ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Henry Clerval Victor’s best friend who helps Victor in his time of need. The monster kills Henry after Victor breaks his promise of creating a female companion for the monster. He studies language at the University of Ingolstadt and is totally unaware of Victor’s creation.

Detailed explanation-2: -After Frankenstein’s recovery, Clerval convinces his father to allow him to join Frankenstein at the University, studying classical and Eastern languages: Clerval was no natural philosopher.

Detailed explanation-3: -Henry is Victor’s best friend who looks after him when he is ill and accompanies him to England. Henry’s purpose in the novel is to show what Victor could have been had he not been influenced by ambition and the desire for discovery-in that sense he is Victor’s opposite.

Detailed explanation-4: -Clerval was the one who takes care of Frankenstein while he is ill, the one Frankenstein chooses to travel with to London. They have a close relationship which seems to be more than a “just-friends” relationship.

Detailed explanation-5: -He goes to Ingolstadt to study language, rather than science, and he says that he wants to open a field of self-instruction on his return to Geneva. His future plans that are mentioned in the novel, make him seem to be a much more selfless person than Frankenstein.