Frankenstein Study Guide
Discuss the novel’s shifts in narrative perspective. What is the effect of presenting different characters’ viewpoints, especially those of and the monster? Narrative in Frankenstein shifts from to to the monster and finally back to Walton. With each shift of perspective, the reader gains new information about both the facts of the story and the personalities of the respective narrators. Each narrator adds pieces of information that only he knows: Walton explains the circumstances of Victor’s last days; Victor explains his creation of the monster; the monster explains his turn to evil. The differences in perspective between the narrators are sometimes stark, especially since Victor and the monster stand in opposition to each other for much of the novel.
10 Frankenstein Study Guide Copyright © by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. I busied myself to think of a story,... One which would speak to the mysterious fears of. THE GLENCOE LITERATURE LIBRARY. Study Guide for Frankenstein by Mary Shelley i To the Teachern The Glencoe Literature Library presents full-length novels and plays bound together with shorter selections of various genres that relate by theme or topic to the main reading. There never was a wilder story imagined,” wrote one reviewer on the first publication of Frankenstein in 1818. What is perhaps most extraordinary is that Mary.
From Victor’s point of view, the monster is nothing but a hideous and evil creature; from the monster’s account, on the other hand, it becomes clear that he is a thinking, feeling, emotional being. The recounting of the murder of William Frankenstein is a prime example of the impact of perspective: while Victor’s description, colored by the emotional letter from his father, focuses on the absolute evil of the act, the monster’s version of events centers on the emotional circumstances surrounding it. Even if one cannot sympathize with the monster, one can at least understand his actions. This kind of dual narration is one of the more interesting consequences of the complicated narrative structure that Shelley implements. Trace and discuss the role of letters and written communication throughout the novel. The entirety of Frankenstein is contained within Robert Walton’s letters, which record the narratives of both Frankenstein and the monster, to his sister (even Shelley’s preface to the book can be read as an introductory letter). Walton’s epistolary efforts frame Victor’s narrative, which includes letters from Alphonse and Elizabeth.
Like Walton’s, these letters convey important information that serves to advance the plot and offer some sense of authenticity to an implausible story. Additionally, Victor’s inclusion of these personal letters in his narrative allows Alphonse and Elizabeth to express themselves, shedding light on their respective concerns and attitudes, and thus rendering them more human. Shelley’s use of letters enables the shift of narrative from one character to another while remaining within the bounds of the standard novel. Letters also serve as a means of social interaction, as characters are frequently out of immediate contact with one another. Walton never encounters his sister in the novel; his relationship with her is based wholly on correspondence. Likewise, Victor often isolates himself from his loved ones; the letters from Alphonse and Elizabeth mark attempts to connect with him.
Even the monster uses written communication to develop a relationship with Victor when, at the end of the novel, he leads him ever northward by means of notes on the trees and rocks he passes. Discuss the presentation of women in the novel. Do Victor and the monster differ in their view of women, and if so, how? Women in Frankenstein are generally pure, innocent, and passive. Though there are a few exceptions, such as Caroline Beaufort, who works to support her impoverished father, women are generally seen as kind but powerless. For example, Elizabeth stands up for Justine’s innocence but cannot prevent her execution.
For both Victor and the monster, woman is the ultimate companion, providing comfort and acceptance. For Victor, Elizabeth proves the sole joy that can alleviate his guilty conscience; similarly, the monster seeks a female of his kind to commiserate with his awful existence. Each eventually destroys the other’s love interest, transferring woman’s status from object of desire to object of revenge; women thus are never given the opportunity to act on their own. In the context of passive female characters, it is interesting to note that Mary Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was the author of the strongly feminist A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. One can argue that Frankenstein represents a rejection of the male attempt to usurp (by unnatural means) what is properly a female endeavor—birth.
One can also interpret the novel as a broader rejection of the aggressive, rational, and male-dominated science of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. Though it was long met with mistrust, this science increasingly shaped European society.
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In this light, Frankenstein can be seen as prioritizing traditional female domesticity with its emphasis on family and interpersonal relationships.
