Characters and plot

Nature of humanity / monstrosity

Romanticism

Epigraph

• Epigraph: A quotation or motto at the beginning of a chapter, book. short story or poem that makes some point about the work

• “Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay / To mould me man, did I solicit thee / From darkness to promote me?” -From Paradise Lost by John Milton, Book X

• The speaker, Adam, asks the question, “did I ask you to give me life?”

• The creature feels the same way as Adam when Adam asks this question

• The creature, unlike Adam, has been rejected by everyone and wonders why his creator made him just to hate him and reject him

• Creation comes with responsibility towards that creation

Themes

• Ambiguous nature of ambition

  • Ambition can be good as we pursue knowledge but it can also be dangerous as we get reckless and are willing to put our own and others’ well-being in jeopardy in this ambitious pursuit

• Paradox of knowledge–the good and the bad!

  • Knowledge can be helpful, but there are also things you can’t unknow, so that’s not necessarily a good thing

  • Think of how nuclear weapons were introduced and now we can’t unknow that and it will continue to pose a pending threat

• Light/fire as symbol–connect it to knowledge

  • Light and fire symbolize knowledge in the novel

  • Knowledge can be dangerous if you get too close (fire)

  • The monster has that one encounter with fire where he likes the warmth but it burns him when he gets too close

• Creation, Responsibility, Consequence

  • The idea that making something requires a responsibility towards it

  • We are held accountable for our actions and there can be consequences as a result of our actions that we are also held accountable for

• Unintended consequences

  • Consequences can come from actions that were unforeseen or just completely unintended or unrelated, either way we are held accountable for our actions

Vocabulary

The Modern Prometheus: Another name for Frankenstein

• Victor Frankenstein was a craftsman that tresspasses the law and is an over-reacher (does what he’s not supposed to, defying death and laws for natural creation). Over-reaching leads to torture and punishment.

• Prometheus was a titan and a master craftsman. He stole fire from Zeus and gave it back to humans…because Prometheus disobeyed the order Zeus had created he was nailed to a mountain and an eagle was to eat his liver forever

Bioethic: the multidisciplinary study of, and response, to these moral and ethical questions OR a branch of applied ethics that studies the philosophical, social, and legal issues arising in medicine and the life sciences

Unreliable narrator: On whose interpretation of events is different from that of the author/reader

Doppelgänger: In literature, a doppelgänger is usually shaped as a twin, shadow or a mirror-image of a protagonist

Alliteration: the repetition of similar sounds, usually consonants or consonant clusters in a group of words

Paradox: a statement that reveals a kind of truth, although it seems at first to be self-contradictory and untrue

Quiz Questions

Mary Shelley and Preface to Frankenstein

1. Mary Shelley’s famous father was William Godwin.

2. Mary’s husband Percy was a famous poet.

3. Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary’s mother, was a reformer who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women.

4. The subtitle of Frankenstein is The Modern Prometheus.

5. Shelley was inspired to write Frankenstein during a cold, wet summer in Geneva 1816.

6. Shelley’s husband encouraged her to pursue literary fame.

7. Shelley was inspired to write the novel after reading ghost stories with friends.

8. Lord Byron challenged Mary and her friends to write a ghost story.

9. Mary Shelley is further inspired by a conversation regarding the experiments of Dr. Darwin.

10. Mary envisions a frightening scene for her story while lying awake in bed.

11. Robert Walton posts his first letter from Russia.

12. Walton’s sister’s name is Margaret Saville.

13. Walton dreamt of becoming a great poet.

14. Walton seeks passage across the North Pole.

15. Walton acquired money for his expedition by inheriting it from his cousin.

16. Walton discovered the monster, Victor Frankenstein, and numerous sled dogs on a large fragment of ice near his ship.

17. When Walton encounters Frankenstein, Frankenstein asks the crew: “What direction are you going?” This statement implies that he would only go with them if they were going in a specific direction he would not join them, even though his life was in danger.

18. Walton longs to have a friend.

19. Frankenstein tells Walton his life story in order to discourage Walton’s dangerous ambition.

20. The Frankenstein family is from Switzerland.

21. Victor’s Frankenstein’s mother was Caroline Lavenza.

22. Victor Frankenstein was born in Naples.

23. Victor was 5 when his parents adopt a little girl.

24. The Frankensteins adopt Elizabeth Lavenza.

25. Victor’s closest childhood friend was Henry Clerval.

26. When he is thirteen years old, Victor becomes interested in the writings of Cornelius Agrippa, but his father calls them “sad trash.”

27. Frankenstein’s mother dies from scarlet fever.

28. Frankenstein is 17 when his mother dies.

29. Frankenstein leaves home to go to school in Ingolstadt.

30. Frankenstein dislikes Professor Krempe, who criticizes his reading material.

31. Professor Krempe mocks Frankenstein’s interest in Cornelius Agrippa.

32. While at school, Frankenstein never returns home.

33. Frankenstein builds a monster of gigantic stature because the larger structure makes it easier to build.

34. Frankenstein obtains corpses for his experiments from the churchyard.

35. Frankenstein dreams of his dead mother after he builds the monster.

36. Originally, Frankenstein’s long-range goal for his work is that he will create a new species.

37. After Frankenstein discovers that the creature is no longer in his room, he is joyfully relieved and not concerned for the monster or where it might be.

38. After creating the monster, Frankenstein falls ill and is attended by Henry Clerval for many months.

39. Frankenstein’s youngest brother is William.

40. Frankenstein abandons the pursuit of science after creating the monster and begins to study eastern languages with Henry Clerval.

41. When Frankenstein returns to his rooms, he finds a letter waiting for him. The letter is from Alphonse Frankenstein, and the letter reveals that William is dead.

42. Frankenstein is with Henry Clerval when he learns of his brother’s death.

43. Frankenstein was away from Geneva and his family for nearly 6 years.

44. Justine Moritz is accused of the murder.

45. Elizabeth Lavenza speaks in court in defense of Justine.

46. Justine confesses to the crime hoping to receive mercy.

47. Justine is found guilty and executed.

48. Frankenstein believes the monster is guilty of the murder.

49. Victor encounters his creature for the first time on a glacier.

50. Originally, after Victor fled him, the monster found shelter near a cottage. He sees an old man who is cooking breakfast.

51. According to the monster, he ought to be Victor’s Adam.

52. The monster first responds to beauty when he sees the moon.

53. The monster hates humanity because they hate him.

54. The monster finds shelter with the family. The siblings are named Felix and Agatha.

55. The family is unhappy because they are poor.

56. The father of the family is blind.

57. The monster eats nuts. roots, and berries.

58. The old cottager plays the guitar.

59. Three family members live in the cottage where the monster takes shelter.

60. A young woman arrives and the creature calls her the arabian.

61. Felix is in love with “the arabian.”