frankenstein-data-sheet.pdf, Lecture notes of Literature

Download frankenstein-data-sheet.pdf and more Lecture notes Literature in PDF only on Docsity! West Forsyth Major Works Data Sheet AP Literature and Composition Class Period: Title of Work: Frankenstein Author: Mary Shelley Date of Publication: 1818 Genre: Romanticism, Gothicism Characteristics of the Genre: Romanticism and Gothicism both include experiences of mystical, or sublime states of being, which are clearly shown in Frankenstein when the creature is created and throughout the novel. A frame story is a story within a story. Walton tells Victor’s story; the creature, Elizabeth, and Alfonse also have speaking roles within the story, in the form of their letters. Elizabeth’s and Alfonse’s letters make the novel an epistolary, which means a novel told with letters. Historical Information about the Period of Publication: Frankenstein was published in 1818 during the Romantic period. There were also many other events going on around the world at this time, especially the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was a worldwide period when thousands of innovations were created, business expanded exponentially, new ideas and people were formed, a different type of lifestyle was shaped, and hundreds of other advancements made. Innovations such as new engines, textiles, steel and railways were a major part of the movement. There were also many other well known authors emerging at this time, such as John Keats, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Coleridge. Also the US and Canadian border was created after the formation of the 49 th parallel. http://www.historyorb.com/events/date/1818 Biographical Information about the Author: Mary Shelley was the daughter of the rationalist writer William Goodwin and the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who died in Shelley’s infancy. She married Percy Shelley, a religious rebel and writer. At the time of her marriage Percy was already married, and the couple eloped to France, leaving Percy’s wife behind. Shelley’s life was characterized by hardship, as exampled by Percy’s (former) wife’s suicide, Percy’s custody battle with his former wife, the death of two of their children, Percy’s affair with another woman, her miscarriage, and Percy’s early death. The difficult nature of her life certainly influenced her writing. It was on vacation at a friend’s Swiss home that Frankenstein was begun, originally on a dare between friends. Frankenstein is Shelley’s most famous work. Plot Summary: The story begins as Walton and his men find Victor Frankenstein in the arctic. Victors goes on to tell the story of his life and his creation of the monster to Walton. He tells Walton of his entire childhood and upbringing in Geneva. A few of the major turning points in Victor’s childhood include his new found love of science, the adoption of the love of his life, Elizabeth, and the death of his mother. After the grief of losing his mother, Victor goes to college to further his studies in science. While in college, Victor becomes overwhelmed with finding out how to create life, he wants to play God. Going on with his dream of creating life, Victor spends his all his time in his apartment, and one night he finally brings a corpse back to life. The monster breaks out of the apartment and runs away, the anxiety of this monster being in public makes Victor become sick, for which he goes into nature to let the natural beauty of the world heal him. A little while later, Victor hears that his brother William has been murdered, he is certain that the creature is responsible for this death. Justine, the family servant, takes the blame for this murder and is consequently executed, making Victor’s creation responsible for two deaths of people very dear to Victor. This causes Victor to become ill again and he goes into the mountains to seek healing once more. Victor finds his creation in the mountains, and the monster tells Victor the story of his life and requests a female companion. He also tells Victor of how he was rejected by the cottagers because of his hideous appearance. Victor agrees to make the monster a companion, but halfway through his second creation he decides to destroy the female creature. When the monster finds out that Victor destroyed his companion he vows to be at Victor’s wedding. Victor goes on to marry Elizabeth, ready to fight back against the monster when he comes to attack him. But the monster decides to kill Elizabeth instead of Victor; the grief of her death causes Victor’s father, Alphonse, to die. After the deaths of Elizabeth and his father, Victor vows to pursue the monster and destroy him. While Victor is hunting the monster down, Walton and his men find him. A few days after finishing telling his story to Walton and his crew, Victor passes away. Then the monster appears and is devastated over the death of his creator, and tells Walton the he is going to the North Pole to die, as life will be more painful than death, and then sails away on a raft into the sea. Description of the Author’s Style: Mary Shelley uses a frame story, a popular style among Romantic novelists. This name implies that there is an outside story and more stories within it. The purpose of Shelley using a frame story is that it provides the reader with multiple viewpoints and allows for the use of more than one narrator throughout the storyline. The reader is able to have the viewpoints of both Frankenstein and the creature in the novel. Shelley also uses allusion to other stories and authors in her own novel. This proves that she is well versed in other works of literature and makes her story more interesting