This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein

Caroline Kistler         

Honors World History

Mrs. White

Summary:

In this prequel to Mary Shelley's classic, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein lives a very privileged life in the eighteenth century. Victor, his twin brother Konrad, distant cousin Elizabeth Lavenza, and best friend Henry Clerval spend their time exploring their chateau in Geneva, Switzerland. They discover a room one day that they did not even know existed in their house, the Dark Library. Here they find tons of books about alchemy and ancient remedies. They did not know this stuff existed, so they were amazed. But, Victor and Konrad’s father find him in there and make them promise to never go in the Dark Library again because it would just cause trouble. Elizabeth felt skittish about reading these books because she is a Christian and says “The Church condemned these books” (54) but Victor not being a Christian replies “The Church condemned Galileo for saying the sun did not revolve around the Earth. They can be wrong too” (54). This represent the time period of people not surrounding their life around the Catholic Church anymore and discovering tons of new ideas. Within the next week Konrad falls deeply sick and no doctor can seem to find out what is wrong with him so Victor breaks his promise to find a recipe in the Dark Library to cure Konrad. He finds one called the “Elixir of Life” and also finds an alchemist named Julius Polidori to help them create the medication. When meeting him, Polidori says “When a loved one falls desperately ill, and all else fails, any risk is worth taking” (75). This is one of the main themes of this book and it states that you will sacrifice anything for one that you love, and in this case it was curing Konrad. And the Elixir of Life required three ingredients. So Victor, Elizabeth, and Henry sets out to acquire the ingredients. They climb the tallest tree in the Sturmwald during a lightning storm to get a rare and poisonous lichen where a vulture almost kills them. Next into a dangerous Swiss cave in search of the equally rare and even deadlier coelacanth that also almost kills Victor. Lastly, Victor sacrificed two of his fingers in order to get enough bone marrow to complete the medication. Polidori gets all of the ingredients together and tries to keep the medication for himself but after fighting for what was rightfully theirs get it and run back to the chateau to finally give it to Konrad. The next day Konrad if feeling miraculously better and he and Victor talk about going to the New World together. But sadly that night Konrad dies in his sleep and Victor says “And I made an icy promise to myself. I promised that I would see my brother again-even if it meant unlocking every secret law of this earth, to bring him back” (298). Victor is saying he will go on another journey to be able to see his brother again, since he does not believe in heaven and hell.

Quotes:

• Elizabeth felt weary about reading these books because she is a Christian and says “The Church condemned these books” (54) but Victor not being a Christian replies “The Church condemned Galileo for saying the sun did not revolve around the Earth. They can be wrong too” (54). This represent the time period of people not surrounding their life around the Catholic Church anymore and discovering tons of new ideas.
• When meeting him, Polidori says “When a loved one falls desperately ill, and all else fails, any risk is worth taking” (75). This is one of the main themes of this book and it states that you will sacrifice anything for one that you love, and in this case it was curing Konrad.
•  But sadly that night Konrad dies in his sleep and Victor says “And I made an icy promise to myself. I promised that I would see my brother again-even if it meant unlocking every secret law of this earth, to bring him back” (298).Victor is saying he will go on another journey to be able to see his brother again, since he does not believe in heaven and hell.

Author and Sources:

Kenneth Opel is an author of many books for young readers. Opel started writing at age 12 and has been doing it since. Overall he has written 27 books. His Silverwing trilogy has sold more than a million copies worldwide and is an animated TV series and stage play. A few more awards he has received includes Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book, the Canadian Governor General’s Literary Award for children’s literature, and many others. He wrote This Dark Endeavor because the book he based it off of, Frankenstein, was one of his favorites and connected with it. Also before writing it he researched Switzerland and looked at antique maps and famous monuments and based the settings off of this. Opel wrote a sequel to This Dark Endeavor named Such Wicked Intent. In order to write this series he had to research about the lifestyle of the eighteenth century and more so he is qualified to write this. If you want to learn more about Kenneth Opel his website is: http://kennethoppel.ca/

Critique:

The Dark Endeavor was written historically well. Even though the story line was very entertaining and I could not put it down, it describes society of the Enlightenment accurately. The Enlightenment was all about discovering new ideas, challenging the church’s teachings, and exploration. This Dark Endeavor was based off going on a journey to discover a medication that could cure any disease. Also many times Konrad and Victor speak about traveling to the New World which was also a big part of the Enlightenment. The only thing about this book that I would change was at the end when Konrad dies, which for me ruined the book.