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Monday, April 02, 2007


Frankenstein-Discussion Questions

-- bracketed numbers are for the 1818 text as reprinted in the Longman anthology
-- numbers in parenthesesThree Gothic Novels edition are for the Penguin

1. Who was Prometheus? Why is the novel subtitled "the Modern Prometheus"

2. Why is the novel initially set aboard a ship? Can you think of any other famous works which are set aboard ships? 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? Note that in the 1818 edition the letters (pp. 269-87) [pp. 815-23] appear before the headline announcing "Chapter 1" (p. 289) [p. 823]. What is the effect of thus "bracketing" the letters?



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? See (pp.295) [pp. 824ff.], for instance. Why do we need this stuff, anyway?



8. Volume I, Chapter iv (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 II, ii through II, ix (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 {see (pp. 363-66) [pp. 857-60], for instance}. Of what does the Creature accuse Victor?

11. What do pages (367-402) [860-79] (Chapters II, iii - II, vii; 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. Volume II, Chapter viii (Chapter 16): What does the Creature finally decide he must do, and why?

13. Volume II, Chapter ix: (Chapter 17): (pp. 412-15) [pp. 883-85]: What argument does the Creature offer in support of his demand? Why? Is it a reasonable argument?

14. Volume III, Chapter iii (Chapter 20) (pp. 435 ff.) [pp. 895 ff.]: Why does Victor Frankenstein decide to discontinue his efforts to create a "bride" for the Creature?

15. On (p. 439) [p. 897] we begin to see most clearly in Frankenstein's isolation from his fellow creatures a parallel to the Creature's own situation {see also (pp. 448, 456) [pp. 901-02, 905]}. 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? If so, where? Does the device have a formal name?

16. Book III, Chapter vii (Chapter 24): Note the surrealistic environment of the "chase" scenes. Are we getting into a different sort of novel than we were originally led to expect? If so, what is the nature of the difference?

17. (Pp. 484-85, 490-91) [pp. 920, 923-24]: Victor Frankenstein's final words--any significance? What about the Creature's final words (pp. 492-97) [pp. 925-27]?

18. Who is the novel's protagonist? Antagonist? "Hero"?

19. 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?

20. Most modern editions change Mary Shelley's spelling of an important word. Near the top of page 493 of the Penguin (Three Gothic Novels) edition and p. 925 of the Longman anthology edition are these words: "'And do you dream?' said the daemon." In many other editions (especially editions aimed at the "mass market" audience), the end of the line reads: "said the demon." What is the difference between daemon and demon, and can you see any reason why Mary Shelley used the former word in her own text, rather than the latter?

21. What is a "monster"?

30 Comments:

At 9:32 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

1. rometheus was the Titan mainly known for stealing some fire from the gods and giving it to mortals to use. The novel is subtitled “the Modern Prometheus” for quit a few reasons. In some versions of Greek mythology Prometheus was the Titan who created mankind, and Victor's work by creating a man by unnatural process is obviously similar to that creative work. Prometheus was also the bringer of fire who took fire from heaven and gave it to man. Zeus then punished Prometheus by fixing him to a rock where each day a bird came to devour his liver. Prometheus was also a myth told in Latin but was a very different story. In this version Prometheus makes man from clay and water, again a very related theme to Frankenstein as Victor rebels against the laws of nature and as a result is punished by his creation.

2. The novel at first takes place on a ship because it is where Victor meets the person he is telling the story to. The novel starts with a sea-captain writing from St. Petersburg to his sister in England. Robert Walton, the sea-captain, is traveling towards the North Pole on the Archangel when he encounters Victor Frankenstein. The focus of the book then moves to Victor Frankenstein. He starts by telling all about his childhood and his family.

3. The novel begins in the form of letters. The series of letters helps to keep the unbelievable events of the larger narrative grounded in reality. These letters also help the reader see a parallel similarity between Walton and Victor. Robert’s loneliness is the same as that of Victor.

4. Walton is the sort of man that is similar to Victor. He is rather passionate about voyages and discoveries, and he will go to any lengths to attain his goals. Both are highly passionate about their goals in life. Walton is there to show the reader a different outlook on Victor’s story. He is there so that the reader learns a lesson from his encounter to Victor. Robert could have learned a great deal from Victor’s tale. But Robert displays the usual human tendency not to learn a lesson the first time. He still asks Victor about the secret of creation, even though Victor has told him a tale of horrible suffering.

5. Walton’s letters prepare us by giving us a clue of what is to come. They work like a form of foreshadowing. It makes us see the similarities between him and victor. The effect is that it opens our mind to someone else’s view of things. Instead of just hearing the tale from victor’s perspective, we also get a glimpse of someone else’s.

6.Victor Frankenstein is motivated by the hope that he might one day learn the great secrets of nature. He is a man that was sadly driven by ambition and scientific curiosity. He is unable to deal with the consequences of his actions in "playing God.” He is an irresponsible, neglectful parent. He shows a natural human tendency to pursue the forbidden. Even though he is smart and well read he was ignorant of the consequences of his meddling with nature. Victor undergoes emotional and mental change from the start of the novel to the end. He suffers from feelings of remorse and guilt at seeing the unjust deaths of the people he cares about at the hands of his own creation. The burning ambition that drove him to his “playing God” has still not left him for he still believes he can avenge his family's death by killing the monster. He values his family above all else.

7.Mary Shelley devotes so much time to Victor’s childhood so that the reader better understands how Victor came to be. If the novel jumped from the monsters creation then there would be lot of questions like, “why did he do it?” “What did he hope to accomplish?” It is not so easy since it is a pretty deep subject. There would be too many unanswered questions if that were the case. She wanted us to see step by step what led Victor on his path of doom.

8.The focus of the chapter in on the after math of the creation of the creature. Victor avoids the creature as if he were trying to escape from reality, and as if he were afraid to confront the larger-than-life image of his ambition that now stands before him. The chapter barely touches on the creation it all concentrates on Victor’s unbelief and denial of what he has created. “..the wretch-the miserable monster whom I created (61).” He is filled with disgust at the monster and at himself for creating him.

9.“With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet (60).” Victor works so diligently because he was seized with a feverish lust for this project. Once he succeeds the spell is broken. “ I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream banished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart (61).” Once he notices what he has created he becomes repulsed and disgusted by the being he created.

10. This setting is appropriate because it is isolated and it’s a feeling they both share. Victor's escape into the mountains seems to be a deliberate attempt at escaping from his feelings, his memories and his past. He definitely feels more at ease in the mountains. The one place he feels any peace happens to be the place he comes across the monster. The creature accuses victor of not taking responsibility of his actions. He accuses him of being irresponsible for abandoning something he created because it was not to his liking. “…you had endowed me with perceptions and passions, and then cast me abroad an object for the scorn and horror of mankind (124).” He accused Victor of rejecting him even though he created him and was tied to him.

11.The Creature’s natural instinct it to help others. He helped the cottagers and the young woman that slipped into the river. He claims how he was kind and good but is forced to hate people because they despise him. Every time one of the humans was in trouble he was there to the rescue. “ I had been accustomed, during the night, to steal a part of their store for my own consumption; but when I found that in doing so this inflicted pain on the cottagers, I abstained…(102).”He is full of good intentions. He gets pleasure from knowledge and from helping other people. He values nature and books and an education. The Creature’s education consists of what little he was apple to pick up from the inhabitants of the cottagers when they were trying to teach Agatha.

12. He has now realized that he is powerful and is prepared to his power to take out his anger on innocents. He declares ever lasting war against the species and naturally, also against Victor. He only has one mission in life and that is to destroy his creator. His thirst for vengeance is big, but he never becomes completely consumed by it. Nature is still able to cheer him up. The coming of spring lifts his spirits a bit. The creature decides that it is Victor’s responsibility to make sure he does not harm anyone. That the least he can do is create a companion for him.

13.Victor is shocked to hear the creature’s request and refuses to do it at first. But when he starts to think about the monster’s problem, for which he has been responsible, he decides to do it. Also, the creature promises to stay as far away as possible from humankind. He promises Victor that he would escape with his female companion into the fields of South America. “If you consent, neither you nor any other human being shall ever see us again: I will go to South America (129).” He claims that he would survive on berries and acorns. He is responsible for the creature's sad troubles, and therefore it is his responsibility to keep him happy by providing him with a female companion. After all he has suffered through at the hands of mankind, the least Victor could do is make someone that would accept him for what he is.

14.Now that Victor is creating another creature he starts to think about the consequences of his last creation. Most of all he fears that the two creatures may try to have children. He is obviously not comfortable with the idea. He finds himself thinking about the consequences again and again. This is similar to the last time, when he was concerned only with his ambition and new found knowledge. He does not want to be responsible for the destruction of man kind. “I was now about to form another being, of whose dispositions I was alike ignorant; she might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate….(144).” He fears his next creation might not be happy about living in South America and be even more malicious.

15. They both feel as if the world is out to destroy them. They both feel as if they can not be happy until they get what they desire. Both are trying to be happy by any means necessary. Victor creating another monster for his original and the monster by asking for a companion.

16.The novel seemed to be one in which the main character gets through all the obstacles. It looked like Victor was going to triumph in the end, but that was not the case. Instead Victor died and the monster vowed to kill himself. Shelley leaves the book open-ended and this further brings to mind a sense of horror. It is unknown if the monster will come once again to haunt mankind.

17. both their words are significant in that it wraps up the final morals of the story. The were both eventually consumed by their respective demons.

18. The novels protagonist would have to be Victor. Even though he made a huge mistake is tries to make it right. His mistake was made with mislead good intentions. The antagonist would be the creature since he is the once that is pitied against the protagonist. He is the one that brings death and destruction across Victor’s path.

19. 19. In my opinion the sympathy lies with the creature. He is not at fault for anything. He did not ask to be created he was a victim of someone’s dream. He was deserted instead of taken care of by his creator. He never asked to be created into a monstrosity. He did not deserve to be abandoned the way he was.

20. A demon is a nasty creature from Hell that wants to hurt you. A daemon is a guardian spirit, or at least according to Microsoft Encarta Dictionary. Shelley used the former word rather than the latter because she did not view the creature as an evil person. She saw him as a being that had evil thrust upon it.

