Frankenstein · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.
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Victor Frankenstein
major
Also known as Victor, Dear Victor, Frankenstein, M. Frankenstein
Raised in a loving Swiss household and groomed for greatness, Victor pursues chemistry at Ingolstadt with a zeal that isolates him from family and friends. He believes himself destined for illustrious achievements, yet his defining flaw is a coldness of judgment that lets him pursue knowledge without asking what it costs. His haunted narration—by turns volcanic rage and godlike eloquence—sets the novel's central question: who bears responsibility for a creation?
The Creature
major
Also known as Unknown, Wretch, Devil, my guest, the stranger, Adam, Satan
Made from dead matter and abandoned the moment he opens his eyes, he must teach himself language, fire, and moral feeling by watching a family he dare not approach. His tale, told with the simplest truth and a voice that can move listeners to tears, pleads for the sympathy his appearance forbids. He is the novel's mirror: every act of rejection he suffers asks whether his violence is born or made.
Elizabeth Lavenza
major
Also known as Elizabeth, poor Elizabeth
Rescued from poverty and brought into the Frankenstein villa, Elizabeth becomes the adored companion of Victor's childhood, her serene, poetic temperament a deliberate contrast to his restless curiosity. She loves the sublime shapes of the Alps rather than their causes, and her steadiness binds the family together even as Victor's studies pull him away. Her devotion raises the stakes of every choice he makes: what he risks losing is not an abstraction but a person.
Henry Clerval
supporting
Also known as Clerval, Henry, M. Clerval, Dearest Clerval, Chapter VI Clerval
Where Victor chases causes, Clerval chases beauty—chivalry, poetry, distant lands—and his easy affection keeps Victor tethered to ordinary human life. When grief and guilt prostrate his friend, Clerval reads the terrible letter, weeps with him, and simply stays. His loyalty matters because it shows what Victor keeps trading away: companionship, tenderness, and a world of feeling that has nothing to do with the laboratory.
Robert Walton
supporting
Also known as Captain Walton, Walton
Walton writes to his sister from the frozen north, burning with the same craving for glory that once drove his guest, and he recognizes the kinship immediately. He listens for a week, transcribing and even correcting Victor's narration so that no mutilated version goes down to posterity. His letters frame the novel and quietly warn the reader: the desire to exceed all previous human achievement is exactly where this story begins.
Justine Moritz
supporting
Also known as Justine, poor Justine
Justine returns the family's charity with tireless devotion, tending the sick and loving the young William like a brother. When circumstantial evidence points at her, her meekness and honesty cannot save her from a court eager for a culprit. Her fate turns private guilt into public catastrophe, forcing Victor—and the reader—to measure the cost of silence.
Alphonse Frankenstein
supporting
Also known as Frankenstein, Madame Frankenstein
Alphonse Frankenstein presides over a warm, orderly Genevan home, a man of public standing who has weathered grief before and believes steady affection can absorb any blow. His letters to Victor mix paternal tenderness with an old man's quiet dread, and he cannot fathom the secret consuming his son. His faith in family as a sanctuary makes the losses that follow land with terrible force, anchoring the novel's argument that private virtue is no match for unchecked creation.
William Frankenstein
supporting
Also known as Poor William, William, Dear William
William is the family's darling, doted on by father and brothers alike, still young enough to believe the world is kind. His innocent trust and the locket he wears make him fatally vulnerable when he encounters a being the world has already rejected. His death converts Victor's private guilt into public catastrophe, setting the novel's machinery of grief, accusation, and pursuit into motion.
Felix De Lacey
supporting
Also known as Felix, the loved Felix
Felix lives in exile with his blind father and sister, nursing a romantic devotion to Safie that drove him to defy the Turkish government and lose everything. He is ardent, generous, and reckless, teaching language and history to a hidden listener he does not know exists. His household becomes the creature's only school of human feeling, and the moment Felix turns on him is the hinge on which the creature's hope for belonging breaks.
Safie
supporting
Also known as sweet Safie
Safie is beautiful, devout, and quietly determined, raised in a world of luxury that she abandons for the man who rescued her father. Her letters and lessons, overheard by the creature, become his window into language, history, and the possibility of affection. She embodies the novel's recurring theme of exile and divided loyalty, and her presence in the cottage makes the creature's exclusion from it feel both intimate and unbearable.
Agatha De Lacey
minor
Also known as Agatha, the gentle Agatha
Felix's sister, a kind woman who tends to the old man.
Old De Lacey
minor
Also known as De Lacey, the old De Lacey
A blind old man who briefly befriends the creature.
Ernest Frankenstein
minor
Also known as Ernest
Victor's younger brother who survives the family tragedies.
Caroline Beaufort
minor
Also known as Beaufort, Caroline Beaufort, Caroline
Victor's mother who dies of scarlet fever before the main events.
Mr. Kirwin
minor
Also known as Mr. Kirwin
A magistrate who prosecutes Victor for Henry's murder in Ireland.
M. Waldman
minor
Also known as M. Waldman
A chemistry professor who inspires Victor's scientific ambitions.
M. Krempe
minor
Also known as Mr. Krempe, M. Krempe
A blunt natural philosophy professor who dismisses Victor's early studies.
Margaret Saville
minor
Also known as Margaret, Mrs. Saville
Walton's sister to whom he writes the letters framing the novel.
Madame Moritz
minor
Also known as Madame Moritz
Justine's mother who treats her harshly.
Daniel Nugent
minor
Also known as Daniel Nugent, Daniel
A witness in the trial of Victor for Henry's murder.
Louis Manoir
minor
Also known as Louis Manoir, Manoir
A man mentioned in the De Lacey family's backstory.
