This deep dive covers Stage 5: CLOSURE — The Arctic Chase and Victor's Death (Chapters 22–24) within Plot & Frame Narrative for GCSE English Literature. Revise Plot & Frame Narrative in Frankenstein for GCSE English Literature with 12 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 6 of 18 in this topic. Use this deep dive to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
🔬 Stage 5: CLOSURE — The Arctic Chase and Victor's Death (Chapters 22–24)
Victor's father dies of grief. Victor dedicates himself to hunting and destroying the Creature northward into the Arctic, reversing the novel's opening: now Victor pursues, as the Creature once pursued him.
Victor dies on Walton's ship, having issued a final warning — but with a striking ambiguity. Even dying, he tells Walton he was right to create, right to pursue forbidden knowledge. Shelley refuses a simple moral: Victor is penitent and unrepentant simultaneously.
The Creature appears over Victor's corpse. He mourns. He calls himself an "abortion" — something brought into being but denied a place in the world. He announces he will travel north to immolate himself on the northernmost ice. The novel ends where it began: the Arctic, ambition, and destruction. Shelley closes the loop with a structural rhyme that insists on the futility of the pursuit.
Practice questions for Plot & Frame Narrative
How many narrative layers does the frame structure of Frankenstein contain?
Explain how Shelley uses the frame narrative structure to affect the reader's ability to reach a single judgement about the events of the novel. [2 marks]