Frankenstein Themes Worksheet
As you read Mary Shelley’s novel, take note of the following themes and topics. Use marginal notes to keep
track of the topics as you read. Identify by the end of the story at least one quotation for each subpoint below.
Identify the page number and chapter for each passage and write out the selected quote in its entirety. For each
passage chosen, provide context for the selection by explain what is occurring plot-wise, then offer a
minimum two sentence identification (analysis) of how the passage displays the theme. Analysis that
simply paraphrases the passage will receive no credit. Please see the example on page two below. You will
submit your work to turnitin.com at the end of the unit. You will have a total of fifteen quotations, one for each
passage and two bonus quotations.
As per Academic Honesty standards, you are not to use any online sources such as Cliff Notes or Spark Notes to complete this assignment. You may not share your
quotations or analysis with classmates. Students not following the Academic Honesty standards may not only lose points on this assignment, but the unit test on the
novel as well.
A. Victor Frankenstein:
1. Victor Frankenstein’s achievements
2. Victor Frankenstein’s ethical failures
3. Victor’s ambitions and desires
B. The creature:
1. His education, his natural intelligence
2. The creature’s “humanity” - his desires, his needs, his emotions
3. The causes of the creature’s violence
4. Society’s perceptions of and reactions to the creature
C. The quest for knowledge:
1. The dangers and responsibilities involved with creation and
discovery (and the Prometheus myth)
2. The dangers and limits of scientific knowledge
3. The dangers of overstepping mortal and/or moral boundaries,
of “playing God”
D. Relationships:
1. Parent-child relationships and responsibilities
2. The need for human relationships, for friends, family, spouse
3. Qualities of humans: the divisions between reason and emotion,
between intelligence and feeling
A. Victor Frankenstein:
1. Victor Frankenstein’s achievements
2. Victor Frankenstein’s ethical failures
3. Victor’s ambitions and desires
B. The creature:
3. His education, his natural intelligence
4. The creature’s “humanity” - his desires, his needs, his emotions
3. The causes of the creature’s violence
4. Society’s perceptions of and reactions to the creature
C. The quest for knowledge:
2. The dangers and responsibilities involved with creation and
discovery (and the Prometheus myth)
2. The dangers and limits of scientific knowledge
3. The dangers of overstepping mortal and/or moral boundaries,
of “playing God”
D. Relationships:
1. Parent-child relationships and responsibilities
2. The need for human relationships, for friends, family, spouse
Context: Walton has begun his voyage to the other side of the earth with a boat full of hired mercenaries.
Letter II (4) – “I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with enthusiasm of success, there will be none
to participate in my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavor to sustain me in dejection.”
Analysis: Walton feels the isolation of being out of this boat in the middle of the Arctic with a bunch of
strangers. He feels alone, desperately writing letters to his sister to feel some sort of companionship. It seems
as though Shelley is starting the novel off with a suggestion that without someone to share accomplishments
with, there is no real joy in that accomplishment. Human companionship is important, not only for celebration
of successes, but humans need companionship to help them through hardships as well.
3. Qualities of humans: the divisions between reason and emotion,
between intelligence and feeling