Frankenstein Flashcards

Flashcards covering the characters, themes, and literary aspects of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Robert Walton

English explorer on an expedition to the North Pole who encounters Victor Frankenstein.

Victor Frankenstein

Swiss scientist who creates a human being from corpses.

Margaret Saville

The recipient of Robert Walton's letters, and whose initials are the same as Mary Shelley.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Shelley's mother, a famous campaigner for women's rights.

William Godwin

Mary Shelley's father, a radical thinker.

Lord Byron

Poet who met Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley at Villa Diodati.

Luigi Galvani

Observed electric currents making dead frogs' legs move.

Rousseau's 'natural man'

A man in a primitive state, not influenced by civilization.

Prometheus

Giant who stole fire from the Gods to give it to men.

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus

Mary Shelley's novel published anonymously in 1818

The Monster

The literary embodiment of science and its moral responsibilities.

Epistolary Novel

The form of letters. Used in the book Frankenstein.

Usurpation

To take and keep (something, such as power or control) in a forceful or violent way and especially without legal right.