Sunday, May 6, 2018

In what chapters can I find the crime scene descriptions and the descriptions of the victims? What type of individual perpetrates the crimes?

Frankenstein's creature details his murder of William, Victor's youngest brother, in chapter 16. In the twenty-sixth paragraph, the creature explains that he snatched William, hopeful that the child might be young enough that he will not have developed any prejudice against the creature for his ugly appearance. He hopes to educate William to be his friend so that he will not be so completely alone in the world. He explains his plan to abduct the child and how the child's admission that he is a member of the Frankenstein family led him to kill the child instead. The creature says,

I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph; clapping my heads, I exclaimed, "I too can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him."

Thus, the creature describes the crime he commits, the murder of William, and he briefly describes his victim in the paragraphs surrounding this. Further, in this same chapter, he frames Justine for the murder of William. He went looking for a place to sleep, and he found Justine asleep in a barn. He became aware that if she woke up, she would scream and likely denounce him as the child's murderer. He says,

The thought was madness; it stirred the fiend within me—not I, but she, shall suffer; the murder I have committed because I am forever robbed of all that she could give me, she shall atone.

In his bitterness, he realizes that someone like Justine will never smile for him, and so he blames her for his misery. Thus, he frames her, committing another crime. He describes her appearance in this chapter as well.
In chapter 23, Victor and Elizabeth—now married—go away for their honeymoon. Victor describes the precautions he takes to prevent the creature from killing him; however, it somehow does not occur to him that, when the creature promised to be with him on his wedding night, the creature meant that he would kill Elizabeth. It seems obvious that the creature would deny Victor his love and mate just as Victor has denied the creature his own companion. In the seventh paragraph of the chapter, Victor describes how he heard Elizabeth scream, and he ran to her. He describes her appearance in the next paragraph.

She was there, lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed, her head hanging down and her pale and distorted features half covered by her hair. Everywhere I turn I see the same figure—her bloodless arms and relaxed form flung by the murderer on its bridal bier.

Thus, it is here that the creature's crime against Elizabeth is described, as is her body and what the scene looked like. You can also go to chapter 21 to find descriptions of Clerval, yet another victim of the creature. The creature strangled Victor's friend.
While I do not want to suggest that the creature is only a victim and not responsible for the crimes he commits and the lives he takes, he does so because he is so miserable and alone. He was created and then completely abandoned, a veritable infant, to fend for himself. Such neglect would be a crime in our world. He wants to compel his creator, Victor, to make another creature like him so that he will not be so lonely and unhappy. He seems to want to force Victor into the same condition: friendless and alone. He kills William, Clerval, and Elizabeth, and his actions indirectly lead to the deaths of Justine and Victor's father. In the end, he tells Walton that he did not enjoy committing these crimes. He says,

A frightful selfishness hurried me on, while my heart was poisoned with remorse. Think you that the groans of Clerval were music to my ears? My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture such as you cannot even imagine.

Thus, the creature who commits these crimes is culpable; he knows right from wrong. However, his motive, remorse, and willingness to take responsibility for his wrongdoing sets him apart from Victor, who declares that his "past conduct" is in no way "blamable."

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