21. A monster is any animal or human grotesquely opposing from the normal shape, behavior, or character.

 
At 12:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

amikol per3

1. Prometheus was the god who brought technology and fire to the humans to advance their lives. It’s subtitled “The Modern Prometheus” because of the advances Frankenstein made of bringing life to a dead thing.
2. It’s set aboard a ship because of the relationship of where Frankenstein is heading into with morals and how it is “shaky ground” because of the exploration and pioneering. Moby Dick is another novel that is set aboard a ship. Mary Shelley uses this in her novel to portray to the reader what ground and background the doctor is coming from. The physical setting isn’t really used as more than a setting for the beginning of the story, but when reading through more, it becomes apparent that it is relevant to what is being done to set up the story.
3. In the first and third volumes, she uses the POV of Dr. Frankenstein and how his thoughts and what is happening in his life to envision and create this monster. The second volume shows the POV of the monster, to describe what being a creation feels like and how it is impacted by those that he is around and how he adapts to those around him. By having these different frames, it incorporates the thoughts of the creator and the created and how the creator wants the creation to think, and shows how the creation thinks differently than how the creator wanted.
4. Walton is used mainly as filler for this story, but trying to be a minor character. His role is very much a storyteller and mechanical device.
5. Walter’s letters prepare us for the tale he tells because of the history of what he has been through. He tells of his family and how he became to be. The difference of the letters that influences the novel is that it tells of the future by telling of his past love life. The effect of bracketing the letters is a foreword to the story that is being told about Frankenstein.
6. Frankenstein values his family, and can get carried away when he concentrates too much on one vision that he sets his mind on. He definitely cares for what happens to his family and is worried about the welfare of their lives. His family along with exploration is his biggest motivators. His pursuit to create the monster was fueled by his ambition to bring back the dead, and the exploration of science; of being a god. His moral standards are those that don’t need to apply to him and whatever he needs to get done will get done.
7. Childhood and upbringing is a key feature of what happens in a story. It describes and shows how and why he did what he did in future events. Like many crimes can be “traced” to what happened to convicts as children. It is the background of what happened and why.
8. The focus is that there is no true focus. The author tries to encompass all that happens with what Frankenstein is thinking, what is happening to the monster, and how the environment is changing around them between the life forces of the doctor and the monster. The largest piece of the focus would have to be on Frankenstein though, just because it describes more of his thoughts and feelings as the monster is being brought to life.
9. Victor’s feelings of bringing the creature to life are fueled by his motivation to create life and become godlike. But he then regrets because he knows that what he has done is not for humans to delve into. I believe that Mary Shelley is working with a pattern that, when something great is achieved, it is natural to feel bad when you get it. Kind of like buyer’s remorse. When you buy something you wanted so badly, you feel bad for all the time and effort and money put into it.
10. The setting where the doctor meets the creature is appropriate because its shows how the creature is like the creator. It shows a resemblance that both can see and know how they relate to each other. The creature accuses Victor of being an evil man who created something that only God should create.
11. The creature’s natural instincts are that he is kind and gentle and dislikes violence. What gives him pleasure is seeing kindness among people, and how they treat him with kindness. He values love and the way the certain family treats each other with love and sees how love can affect people. The creature’s education consists of picking up lines and phrases that people and human beings use often like names and descriptions for the most part.
12. The creature decides he must finally go back to his creator so that he can know what his purpose is because he scares so many people.
13. He demands that his creator kill him because he is a creation that should have never been made. His argument is very reasonable because of what he has experienced and the things that people have done to him, it is not fair for him to live the rest of his life like that.
14. Victor no longer decides to create a bride for the creature because of his experience with the current creature has caused pain and discomfort for.
15. Victor and the creature continue to be increasingly similar because at this point they are both being shunned by society and have no one to fall back on and depend on. They only have each other and yet still can’t find a way to relate to each other. A parallel between created and creator is hard to come by.
16. The difference is that instead of being a flowery, descriptive dramatic book, we get an adventuresome ending that keeps you reading because it could provide any turn, but you have to keep reading to find out what happens to the creator and the created.
17. On a general, literal level there is no significance, it is just the last words right. But on a global scale, he speaks of what he does wrong and how mankind should not try to do what they were not meant to do.
18. The protagonist and the antagonist and the hero of the story depend on the reader’s viewpoint. The author decides to let the reader interpret what should be viewed in the light that the reader should think it should be.
19. The sympathy lies with which reader find comfort in the visions and thoughts of the characters. So, the reader is right.
20. A daemon is usually a demon-possessed human while a demon comes straight from the belly of hell itself. The author uses the latter word because all humans have some dark side, some demon powers in them that bring out the badness, that ultimately tempt and seduce and trick us into doing wrong.
21. A monster is something that is usually a concept that is not well accepted in a current society based on whatever the general consensus says and doesn’t like about it.

 
At 5:50 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

EVelez-Sanchez Per.3
Frankenstein-Discussion Questions
1) Prometheus aided Zeus against his fellow Titans only to be punished for giving fire to human beings. This novel is subtitled “the Modern Prometheus” because it was rewritten into a more modern language.
2) Initially, the novel is set aboard a ship because it was right before when Victor and Walton were going to meet, in the ice. Also, it shows how dangerous it was for both of us because if the ship hit an iceberg, Walton would end up dieing. I think that Mary Shelly chose this setting because she wanted us to see how the novel would start.
3) In my opinion, she has different frames because she wanted us to see the different incidents that occurred between the monster and Victor.
4) Robert Walton is a seafarer whose letters open and closes the novel of Frankenstein. Robert Walton is included largely as a “storyteller” because after Victor Frankenstein became ill, Walton took over to finish the story and how Frankenstein, the monster, went to the North to die in the ice.
5)The way Walton’s letters prepare us to tell us the tale, is that at the beginning of the story, Walton sees Victor Frankenstein on the snow while Walton was on his ship. When Walton meets with Victor, then the story begins. These letters don’t make a difference to the way we react to the novel because we, the readers, can imagine the whole story from Victor’s perspective.
6) What Victor Frankenstein values, is Elizabeth, which will be his new bride at the end of the novel. The second thing that he values is the science field, where he decided to create Frankenstein. The thing that motivates Victor is natural philosophy. His moral standards are to try and create a new species of humans but the end result was catastrophic.
7) The reason why Mary Shelly devotes so much space to Victor’s childhood environment and his education was because Mary wanted to us, the readers, to see how Victor came about to creating the monster and why he was so fascinated in doing such a thing. The reason why we need this kind of information before the actual story is because sometimes we want to know a little bit about the major character.
8) The focus in chapter 5 was when Victor returns to his apartment with Henry. This part is suspenseful because Victor looks for the monster but the monster was not there. Most of the focus point was when he also creates the monster. That scene was also suspenseful because we wanted to see the monster’s hand move and also we were wondering if Victor’s creation was a success.
9) He works so diligently to bring the creature to life because at first he was excited about creating a human being. When he saw the end results of his creation, he disliked what he made because it was ugly and horrible. In my opinion, Mary Shelley is working with a sort of pattern because when Victor created the monster, he regretted what he created. After he left the town and went to Geneva, the monster kept following him. Then, the monster and Victor was sat down and talked about what Frankenstein had gained knowledge of. Then, in order to get revenge from Victor, Frankenstein’s creator, Frankenstein decided to kill Victor new bride. Finally, Victor was after his monster to finish him of. I believe that Mary Shelly was going up and down with this story.
10) This setting is appropriate because it’s only the two of them where nobody could hear them or bother them. As you can remember, the town people were scared of Frankenstein. The creature accuses Victor because he was “lonely, shunned, and forlorn”. Also, he blames Victor for making him horrible. Finally, the creature asked Victor to make him a mate.
11) In chapters 11-15, the thing that reveals about the Creatures “natural instincts”, is that the creature is a very intelligent monster. Not only does he learn quickly, but the only way he learns is by observing other people. For instance, when he was in the hovel next to the cottage, he was observing everything that his neighbors were doing. What gives him pleasure is when he reads books and when he talks to people. What he values is that he is learning how humans live and why they seem so unhappy. The creature’s education consists of only what he reads in books.
12) What the creature decides he must do is that he is going to revenge himself against all human beings, especially, his creator. He travels out of the sight of anybody towards Geneva. HE is going to do this because he has been rejected by everybody because of the way he looks.
13) The argument was that the Creature is blaming him for all of Victor’s evil actions which resulted in of a desperate loneliness. Also, what the Creature demanded was for Victor to create a female monster so the Creature can have somebody to be with. I believe it is a reasonable argument because is Victor decided to do a monster; he should of thought of doing another one so the monster wouldn’t be lonely.
14) The reason why Victor Frankenstein decides to discontinue his efforts to create a “bride” for the Creature was because he thought it will be total chaos. “Victor imagines that his new creature might not want to seclude herself, as the monster had promised, or that the two creatures might have children, creating ‘a race of devils…on earth’”(Ch. 20).
15) One of the ways that Victor and the Creature are beginning to be strikingly similar, is that the new bride of Victor, is not sure that Victor really loves her. Now Victor seems to be a bit lonely, just like the Creature.
16) It does seem that we are getting into a surrealistic environment because now, we can see that Victor was telling the story to Walton. Also, we can see that Victor entreats Walton to continue with his vengeance after his dead.
17) In my opinion, Victor’s words are not of any significance because he just wants Walton to go after the monster and kill him. In other words, the words of the monster are of great significance. “The monster tells Walton of his immense solitude, suffering, hatred, and sorrow. He asserts that now that his creator has died, he too can end his suffering. Then, the monster departs for the northernmost ice to die” (Chapter 24).
18) In my opinion, the novel’s protagonist is Victor Frankenstein and The Monster. Also, the antagonist of the novel is Victor and the Monster because they are always after each other. In my opinion, the hero of this novel is Victor because he knew how to create another species of humans.
19) In my opinion, the reader’s sympathy lies with the Creature because the Creature was made through an experiment. But as Victor left the Creature, the Creature was learning the things of the real world, for example how to talk and how to read. But that is not all; the Creature felt lonely and wanted someone to be with him because everybody rejected him. This is why I would feel sympathy for the Creature.
20) The difference between daemon and demon is that daemon is kind of like a god. A demon is a person that is considered evil or cruel.
21) A “monster” is an imaginary creature that usually has various human and animal parts.

