Sample Frankenstein Essays

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Frankenstein

Self Assessment and Discussion

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Setting

Question: Many writers use a natural setting to

establish values within a work of literature.

For example, the country may be a place of

virtue and peace or one of primitivism and

ignorance. Choose a novel or play in which

such a setting plays a significant role. Then

write an essay in which you analyze how the

country setting functions in the work as a

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The country and forests of Mary Shelley’s

Frankenstein are introduced in contrast to the town and city setting of the piece. They are portrayed as places of good nature and solitude, whereas the cities are where Victor Frankenstein and his creation suffer most. This is the prevailing view of Mary Shelley and the Romantics, that as mankind becomes more industrially focused, it is losing the purity that nature brings.

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His return to sanity can be most strongly evidenced when he takes a walk, touring Ingostaldt’s country, and observes nature in all of its beauty. The reader perceives a calming effect that the country and good weather have on Victor, for he himself comments upon its healing effects.

Another character that finds his benevolence while in the country is Victor’s creation, the monster. Before the

monster even intervenes in any human matters, he

describes himself being the most pleasured while situated in nature. He enjoys the singing of the birds and the food that nature provides for him. Later, when the creature

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Monster watches the cottagers and notices that when he steals from the family's food, they go unnourished and become saddened. Though he could certainly eat better at their expense, the monster instead decides to quit this habit and instead find his own sustenance, leaving the family to profit by his good-will. The monster also notes that Felix, the melancholy son of DeLacey Sr., spends most of his time chopping wood, and thus resolves that he, the monster, shall relive Felix of this task by

replenishing the wood stores by night. Not only does the monster help in this environment but also learns the

most while residing in the country. Felix inadvertently teaches the monster to speak and to read.

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contrast to when both of them enter into the cities. Both are treated with hate and scorn. For example, Victor is treated as a insane murderer when he arrives in Ireland, and the monster is obviously chased or beaten when he encounters a sizeable group of people. How does this contribute to the tone and theme of the piece as a

whole? It shows the view that nature is pristine and innocent, and that where people congregate, such as town, this innocence has been spoiled by man’s

knowledge and ideas which has created prejudice and viciousness.

The Romantics idealized nature for its unbroken peacefulness and innocence. Mary Shelley shows this by setting her characters in the country and having them act according to her views. Victor heals and becomes

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Tragic Hero

According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the

inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine

lightning.”

Write an essay in which you explain how the suffering brought upon others by a character in Frankenstein contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole.

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The novel

Frankenstein

explores the

depths of human psychology by revealing

extreme passion of a seemingly mad

scientist. Victor Frankenstein is thrown into

an emotional roller coaster due to his choice

of decisions. Mary Shelley makes her

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In creating a monster by giving the elixir

of life to a corpse, Victor brings harm and

terror upon the monster itself. Victor gave the

monster ugly features, and when he initially

gave the monster the elixir of life, Victor ran

in terror from the creation. Shelley shows

how torn the monster truly is when he gives

his monologue to Victor about the struggles

he had had to encounter due to his

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They display Shelley's theme of loss of

human innocence and illustrate how truly evil

society can be. The loneliness of the monster

represents the loneliness that Shelley implies

exists in all of us. The moods of unhappiness

and loneliness in the novel contribute to

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When Victor decides to create the monster, he not only brings suffering upon himself. In the

portion of the novel when Victor is consumed by his appetite for research and knowledge, he falls very ill and weak. The more Victor seems to learn, the

further ill he seems to fall. This continuous pattern shows the tragic vision of how too much knowledge can destroy man. Victor Frankenstein becomes the character of the mad scientist that rages within

himself. He must struggle with the passions and desires of that mad scientist. This displays Mary Shelley's vision of how humans are

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In close relation to Victor are two static

characters of the novel, Elizabeth and Henry. Both characters are torn when Victor falls ill. They want to know what bothers Victor, but he refuses to tell them the secret of his creation. Hiding this secret from

Victor's two closest relations causes his

relationships with both of them to suffer. Shelley shows through this how human relations suffer

when one is in a conquest for knowledge or fame. This is a tragic fate that Victor has to suffer. In his desire for fame and knowledge, he delays his

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Frankenstein's creation of the monster brings

nothing but suffering to the novel, and shows

that human knowledge, while attainable, can

be very evil. The [treatment and isolation of

the] creation displays the evil society can bring

upon those that are different. Finally, it

displays how relationships suffer in the quest

for knowledge. Shelley's plot of the creation of

the monster shows how literally the downfall of

Victor occurs, and how the downfall of society

could occur if given such power.