WE CAN HELP YOU With Your Research Paper Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851), was a British writer, editor and biographer, the author of the famous classical Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), and the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley, a well-known Romantic poet. Her most recognized book Frankenstein has always been seen as controversial and has stirred dispute from the time it was first published to this day. Book Summary of Frankenstein The novel is composed epistolary form, or in the form of letters exchanged between two characters – a captain of the ship Robert Walton and his sister, Margaret Walton Saville. Their correspondence form a so-called frame story, which opens and closes the book. The middle section of the book in narrated by the ill-fated protagonist Victor Frankenstein. And finally, there is the point of view of the Monster, who is the third narrator in the book. The Plot of Frankenstein The events of the book are taking place in some time during the 18th century.
The novel includes a frame story, where Captain Walton exchanges letters with his sister, Mrs. Margaret Walton Saville.
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Captain Walton and his crew are exploring the North Pole. At first they see a figure of a gigantic man in the distance, and then discover and rescue another man, almost frozen to death. This man’s name is Victor Frankenstein, and after he partially recovers, he tells the Captain the story of his life. Victor Frankenstein’s Story First of all, Victor tells about his childhood. He was born in Naples and was one of three sons of a wealthy family. The children, Victor, Ernest and William, were encouraged since their childhood to study natural sciences, especially chemistry, and Victor becomes literally obsessed by these studies. Meanwhile, when he is 5 years old, his parents adopt an orphan girl Elisabeth Lavenza, who will later become Victor’s bride.
Then they also adopt Justine Moritz, who eventually starts working as a nanny for William. The grown-up Victor enters the University of Ingolstadt, further deepening his knowledge with the help of University professors. Soon he discovers how to make the inanimate matter alive. He starts constructing a humanoid creature from parts of animal and human bodies, and due to technical difficulties of obtaining small details makes it large, about 8 feet tall. The creature turns out to be very ugly and when Victor manages to bring it to life, he is scared and flees in terror.
In the town he meets his long-time friend Henry Clerval, and when they return to Victor’s home, the monster is no longer there, having ran away when Victor was absent. Victor suffers a nervous breakdown and falls ill. He recovers only after 4 months. When he arrives to his parent’s home, he learns his brother William has been killed. Then he sees the Monster running away from the crime scene and makes a conclusion that the Monster was the killer.
However, Justine Moritz is found guilty in this murder, and sentenced to death. Victor can do nothing to prevent it, because nobody will ever believe the story about the Creature. Desperate, Victor goes away and meets the Monster. To his surprise, Monster can speak very well, and Victor has to listen to his story. After the Monster fled to the woods, he had to live there alone because people were afraid of him. However, he discovered a poor family living in a cottage amidst the woods, and became attached to them.
While he secretly lived alongside them, he leant how to speak and then learnt to read after he found some books. When he once saw his reflection in the water, he realized his ugliness. He tried to befriend the family anyway, but they run away in terror. The feeling of injustice and rage made the Monster burn their house down and want revenge upon Victor who created him to live in misery. So he went back to Victor’s home and killed his brother. The Monster asked Victor to create a wife for him, to let him have some companion.
He threatens that if Victor disagrees, the Monster will kill his remaining family members and friends. Victor has to agree. He and his friend Henry Clerval arrive to England, and Victor starts his work. Soon he becomes afraid that the new Creature will be even more malicious than the original Monster, or than they will breed and pose a danger to humankind. After one more meeting with the Monster, believing that more evil will come of it, Victor destroys the female Creature. The Creature then swears revenge and tells he will be with Victor “on his wedding night”. Victor believes that the Creature promised to kill him on his wedding night.
Then Victor goes to Ireland to meet his friend. However, the Monster strangles Henry to death, and Victor is accused of it.
He manages to prove not guilty and later return home to his father. After some time, he prepares to marry Elizabeth Lavenza. On their wedding night, he prepares for a deadly fight with the Monster, takes weapons and asks his bride to wait for him in her room, while he checks the house. While he is away, the Monster attacks Elisabeth and kills her.
Victor shoots at him, but fails to kill him. The Monster escapes, and Victor aims to pursue him to the North Pole, but freezes and falls unconscious on his way. There Victor is found by Captain Robert Walton.
