pathos
noun
1.the quality or power in an actual life experience or in literature,music, speech, or other forms of e
xpression, of evoking a feeling of pity or compassion.
2.pity
Origin:
1570–80; < Greek páthos suffering, sensation
1. A quality, as of an experience or a work of art, that arouses feelings of pity, sympathy,
tenderness, or sorrow.
2. The feeling, as of sympathy or pity
 an element in experience or in artistic representation evoking pity or compassion
 an emotion of sympathetic pity
To what extent do we feel pathos for the monster and Victor?
Answer this question (research, plan). To do so you need to:
 Find WHERE (in the book, chapters, pages) the reader feels pathos for both characters. E.g. trace where
we first feel it, for each character; examples of when we feel it most and least
 Decide HOW (IN WHAT WAYS) pathos is achieved (by Shelley) – characterization, themes, language
features that you notice most
 Identify WHAT kind of pathos is evoked (use adjectives) in the reader?
 Have some opinions on WHY Shelley wants the reader to feel (at least a certain degree of) pathos towards
these two characters, at various points throughout the novel. ‘So what?’ about her use of pathos?
First, do this yourself, or with a partner. Note down/brainstorm some ideas. Then, I’ll put you in two groups (one
for Victor, one for the monster), combine ideas, and present them to the other group. Your presentation should
reference all of the above bulletpoints, and prepare for some questions from the audience (and me!) about those
points, and any more you raise.
I’ll make some notes as each group presents, and can send them to everyone for revision.
To what extent do we feel pathos for
a) the monster
b) Victor
?
Answer this question (research, plan). To do so you need to:
 Find WHERE (in the book, chapters, pages) the reader feels pathos for both
characters. E.g. trace where we first feel it, for each character; examples of when
we feel it most and least
 Decide HOW (IN WHAT WAYS) pathos is achieved (by Shelley) – characterization,
themes, language features that you notice most
 Identify WHAT kind of pathos is evoked (use adjectives) in the reader?
 Have some opinions on WHY Shelley wants the reader to feel (at least a certain
degree of) pathos towards these two characters, at various points throughout the
novel. ‘So what?’ about her use of pathos?
10B ideas:
The monster

Overall, we feel the monster is ‘to a greater extent’ in terms of pathos

For the most part, it’s not the monster’s doing, his circumstances

The most pathos – when he asks for a companion (just after Chapter 11-17, his narration)

Didn’t feel pathos in Chap 5 when he’s abandoned because Victor runs away – but we haven’t ‘met’

In Chap 20 when he kills Elizabeth – less pathos – because of Victor’s description of the ‘grin’

Consider why Shelley makes us feel more/less pathos for the monster. To make us unsure..

Chap 24 – the end – the monster cries over Victor – he says he will now kill himself

At the beginning, not so much pathos as we don’t know him – then we learn more in his narration..
Victor:

Scale ‘fluctuated’ – we felt pathos when his family dies, continually, one by one

When he’s in prison, his dream is over, he’s in a nightmare, his obsession for science has overtaken his life

When he creates the monster in Chap 4, when he’s enthusiastic, then he becomes scared and sick

Danger of knowledge, self-destructive

When his father died (Chapter 23) after having the news of Elizabeth

He loses everyone he loved, he’s left alone

Suicidal thoughts that he tries to hide from his father, he admits to being a murderer

When he’s thinking about diving into the lake and drowning himself

At the end – he wants to always continue..?
10D ideas:
Pathos for Victor – to what extent?:

Half of us think that there’s a lesser extent throughout, for Victor. He deserves everything he gets; he created the
monster. Others think there’s pathos for Victor because he didn’t know what the consequences would be.

We might feel pathos for Victor whenever someone close to him dies

The only part some MIGHT feel pathos (pity) for him is early on when his mother dies (Chapter ….?)

He flees the monster so we feel less pathos for Victor at this point (Chapter 5), however this changes when we have
more description of the various deaths Victor faces

When Victor thinks about the consequences about creating a female monster; he worries about his wedding night
(when the monster vows to return), he’s ‘trapped’, if he creates the female monster, there’ll be repercussions, if he
doesn’t, the monster will seek revenge..
Pathos for the monster, to what extent?

No pathos for the monster at the start for some; others do because he’s abandoned by Victor and we feel sorry for him, for
his sake

Main pathos comes in when he starts to tell his story (Chapter 11-16) and his experiences with human interaction, his
ordeals, the pathos increases for the reader, he is shunned by humans, his grotesque appearance.

He gets shot – this is a turning point – after this comes the catalogue of murders

Pathos – not at the beginning as we only have Victor’s point of view of it being a ‘fiend’. Only when we hear the monster’s
story, we realise he’s not a ‘fiend’. He wants human (or fellow) companionship and love.

Also pathos when he is promised his ‘wife’ and then this is denied, taken away by Victor. He kills only because he wants to
appeal to Victor. Can we blame him?

He shouldn’t be blamed for the killings – in terms of it has all started with Victor

Feel more pathos for it/him – at the end, Chapter 24 when he cries over Victor, he is regretful about his actions.
‘To what extent do we feel pathos for the monster and Victor?’
Write an introduction to this question. Remember to bear these things in mind before and as you write:
 A ‘hook’, an opening ‘attention grabber’. This can sometimes be a rhetorical question, or a
statement, or a quote (e.g from the novel, or another statement you know, that fits!)
 A thesis statement (almost always your last sentence) – what’s your focus? What’s your argument
going to be? (Avoid saying ‘I’ and ‘in this essay I will..’)
 For this question, you will ‘take a stand’ on to what extent pathos is felt for both characters..so also
talk about the effect of this pathos on the reader, and what kind of pathos, why Shelley encouraged
such reactions from us, as readers
 Use words from the question – answer it in your intro.
 Reference your work (author and title)
 Preview literary features used to answer this question (you’re arguing ‘to what extent’, and therefore
you’re going to show HOW and in WHAT WAYS pathos is felt for these characters, therefore, you
can preview what features are used to achieve this (use of..symbolism, imagery, characterization,
theme..etc)
 Before your intro, in reality, you’d have an outline, a plan, of the points you make SO I’d suggest
writing an outline for this question, to help with what you’d include in your introduction.