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ENGLISH / BRITISH SUMMARIES

Frankenstein

Author: Mary Shelley

Time period: Romantic

Language: English

 

The first part of Frankenstein is told through a series of letters from explorer Robert Walton to his sister, Margaret Saville, telling of his encounter with Victor Frankenstein. As Walton travels the Arctic Ocean, he meets Frankenstein near death and weakened by the cold, where he takes him aboard his ship and brings him back to health, where Victor shares his story, which Walton repeats in his letters.

Victor Frankenstein tells his story of being raised in Geneva, Switzerland, with his cousin Elizabeth Lavenza, where he began his enthusiasm for science. To continue pursuing the sciences, he attends the university of Ingolstadt, where he embarks on his plan to re-create a human body. He spends his university years carefully researching to find what he defines as the “secret of life.” In secrecy in his apartment, his creation proves successful in the form of a grotesque 8-foot-tall creature, made of dismembered body parts, chemicals, and electricity. However, after bringing his creation to life he feels fear and disgust, and comes to the realization that he had made the monster without second thoughts or provisions. He plans to escape his creation by returning to Geneva but decides not to when he hears that his brother, William, had been murdered, and a girl adopted by the Frankenstein household had been accused and executed for his death. Convinced that his monster had murdered his brother, Victor succumbs to guilt and flees into the mountains. At the mountains, he is approached by the monster, who confesses his murder and admits that he had only done so to attempt to harm Victor for his neglect. He then asks Victor to create a female monster as a companion to mitigate his loneliness. Agreeing to the monster’s wish, Victor then creates his second project, but is overcome by disgust, and destroys his new creation immediately. The monster becomes infuriated at Victor’s actions, vows to get revenge, and murders Victor’s friend, Henry Clerval, the following night. Victor is then accused of Henry’s murder and is sent to prison, where he falls ill. After being released and returning to Geneva to marry his wife, Elizabeth, she is murdered by the monster, and shortly after Victor’s father also dies of sadness. This course of events leads Victor to devote the rest of his life to destroying the monster and he travels toward the Arctic Circle to find it. Here, he encounters Robert Walton and shares his story with him, but becomes extremely ill and dies shortly after. The monster enters the cabin of the ship where Victor lies and weeps over his dead body. Here, he shares his side of the story of hatred, loneliness, and remorse to Walton. To end his suffering now that Victor is dead, the monster departs north to die.

Dracula

Author: Bram Stoker

Time period: Victorian

Language: English

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Jonathan Harker is an English lawyer visiting Castle Dracula in Transylvania, Romania to establish a real estate deal with Count Dracula. While Jonathan is traveling through the countryside, many of the townspeople warn him of Dracula, labeling him a vampire in a foreign language. The castle is surrounded by several rabid wolves and upon Harker’s arrival at the crumbling old castle, Dracula introduces himself eloquently but quickly imprisons Jonathan. Whilst Jonathan is confined in Dracula’s castle, he begins to realize Dracula’s supernatural powers and malevolence and is attacked by three female vampires until Dracula stops them, claiming Harker as his. During Jonathan's confinement his wife, Mina Murray’s, friend Lucy Westenra is proposed to by three men and eventually marries Arthur Holmwood. Mina then finds a ship wrecked on the shore with the captain and crew missing and carrying large cargo boxes sent from Count Dracula’s castle and a dog. Lucy then begins sleepwalking later that night into the town cemetery where Mina finds her. Mina believes she saw a dark figure with glowing red eyes over Lucy and finds her pale and ill, bearing red marks on her neck. Mina sends Lucy to Dr. Seward, who fails to diagnose her, sending her to Professor Van Helsing. Harker then is found suffering from brain fever in Buda-Pest, where Mina finds him. Van Helsing concludes that Lucy was bitten by a vampire, and that garlic be placed in her chamber. However, Lucy’s mother, unaware of the garlic’s ward against vampires, removes the vegetable from her room, leaving her vulnerable to attack. Dr. Seward and Professor Van Helsing attempt to bring Lucy back to health, but they give up, allowing a wolf to break into Westenra house. The appearance of the wolf fatally shocks Lucy’s mother and kills her. Van Helsing then leads Holmwood, Seward and Quincey Morris to Lucy’s tomb and explains to her that she belongs to the “un-dead,” which is seen when she preys on a defenseless child, convincing the men that Lucy needs to be destroyed. Whilst Lucy is sleeping, Holmwood stabs Lucy’s heart with a wooden post and the men behead her and stuff her mouth with garlic. After killing Lucy, they pledge to destroy Dracula himself. Mina and Jonathan go back to England and help Van Helsing collect the diary entries of Harker, Seward and others to track down Dracula. One of Dr. Seward’s mental patients, Renfield, lets Dracula into the medical asylum, allowing him to prey on Mina. Mina then begins to turn into a vampire while Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, Jonathan, Holmwood, and Morris kill the female vampires in Dracula’s castle and cleanse the castle with sacred objects. Finally, Jonathan and Morris kill Count Dracula with knives. Because of the death of Dracula, Mina is brought back to human form. Dracula’s minions wound Morris in their fight and kill him. To pay respect to Morris, Harker states in a letter written seven years later that they name his and Mina’s child, Quincey.

