1 Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated each year on October 31, and Halloween 2018 occurs on

Wednesday, October 31. It originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light
bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1
as a time to honor all saints; soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening
before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of
activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating sweet
treats.

2 Ancient Origins of Halloween

Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts ,
who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France,
celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the
beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts
believed that on the night before the New Year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the
dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that
the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.

3 In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the
otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the
future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an
important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops
and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes,
typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes.
When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that
evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
Did you know? One quarter of all the candy sold annually in the U.S. is purchased for Halloween.

4 By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the
four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with
the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.
The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing
of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol
of Pomona is the apple, and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the
tradition of “bobbing” for apples that is practiced today on Halloween .

5 All Saints Day

On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian
martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope
Gregory III later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the
observance from May 13 to November 1.
By the 9th century the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended
with and supplanted the older Celtic rites. In 1000 A.D., the church would make November 2 All Souls’
Day, a day to honor the dead. It’s widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the
Celtic festival of the dead with a related church-sanctioned holiday.
All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in
costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or
All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it,
the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-Hallows Eve and,
eventually, Halloween.
6 Halloween Comes to America
Celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid
Protestant belief systems there. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern
colonies.
As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups as well as the American Indians
meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included
“play parties,” public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the
dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance and sing.

7 Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all
kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween
was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new
immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing the Irish Potato Famine , helped to popularize the
celebration of Halloween nationally.

8 Trick-or-Treat
Borrowing from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to
house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition.
Young women believed that on Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future
husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors.
In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about
community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft .

9 At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common
way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes.
Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything “frightening” or
“grotesque” out of Halloween celebrations. Because of these efforts, Halloween lost most of its
superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.

10 Halloween Parties
By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but community-centered holiday, with
parades and town-wide Halloween parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of
many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague some celebrations in many communities
during this time.
By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a
holiday directed mainly at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the fifties baby
boom, parties moved from town civic centers into the classroom or home, where they could be more
easily accommodated.

11 Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-
treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration.
In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood
children with small treats.
Thus, a new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an
estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country’s second largest commercial holiday
after Christmas .
12 Soul Cakes
The American Halloween tradition of “trick-or-treating” probably dates back to the early All Souls’
Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would
give them pastries called “soul cakes” in return for their promise to pray for the family’s dead relatives.
The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of
leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as “going a-souling” was
eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale,
food and money.

13 The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots. Hundreds
of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and, for the
many people afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry.
On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that
they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people
would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for
fellow spirits.
On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their
homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.

14 Black Cats
Halloween has always been a holiday filled with mystery, magic and superstition. It began as a Celtic
end-of-summer festival during which people felt especially close to deceased relatives and friends. For
these friendly spirits, they set places at the dinner table, left treats on doorsteps and along the side of
the road and lit candles to help loved ones find their way back to the spirit world.
Today’s Halloween ghosts are often depicted as more fearsome and malevolent, and our customs and
superstitions are scarier too. We avoid crossing paths with black cats, afraid that they might bring us
bad luck. This idea has its roots in the Middle Ages , when many people believed that witches avoided
detection by turning themselves into black cats.
We try not to walk under ladders for the same reason. This superstition may have come from the
ancient Egyptians, who believed that triangles were sacred (it also may have something to do with the
fact that walking under a leaning ladder tends to be fairly unsafe). And around Halloween, especially,
we try to avoid breaking mirrors, stepping on cracks in the road or spilling salt.

15 Halloween Matchmaking
But what about the Halloween traditions and beliefs that today’s trick-or-treaters have forgotten all
about? Many of these obsolete rituals focused on the future instead of the past and the living instead of
the dead.
In particular, many had to do with helping young women identify their future husbands and reassuring
them that they would someday—with luck, by next Halloween—be married. In 18th-century Ireland, a
matchmaking cook might bury a ring in her mashed potatoes on Halloween night, hoping to bring true
love to the diner who found it.

