Victor Frankenstein

Victor Alphonse Frankenstein is a young scientist from Geneva whose towering ambition leads him to undertake the creation of life itself—a pursuit that consumes nearly two years of his life and destroys his health and peace of mind. Educated at the University of Ingolstadt, he becomes fixated on understanding the principle of animation, gathering the instruments of science around him in a feverish push toward a discovery he believes will make him immortal. When he finally succeeds in bringing a creature to life on a dreary November night, the horror of his accomplishment—the dull yellow eyes, the shrivelled complexion, the nightmarish contrast between intended beauty and grotesque reality—shatters him utterly.

As the creature moves through the world, committing murders and bringing anguish to all Victor holds dear, he realizes too late that his ambition has made him the architect of universal misery. His beloved Elizabeth Lavenza, his friend Henry Clerval, his innocent brother William Frankenstein—all fall victim to the monster's vengeance. Victor pursues his creation to the Arctic wastes, driven by a fury and desperation that leave him broken in body and spirit. Even as death approaches aboard Robert Walton's vessel, he oscillates between justifying his pursuit and warning others against the very ambition that consumed him, his final words both a confession and a bitter prophecy.