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Letters I-IV and Chapters I-IV

1.

Where is Robert Walton’s voyage headed?

2.

What strange sight do Walton and his men

see?

3.

Why does the stranger hesitate before he

agrees to board Walton’s ship?

4.

Briefly summarize Victor Frankenstein’s

childhood.

5.

What is the difference between M. Krempe and

M. Waldman, Frankenstein’s professors at the

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1. What was your initial response toward the

character of Victor Frankenstein? How did this feeling change by the end of Chapter IV?

2. Robert Walton can be described as Victor

Frankenstein’s counterpart or double. List some of the similar characteristics that the two men share. How are the two men different?

3. At the end of Chapter IV, Frankenstein pauses to

moralize. What does he say about passion and how a person should deal with it? How might

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4. Among several antitheses, or opposites, in the

novel, are emotion and reason. Sometimes two

conflicting responses are at war within a character. Point out some examples of this kind of reaction in the novel.

5. At several points, Frankenstein refers to fate as

having been instrumental in shaping his life. What causes this interpretation?

6. Is Victor Frankenstein is more concerned about

helping the human race transcend death or about achieving fame and glory for himself? Reference lines as proof.

7. Discuss the roles of fate and free will in Victor

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

Mary Shelley has been criticized for her

portrayal of the secondary or minor

characters in the novel. Are characters such

as Robert Walton, Elizabeth Lavenze, and

Henry Clerval one-dimensional and

simplistic, or had Shelley given enough

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Chapters V-X

1.

Why does Frankenstein run away from the

Creature after he has brought him to life?

2.

Why does Henry Clerval come to Ingolstadt?

3.

What news does Victor’s father send him?

4.

Who is tried for the murder of Victor’s brother,

William?

5.

What does the Creature ask Frankenstein to

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1. With whom do you sympathize more – Victor or his

creation? Why?

2. Victor had been totally engrossed in the project

until he actually brought the Creature to life. Why do Victor’s feelings change?

3. What is the significance of Victor’s dream about

Elizabeth? What might the dream foreshadow?

4. Victor’s personality is contrasted with Henry’s.

What are some of the differences?

5. Nature is an important part of the novel’s setting.

At times it soothes Victor’s troubled mind; at other times, it mirrors his agitation. Review scenes of these variations.

6. Victor travels into the mountains to gain relief from

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Chapters XI-XVI

1.

How do the villagers that the Creature first

encounters react to him?

2.

Where does the Creature end up making his

“home”?

3.

How does the Creature learn to speak and

read?

4.

Briefly summarize Safie’s relation to the De

Lacey family.

5.

How does the Creature find out about his

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1. After hearing the Creature’s story, do you sympathize with

him? Why or why not?

2. Shelley gives readers information about the De Laceys through

indirect characterization. Why did Shelley use this method?

3. The Creature’s education teaches him that society values a

person’s lineage and wealth over accomplishments or behavior. What effect does this realization have on him?

4. The Creature is puzzled by the De Lacey family’s pathos. What

is their story? What parallel exists between the De Lacey family’s history and the Creature’s own plight?

5. Compare and contrast Victor and the Creature.

6. Compare and contrast the Creature’s interior and exterior.

What irony exists?

7. The Creature argues that his evil behavior is not entirely his

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Chapters XVII-XXIV

1.

Why does Victor travel to England?

2.

Who accompanies Victor on his travels

to England and Scotland?

3.

What happens on Victor and Elizabeth’s

wedding night?

4.

What events bring Victor to Robert

Walton’s ship?

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1. Walton thinks the Creature is a hypocritical fiend

concerning Victor’s death. Do you agree? Why or why not?

2. Contrast Victor and Henry’s characters.

3. Victor recalls his childhood experience of seeing a

tree blasted by a bolt of lightening. How is this a metaphor for his character?

4. Victor believes according to his dialogue with

Walton, that he has examined his past conduct

and finds nothing for which to blame himself. What does this say about his character?

5. How do the Creature and Victor now compare in

character?

6. Explain the symbolism of the following elements:

the color white or brilliant light, the Alps, water, ice, lightning or electricity.

