Chapter 6

Synopsis of Volume 3 Chapter 6

In Evian, Elizabeth goes alone to their bedroom, where the monster murders her. The monster taunts Victor and escapes.

Victor returns to Geneva to break the news to his father, who collapses and soon dies.

Frankenstein visits a local magistrate and tells him the full story. The magistrate is sceptical and holds out little hope of the monster being brought to justice. Frankenstein realises that he will have to seek his own revenge.

Commentary on Volume 3 Chapter 6

bridal bier: note Mary Shelley's striking use of oxymoron in this phrase.

I saw at the open window: the sudden appearance of a monster or fiend was a stock device of Gothic fiction and continues to be used in contemporary horror films.

I must return by lake: Victor undertakes, in reverse, the journey described in the previous chapter. This time he can find no comfort whatever from the mountainous scenery through which he passes.

I had reached their acme: acme (from the ancient Greek) means highest point or climax.

I lost sensation: as elsewhere in the novel (see Volume 1, Chapter 4 and Volume 3, Chapter 4) Victor reacts to a crisis by falling into a prolonged nervous fever.

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