 
At 9:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

1. In Greek mythology, he is the son of Titan who was chained on the mountain because he refused to tell Zeus about a secret. For his punishment, he was chained to the mountain while the eagle pecked on him. The novel is subtitled “the Modern Prometheus” because they are related. Prometheus made a man by using clay and water while Victor created man from other materials. Both went against the law of nature to create mankind.
2. The novel initially set aboard a ship because there is not much people can do when they are on a ship. Most sailors write their thoughts or their days in the journals. Another famous work that set aboard ships is Moby Dick. In the novel, Herman Melville has at least one chapter for each character to express their thoughts. Mary Shelley chose to use this particular setting because it is easier to start off the story. Robert Walton starts by writing letters to Mrs. Saville and the letters contains his feelings and routine on the ship. While he is on the ship, he meets a man who becomes good friends with Walton. To pass the time on the ship, the man tells his story. In the beginning, it is hard to for the readers to detect what will happen in the story and how relationship or friendship takes a big part of the story.
3. Mary Shelley employs “frames” in her novel to show that Walton and Victor are similar. The author wants the readers to connect the two characters together. She wishes that for suing multiple frames of the story, the readers can find the moral to the story.
4. Walton is a secretive man who does not trust anyone except for the man, Victor. He begins and ends the novel by writing letters. He does serve thematic function by telling his sister that he felt alone in the beginning of the novel, “I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection” (Letter II, pg. 12). Later on, he meets a man, Victor, and he begins liking him because he felt he can relate to him. When Victor tells his story, the theme is about relationships.
5. Walton’s letters are foreshadowing what may come in Victor’s story. It does not tell the events that may come. Instead, it tells what kind of theme that portrays in Victor’s story. The letters reveals what the story will bring. Just like Romeo and Juliet, it tells what sort of theme will be in the story.
6. Victor Frankenstein values science and technology. In the beginning, he values the old scientists and their philosophy. When he moves to Ingolstadt, he learns new technology and theories from professors. The fascination from the science motivates him to research and do different experiments. His “moral standards” appear to be finding new ways to improve science and do the improssibles such as going against the laws of nature to makes a creature come to life.
7. The movies are different from what the book is trying to point out. Directors and companies want to make movies that will interest people to watch instead of being educational, which excludes the movies that portrays history and such. The fictional movies are supposed to appear interesting to people so they will watch the movies. In contrast to the novel, Mary Shelley devotes so much space for Victor’s childhood to make out points about the society. At the time, women were weak to be able to express their opinions, so they hid their opinions in books. By writing Victor’s childhood, Mary Shelley can tell the readers about her opinions. This way, the readers will get her message and her message will spread.
8. In this chapter, the focus is on the feeling of regret and fear of going against nature. Before and on the process of creation, he felt he can do the impossible and a hero. Victor was doing something that people will be amazed. While making his creation, he thought it was beautiful. When the creature came to life, he felt scared because it was not up to his expectations, “I had desired it with an ordour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Chapter IV, pg. 56). When he met the creature in the cave, he felt pity because of his life after he was created.
9. Victor was disappointed because it was not what he expected. Mary Shelley points this out because it is like life. When people expect too much, they become disappointed with the results. Many artists can relate to this very well. Vincent Van Gogh painted a self portrait, but was not satisfied in the end because of his ears. Instead of fixing the painting, he cut off his own ear.
10. It is appropriate for Victor Frankenstein meets his creature in the cave because the cave is a secluded area where people do not usually go there regularly. When people think of a monster’s shelter, they think of a cave. The creature accuses Victor for creating him because Victor is mad. For that, the creature thinks that Victor wants to kill him since he can not kill people, “ ‘Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature…. You purpose to kill me’” (Chapter II, pg. 113).
11. The Creature’s instinct is to scare people with his appearance. To prevent that from happening, he hides in the cave and observe people. His pleasure is to observe people and learn from them. While he’s observing people, he learns the language, which becomes valuable for him. He begins to understand people and their way of living. The creature starts to understand the action and people’s thoughts.
12. The creature finally decides that he wants a female companion because when he saw a woman, he thought she was beautiful. This made him smile and happy. He liked the feeling of happiness. That is why he wants Victor to make him a female creature so he can be happy with her. With this joy, he believes that he will be able to stop killing people and have a purpose for existing.
13. To support his demand, he argues that he is responsible to take care of another creature. Another argument is that he felt as thought he was killing people because of his loneliness. Since there was no one that could talk to him, he did not know what to do with his emotions. If there was someone with him, the other creature can support him through the rough times. It is a reasonable argument because no one or creature can live alone. When there is a problem, it is good to talk to someone and hear their opinions as well. This way, the person or the creature can get some ideas of what to do when they are troubled.
14. Victor decides to discontinue his work on the female creature because of the fear of what the future might bring. He thinks that the new creature will not go with the original creature to South America to hide from the people. Also, he thinks that they will have offspring that may cause trouble in the future.
15. Victor is similar to the creature because they use trust to their own advantage. Victor learns new science from the professors and his friend. Then, he uses the new knowledge to create a creature, which is against the nature. The creature uses Victor’s trust to have Victor create a female creature. There is not enough evidence, but the creature may cause more trouble if he had another companion with him. In the play Hamlet, Hamlet and Ophelia are similar because they both go mad and crazy.
16. During the chase, it is the same novel, but it has a different purpose from the beginning of the novel. Instead of creating, Victor is trying to destroy the creature. He knows that when he kills the creature, he can save people from being killed by the creature. Also, it becomes a detective work because the creature leaves him some clues to where the creature might be.
17. The last word for Victor, he says that he wants to Walton to take revenge for him when Victor dies. Victor is mad at the creature for killing Justine and William. The significance is that the creature killed people because he was mad at Victor. With the creature’s final words, he disappeared because Victor died. Victor was the only one who was not afraid of him, but when he died, he felt as though there was no reason to live.
18. The protagonist is Victor Frankenstein because told most of the story. The antagonist is the creature. He had to struggle because of his appearance and fate that he was to go through. The “hero” is Walton because he was the one who informed the creature about Victor’s death and creature disappeared after hearing the news.
19. In my opinion, I think the sympathy lies in both the creature and Victor Frankenstein. The creature had to live through being the “monster” that people fear. This leads the creature be isolated from the society and lifetime of loneliness. Victor Frankenstein feels guilt for creating the creature who murdered William. He feels he has the responsibility for the creature and his actions. The sympathy relies on the readers’ opinion of who deserves more sympathy in the novel.
20. The difference between daemon and demon is that daemon is a god-like figure and demon is an evil villain. Mary Shelley used the word “daemon” because the creature is not truly evil. Like the novel Grendel, the “monsters” are not born evil. They kill people because they are confused in their existence. Mary Shelley wanted the readers to see the creature as a “problem” than the “bad guy” in the novel.
21. Throughout the years, people have different views of a monster. Most people see a monster as a hairy, beast-like creature that kills people because it is in their nature. However, that is just the physical appearance of the monster. The monster could be anyone that destroys beauty and life. The monster could be people who pollute the Earth. It depends on people’s imagination of “evil” or the “bad guy.”

 
At 1:48 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

T. McClanahan

1. Prometheus was a titan of Greek mythology who both created Mankind and gave them fire and metallurgic capabilities. The novel is subtitled “The Modern Prometheus” because Victor Frankenstein creates human life, similarly to how Prometheus did in the myths.
2. The story is told in a series of frames, the ship being one of them. The frames allow for the larger themes of the story to be generalized at the beginning of the story and brought down as events unfold from inside the other frames. The ship acts as a symbol because of the intentions with which the crew mans it: to discover new lands and gain new knowledge. These men use the ship as a vessel with which to further the greatness of mankind, and through Captain Walton’s letters, we see that he can see only good coming from their discoveries. We see this theme later as well in Victor Frankenstein concerning the creature and the creation of it. Also, the ship represents the isolation from humanity found with discovery and the bounds of science, foreshadowing Victor’s isolation in the future.
3. The various frames found within the novel allow different perspectives on the story as a whole, as we have the segments of the story from the creature’s point of view, from Victor’s standpoint, and from the captain through his letters. The shifting perspectives allows for the sympathetic characters to shift as well, depending on the narrator at the time. Shelley actually creates different little discrepancies within the story by using different narrators, making some things more believable and, as aforementioned, shifting the reader’s feelings of sympathy to different characters. Also, as Shelley’s goal was to write a “ghost story,” the frame set up gives the impression of stories being told to another person, as Victor to Walton, Walton to his sister, etc, keeping with the oral tradition of the “ghost stories.”

4. Walton is the captain of an exploratory vessel – on the verge of human cognition of the boundaries of the world. His purpose is to discover new scientific things for the human race as a whole. As the story progresses, we see more and more of a connection between the creature’s plight and the plight of Walton (the explorer) – the connection between man and monster – as they both feel extreme loneliness and isolation from society.

5. Walton’s letters introduce us to Victor (who is very sick and seems to have been chasing the creature on the sled) and allow for the reader to get a feel for the tone of the story before the true story takes place. Basically, it allows the reader to get their historical bearings before moving through the story. Also, the readers learns Walton is searching for the North Pole – one of the extremes of the earth – just as Frankenstein was searching for the gift of life, another extreme on the scientific scale.


6. Victor values knowledge very highly, and the reader sees that in his insatiable thirst for first the work of the alchemist, then for the modern sciences, as he sees science as the only path to truly new knowledge, stating that in philosophy one can only go as far as one’s predecessors, but in science, one starts with the work of the predecessor and moves forward. He is driven by his thirst for new knowledge; for discovery is the true purpose of science (or so he feels), but his true base is his family. That is what he falls back on, and he is devastated whenever he loses a family member; his work is, too, devastated from the loss. He appears to feel that the secret of life is the next big thing science will bring and doesn’t feel morally disturbed by the creation of life at first, but upon creation, feels that he has stepped over the line.

7. Victor’s childhood and youth is described so vibrantly to give the impression that he was not some sick, twisted youth with a despondent family and no moral upbringing. On the contrary, he was very protected as a child and had close friends his own age with whom he matured and learned about life at a young age. With the premise of the “ghost story” still in mind, this idyllic upbringing gives the reader the impression that anyone could be in Victor’s shoes – or, at least, not someone you’d expect.


8. The focus of this section is not so much on the actual creation and animation of the creature as it is on the psychological state of Victor. He is becoming more and more detached from society as he delves deeper into his work, and upon animation, he reels from unexpected emotions, saying, “I felt the bitterness of disappointment; dreams that had been my food and pleasant rest for so long a space were now become a hell to me.” (Pg. 43, Ch. 5). The reader doesn’t even get a feeling for the true nature of the creature; the reader’s impression of the creation comes from the description of it by Frankenstein, whose mental state has already been challenged by the beginning of the chapter.

