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FRANKENSTEIN Study Guide

Letters 1-4

1.                 Who is writing Letter 1 (and all the letters)?

2.                 To whom is he writing? What is their relationship?

3.                 Where is Robert Walton when he writes Letter 1? Why is he there? What are his plans?

4.                 What does Robert Walton tell us about himself?

5.                 Where is Walton now? What do you think of Walton's question "What can stop the determined heart and
                    resolved will of man"?

6.                 How much time has elapsed between Letter 3 and Letter 4? What "strange accident" has happened to the  sailors?

7.                 Why does the man picked up by the ship say he is there? What shape is he in?

8.                 What sort of person does he  seem to be? How does Walton respond to this man?

9.                 How much time has elapsed when Walton begins writing again? What has happened in the meantime? How does the man respond to Walton's
                  project? How is Walton responding to the man?

10.              How much time has elapsed when Walton begins writing again ? What has happened in the meantime?   How does the man respond to Walton's
                  project? Why does the man agree to tell his story?

 Ch 1- 5  

11.              What is the man's background? (Do we know his name yet?) Where is he from?

12.              What is the story of the man's mother, Caroline Beaufort? How does the man feel toward his parents,   and what responsibilities does he feel they
                  had toward him?

13.              Who is Elizabeth Lavenza and what is her story?   What gift does the man's mother give him? Do we know  the man's name yet? Do we know his
                  family name?

14.              Who is Henry Clerval and what is his relation to Victor?

15.              How does Victor characterize the interests and characters of Clerval, Elizabeth, and himself ?  

16.              Who is Cornelius Agrippa and how does Victor find out about him ? How does Victor's father respond, and  how does Victor comment on that
                  response?

17.              What sort of science ("Natural Philosophy") is Victor learning from Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus  Magnus?  How would a modern scientist
                  respond to  this sort of thinking?

18.              What happens when Victor sees an oak tree destroyed by lightning and hears an explanation? What does  Victor then begin to study?

19.              Who or what does he credit for this change in direction ?  Who or what does he blame for his "utter and  terrible destruction" ?

20.               What happens to Elizabeth and to Victor's mother as a result of Elizabeth's scarlet fever ? How does this  compare with the mother's early history ?

21.              Why does Victor's father send him to the university of Ingolstadt ? How old is Victor then? (Ingolstadt is in  southern Germany, in Bavaria, on the
                    Danube, 43 miles north of Munich. The university founded  there in 1472 moved to Landshut in 1802 and to Munich in 1826.)

22.              What does Victor learn from M. Krempe? How does Victor respond to him, and on what grounds? Is this a   good basis for making such a decision? (

23.              What does Victor learn from M. Waldman? How does Victor respond to him? How does Victor think of his older science as opposed to modern
                   science ? What does M. Waldman say in describing modern  chemistry that changes Victor's mind ? What does Victor say he will now do ?

24.               How well does Victor progress during the next two years? What does he then become interested in, and  what ultimately does he discover ?

25.              Will he share that knowledge with Walton? Why? (Note the  "present" of the telling breaking through the  narration here.)

26.              How does he go about creating a human being, and what does he expect as a result of this creation ? How   long does the task take? What happens
                   to Victor in the process?

27.              Do you recognize the opening words of this chapter? Remember that Shelley gave them as the starting  point  of her story ?

28.              Given all the mad doctor and monster movies we've seen, including perhaps versions of Frankenstein, what  is unexpected about the description of
                   the actual creation of life here ? How much do we learn of the  actual procedure?

29.              How does Victor respond to the actual creation of life ? What surprises him about the way the creature he has brought to life looks? What does that
                   do to Victor's response ?

30.              What does Victor dream ? How does the dream grow out of, comment on, even explain what Victor has  done and been through?

31.              What does the creature do ? How does Victor respond?

32.              Whom does Victor meet arriving in a coach the next morning ? How does Victor respond? What does Victor discover when they go to Victor's
                   apartment ? How does Victor respond? What happens to him, and  for how long ? Is there any more news of the creature?