and believable, since these allusions are to real works of literature. Example that Demonstrates Style and Explanation: Frankenstein is a frame story because of the way Shelley introduces her audience to Walton and then uses Frankenstein telling his story to Walton to bring the reader into the plot of the rest of the story. The first, and perhaps most well known example, of allusion is in a letter that Victor writes to his sister when he says, “…but I shall kill no Albatross.” This is a reference to “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Memorable Quotations Quotation (and Speaker): Significance: 1. "Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance towards all mankind." -the Creature The monster said this when he was shot at by a man in the woods, while trying to save a girl from drowning. The monster was shot at because of his appearance. In this situation, Shelley is criticizing society by asserting that people judge on appearances, not on their deeds. Furthermore, she goes on to say that society's harsh treatment of the well-meaning monster turned him into a brute. Therefore, she attempts to convey that the monster is more humane than humans themselves, and that their actions towards him made him into a monster. 2. "I am alone and miserable; man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species and have the same defects. This being you must create." -the Creature This quote is significant because it demonstrates the creature's loneliness. The creature describes how only a fellow "monster" would associate with someone as horrifying as himself. This revelation causes the creature to demand that Victor create a female creature who will be his companion, but Victor is unsuccessful. 3. "Learn from me . . . how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow." -Victor In this quote, Victor is warning Walton not become too ambitious. Victor admits that his determination was his downfall. He believed he could “play God” and create life, but his actions led to the death of his friends and family. 4. "Blasted as thou wert, my agony was still superior to thine, for the bitter sting of remorse will not cease to rankle in my wounds until death shall close them forever." -the Creature Misery and agony are abundant in Frankenstein, but oftentimes the woes of the creature are overlooked for the sufferings of Frankenstein. The monster claims that his troubles as an outsider far greater than those of his creator. Frankenstein was forced to live with the guilt of creating the monster that directly caused the deaths of William, Justine, Henry, and Elizabeth. The monster had to deal with the guilt of killing all of those people, the guilt of tormenting his creator, and the pain of rejection from the human world. Ultimately, the creature was the one who suffered more, but Frankenstein, being too self- centered to comprehend this, remained oblivious to his creation’s pain. The creature, who in the end displays feelings of humanity that Victor, the actual human, would have been incapable of, desires death to bring about a close to the pain and guilt that Frankenstein was responsible for inflicting. 5. "Everyone loved Elizabeth. The passionate and almost reverential attachment with which all regarded her became, while I shared it, my pride and my delight." -Victor Elizabeth is a vital character throughout the novel. She is an essential member of the Frankenstein family; she brought joy to all, and was especially important to Victor. The couple was 8. William Frankenstein William is Victor’s brother who is killed by the creature. William is the first of the creature’s victims and it is because of his death that Justine is convicted of committing the murder and is executed. -Playful -Innocent -Loved 9. Robert Walton Walton finds Victor in the arctic and Victor tells his story to him. The story of Victor and the creature is told through Walton’s letters to his sister. Frankenstein tells Walton his story because he sees similarities between himself and Walton, and he does not want Walton to experience the pain caused by ambition that he experienced through the monster. -Adventurous -Proud -Curious -Trusting 10. Caroline Beaufort Caroline is married to Alphonse Frankenstein. She dies from scarlet fever (contracted from Elizabeth) just before Victor leaves to attend university. Caroline is the first of many loved ones that Victor loses in the novel. Her death marks the beginning of this downturn in his life, and Victor seems to be interested in bringing the dead back to life after her death. -Caring -Loving -Sacrificing Description of the Setting(s) and the Mood the Setting(s) Create: -Geneva: Victor Frankenstein grew up in Geneva. This is also where he returns after he has a mental breakdown in order to try to regain peace. When he is telling his story to Walton he describes his childhood with warmth and love. He recalls his home was by a blue lake and snowy mountains. -Ingolstadt: This is the university that at the age of 17, Victor Frankenstein attended. It is also where Victor creates Frankenstein, which gives it an ominous mood. -England & Scotland: After creating the monster and his mental breakdown, Frankenstein travels to Chamounix, which is where he encounters the monster again. Victor makes a trip to England with his friend Clerval to make a female monster, but he ends up not completing it. -Germany: It is at the De Lacey’s home that the monster learns to talk and how people act. The monster becomes more human here. -Ireland: Frankenstein is accused of killing Clerval, when in reality it was the monster that killed him. The accusation causes Frankenstein to have another mental breakdown. He