This introduction covers The Night He Ran within Theme: Responsibility & Abandonment for GCSE English Literature. Revise Theme: Responsibility & Abandonment in Frankenstein for GCSE English Literature with 10 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 1 of 15 in this topic. Use this introduction to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
📖 The Night He Ran
A dreary night in November. Two years of work — months of grave-robbing, of stitching, of obsessive isolation — and then a yellow eye opens. Victor Frankenstein does not reach out. He does not speak. He runs.
Shelley makes the abandonment happen before the Creature has said a word or committed a single act. Every murder that follows, every act of violence, every grief that reaches Walton's Arctic ship — all of it flows from a man who ran from a yellow eye on a November night.
Practice questions for Theme: Responsibility & Abandonment
In the Creature's final speech (Chapter 24), which word does the Creature use to describe himself as something cast off and unwanted — connecting his state directly to Victor's act of abandonment?
How does Shelley present the act of abandonment in Chapter 5 of Frankenstein? Write about the technique she uses and its effect on the reader.