Gothic Literature
What viewpoint on men and women does Victor's description of Elizabeth reflect in the passage from Frankenstein? A. Women are eager for change, while men prefer stability. B. Women are less interested in concrete ideas than men are. C. Women are slow to anger but worse than men when they do so. D. Women prefer to socialize, while men prefer to take action. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (excerpt) I was more calm and philosophical than my companion; yet my temper was not so yielding. My application was of longer endurance; but it was not so severe whilst it endured. I delighted in investigating the facts relative to the actual world; she busied herself in following the aerial creations of the poets. The world was to me a secret, which I desired to discover; to her it was a vacancy, which she sought to people with imaginations of her own.
B. Women are less interested in concrete ideas than men are.
In the novel Frankenstein, what does the creature's connection to nature suggest about him? A. It suggests that he has an artistic appreciation for nature. B. It suggests that he appreciates and enjoys beautiful things. C. It suggests that he is connected to Victor and has human feelings. D. It suggests that he wants to possess nature and feels it belongs to him.
C. It suggests that he is connected to Victor and has human feelings.
Vocabulary Excercise Choose three words from Frankenstein that you didn't know or had to look up in a dictionary. Write a new sentence for each word in the same context that was used in the text. You may use a dictionary to complete this task. An example has been provided for you.
Example: Execrate: to dislike and criticize (something or someone) very strongly. Sample sentence: Everyone execrated the king because he increased their taxes. 1. Disinclination: A reluctance or lack of enthusiasm. Sample sentence: The child had a strong feeling of disinclination towards nap time. 2. Syndics: government officials in various countries. Sample sentence: The syndics work hard in the courts of justice. 3. Disciple: A follower or student of a teacher leader or philosopher. Sample sentence: The Disciple studied the words of the philosopher endlessly.
What statement is Shelley making about human nature in Frankenstein? Is it as simple as asserting that all humans are capable of being vicious and cruel? Why or why not? Support your response with evidence from the text. Your response should be between three and five paragraphs long.
In Frankenstein Mary Shelley explores human nature, but she does not merely demonstrate that humans can be vicious and cruel. Through the experiences of the creature, Mary Shelley shows that all living beings can be monstrous when they fall prey to prejudice and hate. However, that same being can be good-hearted when it is influenced by love and compassion. Through the creature's experiences with the De Lacey family, Mary Shelley exposes the limits of human love, which may not extend beyond the family. The creature, which is not really human, shows a greater capacity for forgiveness than any of the human characters in the novel. For example, after the De Lacey family drives him away, the creature still makes an effort to rescue a drowning girl. The monster's love of nature gives him a compassionate and caring heart. The monster expresses his love of nature, and it comforts him at several points in the story: "My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy." As the monster gets closer to humans, he grows more despondent: "I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers—their grace, beauty, and delicate complexions: but how was I terrified when I viewed myself in a transparent pool!" Before the monster meets humans, he feels a universal love for living things. He chooses to be a vegetarian. It is only when he encounters human hatred that he loses his love and compassion.
Consider a few ways that the novel uses nature to connect Victor and the monster. Choose at least two instances and evaluate how effective this method is in connecting the characters.
In Frankenstein Mary Shelley often compares and contrasts Victor and the creature. Mary Shelley uses birth and labor imagery to suggest that Victor gave birth to the creature. For example, Victor goes into confinement for nine months to create the monster. Victor and his monster child are alike in some ways and different in others. One of the major traits shared by Victor and his monster is their love of nature. Both Victor and his creature express their joy in nature. The creature expresses his joy when spring arrives: "Spring advanced rapidly; the weather became fine, and the skies cloudless. It surprised me that what before was desert and gloomy should now bloom with the most beautiful flowers and verdure. My senses were gratified and refreshed by a thousand scents of delight, and a thousand sights of beauty." Frankenstein expresses similar emotions: "When happy, inanimate nature had the power of bestowing on me the most delightful sensations. A serene sky and verdant fields filled me with ecstasy. The present season was indeed divine; the flowers of spring bloomed in the hedges, while those of summer were already in bud." Both Frankenstein and the creature have the ability to forget sorrows and disappointments when they are in nature. After he is cruelly rejected by the De Lacey family, the monster is miserable. But he regains his hope when he feels the warmth of the sun: "The pleasant sunshine, and the pure air of day, restored me to some degree of tranquility; and when I considered what had passed at the cottage, I could not help believing that I had been too hasty in my conclusions." In a similar way, nature allows Frankenstein to forget the guilt and horror that has haunted him since the creature's creation. Victor tells Walton, "I perceived that the fallen leaves had disappeared, and that the young buds were shooting forth from the trees that shaded my window. It was a divine spring; and the season contributed greatly to my convalescence. I felt also sentiments of joy and affection revive in my bosom; my gloom disappeared."
