A Strangeways 1
Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
Study Notes: Comprising
1. Class Work
2. Plot: 1 page only: 1 line summary of major event/focus of each letter/chapter
3. Characters: 1 page per major character: points, quotes, comments on their strengths, weaknesses, hopes, fears etc
4. Settings: 1 page per major setting: points and quotes re: atmosphere and significance to characters/themes of aspects of
setting
5. Themes: 1 page per theme (e.g. the pursuit of knowledge, science and nature, the outcast etc)
6. Techniques: 1 page per significant technique (look at your list of techniques from the Style section of FC PATS)
Class Work Activities
(I’ll let you know what I want you to complete and when, but you may wish to work your way through all of them to deepen
your understanding of the novel
Remember to answer in as much detail as possible – give more than one reason/piece of evidence for your
answers.
Pre-reading
Frankenstein and the Monster
-- Did you know of the Frankenstein story?
-- If so, what is your impression of Frankenstein and the monster? What VISUAL images do you have?
What ISSUES or THEMES might these characters represent?
A Modern Prometheus
The original myth -- Prometheus was a mortal who ascended to the heavens and stole fire from the gods to bring warmth and life
to humanity. Maddened by his daring and their loss of power, the gods punished Prometheus; they chained him to a rock and
every day he had his liver torn out by a giant eagle.
Draw a chart, with as many rows as you need to help you compare the two stories . . .
Similarities
Differences
situation
event
motives
reasons
Morality
Consequences for world
Consequences for
Frankenstein/ Prometheus
Genre: Science Fiction and Gothic
Write down two lists of all the things you associate with each of the two terms above.
Now look up the literary meanings of these two terms, and see how they relate to the story.
Narrators
Three different narrators are involved in telling this story, in this order:
Walton - Victor Frankenstein - The Monster - Victor Frankenstein - Walton
What do you notice about this pattern? Can you give any reasons? Who would be the most reliable and why?
A Strangeways 2
Outsiders
1. How do you react to:
Someone with a birthmark or scar? Someone who has a different colour skin to yours? Different hair?
2. How do you treat someone new to your school or where you live?
3. Why do you think very young children react to disabled people in a different way from some adults?
Modern Frankensteins
1. In the years before Mary Shelley wrote her novel there was great interest in the power of science and how
it could benefit humankind by creating something new in, or modifying the natural world. List 2-5 examples
of recent scientific discoveries in which scientists create or modify something from the natural world.
2. Could any of these discoveries, like Frankenstein’s creation, go wrong? Explain what you mean.
Poetry
These two poems cover similar ideas to those explored in this novel:
The Hunchback in the Park
The Hippopotamusman
Into a world of the red glass bus
came a man with a face like a hippopotamus
Grotesqueeruptions made horrific
an otherwise normal ugly face
Wartsscrambled over his head
peeping between thin twigs of dry hair
like pink shiny sunsets
hanging below the neckline
like grapes festering on a vine
And when he blinked
you could glimpse the dr4unken dance
in the whites of his eyes
like the flash of underpants
through unbuttoned trouserflies
Had the passengers been in groups
there might have been laughter
But they were all singles
and turning their faces to the windows
did not see the view
but behind the privacy of eyelids
had a mental spew
Limpinggropingly looking for a place
went the substandard man
with the hunchbacked face
and finding one sat
and beholding his mudstudded boots
the hippopotamusman
wondered whether it was wednesday
Roger McGough
The hunchback in the park,
A solitary mister
Propped between trees and water
From the opening of the garden lock
That lets the trees and water enter
Until the Sunday sombre bell at dark
Eating bread from a newspaper
Drinking water from the chained cup
That the children filled with gravel
In the fountain basin where I sailed my ship
Slept at night in a dog kennel
But nobody chained him up.
Like the park birds he came early
Like the water he sat down
And Mister they called Hey Mister
The truant boys from the town
Running when he heard them clearly
On out of sound
Past lake and rockery
Laughing when he shook his paper
Hunchbacked in mockery
Through the loud zoo of the willow groves
Dodging the park keeper
With his stick that picked up leaves.
And the old dog sleeper
Alone between nurses and swans
While the boys among willows
Make the tigers jump out of their eyes
To roar on the rockery stones
And the groves were blue with sailors
Made all day until bell time
A woman figure without fault
Straight as a young elm
Straight and tall from his crooked bones
That she might stand in the night
After the locks and chains
All night in the unmade park
After the railings and shrubberies
The birds the grass the trees the lake
And the wild boys innocent as strawberries
Had followed the hunchback
To his kennel in the dark.
