Frankenstein Quiz 3/25

Mary Wollstonecraft & William Godwin

Mary Shelley’s parents

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Shelley’s lover and husband, well-known Romantic poet

Romanticism

a movement of the 18th and 19th centuries that marked the reaction in literature, philosophy, art, religion, and politics to the formalism of the preceding (Neoclassicism) period

Victor Hugo

Said Romanticism was “liberalism in literature”

Characteristics of Romanticism

primitivism, love nature, individualism, idealization of the rural life, enthusiasm for the wild, irregular, or grotesque in nature, enthusiasm for the uncivilized or “natural”, sentimentality, melancholy

Gothic Literature

literary genre developed in the late 18th century; devoted primarily to stories of who the fantastic and the darker supernatural forces

gothic themes in Frankenstein

human nature’s depravity; the struggle between good and evil in the human soul; the existence of the unexplainable elements in humanity and the cosmos

doppelgänger

A second self or alternate identity

“Elixir of life”

Victor’s approach to discovering the —; does not seem to perform scientific experiments as much as read books

Cornelius Agrippa

A Renaissance philosopher and scientist explored the occult and ancient mystical traditions, blending European Platonic philosophy with Jewish Kabbalistic beliefs. His 1527 work, De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum (*On the Uncertainty and Vanity of the Arts and Sciences*), critiques contemporary knowledge and delves into Renaissance magic, covering astrology, numerology, spells, and the Kabbalistic Names of God. While influential in esoteric circles, his ideas have since been discredited by modern scientific methods.

Paracelsus

A Renaissance philosopher and scientist introduced a new concept of disease, arguing that illnesses were caused by external agents attacking the body rather than an internal imbalance of humors. He advocated for the use of chemicals rather than herbs in treatment, with alchemy serving as a means to prepare these remedies. This shift moved alchemy’s focus from mythical pursuits like the "Elixir of Life" to practical medicine. Some of his ideas, however, had occult influences, as he was believed to have learned secret alchemical knowledge in Constantinople and was associated with miraculous cures.

Albertus Magnus

A Renaissance philosopher and scientist promoted the search for natural causes in the study of the world, challenging the prevailing view that all effects were solely attributed to God. He emphasized investigation and inquiry over simply accepting established teachings, a radical stance at the time. His approach to natural science was methodical, arguing that nature should be studied for its own inherent processes rather than as a means to understand divine intervention. Despite his acceptance by the Church, he faced criticism from contemporaries like Roger Bacon, who was an even stronger advocate for experimental science and pointed out errors in his work.

round characters

Characters that are fully developed and multidimensional

flat characters

Characters that are based on one trait of characteristic

dynamic character

Characters that develop through the course of the story

static characters

Characters that do capital NOT develop through the course of a story

Foil

a character who is the opposite of another character used to shed light upon the character of the latter

Catalyst

A character (or event) that starts a chain of events. A catalyst is the first domino to fall and hit the other dominos