isn’t allowed to leave until he is released to the care of his father. -Arctic: The story begins here with Walton’s letters to his sister. Walton meets Victor Frankenstein here along with meeting the monster. This is also where the story ends. Frankenstein finishes telling Walton his story and then dies, and the monster leaves to die in the cold. Significance of the Opening Scene: In the opening Robert Walton sends four letters to his sister, which starts the frame for the story of Frankenstein. As the letters continue they show some of the ideas that are more exposed as the novel progresses. For example: the want of belonging, being loved, and having friends. Throughout the story there are three narrators: Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the creature. All three narrators have embarked on dangerous journeys. Walton has set out on a journey to the North Pole, Victor created the monster, and the creature set out to find a companion. Shelley has several different narrators because she wants the reader to be able to see the points of view from the different characters. Major Symbols, Motifs, Images: -Books: Books represents knowledge and the truth of the world. - Frankenstein went to university to learn about science, and the monster read books and learned about the world around him. -Fire: Fire represents warm and comfort but also represents pain in the novel. -The Alphabet: The alphabet represents communication. When the monster learned to speak he was able to communicate, he learned to speak by watching Safie learn the alphabet. -Cave/ Hut: The hut represents loneliness, as the monster lived in the hut alone, and was not able to be seen outside of it. -Death/ murder: Death represents the corruption of the human heart and how bitter feelings can spread amongst everyone. -Hatred: Hatred is expressed a lot within the story of the bitterness between the monster and Victor. -Power of nature: Victor continuously seeks refuge from his chaotic life deep within the forest and through the mountains. This is spellbinding because it gives Victor time to reflect. Nature serves as a peace of mind for Victor along with the monster. Once the monster leaves the cottage he tramps through the forest and becomes bitter with hatred. -Family: Like nature, Victor’s home provides an escape. This is a different kind of escape that reminds Frankenstein of warm feelings when he is so tormented by the monster. -Overpower of knowledge: The thirst of knowledge sets the major conflicts in the novel. Victor’s uncanny love of knowledge led him to create a life that would later destroy his loved ones. Robert Walton too struggles with the thirst of knowledge, risking his life to travel deep into the North Pole. -Good vs. Evil: There are many internal conflicts that suggest the power of evil. Frankenstein and the creature believed that Frankenstein was pure evil. The creature suggests that he believes Significance of the Ending/Closing Scene: At the end of the book, the creature feels guilty because he feels like it is his fault that Victor has had such a rough life. He also feels guilty because he is the reason why all of the people that were close to Victor were killed. Victor dies because he does not want to say that he gave up on his search for the creature. Walton’s opinion of the creature is that he feels bad for causing so much harm in Victor’s life. Walton could see this, because he found the creature crying over Victor’s body. The creature then decides to stay in the arctic until he freezes to death, because he feels like that is what he deserves for all of the hardships he has caused for Victor. Frankenstein is a symbol of evil. Victor attempts vigorously to break away from his evil ways to regain his good feelings. His family is a symbol of recovering from these evil ways. Families provide warm feelings and healthy thoughts in most cases and Victor’s thoughts are cushioned by his family, especially his father. Themes: -People will judge you r appearance, regardless of your inner qualities. When the monster came in contact with people they were always horrified by the way he looked and never took the time to appreciate him for the human that he was. -Ambition can have both good and bad consequences. Frankenstein had good intentions when he decided to make the monster; he wanted to defeat death so no one else would have to lose someone they loved. But instead there were many bad results of the monster. -Treat others the way you would want to be treated. Frankenstein showed the monster how much he hated him, and the monster returned the feeling when he vowed revenge on Victor. The monster claimed that it was because of Victor’s obvious hatred that the monster became evil. -Loneliness and depression can spread from one person to another. The monster was lonely and depressed because he didn’t have a companion, so he murdered people who were close to Victor, which in turn made Victor lonely and depressed because it was really his fault that his friends had died. -Even if you don’t like the results of your actions you must still be responsible for them. Victor tried to forget about the monster and pretend that it had not been created, but in the end he had to take responsibility for the results of his actions. Possible Topics/Questions for Discussion: -Why would Shelley choose to include Walton at the beginning and the end of the novel? Why would Shelley have characters write so many letters throughout the novel? -How are family and friends central to the novel and how do they affect the monster, Victor, and Walton? -Who leaves food behind for Victor during his pursuit? When Victor dies, how does the monster react and why?