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1. In what ways are the two outcasts in these poems and the monster
a) similar
b) different
2. How do others react to the hunchback and the hippopotamusman? Pick out words/phrases to support this.
3. Why do others react the way they do in these poems? Are these reasons similar or different to each other?
4. Pick out 3 words or phrases from each poem that are particularly striking for any reason and say why.
5. For whom do you feel most sympathy? Why?
Close Analysis of the Text and Its Ideas:
Answer in dot points the following questions (ie detailed answers but not in full sentences) in the first section
of your Study Notes. Where relevant, transfer the ideas/information into the
character/theme/setting/technique section of your notes.
Letters 1-4
Identify the speaker
1. “My education was neglected.”
2. “Have you drunk also of the intoxicating draught?”
3. “ I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven.”
Identify the person to whom this comment refers
4. “a being which had the shape of a man.”
5. “ A man on the brink of destruction.”
6. “You have benevolently restored me to life.”
7. “Under your gentle and feminine fosterage.”
Characters
Walton: (Letter 3) “But success shall crown my endeavors.”
Frankenstein: (Letter 4, Aug 19th) “You seek for knowledge and wisdom as I once did.”
Look at the context of the above quotes and either in sentences or by cartooning with thought bubbles, show
the similarities between the two men.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is revealed of Walton as a character and what does Shelley make you think of him?
What are your opening impressions of Victor?
How does Shelley create an atmosphere of tension, strangeness and uncertainty in Letter 4
What are your expectations as a reader concerning Walton’s ambition for knowledge?
Pick out three examples of Shelly’s use of emotional language to explore the state of mind of her
characters and say what state of mind she is expressing.
6. How does Shelley show Walton’s isolation and loneliness?
Chapters 1-5
Identify the speaker
1. “Do not waste your time upon this; it is sad trash.”
2. “they penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her hiding places.”
3. “A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind.”
4. “I shunned my fellow creature as if I had been guilty of a crime.”
Identify the person to whom this comment refers
5. “she was the living spirit of love to soften and attract”
6. “He loved enterprise and even danger for its own sake.”
7. “One hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me.”
A Strangeways 4
Chapter One: Family Tree
Draw a family tree that shows the relationships between the following characters and places:
Como, Beaufort, Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein, Alphonse Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Naples,
Elizabeth Lavenza, Geneva, Naples
Chapter Two: Characters
Draw either a labeled symbol representing each of them, or labeled character pictures or caricatures of
Clerval, Victor Frankenstein and Elizabeth, showing what they have in common in their characters and what
parts of their personalities are different and conflicting or complementary with each other.
The Philosopher’s Stone and The Elixir of Life
 What is each? Which would you go in quest of and why?
 Name some movies you have seen or books you have read that have some kind of quest to discover
something great.
Chapter Four: Second Page in: Victor’s lack of Fear
Victor lacks fear because he lacks imagination. Is it good to be superstitious or not? Describe a time when a
superstition helped you.
To Re-animate or Not to Reanimate
 List the reasons for Victor’s desire to create life.
 Put the list into rank order of the importance of each reason to him.
 Evaluate each reason in you opinion, saying which you think are good, valid or honorable reasons and
which are not. Don’t forget to way why.
Text Analysis
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Comment on the kind of relationship that develops between Victor and his studies.
How does Victor (as narrator) create a sense of foreboding in the reader?
What does Shelley reveal of the differences between Victor’s childhood and his later years?
What are the similarities and differences between Walton and Victor?
What are the similarities and differences between the male and female characters here?
How is the monster portrayed as a fearful being?
Chapters 6-10
Identify the speaker
1. “ I had committed deeds of mischief beyond description horrible.”
2. “I no longer see the world and its workds as they before appeared to me.”
3. “Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded.”
Identify the person to whom this comment refers
4. “she accused herself for having caused the death of my brother.”
5. “she fell into violent hysterics and kept her bed for several days.”
6. “The poor woman was very vacillating in her repentence.”
Chapter Seven: Silence
 Why didn’t Victor tell people about his belief that the monster killed William? Do you think this was the
right thing to do? Give reasons.
 What was it that convicted Justine? Were these good enough reasons? What does this tell you about the
way justice works?
A Strangeways 5
Text Analysis
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How far is Victor’s conscience troubled with regard to his past actions? Give evidence.
What are the stages in Victor’s increasing isolation and what are its causes?
Give three examples of the presentation of nature and its effect on the characters.
Comment on the rhythms of the novel so far. What have been the moments of high tension?
Justice is a theme in this novel. What has been suggested so far about the nature of justice?