1984

Author: George Orwell

Time period: Postmodernism

Language: English

 

The first part of Frankenstein is told through a series of letters from explorer Robert Walton to his sister, Margaret Saville, telling of his encounter with Victor Frankenstein. As Walton travels the Arctic Ocean, he meets Frankenstein near death and weakened by the cold, where he takes him aboard his ship and brings him back to health, where Victor shares his story, which Walton repeats in his letters.

Victor Frankenstein tells his story of being raised in Geneva, Switzerland, with his cousin Elizabeth Lavenza, where he began his enthusiasm for science. To continue pursuing the sciences, he attends the university of Ingolstadt, where he embarks on his plan to re-create a human body. He spends his university years carefully researching to find what he defines as the “secret of life.” In secrecy in his apartment, his creation proves successful in the form of a grotesque 8-foot-tall creature, made of dismembered body parts, chemicals, and electricity. However, after bringing his creation to life he feels fear and disgust, and comes to the realization that he had made the monster without second thoughts or provisions. He plans to escape his creation by returning to Geneva but decides not to when he hears that his brother, William, had been murdered, and a girl adopted by the Frankenstein household had been accused and executed for his death. Convinced that his monster had murdered his brother, Victor succumbs to guilt and flees into the mountains. At the mountains, he is approached by the monster, who confesses his murder and admits that he had only done so to attempt to harm Victor for his neglect. He then asks Victor to create a female monster as a companion to mitigate his loneliness. Agreeing to the monster’s wish, Victor then creates his second project, but is overcome by disgust, and destroys his new creation immediately. The monster becomes infuriated at Victor’s actions, vows to get revenge, and murders Victor’s friend, Henry Clerval, the following night. Victor is then accused of Henry’s murder and is sent to prison, where he falls ill. After being released and returning to Geneva to marry his wife, Elizabeth, she is murdered by the monster, and shortly after Victor’s father also dies of sadness. This course of events leads Victor to devote the rest of his life to destroying the monster and he travels toward the Arctic Circle to find it. Here, he encounters Robert Walton and shares his story with him, but becomes extremely ill and dies shortly after. The monster enters the cabin of the ship where Victor lies and weeps over his dead body. Here, he shares his side of the story of hatred, loneliness, and remorse to Walton. To end his suffering now that Victor is dead, the monster departs north to die.

Jane Eyre

Author: Charlotte Brontë

Time period: Victorian, 1847

Language: English

 

The novel opens with Jane Eyre, an orphan, living with her cruel aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her cousins at Gateshead Hall. After being locked in the "red room" as a punishment, Jane is sent to Lowood School, a charity institution for orphaned girls run by Mr. Brocklehurst. At Lowood, Jane befriends Helen Burns, who tragically dies during an outbreak of typhus at the school. Jane endures at Lowood and eventually becomes a teacher.

After six years as a student and two as a teacher, Jane seeks a new position. Employed by the mysterious Mr. Rochester to care for his ward Adèle, Jane becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall. Jane and Rochester develop a deep relationship, and she gradually falls in love with him. Despite their differences in social status, Rochester is also drawn to Jane’s intelligence and moral fortitude.

However, Jane learns unsettling truths about Thornfield Hall, including strange noises and mysterious occurrences that hint at a hidden secret. On the day of their wedding, it is revealed that Rochester is already married to Bertha Mason, a woman who has become violently insane and is confined in the attic of Thornfield. Shocked and heartbroken, Jane flees Thornfield to preserve her dignity.

The Rivers family takes in homeless Jane. She forms a close bond with her austere cousin, St. John Rivers, who proposes marriage and urges her to join him as a missionary in India. However, Jane realizes she cannot marry St. John because she doesn't love him.

One night, after hearing Rochester's voice calling her, Jane returns to Thornfield only to find the house in ruins, destroyed by a fire blamed on the nurse Grace Poole but set by Bertha, who perished in the flames. Rochester, now blinded due to his efforts to save Bertha, lives in Ferndean. When reunited, Jane and Rochester confess their love for each other and they marry. Over time, Rochester partially regains his sight, and they have a son. Reflecting on their union, Jane famously states, “Reader, I married him.”

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