Many of the characters in the novel Frankenstein share traits. Match the characters to the traits they share. Walton and Frankenstein Frankenstein and the creature Elizabeth and Agatha love of nature passiveness blind ambition
Love of nature: Frankenstein and the creature Passiveness: Elizabeth and Agatha Blind ambition: Walton and Frankenstein
How does Safie's characterization differ from Elizabeth's? Why is it significant that the two main female characters are so different?
Safie starts out as a strong girl who has been deeply affected by her mother's ideas about female freedom. Safie runs away from her domineering father and travels to Germany. However, once she reaches Germany she takes on the same passive role as Agatha. Her only role is to be the monster's unwitting teacher of French. But compared to Elizabeth, Safie shows a greater ability to pursue her own dreams and desires and actively work toward them. Elizabeth is extremely passive. She waits patiently for a fiancé who has almost abandoned her. She takes on responsibility as the caretaker of the Frankenstein family after Caroline's death. She uncomplainingly accepts a marriage match that was arranged by someone else (Caroline). Victor even compares her to a pet and treats her as a possession. Elizabeth is so passive that even though she knows Justine is innocent and feels quite passionate about the injustice, she does not believe she has the power to save her and makes no effort to do so. For resisting her fate and what others have planned for her life, Safie is rewarded in the story. For putting her own needs last and not fighting for her beliefs, Elizabeth is symbolically abandoned by her fiancé and dies on her wedding night. The narrative seems to reward assertiveness in women and punish passiveness. Shelley kills off all the passive women in the novel except for Agatha.
Describe how the novel Frankenstein combines general romantic characteristics and traits specific to the gothic novel. Support your response with evidence from the text.
Sample Answer: Frankenstein contains elements of both gothic and romantic literature. Mary Shelley brings out the romantic's love of nature in the story. Both Frankenstein and the creature explicitly credit nature with giving them joy and lessening their sorrow several times. Victor commits a great sin by trying to go against nature's laws. Walton is shown to be at fault for his desire to explore the arctic. Mourning the loss of nature to industrialization in the mid-eighteenth century was a romantic trait. Romantic themes of education and human potential can be found in the scenes with the De Lacey family. The reanimation of a dead body and descriptions of graveyards and corpses are all gothic conventions designed to create horror or terror in the reader. Other gothic conventions used in Frankenstein are murder, suicide, madness, and the suppression of women.
Type your response in the box. How does Mary Shelley vary the tone of her writing in letters 1-4 of Frankenstein? Support your response with evidence from the text.
Sample Answer: Mary Shelley changes the tone of the story from enthusiastic to foreboding in letters 1-4. Though Walton initially sounds excited about his journey, he reveals his loneliness to his sister. When Walton meets Frankenstein, his mood brightens. He immediately looks up to Frankenstein as the friend he always wanted, even though he does not know much about him. The tone becomes foreboding when Victor warns Walton about the danger of too much ambition: "You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been." This kind of foreshadowing in the form of a prophecy, warning, or prediction is typical of gothic novels.
Type your response in the box. How does the structure of the novel (framing devices) affect the plot? If Shelley wrote the novel without shifting perspectives (for example, if Victor narrated the entire novel) how would it have affected your comprehension of the text?
Sample Answer: The structure of the novel emphasizes the importance of looking beyond appearances and highlights the view that most objects, facts, and events seem different on closer examination. Narrative devices such as the use of Captain Walton's letters and the lack of an omniscient narrator help ensure that one character's perspective does not dominate the narrative. The use of multiple perspectives also heightens the mystery of the story. If the reader read only Victor Frankenstein's version of events, the story would have fewer layers of meaning and be less open to multiple interpretations.
Mary Shelley makes many allusions to biblical characters in the novel Frankenstein. Match the sentences to the biblical characters they allude to. "He had come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his Creator." "like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me." "A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me." Satan God Adam
Satan: Like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter." God: "A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe me their being to me." Adam: "He had come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his Creator."