Ch 6-8    

33.              What is waiting for Victor when he finally recovers? Who has nursed him during his illness?

34.              Who is Justine Moritz and what is her story? What comments does Elizabeth make about her position in Swiss society ? What religion is Justine ?

35.              Who is William and how old is he? Have we heard of him before?

36.              What does Victor do after his recovery ? What is Clerval's "plan of life" ?

37.              When does Victor finally plan to return home? What do he and Clerval do while waiting for his father's  directions?

38.              What is waiting for Victor when he returns to his apartment? What news does his father have for him?   And what is  his father's name ? How does
                    Victor respond?

39.              How long has Victor been away from home ? What happens the night he returns to Geneva ? How does he  respond?

40.              Whom does Victor see that night ? When was the last time they saw each other? How long ago was that ?

41.              What does Victor now believe happened to William ? What does Victor assume about the nature of the   creature?

42.              Who has been identified as the murderer, and on what evidence ? How does Victor respond to this news?  Why doesn't he say anything about the
                     real murderer?

43.              What happens at Justine's trial? How does Victor respond?

44.              The next day, why does Justine say she has confessed to the murder of William ? How does Victor respond  to Justine's situation and to Elizabeth's
                anguish?

Ch 9-12     

45.                  How does Victor respond in the days after Justine's death? How have Elizabeth's views changed ?

46.                  What journey does Victor undertake, and when ? What places does he travel through? Where does he  stay?

47.                Where does Victor go the next day? Where does he go the following day? P. B. Shelley mentions the glacier in a letter written an Chamouni (his
                    spelling) on July 25, 1817:

48.              How does he feel during this part of his journey? (Notice in this chapter that Frankenstein, in the late  1700s, is able to quote a poem written by P.B.
                    Shelley in 1816.

49.                  Whom does Victor see? ? How does he respond ?

50.                  In this chapter, we finally hear the creature speak for the first time. What does he say? Is this what we   expect from the creature?

51.                  What does the creature ask of Victor ? What does the creature say to Victor ? Does his language remind  you of another literary work? How good is
                   Victor at performing the role of creator for his creature?

52.                  Why has the creature caused the deaths of William and Justine? Is he as inherently evil and bloodthirsty as Victor has assumed?

53.                  What will cause the creature to change? Keep in mind his statement "I was benevolent and good; misery  made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I
                    shall again be virtuous".What sort of psychological  understanding is Shelley showing here?

54.                  How good of an ironic sense of humor does the creature have? (See the "hand" bit )

55.                  Does Victor agree to listen to the creature's tale? What does Victor begin to feel ? Where do they go?

56.                   What does the creature remember of his earliest days ? How does he seem to be learning things? How well  can the creature speak at this point of
                     his existence?

57.                  How does the creature respond to his discovery of the fire? Why does he move?

58.                  What happens during his first encounters with people ? Is this more like what you expect from a horror story? But from whose point of view do we
                     see these encounters?

59.                  Where does he finally find a place to stay ? What does he learn about the people who live in the cottage? How does he feel toward them?

60.                   How does the creature continue to learn about the family he is watching? How might a modern  anthropologist or sociologist respond to the
                     creature's methods? What is the condition of the family?  How does the creature manage to help them?

61.                  How does the creature learn language ? Why might he have trouble learning words such as "good,  dearest, unhappy" ?

62.                  What are the names of the family members ? Who are Agatha and  Felix?

63.                  What things bother the creature when he thinks of discovering himself to the family ? How does he  respond to his own appearance when he sees
                      it?

64.                  The creature is still there when spring comes . What has been happening to Victor in the meantime? (See Chapter 5.)

65.                  How does the creature hope to win over the family? How does he respond to the coming of   spring?

Ch 13-15   

66.                  Who arrives at the cottage in the spring? What is Safie's background? How does her language problem  help the creature? Which of them learns
                    faster?

67.                  How does the creature learn about reading? What book does Felix use to teach Safie ?

68.                  What does the creature learn from this book? How much of a monster can someone be who can say "but  when I heard details of vice and
                    bloodshed, my wonder ceased, and I turned away with disgust and  loathing" ?

69.                  What happens when the creature begins to think about himself? How does he compare with the humans described in the book? What questions
                    does he ask himself? How does his knowledge make him  feel?

