Assignment task: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
1. What is the full title of the novel? Is it significant to the story? Why or why not?
2. Throughout the novel, there are references to light and darkness, which take on different meanings if they are understood either literally or figuratively. What does the light figuratively symbolize? What does the darkness figuratively symbolize? (Hint: think back to Plato's "The Allegory of the Cave.")
3. Robert Walton writes to his sister, "What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?" As we discussed at the start of the semester, words can mean different things. Please look at and analyze the word "light" in this quote. What does Walton mean figuratively? What does Walton mean literally?
4. The novel, much to the surprise of many, is told by three different characters. First, please name the three characters, Second, how does the reader better understand the truth of what happened by hearing the story from these three characters?
5. Recently, you turned in an essay in which you discussed the traits of a modern woman. Focus your attention on the presentation of women in the novel. Do Victor Frankenstein and the monster differ in their view of women, or do they hold the same view of women? Why?
6. In some printings of Frankenstein, the following quotation from John Milton's Paradise Lost appears on the novel's title page:
Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay / To mould me Man, did I solicit thee / From darkness to promote me?
In other words, in that quote--as explained in the Five Minute Lecture, Part One--Adam is trying to blame God for Adam's disobedience. In other words, Adam is acting like a child and trying to blame others for his wrongdoing. In much the same way, Frankenstein acts like a child who is caught doing something wrong; that is, he refuses to admit that he has done anything wrong. Give one example of how Frankenstein demonstrates this character flaw.
1. Clearly, the monster's eloquence and persuasiveness make it easier for Walton and the reader to sympathize with him. For example, the monster was able to persuade Frankenstein to create a female monster after Frankenstein had sworn that he would never try to create life again. Also, after the death of Frankenstein, the monster cries to Walton, "I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on," trying to get Walton and the reader to sympathize with him until Walton remembers Frankenstein's warnings about the eloquence and persuasiveness of the monster. However, most film versions of the story present the monster as mute or inarticulate. Why do you think that is?
2. Think about the relationship between Frankenstein and the monster throughout the novel. How might you describe their relationship to someone who has not read the novel?
3. Frankenstein claims that his search for knowledge led to his tragic end, and in fact, the novel does present knowledge as dangerous and destructive under certain circumstances. Under what circumstances does Shelley critique knowledge as dangerous and destructive?
4. This story, written in 1816, certainly has relevance for us today. How is it relevant