9. Victor was so obsessed to find the secret of life, that when he found it, all he could think of was testing it’s powers, no matter the ramifications. His creation – the creature – was supposed to be perfect…a kind of testament to the powers of science…but when awakened, Victor sees something terrible and ugly that cannot possibly have any good in it’s surrogate heart. It resembles the artist working for a great time and putting great resources into a work then, upon completing it, rejecting it as not being up to caliber or “bad.” It also resembles the parent rejecting the child upon birth, something that actually happens in the wild.
10. The frozen wasteland is the ideal symbolic meeting place for Victor and the creature, as it represents the extreme isolation from humanity both are living through; the monster, isolated because of his appearance, and Victor, isolated by his emotions and guilt of bringing this “devil” into the world. The creature accuses Victor of abandoning him, saying that in creating something so feared by man, that is was Victor’s responsibility to care for him and to essential be a parental figure. While Victor originally saw the creature on the table as evil and terrifying, the monster claims that he was born “good” and that the lack of direction and care in his life caused him to be calloused against the world. The monster goes on about Victor’s responsibility, saying, “Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed.” (Pg.81, Ch, 10). This statement also shows that the creature has some grasp of human religion, referring to both Adam, the first man according to Christian legend, and the “fallen angel,” better known as Satan or the Devil.
11. It reveals that the creature is naturally good…the “perfection” that Victor was looking for was not in the exterior, but inside the creature’s mind. His values include positive things such as beauty, love, friendship, etc. and his interactions with the family prove that very statement. Though he never has true meeting with them, the creature calls them his friends and learned everything he knows about humans from the family (whom he also got the books from…the books that became is further education). At the same time, the family showed him everything he didn’t have. No parents, no friends, no love. “But where were my friends and relatives? No father ad watched my infant days, no mothers had blessed me with smiles and caresses; or if they had, all my past life was now a blot, a blind vacancy in which I distinguished nothing.” (pg 101). He, again (and rightly), blames Victor for what he lacks.
12. The creature sets his resolve on giving the man who gave him life the same life that he had – devoid of friends and relatives. He goes about his business with violence, and every scene of love or family now begets hatred and anger in the creature. His purpose now is to destroy the life of his creator through the same pain he feels because Frankenstein has raised him (or the lack of guidance from him) in a way that shows he is a blight on the earth and has no good purpose. So, the creature embarks on his evil purposes.
13. Because of his severe loneliness and insurmountable isolation from humans, the creature demands that Frankenstein create him a “bride” that he can have as a companion. In saying, “our lives will not be happy, but they will be harmless and free from the misery I now feel.” (pg 125, Ch.17), the creature implies that it is the misery he feels from complete solitude that has caused him to become violent and belligerent. This argument is completely reasonable and logical, because he figures that Frankenstein would do anything to stop the violence and he rationalizes “he’s already made one creature, why not make another and be done with it.” It would also allow Frankenstein to be accepted back into society.
14. Frankenstein fears releasing another murderous creature on the world, along with the creatures being able to breed and create a race of “devils.” This causes the creature to become increasingly angry and vengeful, and he then kills more people close to Victor. He has done the same thing he did with the first creature (reject it), only this time it happened before it was animated…he still doesn’t realize that this rejection is the foundation of the creature’s anger and only intensifies it.
15. First of all, as the creature kills Victor’s family and friends, he feels increasingly responsible for their murder, thus sharing responsibility and guilt for the deaths with the creature. Both are isolate from society because of things Victor has done; Victor is isolated because of his guilt and obsession with the creature, while the creature is isolated because of the appearance with which Victor created him as well as Victor’s abandonment of him immediately after creation. Victor vocalizes his feelings of isolation in saying, “I saw an insurmountable barrier placed between me and my fellow men; this barrier was sealed with the blood of William and Justine, and to reflect on the events connected with those names filled my soul with anguish” (pg 137). Though he feels these intense emotions, he still can’t go to the authorities with the information that could save them because of his own insecurity about the creature.
16. As the chase ensues, the reader senses a shift toward a loss of reality that correlates directly with Victor’s loss of reality in his own mind. He becomes obsessed with the destruction of the creature, very similarly to Ahab’s obsession with the white whale in Melville’s Moby Dick. As Victor’s mental state deteriorate, the reader can predict what the outcome will be for him, especially with Moby Dick in mind. During the span in which reality slips, he remarks, “My current situation was one in which all voluntary thought was swallowed up and lost.” (pg 179), giving the impression that now he can’t cut off the chase even as his health fails him.
17. In his final words, Victor argues the part of Brutus from “Julius Caesar” in discouraging ambition as the downfall of man, particularly when ambition leads to the edge of scientific thought. He tells Walton to steer clear of ambition, and, although science will never cease to push on with ambition and drive, that this drive will lead to discoveries that man cannot control (perfect example today is nuclear power and weaponry). The creature says practically the same thing, but not as directly and through his characteristic flowery language.
18. When looking at Frankenstein in terms of a protagonist and antagonist, Frankenstein and the creature must be viewed as a single entity, just as the opposite personalities of Raskolnikov of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment can be viewed as two separate characters. There is no hero, no protagonist, no antagonist – only tools of Mary Shelley for her purpose and story. She wrote for the general themes and used characters in that sense, not so much to make “good guys” and “bad guys”, let alone “heroes.”
19. Personally, I agree with Harold Bloom in that the reader’s sympathy lies with the creature as opposed to Frankenstein. He is forced into the world and abandoned by his creator, left to fend for himself in a judgmental world hostile to differences of appearance. No sympathy is felt for Victor because he brought the blight upon himself and had numerous chances to rectify it but kept letting it get out of hand. His fate was sealed by himself and not a tragic flaw in his character or what not.
20. The former word – daemon – gives the reader an image of something of a spirit, not necessarily good or evil, but something not of this world, whereas ‘demon’ is associated with hell and Satan, both perceived as purely evil. Mary Shelley probably used the former word because she wanted the creature to be seen not as evil or associated with the devil, but as something to be studied and understood. By calling is a daemon, it leaves room for thoughtful curiosity into the nature of the beast, instead of just superficial perceptions.
21. The word “monster” implies something inherently evil – something that is evil and cannot be changed because it is just ‘built’ evil. In the case of Frankenstein, it would be inappropriate to call the creature a monster because he is not inherently evil; his treatment by Victor and the human race has caused him to become calloused inside but he could have changed.

 
At 5:34 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

imuradian - p3

1. Prometheus was acclaimed for his remarkable intelligence and dominance over humanity. The novel is substituted as this because Frankenstein demonstrated his superiority to humanity by bringing life into the monster.

2. Shelley does this because it is meant to illustrate the vast undertaking which Frakenstein is prepared to embark into. Moby Dick also does this, and Shelley chooses this setting because it is an appropriate build up for Frankenstein’s task.

3. The various frames serve the unique purpose of adding suspense to the novel. By shifting gears onto another frame, the audience becomes increasingly interested as the novel unfolds.

4. Walton is merely dr. Frankenstein’s assistant and serves as a plot storyteller. In short, he is a mechanical narrative device.

5. The letters foreshadow the tale that he tells later on. They make us further anticipate Walton’s role in the story, and what is to become of Frankenstein. Bracketing the letters allows the reader to set them as a mental note throughout the entire story, so as to refer to them later on.

6. Victor Frankenstein is of most profound psychological complexity. His far from subtle intricacies and mental loopholes further accentuate his bizarre, brilliant outlook on life. He is morally free, feeling it necessary to explore with concept of life, death, and the creator in hopes of breeching from normal humanly standards.

7. Frankenstein’s childhood and upbringing is delved into because the audience must be dealt justification of the doctor’s seemingly maniacal and far-fetched schemes. To introduce a character of such complexity as Victor, and not give background to his multiplicity, defeats the literature establishment entirely.

8. The focus upon first inspection seems to be on the creation of the creature, for the vehement description draws the reader. Upon further analysis, one may note that the scene focuses mainly on the doctor’s reaction toward the birth of the creature, for it is him that had just played God.

9. Victor does so because it was not the creature that he yearned but rather the ability to spawn life. A similar situation occurs in Crime and Punishment, where Roskolnikov commits murder simply to test his self-acclaimed superiority.

10. The creature accuses Victor of, in essence, wrongly creating life. Frankenstein was forcefully placed into the world without consent, and now he was subject to endless criticisms and was the cause of great calamity all against his will.

11. The creature’s education consists of simple inspection. He learns by absorbing his surroundings. He seems to be rather humanly, for he values humane things.

12. The creature finally decides that his life must be ended or that he gets married, for his lonesome existence will only bring tragedy.

13. He argues that it is the given right of any such being with mental capacity. The argument is not valid, for he is a monster.

14. Frankenstein discontinues his efforts simply because reality dawns upon him that no bride will take the monster as her husband.

15. Victor and the creature are similar in that they are both social outcasts and are not accepted by society. Both Victor and the creature are not accustomed to “normal” lifestyles. Their congruence suggests both the humanity of the creature and the inhumanity of Frankenstein.

16. I believe the chase scene runs in accordance to what the reader expects. It is a picturesque monster chase scene, as intended.

17. Victor’s final words are significant in that he denies his ability to play God, and through his suffering he illustrates that no earthly existence is capable of the undertaking. The creature’s final words suggests that he can finally end his suffering.

18. The novel’s unique protagonist is in fact Victor Frankenstein, for he, as in all protagonists, must prove his worth and his theories of existence to himself by creating life. The antagonists would be all those who oppose Frankenstein’s inner character, which would be the creature himself. The hero is Walton, for he accepts the creature.

19. Both are correct. The creature is simply meant to reflect Frankenstein’s inner state of being, so feeling sympathy for one is feeling sympathy for the other.

20. A daemon refers to a deity while a demon refers to a servant of Satan. Shelley uses the former rather than the latter because it suggests a more powerful, less evil figure.

21. A monster is any biologically functioning entity that inflicts fear upon a population. As one may guess, it is not a consistent term.