What impact has secrecy had on the novel so far, and what does Shelley suggest about its moral position?
Chapters 11-16
Identify the speaker
1. “My virtues will necessarily arise when I live in communion with an equal.”
2. “there is something in your words that persuades me you are sincere.”
Identify the person to whom this comment refers
3. “I am forever robbed for all she could give me.”
4. “She fell, however, into good hands.”
5. “He placed his hands before my eyes.”
6. “His eyes and attitude expressed the utmost sadness and despondency.”
Chapters Eleven and Twelve: The Needs of Life
 Make a list of the things the monster needed to live at the beginning of these chapters.
 Add to this list the things he needed later on.
 Make a list of the things, in order of importance, of the things you think you would need to be happy or
content. Compare your list with others’.
Chapter Fifteen: Intelligence and Happiness
 Does the monster’s intelligence bring him happiness? Does Victor’s?
 Do you think intelligence generally leads to happiness or misery? Give reasons or situations to support
you answer.
Chapter Sixteen: Death and Destruction
 Give the reason the monster gives for killing William.
 Draw a timeline that shows the different stages in the monster’s fall from goodness to evil, showing
which were the most important things he learned or experienced.
Text Analysis
1. Write a paragraph about your impressions of the monster, and whether, in your opinion, Victor’s
description of him as a “vile insect” sums him up.
2. What are the similarities and differences between Victor, Walton and the monster?
3. What are the similarities and differences between the monster and the female characters so far?
4. In what ways is the monster portrayed as a harmless being?
5. What are the various effects of reading on the monster, on Clerval, on Walton and on Victor?
6. What is the emotional nature of the relationship between the monster and the De Laceys
7. What contradictions are there in the monster’s personality?
8. Why is Safie accepted by the De Laceys but the monster is not?
9. Does the monster’s rejection by the De Laceys justify his revenge?
Chapters 17-24
Identify the speaker
1. “I felt I had no right to share their intercourse.”
2. “I fancy it will go hard with you.”
3. “Do you not love another?”
A Strangeways 6
Identify the person to whom this comment refers
4. “Man . . . how ignorant art thou in thy wisdom.”
5. “His would overflowed with ardent affections.”
6. “He rose and quitted the room with my nurse.”
Chapter Seventeen: Judging on Appearances
 Who judges on appearances in the novel, and whom do they judge?
Chapter Nineteen: Should he build the second monster?
 Draw the following chart and fill in as many boxes as you can:
Reasons for building it
e.g. because he owes it to the monster
Consequences/results of building it
Reasons against building it
Consequences/results of refusing to build it
e.g. the monster could kill him
 List the similarities and differences between when Victor is creating this new monster and when he
created the first one. You should include his mood, his thoughts, his setting (where he is).
 Do you think he should build the second monster? Give persuasive reasons for you answer.
Chapter Twenty: Changing his mind
 Why does Victor change his mind? What reasons does he give? How valid/strong are these reasons?
 Look again at the last page of this chapter. Pick out and copy out two quotations that show how
suspense is created here. Explain how these bits create suspense for the reader.
Chapter Twenty-Two: Victor’s Marriage Decision
(about two pages before the end) Victor reflects:
“Great god! If for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish intention of my fiendish adversary, I would rather have
banished myself for ever from my native country, and wandered a friendless outcast over the earth, than have consented to this
miserable marriage.”
Why didn’t Victor work out what was likely to happen? Think about his character, his past behaviour.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Victor Tells the Judge
Why did Victor decide to tell someone now and not earlier? Was this the right choice?
Chapter Twenty-Four: The Monster Leaves Notes for Victor
Find the note(s) that include these words:
“My reign is not yet over”
“”you live and my power is complete”
“I seek the everlasting ices of the north”
“you will feel the misery of cold and frost”
“you will find . . . a dead hare: eat and be refreshed.”
“we have yet to wrestle for our lives”
Give a different reason for each of the above things the creature wrote
Text Analysis
1. What are the similarities and differences between Victor’s behaviour in Chapters 6-9 and 17-20
2. How does the past affect the present in these chapters?
3. In what ways are the reader’s sympathies divided between Victor and the monster?
A Strangeways 7
4. Victimization and prejudice are themes in this novel. How have they been portrayed so far? Which
characters are victims of outside forces and how do their experiences compare with each other?
5. Comment on the rhythm/mood pattern of the book so far. Where are the climaxes and how has Shelley
created tension?
6. Pick out three or more ways in which Victor and the monster are growing more and more alike.
7. How is the deterioration of Victor’s family presented? How far are our sympathies engaged?
The Final Letters
Identify the speaker
1. “Am I thought to be the only criminal when all mankind has sinned against me?”
