Victor Frankenstein

After creating and being horrified by his creature, Victor fell into a nervous fever nursed for months by Clerval; he now reads Elizabeth's anxious letter (delivered by Clerval) with family news and writes back at once despite the fatigue, then convalesces fully within a fortnight. He introduces Clerval to his professors but suffers renewed nervous agony at any reminder of natural philosophy—Waldman's kind praise and Krempe's blunt praise both torment him, and though grateful Clerval never presses him, he cannot reveal his secret. Seeking relief, he joins Clerval in studying Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit and finds consolation in oriental literature; his planned autumn return to Geneva is delayed to spring by impassable roads, and he undertakes a fortnight's pedestrian tour with Clerval around Ingolstadt, which restores his health, spirits, and love of nature, making him feel like his old, happy self again.

After creating and being horrified by his creature, Victor suffered a nervous fever nursed by Clerval, then convalesced and, with Clerval, studied oriental languages and toured the countryside around Ingolstadt, regaining his health and spirits. On receiving his father's letter about William's murder he despaired and rushed to Geneva, delaying fearfully near his native town and lodging in Lausanne and Secheron; crossing to Plainpalais during a storm to view the murder site, he glimpsed the creature fleeing and scaling Mont Salêve, becoming convinced it was William's killer, and resolved to keep its existence secret. Arriving home before dawn, he grieved over portraits of his mother and William, then told Ernest and his father he knows the true murderer and that Justine Moritz—now accused—is innocent, remaining firmly convinced the creature alone is guilty.

After creating and being horrified by his creature, Victor suffered a nervous fever nursed by Clerval, then convalesced and toured the Ingolstadt countryside with him before receiving news of William's murder and rushing home to Geneva. Glimpsing the creature near the murder site convinced him it was William's true killer, and though he told his family Justine Moritz was innocent, he could not reveal the truth publicly; at her trial he suffered in agony believing himself the real murderer, fled the courtroom when she was condemned, and accompanied Elizabeth to visit Justine in prison while concealing his guilt and despair.

After creating and being horrified by his creature, Victor suffered a nervous fever, then returned to Geneva after William's murder, glimpsed the creature near the murder site and became convinced it was the true killer, but could not reveal this and watched in silent agony as Justine Moritz was tried, condemned, and executed for the crime, believing himself the real murderer. Now consumed by despair and remorse, sleepless and shunning others, he retreated with his family to Belrive where he often took a boat out alone at night, tempted toward suicide but restrained by thoughts of Elizabeth, his father, and Ernest, and living in secret fear the creature would commit further wickedness; he then abruptly left home for the valley of Chamounix, traveling by horse and mule, feeling his spirits lighten amid the sublime scenery of the Arve ravine before arriving exhausted at the village.

After creating and being horrified by his creature, Victor suffered a nervous fever, then returned to Geneva after William's murder, glimpsed the creature near the murder site and became convinced it was the true killer, but stayed silent while Justine Moritz was tried, condemned, and executed, believing himself the real murderer. Consumed by despair, he retreated to Belrive, tempted toward suicide but restrained by thoughts of his family, then left for Chamounix, where his spirits lightened amid the sublime scenery; ascending to Montanvert, he was confronted by the creature on the glacier, exchanged hostile words and attempted an attack that the creature easily eluded, and—moved by curiosity, compassion, and a new sense of duty toward what he had created—followed it to a mountain hut to hear its story.

After creating and being horrified by his creature, Victor suffered a nervous fever, then returned to Geneva after William's murder, glimpsed the creature near the murder site and became convinced it was the true killer, but stayed silent while Justine Moritz was tried, condemned, and executed. Consumed by despair, he was later confronted by the creature on the glacier and followed it to a mountain hut to hear its story, in the course of which the creature reveals it found and read the journal Victor had kept of the four months before the creature's creation, detailing the process and describing Victor's own horrified account of its odious, loathsome form.

After creating and being horrified by his creature, Victor suffered a nervous fever, then returned to Geneva after William's murder, glimpsed the creature near the murder site and became convinced it was the true killer, but stayed silent while Justine Moritz was tried, condemned, and executed. Consumed by despair, he was confronted by the creature on the glacier and followed it to a mountain hut to hear its story, learning the creature had read the journal detailing its creation and Victor's horrified reaction to its form; when the creature then demanded a female companion, Victor at first refused, fearing joint wickedness could desolate the world, but ultimately consented on condition of the creature's oath to quit Europe forever, and returned to Geneva haggard and wild, alarming his family, resolved to undertake the abhorred task.

After creating and being horrified by his creature, Victor suffered a nervous fever, then returned to Geneva after William's murder, stayed silent while Justine Moritz was tried and executed for it, and was later confronted by the creature, ultimately consenting to make it a female companion on condition it quit Europe forever. Back in Geneva, he delayed this promise, deflected his father Alphonse's push for an immediate marriage to Elizabeth by requesting a journey to England instead (concealing his true motives and haunted by fear of leaving loved ones unprotected from the Creature), packed his chemical instruments, and departed in late September with Clerval (arranged as his companion) via Strasburgh, down the Rhine to Rotterdam, and by sea, sighting England's cliffs in late December.