 
At 6:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

J-Aranda
Per.3

1. Prometheus was the one who aided Zeus against the Titans only to be punished for giving fire to human beings. It is titled like this because it is now written in modern English language.
2. The novel is set aboard a ship because it was right before Victor and Walton got to know each other. Also, it made an appeal of danger. Mary Shelly chose this setting because it made it seemed as if it were going to be a great exploration novel.
3. I think that she had several frames because she wanted the readers to realize how each event had an effect on each Victor and the monster.
4. Walton is a man who seems to have strong feelings and he is a seafarer. When he met Victor he felt a strong connection of friendship between them that he later laments Victor’s death. He is a very courageous seafarer who fears no danger. I believe he serves as a storyteller because all he really did was just tell the story of Victor through the letters he wrote.
5. How the letters prepare us is by foreshadowing on what is going to happen further on in the novel. The letters give the reader a feeling of mystery and set up the stage for the tragic events Victor will tell. An example would be when Victor says, “…the fatal impulse that led to my ruin…” (Chapter 2) Bracketing the letters emphasizes the section and makes the reader know what is going on.
6. What Victor values is Elizabeth who would be his bride at the end of the novel. He values her a lot because he has known her for the longest time and he feels a strong connection with her. He also values the studies of science he has done. With the science he has studied he then values the ability of creating life through the monster. What motivated him was natural philosophy.
7. Why Mary Shelly devoted most of the first three chapters talking about Victor’s childhood was to get a background of the great scientist who created life. Mary wanted the readers to understand Victor’s motivation and the reason for becoming such a fanatic about science. This stuff is important because this way we get a better understanding of the main character.
8. The focus of this chapter was mainly of what Victor felt inside of him after knowing of his success of creating life. The chapter focuses on his internal thoughts and expressions towards the monster and life. Victor seemed to be nervous about this monster and did not want to see it anymore. Yet, in his return to the apartment and not finding the monster he is relieved for a while but then gets a feeling of terror. Victor becomes sick for a few months but then recovers.
9. Victor worked so diligently to bring the creature to life because he felt the excitement of knowing to bring life. After he brought life to the monster he was repulsive to his creation because it was monstrous and hideous. I think that Mary Shelly is working with a prototype because she is getting the reader to get details of what goes on to later picture the relationship of victor and the monster. Victor seems to be ignoring his creation and wanting to get away from it. Yet, the monster follows him everywhere and in the end they have a conversation together and settle thing down.
10. The setting is appropriate because this is where Victor and the monster could talk to each other with no one interfering. The town’s people were afraid of the monster so he could not be anywhere in public. The monster accuses Victor of creating him as an ugly creature. He tells victor that he felt lonely, shunned, and forlorn. After the monster blames Victor for his creation he then asks for a bride who he may be happy with.
11. In these chapters the thing that is revealed about the monster’s “natural instincts”, is that the creature is an intellectual monster. He seems to be a creature that learns quickly by just observing his surroundings. An example would be when he was in the hovel next to the cottage where he was observing everything that his neighbors were doing. What gives him pleasure is reading books and when he talks to people. What he values is that he is learning how humans live and why they seem so unhappy. The creature’s education consists of only what he reads in books.
12. What the creature decides he must do is that he is going to go against all human beings and his creator. He heads towards Geneva where he will find Victor. He is going to take revenge against all the people because of the way he has been rejected and the form he was created.
13. The argument that the monster offer to Victor is that he feels annexed from the human beings. He could not continue living with human beings when they contemn him. "You are in the wrong," replied the fiend; "and, instead of threatening, I am content to reason with you. I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?”(Chapter 17) The monster for this reason asks for a bride who he may maybe find happiness. He wants to be with a creature of his own and be apart from society. His argument is reasonable because he is not wrong at all and a monster like himself might make his life more contented.
14. Why victor does not want to create the new bride is because he thinks that it might be more malicious than the first monster. The monster has learned about life and promises to hide, but the bride has not been in the world. Victor feels that she will dislike humans as well and want to destroy them as well. “I was now about to form another being, of whose dispositions I was alike ignorant; she might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate, and delight, for its own sake, in murder and wretchedness.”(Chapter 20)
15. The similarity between the monster and Victor is that both of them have a bride which is not sure if they like each other. Victor is now feeling lonely because of the death of William, Justine, and Henry. He blames himself for the deaths. So now both the monster and he are killers.
16. The “chase” scenes do show that we are getting into a surrealistic environment because one could see that Victor was telling his story to Walton. One could see that Victor beseeches Walton to continue with his vengeance after his dead.
17. Victor’s last words seemed to have significance in the fact that his life has been a voyage of dangers. Yet, the last words of the monster are more significant because now that he has seen that his creator has died he decides to end all misery by dieing as well. “I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct.” (Chapter 24)
18. I believe that the protagonist of the novel is the monster. The monster is the protagonist because he is the one who is going around and killing people. He is the character who shows most hatred towards others. The antagonist of the novel in my opinion is Victor because when he met the monster again he saw his hatred towards humans and decided to change this. Victor creates a bride for the monster to hopefully make the monster happy and leave humans alone.
19. In my opinion I think that Harold Bloom is right in feeling sympathy for the creature. The monster maybe killed people but he was also a very intellectual creature. He liked to learn new things and find out more about life. Yet, in his struggle to become part of society he felt lonely because no one accepted his presence.
20. The difference between the words is that a daemon is a mythological being that is pat-god and part-human and a demon is an evil supernatural being. Mary Shelly used her own text to show that there could be different ways of interpreting the monster.
21. A monster is any large, ugly, terrifying animal or person found in mythology or created by the imagination, especially something fierce that kills people.

 
At 7:45 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

1. Prometheus was a God who had sympathy for humans and gave fire to them. He was creative and bold. Frankenstein is called the Modern Day Prometheus because they are relating him to the god in the way he was intelligent and bold in his creativeness to discover new things about giving life.
2. The initial setting of the novel on a ship could perhaps be to show isolation, or to show how Frankenstein was in such a remote area and the rescue of him by a ship passing by. Another novel set aboard a ship would be Moby Dick.
3. Mary Shelly’s uses frames, such as different way of telling the story to show how different people views are being told. This way of relating the story, Frankenstein telling his story to Walton, who is in turn writing to his sister about it, could show disconnect from the actual story. Because Frankenstein is telling his version of the story, you do not know if this is how the story really took place.
4. Walton could be considered similar to Frankenstein with his quest of the unknown. He story relates to that of Frankenstein, yet in the end he does the opposite of Frankenstein by not continuing on with his journey.
5. Walton’s letters to his sister somewhat foreshadow the story that Victor tells to Walton about the monster. They introduce the theme of loneliness and the need to find the unknown. By reading these novels you can see that Walton can relate to the monster and his isolation from society and he can relate to Victor’s need to find out new things that have yet to be discovered.
6. Victor is a creative man. He is driven to find out new things, particularly in th4e sciences and more specifically in human creation. He is not above abandoning his own creation and letting it wreck havoc on society, he also fails to fess up to his actions in moments to save people.
7. The beginning chapters are key in introducing the character of Victor. You see him on the ship ill and dieing, and when he recounts the story of his happy childhood, you know that something bad has to happen for him to be in the shape he is now. By discussing Victor’s interest with science the reader is given a reason why he would be interested in creating a monster he would later abandon. This beginning stuff sets up the whole novel and is there for the reader understands the actions that take place later on.
8. The focus in Chapter 5 when the creature is being created is not really on the process of the creation of the ‘birth’ of the creature. You mostly read about Victor being scared by what he has created. You learn that he has nightmares about his mother after he has created the monster. Then it talks about when Victor flees from the monster and his apartment. Majority of the chapters focus is on Victor escaping and abandoning his creation.
9. Victor is intrigued by the idea of creating life. He spends all his time in isolation trying to bring life to his creature. When he finally does, he is repulsed by the ugliness of it and regrets bringing it to life.
10. He finds the monster on top of a glacier where he goes to find peace and to see something beautiful. They go to the monsters cave where he tells his story to Victor. This place is isolated, like the monster’s life. Also, this place is similar to where Victor is found by Walton and his crewmen. The creature accuses Victor of abandoning him.
11. The creature tells Victor about how he would watch his neighbors. He has a natural desire to learn human language as well as to read and be educated about the world that he lives in. He values the closeness of family. The creature education consists of books he has read from a bag he found, including, Paradise Lost.
12. After the creature tries top communicate with DeLacy he is then forced to leave by the man’s returning family. After this, the monster decides he wants revenge on humans, Victor in particular.
13. After the monster is done explaining his life to Victor he demands Victor to create a female monster for him. He tells Victor that he has to because he created him and thus, subjected him to isolation and a life of loneliness, which is why he is now entitled to have a female companion.
14. Victor stops creating a companion for the monster because he is afraid of what might happen. He worries that they will create monster children. He is also bothered by the fact that there will be another hideous creature along with his original monster.
15. Victor and the creature both have had isolated existences. However, Victors were all voluntarily. They both have a desire to learn more.
16. When first reading the novel you expect the monster to be the chaser. However in the end it’s Victor who is doing the hunting.
17. Victor wants Walton to continue his search for revenge on the monster, which is ironic because once the monster finds out that Victor is dead, he feels he is ready to die himself.
18. Victor is the protagonist in the main character sense. The monster is the antagonist, or vise versa. In the end of the novel, the monster confesses that he regrets the way things happened and the acts he comitted, which is very ‘heroic’ of him. To consider him the hero…I wouldn’t.
19. You could feel sympathy for either of the two characters. The monster for having had to live an isolated life, being feared and rejected by humans, as well as being abandoned from the beginning of his existence. However you could feel sympathy for Victor for having had been so curious as to create a monster that would eventually be the demise of him as well as all of his friends and family.
20. A daemon is a God, where demon is something evil.
21. A monster is an unnatural creature.

 
At 8:27 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Taylor Brown’s

1. Prometheus was a Titan that created mankind and also stole fire from the gods and gave it to the mortals for there own use. For this Prometheus was punished by Zeus. The novel is subtitled "the Modern Prometheus" because they both share similar themes. For example, both Prometheus and Dr. Frankenstein create creatures that get out of hand and turn in some ways evil.

2. The novel is initially set aboard a ship because when you are on a ship you are secluded from the rest of the world and seclusion was a major theme in the novel. So it would be only right to start off the novel on a ship rather than in some large city. Also, Moby Dick is another novel that’s setting is set aboard a ship.