16 In Scotland, fortune-tellers recommended that an eligible young woman name a hazelnut for each of
her suitors and then toss the nuts into the fireplace. The nut that burned to ashes rather than popping or
exploding, the story went, represented the girl’s future husband. (In some versions of this legend, the
opposite was true: The nut that burned away symbolized a love that would not last.)
Another tale had it that if a young woman ate a sugary concoction made out of walnuts, hazelnuts and
nutmeg before bed on Halloween night she would dream about her future husband.
Young women tossed apple-peels over their shoulders, hoping that the peels would fall on the floor in
the shape of their future husbands’ initials; tried to learn about their futures by peering at egg yolks
floating in a bowl of water; and stood in front of mirrors in darkened rooms, holding candles and
looking over their shoulders for their husbands’ faces.
Other rituals were more competitive. At some Halloween parties, the first guest to find a burr on a
chestnut-hunt would be the first to marry; at others, the first successful apple-bobber would be the first
down the aisle.
Of course, whether we’re asking for romantic advice or trying to avoid seven years of bad luck, each
one of these Halloween superstitions relies on the goodwill of the very same “spirits” whose presence
the early Celts felt so keenly.

17 Halloween is celebrated on 31st October. This isn’t a public holiday in Britain.

Halloween is the night before the Catholic festival of All Saints and the pagan Celtic festival of Samhain
(1st November).
Halloween is also sometimes called All Hallows’ Eve, All Hallowtide and can also be written Hallowe’en.
Halloween colours are orange and black. Orange is related to harvests because the end of October is the end
of the harvest (the time when fruit and vegetables are collected). Black is related to death.
In the UK Halloween traditions are very much alive and popular, especially amongst kids and teenagers. We
looked at some of the most common.

18 Pumpkin lanterns
These are pumpkins (an orange, football-sized vegetable) with the inside removed and a nose, eyes and mouth
cut into one side. A candle is placed inside the empty pumpkin and the light creates a scary face effect. In the
past people used potatoes or turnips to make lanterns but nowadays pumpkins are more popular. They are easier
to cut and you can buy them in supermarkets. People use pumpkin lanterns to decorate their homes at
Halloween. Do people actually eat their pumpkins? Yes, they do! Pumpkin soup and pumpkin curry are very
popular meals at this time of year.

19 Apple bobbing
To play this game, lots of apples are placed in a large tub or bowl of water. The competitors have to take a bite
from one of the apples without using their hands. To make this more difficult, the competitors have their eyes
covered with a scarf. You are not allowed to use the sides of the bowl to help you bite the apple. This game
often involves getting very wet so it's a good idea to bring a towel!
Apple bobbing may be related to the ancient Roman festival of remembering the dead, which was also in
October. The Romans remembered the goddess of trees and fruit, called Pomona. When they came to the UK,
about 2,000 years ago, they continued with this tradition.

20 Trick or treating
Children dress up and then visit the houses in their neighbourhood asking for a ‘trick or treat’. The neighbour
gives them sweets or money as a ‘treat’. If there is no treat, the children play a trick on the neighbour, for
example they might throw soap at the window. Some people think that playing tricks is unkind but luckily there
is nearly always a treat! This custom is imported from the USA and is more popular with young people than
with adults. The police in some parts of Britain give out 'No trick or treat, please!' posters for people to display
on their door on the night of Halloween. Young children usually go trick or treating with parents or with an
older brother or sister.

21 1. Check your understanding: true or false. Circle True or False for these sentences.
1. People celebrate Halloween on 31st October in Britain. True/False
2. Halloween is not a public holiday in the UK. True/ False
3. Halloween lanterns are usually made from potatoes. True/ False
4. Apple bobbing is a game which involves apples, water and a bowl. True/ False
5. Only children dress up at Halloween. True/ False
6. Trick or treating is an American custom that is now popular in Britain. True/ False
22 Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by American author Washington Irving published in 1819 as well as the
name of the story's fictional protagonist. Written while Irving was living in Birmingham, England, it was part of
a collection entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Although the story is set in New York's Catskill
Mountains, Irving later admitted, "When I wrote the story, I had never been on the Catskills
The story of Rip Van Winkle is set in the years before and after the American Revolutionary War. In a pleasant
village, at the foot of New York's Catskill Mountains, lives kindly Rip Van Winkle, a colonial British-American
villager of Dutch ancestry. Van Winkle enjoys solitary activities in the wilderness, but he is also loved by all in
town—especially the children to whom he tells stories and gives toys. However, he tends to shirk hard work, to
his nagging wife's dismay, which has caused his home and farm to fall into disarray.
One autumn day, to escape his wife's nagging, Van Winkle wanders up the mountains with his dog, Wolf.
Hearing his name called out, Rip sees a man wearing antiquated Dutch clothing; he is carrying a keg up the
mountain and requires help. Together, they proceed to a hollow in which Rip discovers the source of thunderous
noises: a group of ornately dressed, silent, bearded men who are playing nine-pins. Rip does not ask who they
are or how they know his name. Instead, he begins to drink some of their moonshine and soon falls asleep.
He awakes to discover shocking changes. His musket is rotting and rusty, his beard is a foot long, and his dog is
nowhere to be found. Van Winkle returns to his village where he recognizes no one. He discovers that his wife
has died and that his close friends have fallen in a war or moved away. He gets into trouble when he proclaims
himself a loyal subject of King George III, not aware that the American Revolution has taken place. King
George's portrait in the inn has been replaced with one of George Washington. Rip Van Winkle is also disturbed
to find another man called Rip Van Winkle. It is his son, now grown up.
Rip Van Winkle learns the men he met in the mountains are rumored to be the ghosts of Hendrick (Henry)
Hudson's crew, which had vanished long ago. Rip learns he has been away from the village for at least twenty
years. However, an old resident recognizes him and Rip's grown daughter takes him in. He resumes his usual
idleness, and his strange tale is solemnly taken to heart by the Dutch settlers. Other henpecked men wish they
could have shared in Rip's good luck and had the luxury of sleeping through the hardships of the American
Revolution.