After creating and being horrified by his creature, suffering a nervous fever, and staying silent through William's murder and Justine's execution, Victor confronted the Creature and agreed to make it a female companion if it would quit Europe forever; he then left Geneva with Clerval, traveling via Strasburgh and the Rhine to England. In London he gathered materials for the new creature, a task that tormented him with dread and sickness; after touring Windsor, Oxford, Matlock, and the Cumberland lakes with Clerval, he parted from his friend in Scotland (feigning a wish for solitude while fearing the Creature might harm his family or Clerval), traveled the northern highlands alone, and settled into a hut on a remote Orkney island, where his advancing but horrible labour left him restless, nervous, and dreading the Creature's return.

After creating and being horrified by his creature, suffering a nervous fever, and staying silent through William's murder and Justine's execution, Victor confronted the Creature and agreed to make it a female companion if it would quit Europe forever; he left Geneva with Clerval for England, gathered materials in London, toured with Clerval, then parted from him in Scotland and settled alone in a hut on a remote Orkney island to continue his grim labour. There, dreading the consequences of a second creature, he destroyed the half-finished female before the Creature's eyes at the window, breaking his promise; the Creature confronted him in his house, vowed revenge and threatened to be with him on his wedding-night, then escaped his attempt to seize it by boat, leaving Victor resolved to fight his enemy rather than yield. After receiving a letter from Clerval urging him to join him at Perth, Victor packed up his instruments and the destroyed creature's remains, sailed out one night and cast them into the sea, but fell asleep and was driven far out by a storm; landing exhausted in an unknown town's harbour, he was met by a hostile crowd and told he must answer to the magistrate, Mr. Kirwin, regarding a murder.

After creating and being horrified by his creature, suffering through William's murder and Justine's execution, and destroying the half-finished female companion before the Creature (which then vowed revenge and threatened his wedding-night), Victor tried to dispose of the remains at sea but was driven off course and landed exhausted in an Irish town, where a hostile crowd took him before Magistrate Kirwin over a murder. He learned the victim was his friend Clerval, strangled by the Creature, and collapsed into a two-month fever during which he raved of being the murderer of William, Justine, and Clerval; he awoke imprisoned but was nursed with Kirwin's kindness, was visited and comforted by his father, and after the grand jury rejected the charge (proven by his Orkney alibi) he was freed, a physical wreck consumed by melancholy. He and his father sailed for Havre-de-Grace, Victor reminiscing over his past life and suffering a laudanum-induced nightmare of the fiend's grasp at his neck.

After creating and being horrified by his creature, suffering through William's murder, Justine's execution, and Clerval's murder (for which he was wrongly imprisoned in Ireland before being freed and returned home with his father), Victor reposed in Paris, tormented by guilt and self-accusation but unable to reveal the Creature's existence for fear of seeming mad. Reminded of the Creature's wedding-night threat by a loving, doubt-filled letter from Elizabeth, he resolved not to let his enemy delay their happiness, wrote promising to confide his secret the day after marriage, and returned to Geneva; though outwardly composed and eventually fixing the wedding for ten days out, he suffered fits of madness only Elizabeth could calm, armed himself with pistols and a dagger for protection, and set out with Elizabeth on their wedding journey by boat, feeling his old cares and fears revive as they landed at Evian at sunset.

After creating the Creature and suffering through the murders of William, Justine, and Clerval, Victor married Elizabeth despite dread of the Creature's wedding-night threat and set out with her on their honeymoon to Evian, arming himself for protection; there he heard her scream and found her murdered, fired at the Creature through the window but missed, joined a futile search, then collapsed from fever, rowed back to Geneva to find his father and Ernest alive but was forced to tell them of Elizabeth's death, watched his father die from the shock, was confined as mad for months before being released, and finally went to a magistrate to accuse the Creature, vowing that despite the magistrate's skepticism he would devote his life to destroying it himself.

After creating the Creature and suffering the murders of William, Justine, Clerval, and finally Elizabeth on their wedding night at Evian, Victor watched his father die from grief, was confined as mad, and then swore before a magistrate and at a cemetery to pursue the Creature until one of them perished, preserving his own life solely for revenge. He wandered across Europe, Tartary, and Russia and finally north across the Frozen Ocean by sledge, coming within a day of catching the Creature before a breaking ice sea separated them; rescued in exhaustion by Walton's ship, he recounted and corrected his history for Walton's notes, briefly rallied to steady the mutinous crew, refused to turn back south, and on his deathbed—finding his conduct blameless—renewed his request that Walton kill the Creature before dying with a gentle smile.