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STUDY GUIDE FOR FRANKENSTEIN
Pacemaker Classic
I.
LITERARY TERMS
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Neoclassicism (18th century): science; admired ancient Greeks and Romans
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Romanticism (18th century): nature, emotion, imagination, freedom
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Frame Story: a story or series of stories within one, over-arching story
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Allusion: a reference to something outside of the text
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Gothic: dark, miserable, gloomy
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Imagery: word picture; appeals to all 5 human senses
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Simile: a comparison using the words like or as
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Metaphor: a comparison NOT using the words like or as
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Personification: giving human attributes to something nonhuman
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Theme: using a story to teach a lesson
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Tone: the author’s attitude toward the subject of writing
II.
AUTHOR
 Mary Shelley: 16 yrs old when she wrote novel; married to Percy Bysshe Shelley
III.
CHARACTERS
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Robert Walton: narrator of novel; dreams of finding a northern passage; willing to sacrifice human
lives in order to achieve discovery; finds half-dead stranger on ice.
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Victor Frankenstein: obsessed with science, in particular with how to create life; creates and
abandons horrible looking creature; his young brother William is murdered, a family servant Justine
is blamed and hanged; he feels guilty.
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IV.
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Creature: abandoned by his creator, not knowing how to talk, feed himself, find shelter, or
warmth; people fear his appearance; lives in hiding in a building next to the poor DeLacey family for
a year.
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Elizabeth: Victor’s adopted sister; she is loving; their mother wants them to marry someday.
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Henry: Victor’s best friend; he liked King Arthur, visits Victor at university
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William: Victor’s 5-year-old brother murdered by the creature
Justine: servant and close friend of Frankenstein family blamed for William’s murder
Professor Krempe: makes fun of the books Victor has studied; rude behavior
Professor Waldman: admires people in the books Victor has studied; teaches chemistry
DeLacey Family: from them the creature learns how to talk, love, share, and hope.
PLOT
1. What is Robert Walton’s dream? He wants to find a northern passage to the other side of the world.
2. What is the stranger’s—Victor Frankenstein’s—reaction when Walton tells him that a major scientific
discovery is worth the loss of a few human lives (9-10)? “Do you share my illness?”—meaning are you
obsessed with knowing secrets humans shouldn’t know?
3. Where is Victor’s home (11)? Geneva, Switzerland
4. Why does Victor’s father tell him that his choice of books is “garbage” (15)? Authors believed in magic
spells and alchemy
5. What event makes Victor decide that he wants to be a scientist (16)? Lightening destroys a tree
6. Why does Victor’s mother die ((17)? Scarlet fever
7. Why does Victor call Professor Krempe a “rude man” (18)? Made fun of the books Victor read
8. Why does Victor like Professor Waldman (19)? Does not make fun of Victor’s studies
9. What does the creature look like (23)? Black hair and lips, white teeth, yellow eyes and skin, huge
10. After creating the creature, Victor wanders the city in dismay. He runs into a visitor from home. Who is it
(25)? Henry
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11. How does Victor’s behavior indicate to the visitor that he was having a mental breakdown (26-27)?
Jumping around and hysterical laughing
12. What innocent person is accused of William’s murder (30-31)? Justine, the family servant
13. Whom does the creature blame for making himself a killer (31)? Life-humans—Victor
14. What are some super-human abilities the creature has (32)? Strong, fast, smart, withstands cold and
hunger
15. Why does the creature get burned by fire (35)? No one has taught him it is dangerous.
16. How does the creature respond to the sound of music (37-38)? He is moved by its beauty.
17. How does the creature learn to talk (39)? By listening to the DeLaceys teach Safie their language.
18. How does the creature learn about life and the world beyond observing the DeLacey family (39)?
19. How does the creature know that Victor Frankenstein is his creator (39-40)? He finds Victor’s notes about
the creation in the pocket of the coat he took from Victor’s house when he fled.
20. Why does the creature introduce himself to Mr. DeLacey instead of his children (41 & 44)? Mr. DeLacey is
blind, and the creature hopes his appearance won’t prejudice the man against him.
21. Why does the DeLacey family move (45)? Once the children find the creature with Mr. DeLacey, they flee
in terror.
22. What does the creature do to the DeLacey house (45)? Burns it
23. How does the creature travel to Switzerland from Germany (46)? He walks over the mountain.
24. Why wouldn’t any normal man have been able to save the drowning little girl (46)? Man doesn’t have the
super strength the creature has.
25. What “reward” does the creature receive for his good deed (46-47)? He is shot.
26. Why does the creature think that children won’t hate an ugly creation like himself (47)? He thinks they
might be too young to have been taught to hate ugly things.
27. Why does William die (49)? The creature tries to keep the boy quiet and accidently chokes him.
28. Why do the police blame Justine for William’s death (50)? The creature took the pin with Mrs.
Frankenstein’s picture on it from William’s jacket and placed by a sleeping girl named Justine.
29. What does the creature want Victor to do for him (50)? Create a mate
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30. Why does Victor decide to do what the creature wants (51)? The creature promises he and his mate will
go away to South America and leave humankind alone.
31. Who accompanies Victor on the trip to Great Britain (52)? Henry
32. In what land does Victor begin work on the female creature (52)? Scotland
33. What two reasons finally cause Victor to destroy his work on the second creature (53-54)? 1) worries the
female won’t abide by the male creature’s promise; 2) worries the two creatures will begin a race of
monsters.
34. Why doesn’t the creature kill Victor? He doesn’t feel as if he can kill his father/creator.
35. What is the threat the creature leaves with Victor (56)? I’ll see you on your wedding night.
36. What happens to Henry? Where? 57-58 The creature kills Henry in Ireland.
37. Why does Victor’s father die (60-61)? After the creature kills Elizabeth, the father dies of a broken heart.
38. What is ironic about Victor’s pursuit of the creature (62-63)? The creature helps Victor stay on the right
path by leaving him food, clothes, and hints.
39. Why does Victor refuse to be Walton’s friend (66)? Since the creature has killed other people Victor cares
about, Victor doesn’t want to endanger Walton.
40. Who says, “It is good to have a dream, but when that dream harms others, it is evil’’ (67)? Victor.
41. Why does the creature cry when Victor dies? Victor is as close to a father as the creature has.
ESSAY: Whose fault is it that the creature turned into a killer?
Victor
Creature
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Creates creature
* Free will to kill Victor’s loved ones
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Abandons creature
* Evil leads to more evil
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Science at any cost
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