23 "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a short story of speculative fiction by American author Washington
Irving, contained in his collection of 34 essays and short stories entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon,
Gent.Written while Irving was living abroad in Birmingham, England, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" was first
published in 1820. Along with Irving's companion piece "Rip Van Winkle", "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is
among the earliest examples of American fiction with enduring popularity, especially during the Halloween
season.
The story is set in 1790 in the countryside around the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town (historical Tarrytown,
New York), in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow is renowned for its ghosts and the haunting
atmosphere that pervades the imaginations of its inhabitants and visitors. Some residents say this town was
bewitched during the early days of the Dutch settlement. Other residents say an old Native American chief, the
wizard of his tribe, held his powwows here before the country was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson. The
most infamous spectre in the Hollow is the Headless Horseman, said to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper who
had his head shot off by a stray cannonball during "some nameless battle" of the American Revolutionary War,
and who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head".
The "Legend" relates the tale of Ichabod Crane, a lean, lanky and extremely superstitious schoolmaster
from Connecticut, who competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-
year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer, Baltus Van Tassel. Crane,
aYankee and an outsider, sees marriage to Katrina as a means of procuring Van Tassel's extravagant wealth.
Bones, the local hero, vies with Ichabod for Katrina's hand, playing a series of pranks on the jittery
schoolmaster, and the fate of Sleepy Hollow's fortune weighs in the balance for some time. The tension between
the three is soon brought to a head. On a placid autumn night, the ambitious Crane attends a harvest party at the
Van Tassels' homestead. He dances, partakes in the feast, and listens to ghostly legends told by Brom and the
locals, but his true aim is to propose to Katrina after the guests leave. His intentions, however, are ill-fated.
After having failed to secure Katrina's hand, Ichabod rides home "heavy-hearted and crestfallen" through the
woods between Van Tassel's farmstead and the Sleepy Hollow settlement. As he passes several purportedly
haunted spots, his active imagination is engorged by the ghost stories told at Baltus' harvest party. After
nervously passing under a lightning-stricken tulip tree purportedly haunted by the ghost of British spy Major
André, Ichabod encounters a cloaked rider at an intersection in a menacing swamp. Unsettled by his fellow
traveler's eerie size and silence, the teacher is horrified to discover that his companion's head is not on his
shoulders, but on his saddle. In a frenzied race to the bridge adjacent to the Old Dutch Burying Ground, where
the Hessian is said to "vanish, according to rule, in a flash of fire and brimstone" upon crossing it, Ichabod rides
for his life, desperately goading his temperamental plow horse down the Hollow. However, to the pedagogue's
horror, the ghoul clambers over the bridge, rears his horse, and hurls his severed head into Ichabod's terrified
face.
The next morning, Ichabod has mysteriously disappeared from town, leaving Katrina to marry Brom Bones,
who was said "to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related." Indeed, the only relics
of the schoolmaster's flight are his wandering horse, trampled saddle, discarded hat, and a mysteriousshattered
pumpkin. Although the nature of the Headless Horseman is left open to interpretation, the story implies that the
ghost was really Brom (an agile stunt rider) in disguise. Irving's narrator concludes, however, by stating that the
old Dutch wives continue to promote the belief that Ichabod was "spirited away by supernatural means," and a
legend develops around his disappearance and sightings of his melancholy spirit.

