Image
Victor's loyal, cheerful best friend, a lover of poetry and languages who nurses him back to health.
Books
Story role
Confidant
Background
"the son of a merchant of Geneva" (Chapter 2). Studies "Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit" (Chapter 6).
Personality
Victor calls him "a being formed in the 'very poetry of nature.'" (Chapter 18).
Relationships
Victor's closest friend; nurses him through his illness in Ingolstadt (Chapter 5).
Character arc
Murdered by the Creature in Ireland (Chapter 21).
Key quotes
"Clerval! Beloved friend!" (Victor, Chapter 18)
Source note
Quotes and chapter numbers are from the 1831 edition of Frankenstein. Fields left empty where the novel does not say.