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Teachers' Resource Web Study Questions on Mary Shelley Frankenstein Book 1 1. How does the presence of Robert Walton in this book affect the text's treatment of science? What is his scientific motivation and goal? How does it differ from the scientific quest that Victor Frankenstein relates? 2. Describe the relationship that develops between Walton and Victor Frankenstein when he and his crew meet the doctor on their way to the North Pole. Does their relationship parallel that between the doctor and the being that he has created? If so, how? 3. On pages 922 and following, what is the significance of the relationship between Victor and his cousin Elizabeth? How do their differences complement each other? 4. How does Victor describe (page 924 Norton and following) the way he came to pursue knowledge in the natural sciences? What does he at first find lacking in modern natural science, and what makes him at last find such modern studies and methods attractive? 5. On 931 and following, how does Victor describe his discovery of the life principle? Does the discovery itself bring about a further change in his attitude towards scientific endeavor? If so, describe the change. 6. What goes wrong once Victor dares to apply his understanding of "animation" to material substance -- i.e. to a human body? How, that is, do his methods and material underscore and embody the grotesqueness of his quest? When he speaks of the Being he has created, what kind of language does he employ? 7. To what extent is the romantic conception of "imagination" involved in Victor's actions as a creator? How might his creation of the Being be a parody of the poetic or creative process -- i.e. a misuse of imagination? 8. What powers does the text attribute to nature with regard to human happiness? Follow out the fluctuations in Victor's relationship to and interpretations of his natural environment. 9. What is the significance of Book 1's many references to the domestic tranquility of the Frankenstein household -- at least before little William is murdered and Justine is falsely convicted of the crime and executed? 10. On page 947 and following, how does Victor interpret the devastation that has been visited upon his family? How might William's murder and Justine's execution amount to "poetic justice" against Victor for his own misdeeds? 11. Trace the "light" imagery in Book 1 -- what are the connotations of "light" at various points in the book? Book 2 1. Why can't ordinary humans accept the Being's appearance? What does this inability imply about the basis of human community? In other words, why so much emphasis on physical similarity or dissimilarity? 2. In Book 2, the Being tells the story of his initial moments of consciousness. Describe some of his first impressions about himself and nature and comment on what you find significant about them. 3. As his narrative develops, we hear about his impressions of language's value and the nature and habits of other human beings. Describe some of those views and comment on what you find significant about them. 4. How does the Being's narrative as a whole not fully reflect Adam's account of his creation in Paradise Lost? See Adam and Eve's First Impressions from PL. How, that is, does the Being arrive at the desire to seek his creator? 5. Why does the Being keep comparing himself to Milton's Satan -- what do they have in common? Book 3 and General Questions 1. Why might it be construed as "poetic justice" (of an infernal sort) that Victor Frankenstein's worst catastrophe comes just as he is to be married? 2. Describe the cycle of vengeance that consumes both the Being and Victor in Book 3. Does either one truly renounce this sentiment? 3. After having read Frankenstein, who has your sympathies -- Victor or the Being he has created? Or neither? Explain. 4. Discuss the final usage made of fire and the natural setting. Why is it significant that the Being determines to immolate himself? Why is it appropriate that he will do this when he reaches the North Pole? 5. Has Walter the scientist learned anything from Victor? If so, what has he learned? If not, why not? 6. Does Mary Shelley's novel conform to what you take to be the typically romantic view of scientific endeavor? Why or why not? 7. What are some "romantic" elements about the novel? *Edition: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2. 7th. edition. Ed. Meyer Abrams et al. New York: Norton, 2000.
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