3. By making the novel have multiple narrators it gives the storyline more credibility because your getting more than one side to the story. It reinforces what the author is trying to get across and makes it more believable for the reader. She’s trying to support the ideas she is trying to convey with multiple narrators. Also, it makes it seem as if it’s Walton’s duty to tell the story of this monster and warn people of the power of creation.

4. Walton is who the reader hears the story of Frankenstein through, but he also plays a role that parallels Victor. They are both explorers looking for the unknown. At times Victor argues with Walton to continue sailing even thought the conditions are dangerous, while at the same time he got himself into trouble by his reckless scientific ambitions. Walton serves as the foil character to Victor.

5. Walton’s letters prepare us for the tale because his story parallels Frankenstein’s. They both have a need to make some new huge discovery but at the same time suffer from loneliness while trying to achieve their goals. So, starting the novel off with Walton’s letters sets up the themes we see later on in the novel giving the reader a heads up before actually starting to read the storyline.

6. Frankenstein takes pride in his education and is determined to discover the “secret of life.” Scientific discovery is his one true motivations to create the monster but once it’s created and kills his loved ones, his motivation to kill the monster turns to guilt. He then regrets his choices and is angry at himself. He seems like a very indecisive character that doesn’t really think about the consequences of his actions.

7. The first three chapters are used to foreshadow the tragedy that is soon to come. He tells how he grows up in a loving family and how he was happy as a child but keeps saying things like “the fatal impulse that led to my ruin” which leaves the reader to believe something bad has happened to him. It builds up the anticipation and makes the reader want to keep reading. It gives the book a great effect.


8. Once the creature is created the focus is mostly on Victor and his newly developed fear for what he has just done. It also focuses on the creatures physical appearance and how that makes him such a horrific monster. But the main struggle in this chapter is the one Victor faces with himself.

9. Victor works so hard to create this thing because he is so absorbed in discovering the “secret of life.” But when the creature is actually created he sees only its appearance and immediately regrets what he has done. It shows Victor judging his creation just by it’s looks alone and then classifying it as a horrific monster without even studying the creature. This is done all the time in society and I think Shelley is trying to show us the consequences of judging a book by its cover.

10. Victor first spots his creature while he is all alone on the glacier, which makes sense that he would be all alone. But then he takes him to a fire in a cave of ice. While fire was what Prometheus stole from the gods and was punished for, just like how Victor created the creature and then the creature killed his loved ones. The creature says that it’s Victor’s fault for him killing the humans because he says that if he wasn’t so lonely he wouldn’t have to kill them. So he convinces Victor to make him a female creature.

11. The Creature is very naive at first and doesn’t understand much of anything. But after spending the year watching the DeLaceys he learns how to speak and read and takes much pride in his newly found education. He constantly wants to learn more about the world especially the humans that surround him. He really wants to be accepted by them so that he doesn’t feel so lonely anymore and wants them to look past his appearance.

12. He decides that he must revenge himself against all human beings, especially Victor. Mainly because they have brought him much grief and refuse to befriend him so he decides that they all should be killed.

13. The Creature argues that it’s his right to have a female companion to live with because it’s not his fault that he was created to look so horrific in the first place. And he just wants someone to be with so he won’t be so lonely anymore and he promises to stop killing the humans. I feel his argument is reasonable because everyone deserves a friend or else life would be too unbearable.

14. He decides to stop making the “bride” for the Creature because he begins to think that the new creature might not want to seclude herself like the current creature promised. Or that they might have children and create a whole new race of “monsters.”

15. Victor and the Creature are similar because they are both heavily set on getting what they want. Victor wants to destroy the Creature and the Creature wants a “bride” or to destroy Victor. They are also both feeling very lonely and just want things to go back to how they were. They both are alone in a world where all they have is hatred for the other. And I can’t think of any specific accounts of this happening anywhere else.

16. The environment in the final chapter is more surrealistic than in the others mainly to show the effects that the events have had on Victor. He is warn down and ready to just give up at this point so it’s only fitting that the ending of his tale be different than how it started out. It’s trying to show how he has changed throughout this experience.

17. Victor’s final words are to Walton’s crew when he tells them to not turn their backs on their enemies. He says this because it’s his enemy’s fault that he is so miserable and about to die. The Creature’s final words are that he’ll travel to the Northernmost part of the globe and commit suicide because he is sad because the only person he has ever know is dead.

18. Victor is the protagonist because it’s his fault for the Creature’s suffering, while the Creature is the antagonist because you feel sorry for him because his is thrown into such a horrible life when none of it is really is fault.

19. I think they are both right. Throughout the novel you feel sympathy for both characters because it’s a series of unfortunate events that plague them both. You feel sorry for the Creature for being brought into such a cruel and lonely world. While you feel sorry for Victor when he loses his family and is driven to isolation because of his creation.

20. The word daemon was used to refer to what people called a dragon and the word demon is used to refer to a devil like creature. Shelley used daemon because the Creature was devil like, it just looked ugly, kind of like a dragon. People where afraid of the Creature just like people where afraid of dragons.

21. A monster is a legendary creature that is so ugly it frightens people. It’s a mix of animal and human like parts to make a horrific looking creature. They are big and meant to bring fear to humans.

 
At 9:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

1. Prometheus was a Titan who stole the power of fire from the Gods. The novel is subtitled "the Modern Prometheus" because Frankenstein is associated with stealing life-creating power from God.

2. The novel is initially set aboard a ship to symbolize humanity's exploration of new scientific and ethical territory.

3. These multiple frames serve to relate the story from a variety of angles. Different frames emphasize the ethical and scientific sides of the debate surrounding Frankenstein's creation.

4. Walton is largely included as a "storyteller" but provides a down-to-earth frame of reference on the story of Frankenstein. This provides a more powerful effect than, say, letting the mad scientist do the explaining.

5.Walton's letters prepare the reader for a story of deeper literary value than a mere piece of horror entertainment. The way he sets up the book shows that scientific and ethical dilemmas are the real concern here.

6. He appears to demonstrate scientific curiosity and points of philosophical inquiry. He disregards human values as trifles that are insignificant in the scheme of the universe. His moral standards are lacking from the common perspective.

7. The outline of Victor's childhood seems to demonstrate the method by which children are being led astray with regards to moral standards today. It helps to give the novel some societal value as a lesson.

8. The focus seems to be primarily on the process of creation. However the creature is also described with some detail.

9. Victor works diligently to bring the Creature to life due to ambition and scientific curiosity. He is abhorred when he succeeds because he realizes that this work is too great a responsibility for mere mortals.

10. The setting is appropriate because it reflects the dismal vicinity in the midst of broad expanses; this is comparable to Victor's work on the creature, which is indicative of great potential of humanity but for now is dubious,

11. The Creature's "natural instinct" seems to be impulsive anger and a desire for simple love. He values simplicity in the world.

12. The creature eventually decides that he must maintain some contact with others. Marriage seems an implication though quite odd.

13. The Creature argues that his being is in fact the same as all others. He did not choose his method of creation.l He wonders why his treatment is so different.

14. Victor Frankenstein discontinues his efforts to create a bride for the creature as he realizes that the act of creating life is too ambitious for mere mortals. He seems to have learned his lesson the first time.

15. Victor and the Creature and similar in that they both are outcasts due to disregard of traditional values. Seeing the Creature in its depraved state seems to spark some realization in Victor that his state is largely the same.

16. The surrealistic environment helps to highlight the dangers of tinkering too far with science. It it foreboding of a strange and unnatural future for humanity.

17. The final words of the characters provide an ominous warning about the dangers of creating life. This is the real implication.

18. This novel is not simple enough to have a real "good guy" or protagonist. Victor Frankenstein is not evil or good; he is just curious and going off on a tangent of philosophical and scientific inquiry. He has no particularly good or evil intent.

19. Harold Bloom is more correct in my opinion. The creature deserves sympathy as it received consciousness without the associated gifts that make it bearable.

20. A daemon refers to a supernatural being somewhere between mortals and Gods. A demon specifically refers to an evil supernatural being. "Daemon" is used so as to not immediately dismiss the associated Creatures with evil.