24 The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the original title of a novella written by the Scottish
author Robert Louis Stevenson that was first published in 1886. The work is commonly known today as The
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or simply Jekyll & Hyde.[1] It is about a
London lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr.
Henry Jekyll,[2][3] and the evil Edward Hyde.
Mr. Utterson is a London lawyer who is a friend of Dr. Jekyll. Jekyll gave up his regular practice to experiment
with non-traditional medicine. Utterson is concerned because Jekyll has written a will that leaves all his money
to his new partner Mr. Hyde. Utterson has heard bad things of Hyde and disliked him at first sight. The lawyer
thinks his friend is being blackmailed.
One day, the lawyer is asked to identify the body of a murdered man, Sir Danvers Carew, one of Utterson’s
clients. Hyde is suspected of the murder, but he has disappeared. Jekyll swears that he has not seen Hyde and
has broken with him forever. The case remains unsolved and Jekyll becomes more sociable than he had been.
Suddenly, though, he locks himself into his laboratory, yelling to the servants through the door, directing them
to gather chemicals for him. The servants recognize a change in his voice and think that their master has been
murdered; another man has taken his place in the lab. They call Utterson who breaks down the door. On the
floor lies Hyde, who has killed himself with poison. Sadly, Utterson assumes Hyde returned and killed Jekyll,
but the doctor’s body is nowhere to be found.
He does find, however, a letter in which Jekyll explains his relationship to Hyde. Jekyll had sometimes indulged
in debauches which, if discovered, could have ruined his reputation and of which he is ashamed. Pondering this
split in his personality, he decides to find a way to separate his two beings. Jekyll creates a potion that releases
his evil side, Mr. Hyde. Hyde is shorter and smaller than Jekyll, having not had as much exercise.
For a while Jekyll enjoys his two bodies; he can do whatever he likes without fear of discovery. His pleasure is
stunted when Hyde kills Carew in a nonsensical fit, and he resolves never to take the potion again. Hyde is now
strong, however, and emerges whether Jekyll will have him or not. Indeed, Jekyll must use the potion to be rid
of him if only for a moment. Jekyll knows that it is only by killing his body that Hyde’s body, too, will die.
25 The Picture of Dorian Gray is a philosophical novel by the writer Oscar Wilde, first published complete in
the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine.
Dorian Gray is a handsome and wealthy young Englishman who gradually sinks into a life of dissipation and
crime. Despite his unhealthy behaviour, his physical appearance remains youthful and unmarked by dissolute
life. Instead, a hidden portrait of himself catalogues every evil deed by turning his once handsome features into
a hideous, grotesque mask. When Gray destroys the painting, his face turns into a human replica of the portrait,
and he dies. Gray’s final negation, “Ugliness is the only reality,” neatly summarizes Wilde’s Aestheticism, both
his love of the beautiful and his fascination with the profane.

“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book,” wrote Wilde. “Books are well written, or badly written.
That is all.” These aphorisms that make up the “Preface” of Wilde’s only novel was his response to those critics
who had questioned the immorality and unhealthiness of this story after its scandalous first appearance in
Lippincott’s Magazine. However, for all its transgressive delights, The Picture of Dorian Gray could easily be
read as a profoundly moral book, even a cautionary tale against the dangers of vice. Dorian’s descent into moral
squalor is neither admirable, as can be seen in his peremptory rejection of his fiancée, the actress Sybil Vain, nor
enviable. Indeed the beautiful boy is the least interesting character in the book that bears his name. After the
artist Basil Hallward paints Dorian’s picture, his subject’s frivolous wish for immortality comes true. As the
picture of him grows old and corrupt, Dorian himself continues to appear fresh and innocent for decades,
despite the lusts and depravity of his private life. To be sure, it is the epigrammatic wit of Lord Henry Wotton
that encourages Dorian on his quest for sensuality and sensation, but Dorian’s values pervert the deeply serious
Wildean ethic that they superficially resemble. Whereas Oscar Wilde’s essays advocated individualism and self-
realization as a route to a richer life and a more just society, Dorian follows a path of hedonism, self-indulgence,
and the objectification of others. It is, nonetheless, a story that poignantly reflects Wilde’s own double life and
anticipates his own fall.