2. “Did you not call this a glorious expedition?”
Identify the person to whom this comment refers
3. “Like a volcano bursting forth, his face would suddenly change to an expression of the wildest regret.”
4. “He was sunk in languor and almost deprived of life.”
5. “And do you dream?”
Whose side are you on?
Study the following quotations from the confrontation between Walton and the monster. Using them, your
reading of the whole section, and your own knowledge of the story as evidence, give reasons for whose side
you are on, the monster’s or Walton’s.
Victor “ He (the monster) is eloquent and persuasive; and once his words have even power over my heart: but trust him
not. His soul is as hellish as his form, full of treachery and fiendlike malice.”
Walton “ Never did I behold a vision so horrible as his face, of
such loathsome, yet appalling hideousness.”
Walton “ Every feature and gesture seemed instigated by the wildest rage of some
uncontrollable passion.”
Monster “ Oh Frankenstein! Generous and self-devoted being! What does
it avail that I now ask thee to pardon me?”
Walton “the duty of obeying the dying request of my friend, in destroying his enemy, were now suspended by a mixture
of curiosity and compassion.”
Walton “ ‘Your repentance,’ I said, ‘ is now superfluous. If you had listened to the voice of conscience, and
heeded the stings of remorse, before you had urged your diabolical vengeance to this extremity, Frankenstein
would yet have lived.’”
Monster “Think you that the groans of Clerval were music to my ears? My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and
sympathy; and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it not endure the violence of the change, without torture such as you
cannot even imagine.”
Walton “ You throw a torch into a pile of buildings and when they are consumed you sit
among the ruins and lament the fall. Hypocritical fiend!”
Monster “Am I thought to be the only criminal, when all human kind sinned against me?”
Monster “ Some years ago . . . when I felt the cheering warmth of summer and heard the rustling of the leaves and the warbling of
the birds, and these were all to me, I should have wept to die; now it is my only consolation.”
Text Analysis
1. Find three examples of references to heaven and hell. How do they emphasise the duality and inner
conflict of mankind?
2. Find three examples of the sublime and show how they emphasise the uncertainty of the novel.
3. Is the ending a satisfactory conclusion to the book?
4. Make a map of the structure of the novel.
A Strangeways 8
5. Comment on what this novel suggests about how a fear of difference brings out the worst qualities in
mankind.
6. Do you see Victor and/or the monster as tragic characters? Give reasons for your responses.
7. What does Walton’s voyage and the mutiny on board symbolise. How does this relate to key themes?
8. Rank the three narrators in terms of their reliability, giving reasons for your choices.
Summative Work
Text Production (300-600 words)
Select (or imagine) a setting or a character you might find in a Gothic Novel. Describe that setting or
character in the style of Mary Shelley, showing your understanding of the way she presents people and places.
Text Response Writing: Analytic Response (500-1000 words)
You are required to submit each of the following three pieces on the due dates. The best piece will become
your summative Text Response result.
Text Response Writing 1: Close Analysis of a section of the text (setting or character description), exploring
the ideas presented by Shelley and the techniques she uses to direct the reader’s response. (specifics given
closer to the time)
Text Response Writing 2: Essay on Character and Characterization of Victor or the creature (specifics given
closer to the time)
Text Response Writing 3: Supported Test Essay on Theme (open book with prepared thesis and line of
argument)
Practice Oral Group Discussion (15 minutes)
After individual preparation time, explore one of the following questions in a small group discussion:
1. To what extent is Victor Frankenstein responsible for his own downfall? How does this link with the
decline of the monster?
2. If you were Victor Frankenstein, would you create the female creative for the monster? Discuss the
reasons behind your decision in detail.
3. How reliable, in your opinion, is Victor Frankenstein as a storyteller? You should consider his attitude
and behaviour towards the monster, the effect of the monster’s story on the reader, and Walton’s
confrontation with the monster.
4. The relationship between Victor and the monster is important to the novel. Trace the development of
this relationship as the novel progresses, analysing the main points in its development. What broader
themes does this relationship relate to and what position is Shelley encouraging us to take in relation to
these themes?
5. The monster has a powerful effect on all those who meet him. Compare De Lacey’s reaction to the
monster with the reactions of another two characters in the novel, explaining any differences and
similarities that you see. What are the reasons for the differences in there responses and what is Shelley
suggesting about the world beyond her novel here?
6. Discuss Shelley’s portrayal of the nature of good and evil and of the conflict of these forces in man’s
personality.