21. A "monster" is typically a legendary creature.

 
At 9:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

PPham Per 3

1. Prometheus was a titan that stole fire from the gods for humanity. Frankenstein subtitled “the modern Prometheus” because; much like Prometheus Dr. Frankenstein has pursued godlike ability.
2. The novel initially takes place on a boat and through the perspective of Captain Walton to allow the reader to watch Victor Frankenstein and see him outer perspective. This allows them to analyze his features before they peer into his mind. Mary Shelley chooses this setting to show how all of humanity is in constant pursuit of their dreams.
3. Mary Shelley employs many various narrative frames to allow the reader to see all essential perspectives. Thus, adding depth needed to tell the story.
4. Robert Walton is very much like Victor Frankenstein he is ambitious and tentative. They are both explorers of the unknown. He functions as the more practical and realistic version of Frankenstein.
5. The letters accomplishes the mood and sets us up for Walton’s tale. His letters prepare us for the gruesome and frightening tale of his friend, Victor Frankenstein’s.
6. Victor Frankenstein is a brave explorer that was very passionate in his work and irresponsible in his actions. One can believe that his irrational behavior and fear was routed within his youth.
7. Mary Shelley introduces Victor Frankenstein’s past and background to give the story depth and feeling. One can only fully sympathize and see why he acts how he does after realizing he has created an abomination.
8. In chapter IV when the monster was created Marcy Shelley focus’s on Frankenstein’s worry and uneasy conscience. It was also moderately focused on the creation of the monster.
9. To the scientist it was much more of the pursuit and the process of creating the monster rather then the end result. This is why he worked so diligently and basically abandoned the monster after it was created. Not only was it not what he intended it to be, but also his hard work was done and there was now a void which the delirious work filled.
10. The meeting between the monster and his creator is very monumental because, it zeros in the major themes of the novel. The monster accuses him of abandonment and irresponsibility.
11. The monster’s natural instincts are of kindness and love. He values acceptance and responsibility. He is educated by the experiences as he journeys for acceptances and friends.
12. The creature concludes that the only way to finally be satisfied is by finding acceptance. In addition to his he knows that that normal human being will not acceptances and believes that he needs a companion of his own species and “soul.”
13. His argument is reasonable because, the feeling of wanting companionship is very understandable. In his current state he is a lonely and tormented soul. Wanted to end such sadness is very reasonable.
14. Victor’s simply stops his efforts to create a bride for the monster because, he realizes that the monster is already too emotionally damaged and that no companion would be able to repair him.
15. Frankenstein and the monster begin to have striking resemblance in nature. They are both rejected by the customary society that surrounds them.
16. The scenes are necessary in expressing what Mary Shelly was trying to portray. Furthermore they help express the alienation that the scientist and monster’s receive.
17. Frankenstein’s last words are monumental because, they express his defeat and inability to play god. The monster’s final words express his that his ever long suffering is coming to an end.
18. The novel’s protagonist is Victor Frankenstein is his pursuit to create life and better society. The antagonist is the monster for his consistent hatred for Victor. The hero is Walter because he is the one that answers too both Frankenstein and the monster’s call for a companion.
19. Both are correct because, both of the characters are worthy of sympathy.
20.A daemon is much more a significant figure of evil while, a demon is a merely a servant of the most powerful evil. Mary Shelly uses to use the former rather then the latter because it is more evasive.
21. A monster is a person who excites horror by wickedness and cruelty.
1. Prometheus was a titan that stole fire from the gods for humanity. Frankenstein subtitled “the modern Prometheus” because; much like Prometheus Dr. Frankenstein has pursued godlike ability.
2. The novel initially takes place on a boat and through the perspective of Captain Walton to allow the reader to watch Victor Frankenstein and see him outer perspective. This allows them to analyze his features before they peer into his mind. Mary Shelley chooses this setting to show how all of humanity is in constant pursuit of their dreams.
3. Mary Shelley employs many various narrative frames to allow the reader to see all essential perspectives. Thus, adding depth needed to tell the story.
4. Robert Walton is very much like Victor Frankenstein he is ambitious and tentative. They are both explorers of the unknown. He functions as the more practical and realistic version of Frankenstein.
5. The letters accomplishes the mood and sets us up for Walton’s tale. His letters prepare us for the gruesome and frightening tale of his friend, Victor Frankenstein’s.
6. Victor Frankenstein is a brave explorer that was very passionate in his work and irresponsible in his actions. One can believe that his irrational behavior and fear was routed within his youth.
7. Mary Shelley introduces Victor Frankenstein’s past and background to give the story depth and feeling. One can only fully sympathize and see why he acts how he does after realizing he has created an abomination.
8. In chapter IV when the monster was created Marcy Shelley focus’s on Frankenstein’s worry and uneasy conscience. It was also moderately focused on the creation of the monster.
9. To the scientist it was much more of the pursuit and the process of creating the monster rather then the end result. This is why he worked so diligently and basically abandoned the monster after it was created. Not only was it not what he intended it to be, but also his hard work was done and there was now a void which the delirious work filled.
10. The meeting between the monster and his creator is very monumental because, it zeros in the major themes of the novel. The monster accuses him of abandonment and irresponsibility.
11. The monster’s natural instincts are of kindness and love. He values acceptance and responsibility. He is educated by the experiences as he journeys for acceptances and friends.
12. The creature concludes that the only way to finally be satisfied is by finding acceptance. In addition to his he knows that that normal human being will not acceptances and believes that he needs a companion of his own species and “soul.”
13. His argument is reasonable because, the feeling of wanting companionship is very understandable. In his current state he is a lonely and tormented soul. Wanted to end such sadness is very reasonable.
14. Victor’s simply stops his efforts to create a bride for the monster because, he realizes that the monster is already too emotionally damaged and that no companion would be able to repair him.
15. Frankenstein and the monster begin to have striking resemblance in nature. They are both rejected by the customary society that surrounds them.
16. The scenes are necessary in expressing what Mary Shelly was trying to portray. Furthermore they help express the alienation that the scientist and monster’s receive.
17. Frankenstein’s last words are monumental because, they express his defeat and inability to play god. The monster’s final words express his that his ever long suffering is coming to an end.
18. The novel’s protagonist is Victor Frankenstein is his pursuit to create life and better society. The antagonist is the monster for his consistent hatred for Victor. The hero is Walter because he is the one that answers too both Frankenstein and the monster’s call for a companion.
19. Both are correct because, both of the characters are worthy of sympathy.
20.A daemon is much more a significant figure of evil while, a demon is a merely a servant of the most powerful evil. Mary Shelly uses to use the former rather then the latter because it is more evasive.
21. A monster is a person who excites horror by wickedness and cruelty.

 
At 10:03 PM, Blogger Ryan Maxwell said...

R. Maxwell P.3

1. Prometheus was an ancient God. He was punished by Zeus for helping the Humans by giving them fire, and many arts necessary for survival. The novel is subtitled "The Modern Prometheus" because they both are responsible for the bringing about of man in a modern sense in each of their prospective times.

2. The novel is initially set aboard a ship because it creates a parallel in the story. Walton's quest for glory in the North Pole parallels Victors quest for glory in creating man. Another famous work I can think of aboard a ship is Moby Dick. She chose to use that particular setting in order to parallel the ambitions of both Walton and Victor, but her selection of the North Pole also plays a role. His ship is held for days in the ice, just as Victors mental state is held in a state of guilt and depression throughout the novel. There is also a feeling of isolation aboard a ship, which both Frankenstein and his monster feel strongly.

3. Two of the various narrative frames Shelley uses are letter form and straight foward narration. The former serves to provide present thought on the subject at hand while the later allows for reflection on past events and allows for this to be apparent in the narration. She does this to present differing points of view, both in first person from various characters and various perspectives within each character.

4. Walton is a noble, intelligent man. He serves a small thematic function in the novel and is used largely as a storyteller.

5. Walton's letters only prepare us for the tale in so far as we are expectant of a fanciful tale. This is more true when the novel was published because the North Pole was undiscovered terrain at that time, as was bodily resurrection.

6. At the beginning Victor appears to value family. This erodes after he lets Justine become executed and doesn't come foward with the true culprit for fear of being deemed insane. He appears to be self motivated, yet doesn't take full responsibility for his actions. He is motivated by his own ambitions and the appeal of discovery. His moral standards are not clearly demonstrated in the novel.

7. Mary Shelley devotes much space to Victor's childhood environment and his education because this sets the platform upon which the story will be built. It shows his initial fascination with the sciences, specifically alchemy. It then shows how this evolved into an interest in chemistry. His early childhood also helps the reader understand the strength of his relationships with the victims of the monster.

8. The focus in this section seems to be Victor's disgust of the creature. He leaves it for his bed room and wonders what exactly he has done. The is also a focus on Elizabeth, and the scene foreshadows her death at the hand of the monster.

9. Victor works so diligently to bring the monster to life in order to realize his ambition and proffer an appropriate end to his years of incessant study. Once he has achieved this he is finally to look back upon what he has created and response with disgust. I cannot think of anywhere else this has occurred.

10. This setting is appropriate because is it on a bed of ice. This is the same place that the tale will come to fruition, both the monster and Victor will perish upon ice. The monster accuses Victor of being a cause of his loneliness, which is why he kills. He then implores him to create a wife for him.

11. They reveal that he has a natural instinct toward killing, but also a natural instinct toward empathy. This is shown when he stops stealing the DeLacey's food and forcing them farther into poverty. The creatures education consists simply of observing the DeLaceys and the few books he stumbles across.

12. He finally decides that get revenge on all of humanity, but foremost Victor. He does this because of the way he's been treated by humans and Victor in particular.

13. The monsters argument is that the he kills because he is lonely. Therefore, it is the creators responsibility to create a mate for him in order to tame him and remove from him his murderous instinct. It is a reasonable argument because it would provide for a better future for the creature and help prevent future killings.

14. Victor stops making a bride for the monster because he is horrified of creating another one. He imagines that the monsters might not go into hiding or that they will bear offspring, thus multiplying his grievous mistake.

15. Another way in which Victor and his creature are similar is that they are both starting to harbor a feeling of hate and revenge toward each other. I have also seen similar parallels in Moby Dick. The formal name for this device is "Parallel."

16. We are not getting into a different novel than we were led to suspect during the chase scenes. They plot takes a more detective story sort of twist but maintains the same basic themes throughout.

17. Both Frankenstein's and his creatures words have some significance. They help allude to the novels ultimate end and give insight into prior motivations.

18. The novel's protagonist is Victor because he tries to eliminate the murderous monster he mistakenly created. The antagonist is the creature, for he is a murderer. There is no hero, for both the protagonist and the antagonist mutually perish.

19. Both are right and the readers sympathies can lie with either Victor or his creature. Both sides are given within each one's respective discourse.

20. The difference between daemon and demon is one between good and evil. A daemon is often malevolent whereas a demon is pure evil. Shelley used the former word in order to not present an aura of pure evil around any character, part of the same reason why she used various narration frames.

21. A monster is something abhorrent in the eyes of God.

 
At 10:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Frankenstein

By

Mary Shelley


1. Prometheus was the titan who joined Zeus in order to further human progress by teaching humans new skills such as art and creating fire. Like Prometheus, Frankenstein attempted to further human progress by trying to create human life in a new way.

2. The voyage is intending on reaching new and different land, which is similar to Frankenstein’s journey in reaching a new level of science since both journeys are attempting to reach new and different territory. This gives the reader an analogy in understanding Frankenstein since the analogy shows how Frankenstein continues his research in order to find something new like a voyage on the sea. People continue their voyage in order to find something new.

3. Mary Shelley uses different frames of narration in order to give a broader perspective on understanding the novel. For example, we begin with the frame of Walton who shows us a young a man in search of something different. This symbolizes a young Frankenstein who craves for something new. Then, we are shifted to the frame of Victor Frankenstein who shows how tragedy can befall when trying to find something new. The story shifts again to the frame of the monster in order to refortify the tragedy. Through these frames, we gain a perspective on the story. Frankenstein began as an innocent man trying to cross the boundaries of science to find something new but fails and creates a monster who is unable to blend in with human society.

4. Walton is similar to Frankenstein since he craves for something new. Walton also serves the thematic function of showing the pursuit for the unknown since he is trying to find something new and different.

5. The letters give us a sense on how we should react to Frankenstein’s story. The letters are alluding to a young Frankenstein’s feelings in his pursuit. By reading these letters, we understand how Frankenstein was only trying to quench his desires to find something new and different. We see this through the eyes of Walton who is in the same position. Therefore, we react with a feeling of pity for Frankenstein since we understand that his attempts in reaching the unknown failed. I cannot comment about the brackets since I do not have access to that version of the novel.

