• explorer
• revenge
• electricity
• flashback
• setting
• bench
• expedition
• six
• scars
• shattering
• disgusted
• intrigued
• lurches
• yellow
• characters
• guitar
• sympathy
• musket
• attracted
• scientist
• clap
• thrashing
• harnessed
• hideous

The play starts with an account from an Arctic , Captain Walton, who witnessed a strange incident when he was on an to the Arctic Circle. His sailors reported strange noises and voices in the wind. One day he saw a mysterious figure on a sledge, pulled by a pack of dogs - it was a creature, who he describes as being huge and , and he was being pursued by a man on foot, who collapsed in the snow. When the Captain and his men had looked after him, he begins his story, which means the play starts with a .

Act One

Victor Frankenstein is an ambitious and eccentric young who lives in Ingolstadt, Germany. He has been conducting various, mysterious experiments in his room. We are introduced to his cheerful friend, Clerval, who is by his experiments. All the while, a strange figure (which will eventually be the monster which is brought to life) is hid under a sheet on a . Frankenstein discussed his findings, and busy adjusting a wire, which he secures to the wall and connects to the bench. Frankenstein tells Clerval that he is curious to see how electricity can be channelled into nerves to make limbs move and bodies respond. He discusses the power of created in storms, where the energy of lightning bolts can be captured and and used to create life. Frankenstein shows his friend a Wimshurst machine, where the energy created from the spinning discs can be used to make a human hand move. Clerval is simultaneously fascinated and by this severed hand coming to life and moving before them. Frankenstein admits that he has been working on this experiment for years and thinks it may be the great discovery of his age. He also confesses that he has dug up body parts to use in his experiments. Frankenstein's cousin, Elizabeth, arrives but Frankenstein is too preoccupied by his work and reacts coldly to Elizabeth's presence. When she tells him that his father is ill, Frankenstein reluctantly agrees to return home, but he is worried that he will not be able to complete his work that night. There is a tremendous of thunder overhead and Elizabeth leaves, upset by Frankenstein's indifference to his father's illness. The tension builds as the scene reaches its climax - the electricity from the lightning is channelled through the wire and beings the dead body to life. Clerval is horrified as he sees the monster from side to side, trying to sit up. Frankenstein, in a panic, strikes him with a chair so he will not stop the experiment. As Frankenstein approaches his monster, enormously tall, powerfully built with criss-crossing his cheek,  and hideous red-rimmed eyes in a waxy face, he realises what he has created. As the monster towards him, he runs out of the room and leaves the monster making strange noises. When Clerval awakes, the monster has already escaped.

Act Two

Act two changes the to a simple cottage in a forest, and introduces two new - Felix and Agathe - who are political exiles. At the start of the scene, the monster is breathless and scared, with the sound of barking dogs in the distance. It hides when Felix and Agathe return from collecting food in the forest. Felix plans to leave to leave Agathe alone in the cottage and is worried for her safety - Agathe is blind and therefore vulnerable to any unknown attackers. As Felix leaves, Agathe notices that food is missing but is not sure why and begins to play a folk song on her . The monster is by the music and brings her firewood as an act of kindness. The monster remains in the room, watching Agathe speak to her father and pick up a mirror, sees his own reflection and drops it, the glass. At first, Agathe is terrified, but gradually starts to realise that the monster is a kind creature who wants to communicate with her in its basic form of English. Agathe persuades the monster to let her feel his face, and she realises that he is a 'poor' man who must have suffered in life: she feels great for this monster, who she fears is an outcast. Felix returns to see Agathe feeling the monster's face and attempts to shoot him with his , striking him in the chest. The monster leaves, feeling betrayed and wounded, and with a face twisted with hatred. He swears as he leaves the stage.