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1. Who was Prometheus? Why is the novel subtitled “the Modern…
1. Who was Prometheus? Why is the novel subtitled “the Modern Prometheus”?
2. Why is the novel initially set aboard a ship? Why did Mary Shelley choose to use that particular setting here? Does it mean anything beyond the immediately apparent physical setting?
3. Note the various narrative “frames” Mary Shelley employs in her novel. What is the purpose of these various frames? What, specifically, does she wish to accomplish by employing these multiple frames?
4. What sort of man is Walton? Does he serve any thematic function in the novel, or is he included largely as a “storyteller”–that is, is he included simply as a mechanical narrative device?
5. In what ways do Walton’s letters prepare us for the tale he tells? What difference (if any) do these letters make in the way we react to the rest of the novel?
6. Work out a character sketch of Victor Frankenstein, concentrating on his values and psychological makeup. What does he value? What motivates him? What appear to be his “moral standards”?
7. The first three chapters tell us about Victor Frankenstein’s childhood and youth; the fourth, about his “discovery” of the principle of life. For movie fans these chapters may seem irrelevant: after all, we want to see the Creature being created and–amid bursts of smoke and flashes of lightning–“born.” Why, then, does Mary Shelley devote so much space to Victor’s childhood environment and his education?
8. Chapter 5: The Creature is created. Where is the focus in this section? On the process of creation? On the Creature? Somewhere else?
9. Why does Victor work so diligently to bring the Creature to life and then become so abhorrent when he succeeds? Is Mary Shelley working with any “prototype” or “pattern” here? Has this sort of experience or behavior occurred anywhere else that you can think of, in literature, art, or elsewhere?
10. Chapters 10-17: the Creature tells his story. Notice the place Victor Frankenstein meets his Creature. Why is this setting particularly appropriate? The novel now begins to zero in on its major themes. Of what does the Creature accuse Victor?
11. What do Chapters 11-15 reveal about the Creature’s “natural instincts”? What gives him pleasure? What dos he value? (Consider, for instance, how he describes the DeLaceys and their cottage.) Of what does the Creature’s education consist?
12. Chapter 16: What does the Creature finally decide he must do, and why?
13. Chapter 17: What argument does the Creature offer in support of his demand? Why? Is it a reasonable argument?
14. Chapter 20: Why does Victor Frankenstein decide to discontinue his efforts to create “bride” for the Creature?
15. We begin to see most clearly in Frankenstein’s isolation from his fellow creatures a parallel to the Creature’s own situation. In what other ways are Victor and the Creature beginning to be strikingly similar? Have you encountered this sort of “parallel-making” anywhere else in literature or the arts?
16. Who is the novel’s protagonist? Antagonist? “Hero”? What type of hero is it?
17. In an influential essay, the Romantic scholar and critic Harold Bloom wrote that the reader’s sympathy lies with the Creature, but in his book The Romantic Conflict (1963) Allan Rodway says the reader’s sympathy lies with Victor Frankenstein. Who is right?
18. Most modern editions change Mary Shelley’s spelling of an important word. Shelley writes: “‘And do you dream?’ said the daemon.” In many editions (especially editions aimed at the “mass market” audience), the end of the line reads: “said the demon.” Note the difference between daemon and demon. Can you see any reason why Mary Shelley used the former word in her own text, rather than the latter?
Daemon (de’m?n) n.
GR. MYTH. any of the secondary divinities ranking between the gods and men
a guardian spirit; inspiring or inner spirit
Demon (de’m?n) n.
a devil; evil spirit
a person or thing regarded as evil, cruel, etc.
