Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus

Frankenstein begins his narrative by explaining that he is from Geneva and his family “is one of the most distinguished of that republic” (17). His father married late in life; his mother, Caroline Beaufort, was the daughter of his father’s friend who, after leaving town to escape the shame of falling into poverty, passed away depressed and penniless. Frankenstein’s father “came like a protecting spirit” (18) and took Caroline to Geneva, where they married two years later.

The difference in their ages “seemed to unite them only closer in bonds of devoted affection” (18). Frankenstein’s father “was inspired by reverence for [Caroline’s] virtues” (18) and sought to alleviate her suffering. After they married, they visited Italy, Germany, and France; Frankenstein was born in Naples. 

Frankenstein’s parents had “inexhaustible stores of affection” for him (19). He remembers his “mother’s tender caresses and [his] father’s smile of benevolent pleasure” (19). To his parents, he was an “innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven” (19). They treated him with “patience” and “charity,” and he grew up feeling as if he were “guided by a silken cord” that made him feel as if all were “but one train of enjoyment” (19).