Important Events!
What Tragic events lead victor to have the obsession of overcoming death?
What is the death of his mother due to scarlet Feaver :(
Who is the narrator of the novel’s frame story letters?
who is Robert Walton
What is shown through Victor’s obsessive pursuit of knowledge?
The danger of unchecked ambition
What does light symbolize for Victor?
Knowledge, discovery, and enlightenment.
What narrative structure does Shelley use?
A frame narrative with layered storytelling.
What is the University is it that Victor Frankenstein attend? And what discovery does he make that makes him start construction of the creature?
What is the University of Ingolstadt and the realization that he can reanimate lifeless matter.
Why is Justine executed?
She is accused and falsely convicted of William’s murder
What is shown in the creature’s feeling of abandonment?
The need for companionship and parental responsibility
Why is fire a significant symbol for the creature?
It represents warmth, knowledge, and pain/danger.
Which literary device is used when the Creature warns Victor “I shall be with you on your wedding night”?
Foreshadowing.
What was the first act of violence? (hint who was the first person to die by his hands)
What is killing William Frankenstein
What motivates the De Lacey family’s kindness and compassion?
What is commitment to virtue despite poverty and exile
the theme is shown through Victor’s refusal to care for the creature after bringing it to life.
What is responsibility and moral accountability?
What does the Arctic setting symbolize in the frame narrative?
Isolation and the extreme consequences of ambition.
How does the novel use irony in Victor’s final pursuit of the creature?
He becomes the hunted not the hunter. (Creature prevails!)
who is victor referring to when saying “Great God! Why did I not then expire! Why am I here to relate the destruction of the best hope and the purest creature of earth?”
Creature murders Elizabeth
Why does the blind De Lacey show kindness to the Creature?
He cannot see his appearance and judges him by his words
exploring the consequences of humans attempting to surpass natural limits, such as Victor’s pursuit to create life.
What is the danger of overreaching ambition / playing God
How does the use of illness function throughout the novel?
It mirrors Victor’s guilt and avoidance of responsibility
What is the effect of the shifting narrators (Walton → Victor → Creature → Victor → Walton)?
It clears everything up and comes full circle to the acceptance of mistakes!
How does the creature develop intellectual and moral attributes?
By secretly observing the De Lacey family and learning language, empathy, and human history.
How does the Creature reflect the theme of nature vs. nurture
His kindness turns to violence only after repeated rejection and abuse.
What does the shattered female Creature symbolize?
Victor’s fear of uncontrollable reproduction and responsibility.
How does Shelley incorporate elements of the Gothic genre?
Dark settings, violent death, intense emotion, and the supernatural.