Captain Walton’s Concluding Story Soon after the Captain’s ship gets caught in the pack ice; some of the crew members die because of the cold weather, and the Captain decides to return to the warmer regions as soon as it is possible. Soon Victor dies, and the Monster is found on the ship mourning over him.
The Monster speaks to the Captain and tells he does not feel peaceful after Victor has died, but feels completely lonely because he has killed all the people somehow connected to him. The Monster regrets his actions, swears to commit suicide and drifts away of a piece of ice, until he disappears from view. Conflicts in Frankenstein The book’s conflicts center around the controversial relations between the creator and his creation, responsibility, and revenge. It also questions the idea if a man has a right to follow his ambition and create living creatures in an unnatural way, or will he be punished for this. The first trouble arises when Victor does not want to be responsible for the living being he made and just leaves it alone. Then, there is a conflict in human society when people don’t want to accept anyone who looks ugly or frightening, no matter his intentions.
There is also the question of free will, as the Monster did not ask Victor to make him live and was forced to exist without his consent. The lack of understanding and the immature emotional actions of the characters bring tragedy to them and to the unwitting people around. Climax in Frankenstein The conflict in the book reaches its climax when the Monster kills Elisabeth, the protagonist’s bride.
Characters of Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist, the scientist who studied the ways to bring life to inanimate matter and eventually created and brought to life a nameless Creature, or the Frankenstein’s monster. For his ability to create a living being and challenge the existent state of things he is compared in the book subtitle to Prometheus, a rebellious Titan from Ancient Greek mythology.
The Monster, or Creature, a semblance of man created by the inventor Victor Frankenstein from the materials he gets from “the dissecting room and the slaughter-house” and then brought to life using some scientific process – it is not specified in the book what exactly the process involves; it could have been the use of electricity, chemistry, galvanism, or alchemy. The monster is ugly and people flee in terror when seeing him; however, he is not evil at first, but seeks company and sympathy of people, helps a poor family and learns how to speak and read books. Later, when he understands that people hate him and he would remain alone for the rest of his life, he starts hating his creator, Victor Frankenstein, and turns against him, killing his friend and family members in revenge. People often mistakenly call the monster “Frankenstein” while he is nameless in the book.
William – Victor’s young brother murdered by the Monster. Elizabeth Lavenza – Victor Frankenstein’s bride, killed by the Monster on her and Victor’s wedding night. Henry Clerval – Victor’s best friend since their childhood age.
Another victim of the Monster. Captain Walton – the captain of the ship which rescued Victor on the way to the North Pole. Margaret Walton Saville – Captain Walton’s sister, to whom he writes letters where he tells the story. Other characters include Justine Moritz, accused of killing Williams, De Laceys’ family, the university professors M. Krempe and M. Waldman and a number of other people. Themes of Frankenstein The book deals with a number of problems, such is whether a man is allowed to create living beings in an unnatural way, or he and his creation will both suffer punishment from God or Nature.
The author also questions and doubts the ideas of both Romanticism and Enlightenment. Some other important themes of the novel deal with relations between people both inside a family and inside the society. Family was important for Mary Shelley, and Victor Frankenstein can be actually considered the “father” of his Monster, since he created him. However, Victor is not responsible for his actions and decides to flee instead of taking responsibility for his “child”. So the Monster feels lonely when all people he meets fear him and he has nobody to support him; even his creator ultimately refuses to create a wife for him.
This is the theme of loneliness, cruelty and misunderstanding. In its turn, this situation leads to revenge of the Monster who feels injustice and despair and wants cruel people to suffer with him. This leads to him attacking Victor’s friends and relatives and becoming the object of revenge himself, which ends in even more deaths.
Quotes from Frankenstein There is a number of spot-on quotes dealing with various important subjects of the book. Quotes about science and what price can be paid for it “One man’s life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought, for the dominion I should acquire and transmit over the elemental foes of our race.” Related Characters: Robert Walton (speaker), Mrs. Margaret Walton Saville Explanation and Analysis: Captain Walton explains his scientific ambitions and the price his is ready to pay for scientific discoveries in a letter to his sister.