70.                  What does he learn about human relationships, and how does this make him feel?

71.                  How did the De Lacey family come to be living in the cottage?

72.                  How did Safie come to find and join them?

73.                   What does the creature find in the woods?

74.                  What are the three books that the creature reads, and what does he learn from each?

75.                  What else does the creature read and what does he learn from it ?

76.                  How long has it been since the creature came to life ? What is Victor doing at this point? (See chapter 6.)

77.                  What does the creature hope will happen when he talks to De Lacey? What actually happens?

Ch 16-18   

78.                  What happens to the De Lacey family after the events of chapter 15? How does the creature respond, and   what does he do to the cottage?

79.                  How does the creature travel? Does this remind you of any other people's travels?

80.                  What event during the creature's travels confirms his hatred of humans ?

81.                  What event happens when the creature is near Geneva ? Who is the boy? Who is the woman?

82.                  When Victor visits the site of William's death in chapter 7, he says "I had turned loose into the world a  depraved wretch, whose delight was in
                     carnage and misery" . After reading the creature's version  of  events, do you agree?

83.                  What does the creature demand from Victor ?

84.                  How does Victor at first respond to the creature's demand? What response does he expect from the  creature? What approach does the creature
                     say he will take?

85.                  How effective is the creature in convincing Victor?

86.                  What does the creature say will happen if Victor creates a female for him ?

87.                  What does Victor decide ? What does the creature say he will do while Victor is at work?

88.                  How does Victor appear and respond to his family when he returns home?

89.                  Why does Victor's father think Victor might not want to marry Elizabeth?

90.                  Why does Victor want to visit England? What do you make of his talk of slavery ?

91.                  What is the effect of Victor's return to the present?

Ch 19-21 

92.                What are Clerval's plans for his career ?

93.                Where does Victor's journey end, and what does he plan to do there? Why is he afraid ?

94.                Why does Victor change his mind about creating the female? Who watches him as he destroys the female?

95.                What happens shortly after Victor destroys the female ? How is this similar to what happened after Victor created the Creature?

96.                What happens when the Creature visits Victor?. What does the Creature promise to do? What does Victor   understand that promise to mean ?

97.                What happens when Victor goes out in a boat to dispose of the female creature's remains? Where does he  end up? What happens when he lands?

98.                Who is Mr. Kirwin and how does he treat Victor? What has happened to cause Victor's arrest? What   happens to Victor after his arrest?

99.                What happens when Victor wakes up? Who is there?

100.             What happens at Victor's trial?

101.             How does Victor feel as they leave Ireland and go to France ?

Ch 22-24 

102.             Why doesn't Victor get home quickly?

103.             What does Elizabeth say in her letter? How does Victor respond to her?

104.             What are the marriage plans? How does Victor prepare for what he fears will happen?

105.             How do Victor and Elizabeth get to Evian and why do they stop there?

106.              Has Victor understood the Creature's promise correctly? What happens on Victor's wedding night?

107.             How does the Creature respond?

108.             What happens when Victor returns to Geneva? What happens to Victor's father? What happens to Victor?

109.             What happens when Victor tries to get the authorities to help him hunt for the Creature?

110.              What happens during Victor's pursuit of the Creature? Where to they go? What does the Creature do?

111.             What sustains Victor during his pursuit?

112.             What does Victor ask Walton to do? What does he warn Walton about the Creature ?

Walton's letter continues

113.             Why wouldn't Victor tell Walton the details about the creation?

114.             How has Victor come to understand himself ? How does Walton respond to Victor's impending death?

115.             How does Walton avoid the threat of a mutiny ?

116.             Why is Walton returning to England ? What will Victor do?

117.             Does Victor blame himself ? What is Walton's response to Victor's death?

118.             What happens as Walton is writing ? What is the effect of shifting to the present tense here?

119.             When Walton sees the Creature in the cabin with Victor's body, what is familiar about the scene? Why has the Creature come to see Victor?

120.             How does the Creature explain what he has done? How does Walton respond to the Creature?

121.             What will the Creature do next? How does he feel about it?

122.             Do we see the Creature die?