine and Clerval. Two months before he is in a prison with a nurse who takes care of him. The magistrate prepares for him the best room in the prison and he provides a nurse and a doctor. While he is sick, the man finds several letters and he decides to write to his father. Victor has fear, because he thinks that could succeed something bad to his father. He comes and Victor gradually recovers his health. He has been three months in the prison and the period when an itinerant judge resides in a certain tribunal arrives (season of assizes). He is obliged to travel to the country where the court is held. The jury rejects the bill on its being proved that he is on the Orkney Islands at the hour of the body was found. They return to Geneva and he is always possessed by nightmares. CHAPTER 22 They land to Paris. His father wishes him to seek amusement in society. Victor confides him the fatal secret and his father doesn't believe him. A few days before they leave Paris, he receives a letter written by Elizabeth. She received notices of him from his uncle and she wishes to see him very soon. He desires to have a more intimate union, from the moment they love each other. She wants to marry him, because it would render him eternally miserable unless it is the dictate of his free choice. When he reads this letter he reminds the phrase that Frankenstein said to him “I will be with you on your wedding-night". The daemon could employ every art to destroy him. He could kill him and take an end to his sufferance or Victor could defeated him, thus he holds be a free man. He writes a response to Elizabeth in which he declares that he has to reveal a horror. They return to Geneva and they are welcomed by Elizabeth. She has received a part of the inheritance from the Austrian government; a small possession on the shores of the lake of Como belongs to her. After their union they should proceed to Villa Lavenza. In the meantime he takes every precaution to defend his person in case the fiend should openly attack him. She is melancholy for the secret which he promised to reveal to her on the following day. After the ceremony, a large party assembled at his father's birthday is performed. They commence their journey by water. CHAPTER 23 When the night comes, he is anxious and he takes his pistol; every sound terrifies him. She leaves him and he continues walking up and down the passages of the house and inspecting every corner that might afford a retreat to his adversary. He discovers no trace of him. He hears a shrill (acuto) scream; it comes from the room into which Elizabeth has returned. She is there, lifeless, thrown across the bed; she has the head hanging (appesa) down and her distorted features covered by her hair. She has the fiend's grasp on her neck. He sees at the window the most hideous figure; he runs and plunges (immergersi) into the lake. They follow the track with boats in vain. He returns to Geneva by water and during the voyage the wind is unfavorable and he remembers the moments which he passes with her. His father feels bad, because the girl was more than a daughter. He is unable to ruse from his bed and in a few days he dies in his arms. Victor is imprisoned, car they call him mad (pazzo). About a month after his release, he goes to a criminal judge and tells him the destroyer of his family to arrest him. The judge would willingly (volentieri) afford him, but the creature appears to have powers which defeat all his efforts. He retires to meditate on some other mode of action. CHAPTER 24 His first resolution is to quit Geneva forever and he provides himself with a sum of money and also with a few jewels of his mother. He traverses a vast portion of earth. The first labor is to gain some clues (indizi) by which he might trace the steps of his enemy. He enters in the cemetery, where William, Elizabeth and his father reposes. He begins his adjuration, when a well-known voice addresses him and says “I am satisfied miserable wretch (disgraziato)”. He follows in his track; he goes in Russia on the mountains and the peasant’s scares by the horrible apparition inform him of his path. Victor helps the villagers giving his money or the food. The monster leaves marks in writing on the outer part of the tree. Then he goes to Greece, to the hills of Asia and to the mountainous ices of the ocean. When he arrives on the summit of a sloping (inclinator) ice mountain he views the well- known form, but he leaves all trace of him. In a few minutes a tumultuous sea rolls between him and his enemy; he is left drifting (alla deriva) on a scattered piece (sparso) of ice that is continually lessening (diminuendo) and thus preparing for him a hideous death. Several of his dogs die and he is about to sink (affondare) under the accumulation of distress (angoscia), when he sees his vessel riding at anchor (ancora) and holding forth to him hopes of succor. He takes him on board. When he is dead if the monster should appear, Walton must not make him triumph and must put his sword in his heart. Walton writes to Margaret, after she reads this terrific story. His tale connects with the letters of Safie, Felix and the apparition of the monster brought to him a greater conviction of the truth of Victor’s narrative. He makes notes concerning his story. They talk about his misfortunes and his literature. Walton finds a friend that he wanted so much, but Victor would not reconcile him. They are surrounded by mountains of ice, they are in imminent danger and the cold is excessive. They are tapped (bloccati) in ice and should probably never escape, but they feared that if as is possible the ice should dissipate and a free passage is opened. He is returning to England; he loses his friends and hopes of glory and utility. On the 9 of September the ice begins to move, but Victor feels very bad; he is entirely confide to his bed. He has not many hours to live and he asks him to kill his creature. (PAG.272) Victor dies. From the cabin where the remains of Frankenstein still lie; there is a sound of a human voice. Walton enters and he sees a gigantic creature with his friend, when the monster hears the sound of his approach, he ceases to utter exclamations of grief. They start to talk and the monster says “That is also my victim”. (PAG.274) After the murder of Clerval he returns to Switzerland. The completion of his demoniacal design becomes an insatiable passion and now it is ended with his last victim, Victor. He is alone, he hasn’t friends. (PAG.276). He quits the vessel on the ice raft which brought him thither (là) and shall seek the most northern extremity of the globe; he shall collect his funeral pile and consume to ashes (cenere) this miserable frame. At the end he springs (balza) from the cabin-window as he says “Farewell” (addio) upon the ice raft which lay close to the vessel.