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Frankenstein and Julius Caesar Exam Notes

Tragic Hero

  • Character who struggles to see their own flaws.
    • These flaws are known as fatal flaws.
  • They usually think they're doing the right thing, but it leads to something bad.
    • Victor thinks overcoming the boundaries of life and death is the right thing.
  • Examples of Victor's fatal flaws:
    • Pride
    • Selfishness
    • Inability to see past himself
    • Ambition
  • End for the tragic hero:
    • Death, tragedy, lives ruined.
    • In Victor's case, it's ironic because the very thing he was trying to do (go beyond the boundaries of life and death) is what killed him, or indirectly killed many others.
  • The tragic hero also pushes the plot forward.
    • Their decisions are what pushes the plot forward in a tragedy.

Frame Narrative

  • How it's set up in Frankenstein:
    • Walton writing letters to his sister, explaining the story that Victor is telling.
    • Then it goes back to the Monster telling Victor his story.
  • Effect on the reader:
    • Gives different points of view.
    • Allows for some perspective, but there are layers of credibility or incredibility.

Frankenstein Characters

Delacy

  • Blind
  • Monster watches him and his family
  • Initially wealthy
  • From France
  • The only human that is nice to the monster.

Mr. Kerwin

  • Irish magistrate
  • Shows empathy for Victor
  • Believes Victor is innocent of Clerval's killing
  • Sends a letter to Alphonse, Victor's father, so Victor can go home.

Elizabeth

  • Orphan
  • Fiancée to Victor
  • Killed on wedding night
  • Of Arabic/Turkish descent

William

  • First victim of the monster
  • Youngest Frankenstein
  • Innocent and sweet, beloved by his family

Clerval

  • Victor's best friend
  • Travels with Victor
  • Loyal
  • Takes care of him when he's sick
  • Interested in art.

Justine

  • Housekeeper/nanny for the Frankenstein family
  • Accused of killing William because she possessed the locket, but framed by the monster.

Victor

  • Created the monster
  • Likes science
  • From Geneva

Walton

  • Captain of a ship
  • Wants to go to the Arctic

Julius Caesar Characters

Flavius and Murellus

  • Tribunes
  • Denounce the people in the street for celebrating Caesar
  • Took decorations off of Caesar's statue
  • They felt like it was dishonorable because they were celebrating Caesar after previously being loyal to Pompey.

Casca

  • Conspirator
  • First to stab Caesar

Cinna (the conspirator)

  • Delivers Cassius' letter to Brutus
    • Cassius writes a letter pretending to be concerned Roman citizens, and Cinna has to deliver it to Brutus' home.
    • This convinces Brutus to be a part of the conspiracy to kill Caesar.

Decius

  • Conspirator
  • Convinces Caesar to go to the Capitol.
  • Decius is Brutus' brother-in-law (Caius is Cassius' lineage name)

Rhetoric

Ethos

  • Appeal to credibility or using credibility.
  • Celebrity endorsement, a doctor saying "trust me on this treatment", using credentials to prove something is true.

Logos

  • Appeal to logic, using specific examples, data, statistics to prove a point.
  • Anthony brings up Caesar's will and Caesar's accomplishments.

Pathos

  • Appeal to emotion.

Hyperbole

  • Obvious and intentional exaggeration; things that are obviously not true used to the point of emphasis.
    • "It's raining cats and dogs", "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse", "I've been waiting a million years for this today".

Rhetorical Question

  • Doesn't require an answer and are used to make a point.
    • "Who here is so base that they would be a bondman?", "Is the sky blue?", "Is the Pope Catholic?", "Is the grass green?"

Verbal Irony

  • Sarcasm, saying one thing but meaning the opposite.
  • Anthony continuously mentions how great Brutus is, even though he doesn't believe it.

Similarities Between Queen Elizabeth and Julius Caesar

  • Neither married
  • Neither had children
  • Both died in March
  • Both involved in civil wars
  • Both had a complex relationship with the common folk (were popular but also feared).

In-Text Citations

  • Paraphrase the quote and provide a proper in-text citation.
  • Two ways to do an in-text citation:
    • (Last name, page number).
    • According to [Author's last name] on page [page number].
  • If you don't have the author's last name, use a short title in the parenthesis.
  • The period always goes on the outside of the parenthesis.
  • If you have two authors: (Last name and Last name, page).
  • If you have more than two authors: (Last name et al., page).

Traits of Romanticism

  • Emotions
  • Hopeful outlook on life
  • Respect for natural things, like death
  • Simplicity/the ordinary man (seen in the cottagers of Frankenstein).
  • Reason over logic.
  • Nature-focused, fascination with nature, nature as a solace, nature versus technology.