Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Chapter 1-10 Summary).
Letters One-Four: Captain Walton writes to his sister describing his preparations for his journey to the North Pole and his hopes and excitement for the trip. He also talks about his loneliness and his desire for a friend. When his crew rescues a half dead man from the sea of ice, his life grows more interesting. When this man, who is Dr. Frankenstein recovers, he tells his tale which he hopes will be of moral benefit to his listener (very patient listener one might add).
Chapter One: Victor Frankenstein begins at the beginning-describing the meetings of his parents, their perfect characters, their perfect love for each other and him, and their perfect compassion for their neighbors which leads his mother to adopt Elizabeth from an impoverished family. Elizabeth is the perfect sister, companion, confidant, friend, and mooorrre. .
Chapter Two: A second son, Earnest, is born. We meet Victor's perfect friend, Henry Clerval, a lover of medieval romance literature. Victor's own obsession is with magic and science and the blurry lines between them.
Chapter Three: A third son, William, must be assumed to have been born around this time. It is time for Victor to take his scientific mind to university, but Elizabeth lies near death of scarlet fever. She is nursed back to health by Victor's mother who subsequently succumbs to the same disease. After an acceptable period of mourning and what seems an interminable series of farewells, Victor finally heads off to Germany for university studies.
Chapter Four: Victor learns from teachers both good and bad and begins to be drawn into his desire to discover theprinciple of life?. This leads to strange behaviors such as digging in graveyards, torturing animals, etc.
Chapter Five: He creates hisman? as larger and better than man only to discover that he hasn't really thought through the cosmetic and aesthetic aspects of such a project, nor has he considered the logistics and implications of creating an adult human form with the mind of newborn.