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Structure



Frame device



Layered Format

Walton’s letters to his sister

Victor’s story told to Walton

Creature’s narrative to Victor

Safie and Felix’s story



Epistolary

Walton’s letters

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Themes



Nature of Good and Evil

_{Nature of Good and Evil}



Quest

_Quest



Man’s Limitations

_{Man’s Limitations}



Role of Scientific Enquiry and Effects of Ambition

_{Role of Scientific Enquiry and Effects of Ambition}



Idealization of the Poor

_{Idealization of the Poor}



Nature’s Reaction to the Affairs of Humans

_{Nature’s Reaction to the Affairs of Humans}



Responsibility for Actions and Responsibility to

_{Responsibility for Actions and Responsibility to}

Others



Revenge

_Revenge

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Allusions



Prometheus

_Prometheus



Paradise Lost

_{Paradise Lost}

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Style



Serious tone without humor or irony



Modern due to simplicity of sentences and plainer

vocabulary



Melodramatic exaggeration ABSENT – direct



Percy’s editing negates her own simplicity

_{Percy’s editing negates her own simplicity}

* changed simple construction to ornate * changed simple construction to ornate

* added French and Italian phrases * added French and Italian phrases



Uses scenery descriptions to note foreboding and

pathos



Little physical description of the characters



Abundant use of allusions and quotations

_{Abundant use of allusions and quotations}



Epistolary framework

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

Psychological Realism

_{Psychological Realism}

(delves into psyches of characters to

explain motivations and drives)

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Romanticism

Period 1789-1832

Dominated by six Poets

(Wordsworth, Coleridge, Blake,

Shelley, Keats, Byron)

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Basic Tenants

Focus on the Self

*

Wordsworth’s

The Prelude

*First Person Point of View

*Byronic Hero

(

Frankenstein

allusion – Satan, Cain,

Prometheus)

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Byronic Hero

Name derived from Lord Byron

“

A man proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on

his brow, and misery in his heart, a scorner of

his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of

deep and strong affection” Thomas Macaulay.



Passionate yet flawed



Intellectually searching



Incapable of compromise



Forever brooding over some mysterious sin



Painfully yet defiantly alone



Question accepted social institutions and

behavior

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Opposite of Neoclassical Age

(Age of Reason)

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Doctrine of the Basic Goodness of

Man

Rousseau’s concept of the “noble savage”

Examples:

* Cooper’s

Leatherstocking Tales

*

Shelley’s

Frankenstein

references

to Native Americans, idealization of the De

Lacey family, William as first victim.

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Emphasis on Emotion

Feeling is good but knowledge may

be bad.

*Wordsworth’s

The Prelude

*Frankenstein’s

repeated

rescues of the orphans (Victor’s

mother Caroline, Elizabeth, and

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Interest in Nature

* Nature’s moral influences as noted in

poetry – not setting alone.

*

Frankenstein’s

Creature’s early

experiences, climatic scenes on the

Mont Blanc glacier, the barren Orkney

Islands, the frozen Arctic waters.

* Pathetic fallacy and personification

* Noted backgrounds in painting

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Preference for Melancholy

*Romantics were NOT cheerful

*Create a sense of solitude and dejection

Interest in the Exotic and Supernatural

*Asian travel

*Nightmares and Dreams

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Human Perfectibility

*Man is on a spiral forward –

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Political Ideology

*Conservative and nostalgic

(Sir Walter Scott and Wordsworth)

*Progressive spirit of Independence

(Byron and Shelley)

Variety of Form

*Poetry

*Novels (epistolary and double-framed

narrative and three points of view

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Golden Age of the Novel

First novel appeared in the 18

th

Century

*Daniel Defoe’s

Robinson Crusoe

* Samuel Richardson’s

Pamela

and

Clarissa Harlowe

-

epistolary formats

- satire (depict foibles of society)

*Jane Austen

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Dominate literary form of the 19

th

Century

Shelley

The Brontes

Dickens

George Eliot

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Gothic Novel Form

Settings feature isolation (medieval

castles)

Mystery and otherness

Byronic hero (handsome, solitary, and

mysterious)

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Gothic Novels Parallel Romanticism

Move away from classic other

Emphasis on imagination and feeling

Frankenstein beyond the Gothic

Themes universal and serious

Evokes horror over terror

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