Frankenstein
Prompt #5 · Frankenstein
Prompt Type: Scene Analysis
In the scene where Justine is tried, condemned, and executed for William's murder despite Elizabeth's passionate testimony, Shelley exposes the failure of human justice. Analyze how Shelley uses this moment to explore the theme of revenge and justice, particularly the contrast between legal justice and moral responsibility. Explain how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Quote 1
Chapter 8
Argument
This stark, symbolic moment exposes the mechanical failure of legal justice through the image of unanimous condemnation—the black ballots represent a system that cannot perceive moral truth, only surface evidence, condemning an innocent woman while the true perpetrator (Victor's creation) remains free.
Quote 2
“A thousand times rather would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine, but I was absent when it was committed, and such a declaration would have been considered as the ravings of a madman and would not have exculpated her who suffered through me.”
Chapter 8
Argument
Victor's recognition that confessing the truth would be dismissed as madness reveals the gap between legal justice (which requires credible evidence) and moral responsibility (his knowledge of Justine's innocence), demonstrating how the justice system's limitations enable his cowardice and perpetuate injustice.
Quote 3
"When I reflect, my dear cousin," said she, "on the miserable death of Justine Moritz, I no longer see the world and its works as they before appeared to me. Before, I looked upon the accounts of vice and injustice that I read in books or heard from others as tales of ancient days or imaginary evils; at least they were remote and more familiar to reason than to the imagination; but now misery has come home, and men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other's blood."
Chapter 9
Argument
Elizabeth's disillusionment after Justine's execution—seeing 'men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other's blood'—connects the scene's failure of justice to the novel's broader revenge theme, suggesting that institutional injustice creates the very monstrosity it claims to punish, echoing the Creature's own transformation through societal rejection.
Quote 4
“I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph; clapping my hands, I exclaimed, "I too can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him."”
Chapter 16
Argument
The Creature's triumphant declaration after murdering William—'I too can create desolation'—directly connects to the trial scene by revealing the true perpetrator's motive: revenge against Victor's moral failure, demonstrating how the legal system's execution of Justine punishes the wrong person while the actual agent of 'justice' (the Creature enacting revenge for his abandonment) remains free.
Quote 5
Chapter 17
Argument
The Creature's self-justification—'I am malicious because I am miserable'—provides essential context for understanding the trial scene's injustice: while legal justice condemns Justine for a crime she didn't commit, it cannot address the root cause of William's death (Victor's moral abandonment of his creation), revealing how the justice system treats symptoms rather than examining moral responsibility.