26 Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by the English author Mary Wollstonecraft
Shelley about the young science student Victor Frankenstein, who creates a grotesque but sentient creature in an
unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was
published when she was twenty.
Victor begins by telling of his childhood. Born in Naples, into a wealthy Geneva family, Victor and his brothers,
Ernest and William, are encouraged to seek a greater understanding of the world through science. As a young
boy, Victor is obsessed with studying outdated theories that focus on simulating natural wonders. When Victor
is five years old, his parents adopt an orphan, Elizabeth Lavenza, with whom Victor later falls in love.
Weeks before he leaves for the University of Ingolstadt in Germany, his mother dies of scarlet fever, creating
further impetus towards his experiments. At university, he excels at chemistry and other sciences, soon
developing a secret technique to impart life to non-living matter, which eventually leads to his creation of the
Monster.
Because of the difficulty in replicating the minute parts of the human body, Victor makes the Creature large,
about eight feet tall. As a result, the beautiful creation of his dreams is instead hideous, with yellow eyes and
skin that barely conceals the muscle tissue and blood vessels underneath. Repulsed by his work, Victor flees.
Saddened by the rejection, the Creature disappears.
Victor falls ill from the experience and is nursed back to health by his childhood friend, Henry Clerval. After a
four-month recovery, he returns home when he learns of the murder of his brother William. Upon arriving in
Geneva, Victor sees the Monster at the crime scene, leading him to believe the Creature is responsible. Justine,
William's nanny, is convicted of the crime after William's locket is found in her pocket. Victor doubts anyone
would believe his story, which could stop Justine's hanging.
Ravaged by grief and guilt, Victor retreats into the mountains. The Monster finds him and pleads for Victor to
hear his tale. Intelligent and articulate, the Creature says that his encounters with people led to his fear of them,
driving him into the wilderness. While living near a cottage, he grew fond of the family living there. The
Creature learned to speak by listening to them and he taught himself to read after discovering a lost satchel of
books. When he saw his reflection in a pool, he realized his physical appearance was hideous. Nevertheless, he
approached the family in hopes of becoming their friend, but they were frightened and fled their home. The
Creature then burned the cottage in a fit of rage, and murdered Victor's brother William.
The Monster demands that Victor create a female companion like himself. He argues that as a living being, he
has a right to happiness. The Creature promises he and his mate will vanish into the South American wilderness,
never to reappear, if Victor grants his request.
Fearing for his family, Victor reluctantly agrees. Clerval accompanies him to England, but they separate in
Scotland. Victor suspects that the Monster is following him. Working on the female creature on the Orkney
Islands, he is plagued by premonitions of disaster, particularly the idea that creating a mate for the Creature
might lead to the breeding of a race that could plague mankind. He destroys the female creature after he sees the
Monster watching through a window. The Monster confronts him, vowing to be with Victor and Elizabeth on
their upcoming wedding night. The Monster then kills Clerval, leaving the corpse to be found where Victor
lands in Ireland. Victor is imprisoned for Clerval's murder and suffers another mental breakdown in prison.
After being acquitted, he returns home with his father.
In Geneva, Victor is about to marry Elizabeth and prepares to fight the Monster. Wrongly believing the Creature
threatened his life, the night before their wedding Victor asks Elizabeth to stay in her room while he looks for
"the fiend". While Victor searches the house and grounds, the Creature murders Elizabeth. From the window,
Victor sees the Monster, who taunts Victor with Elizabeth's corpse. Grief-stricken by the deaths of William,
Justine, Clerval, and Elizabeth, Victor's father dies. Seeking revenge, Victor pursues the Monster to the North
Pole, but he does not kill his creation.
Captain Walton's concluding frame narrative
At the end of Victor's narrative, Captain Walton resumes the telling of the story. A few days after the creature
vanishes, the ship becomes trapped in pack ice and Walton's crew insists on returning south once it is freed. In
spite of a passionate speech from Frankenstein, encouraging the crew to push further north, Walton realizes that
he must accede to his men's demands and agrees to head for home. Frankenstein dies shortly thereafter.
Walton discovers the creature on his ship, mourning over Frankenstein's body. Walton hears the creature's
misguided reasons for his vengeance and expressions of remorse. Frankenstein's death has not brought him
peace. Rather, his crimes have increased his misery and alienation, and his words are almost exactly identical to
Victor's own in describing himself. He vows to kill himself on his own funeral pyre so that no others will ever
know of his existence. Walton watches as he drifts away on an ice raft that is soon lost in darkness, never to be
seen again.