6. Victor Frankenstein values his goal in trying to find a new level of science. His obsession with this goal continually motivates him in the direction to achieving it. Victor’s moral standards are never giving in, valuing people, and taking responsibility. Victor never gives in by continuing his research. He always valued people since he noticed that they were in jeopardy when the monster stated that he would gain revenge on humans. When Victor realized that his creation was a failure, he attempted to take responsibility for his actions by destroying his creation.

7. A novel has always taken a more in depth approach to the characters. In film, people have always expected to see action and movement. They do not have time to see the background of the characters to understand them. They want to see the essence of the story, which is the birth of Frankenstein. In novels, the stories are usually more about the characters. Therefore, time is taken to analyze and understand the characters. Mary Shelley probably took a traditional route in creating her novel and wanted to explain Frankenstein’s life in order to give a better understanding of Frankenstein’s persona.

8. The focus of this chapter is on the reaction that Victor Frankenstein has towards the creature. After seeing his final creation, Victor realizes the monstrosity that he has created and reacts terribly to it. For example, Victor states, “… the beauty of the dream vanished…” (Pg. 55) By stating these words, he is describing that there is no beauty in what he created. Victor created a monster.

9. Victor most likely had a different idea when he was in the process of creating his masterpiece. When he finally completed his project, he did not reach his desired goal and created something terrible instead. Mary Shelley is working with a common pattern here. In fact, it is common in reality. The pattern is when you try to create something new the desired results are different from what you had in mind. For example, I try to make a cake, but the problem is that I have never made a cake before. I try to make it. When I finally finish creating the cake, I am disappointed to find that the finished product is not what I had in mind. Like Victor, he has never created life in such a manner before. He might have had an idea; the idea, nevertheless, is not guaranteed. Victor has never implemented his idea before.

10. This setting is appropriate since it is connected with nature and creation. Frankenstein tried to emulate nature’s ability to create and failed. Therefore, this setting is appropriate since it reminds Frankenstein of his failure. The monster blames Frankenstein for his inability to be accepted into society.

11. The creature’s natural instincts consist of learning and experimenting. This is why he was able to create fire and learn how to maintain it by using wood. The monster values learning and gains pleasure from it. By learning so much, he begins to become very eloquent and learns of the history of those he observes. He also reads certain novels such as Paradise Lost, which provides even more knowledge.

12. The monster comes to the conclusion that he must take his revenge against all humans and his creator since he was not accepted by the humans or created to be accepted by humans through his creator.

13. The argument offered by the creature is that he will no longer kill anyone if he is given a mate, and he was only evil as a result of his creator’s actions. Both of these arguments are valid. The former is valid since it will ensure that the creature will no longer hurt any innocents if he is given a mate. The latter is justified. The creator is responsible for his creation’s evil actions. The creator should have taken responsibility for his own actions and helped his creation, which would have prevented any deaths or suffering done to or by his creation.

14. Victor discontinues his work in creating a bride since he realizes the consequences. His creations might conceive children creating more “devils” according to Frankenstein. Therefore, the world would be unsafe from these monsters.

15. Victor and the creature begin to be similar in their intellect. Both show that they are highly eloquent and developed in their opinions. They also both show a need for companion. As the monster stated that Frankenstein created the monster in order to find a companion. Now, the creature wants a companion making him similar to his creator. The parallel type of device is used elsewhere. In the Neverending Story, the main protagonist begins to become similar to the adventurer Atreyu who is trying to save Fantastica. When the main protagonist enters Fantastica, he begins to wish that he is more athletic and begins to shape himself to become similar to the adventurer. This device is called a parallelism.

16. We are not getting into a different novel. We are still in the same novel. The plot only evolved to express the hardships that Frankenstein went through to chase his adversary. Since there were so many hardships, the novel condensed these hardships in order to keep it short.

17. They are significant since they prove one of the themes of the story that ambition can be anyone’s downfall. Because of Frankenstein’s ambition, he was left with nothing and another failure, the failure to destroy his own creation. The final words of the creature are also significant since they leave us with a thought: Is the creature the attacker or the victim? The novel shows the creature as the attacker, but in the end, it shows otherwise. The creature states, “My spirit will sleep in peace…” (Pg. 220) giving the readers the idea that the creature was tortured by his own existence.

18. The novel’s protagonist would be Victor Frankenstein. The novel revolves around Frankenstein and his work. The role of the antagonist is forced upon the creature. The creature is considered the enemy by the majority leaving him as the only antagonist. The hero would be Walton. Walton is the only individual who shows heroic qualities. He put his men’s safety over his ambition compared to Frankenstein who taunted the men on the ship for not following their ambition

19. Both can be considered correct. Victor Frankenstein failed to attain his goals in creating his own idea of life. The creature came into his existence unwillingly. Therefore, both characters can be considered victims.

20. A daemon is defined as a subordinate deity. A demon is defined as an evil spirit. Mary Shelly might use daemon since she would be implying that Frankenstein views his creation as a higher being. In fact, the creature has abilities that surpass the abilities of man. For example, the creature was able to become very eloquent in a short amount of time. The creature was also able to create fire and use logic in order to understand the way that fire works without having any knowledge whatsoever regarding fire.

21. A monster is something that invokes terror in people. A monster is something that people do not understand and do not accept. They fear a monster.

 
At 10:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Avery williams
period 3

1.The story of Prometheus is a Greek legend in which the god, Prometheus steals fire from the gods and gives it to humans for their advancement. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a modern twist to the destruction that scientist try to avoid and the genius and artist that try to achieve them of knowledge and ethnical boundaries. It highlights the threat and lure of technology.
2. Why is the novel initially set aboard a ship? Can you think of any other famous works which are set aboard ships? Why did Mary Shelley choose to use that particular setting here? Does it mean anything beyond the immediately apparent physical setting?
The ship is symbolize of nature and how it can not be conquered, this is supported and shown as the ship is trapped by an unmovable glacier which sets the story for the introduction of the main character, Victor Frankenstein. Others novels such as Moby Dick and
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?
The frame narrative is defined as the result of inserting one or more small stories within the body of a larger story that encompasses the smaller ones. This is expressed in Mary Shelley’s works of Frankenstein in the very first pages. The book begins with the captain of a ship, Robert Walton who is stranded on an expedition to the North Pole. This story adds to the flavor of the book, as it is Victors account of the story told to the sea captain opposed to a person’s report of events and murders tied to the monster and it is not the monster account of the story. There is also the background of Victors passed. His early childhood helps the reader to fully understand his reason for the creation of the monster and his urge to achieve such a controversial “thing”
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?
Walton is a very compassionate person who attempts to save and console the weak and emancipated Frankenstein. His letters not only serve the purpose of telling the story but also his character has parallels to Victor Frankenstein. Like Victor, Walton is an explorer, chasing after that “country of eternal light”—unpossessed knowledge. Victor’s influence on him is paradoxical: one moment he exhorts Walton’s almost-mutinous men to stay the path courageously, regardless of danger; the next, he serves as an abject example of the dangers of heedless scientific ambition. In his ultimate decision to terminate his treacherous pursuit, Walton serves as a foil (someone whose traits or actions contrast with, and thereby highlight, those of another character) to Victor, either not obsessive enough to risk almost-certain death or not courageous enough to allow his passion to drive him.
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? Note that in the 1818 edition the letters (pp. 269-87) [pp. 815-23] appear before the headline announcing "Chapter 1" (p. 289) [p. 823]. What is the effect of thus "bracketing" the letters?
It is my believe that the letters were placed before the novel in a kind of an abnormal and fresh way to provide the reader a sense that it was a preface to the novel. And it is true. The letters begin the book and provide a background to the setting. They also conclude the novel. Perhaps they were bracketed to separate and clarify the story as the real story of Frankenstein begins in chapter 1.
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"?
Value: Most importantly I believe family is his highest value. He seeks advice from them and it is his family who was really behind his intelligential passion and desire for a higher understanding and education through there lassie-faire upbringing.
Motive: It is apparent the Victors desire to create and learn more of the secret of life stems for knowledge itself. As a boy he is an eager student and through college it is apparent that he had incredible drive that later enables him to achieve something so grand and horrific as the monster.
Moral standards: Victors lack of humanness is ultimately what dooms him and his monumentous achievement. His desire to attain the god like power to create life or his abandonment of the monster outlines his consequence decision thoughtout the book. He cuts himself off from the world and eventually commits himself entirely to an animalistic obsession with revenging himself upon the monster.

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? See (pp.295) [pp. 824ff.], for instance. Why do we need this stuff, anyway?
The first impressions that we are given of the young Victor and his childhood environment is crucial to our understanding and impression of the “mad” scientist and his desire as a man to create life. This lapse in the story at times may seem superficial but unlike the Hollywood edition books achieve a deeper analysis and personal relation to the audience and this is due to the rich context of the first three chapters.
8. Volume I, Chapter iv (Chapter 5): the Creature is created. Where is the focus in this section? On the process of creation? On the Creature? Somewhere else? I think that chapter five deals with a more underling issues as opposed to simply the creature or its creation. In this chapter Victor first discovers his realistic and horrific action and what the consequences of them are. He tries to forget and returns to his bedroom falling into an fitful slept. When is he awoken by the monster smiling down on he adamantly abandoned it and seeks to rid himself of this creature that has only come to be by his actions. In essence it focuses more on the creature.
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?
A Frankenstein motif in which a created being turns upon its creator in what seems to be an inevitable fashion. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstien Victor Frankenstein stitches together the body parts of condemned criminals and then reanimates the resulting patchwork creature using electricity. However, the motif itself dates back much earlier to medieval legends of the Golem, an animated clay figure controlled by Hebrew kabbalists. The Frankenstein motif warns against hubris in human creators. This admonishment occasionally appears in thoughtful science fiction exploring the ethical responsibility of creating new life, but it even more frequently appears in anti-intellectual diatribes against knowledge "mankind was not meant to know." In the later case, the Frankenstein motif expresses general anxieties about the rapidity of technological change. Examples of the Frankenstein motif appear in H. G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau, Crichton's Jurassic Park, and Greg Bear's novella Blood Music.
10. Chapters II, ii through II, ix (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 {see (pp. 363-66) [pp. 857-60], for instance}. Of what does the Creature accuse Victor?
In an attempt to ease his suffering and tormented conscience Victors travels to the mountains to absorb all of natures beauty and power. This setting is ironic as it is nature that threatens and prove the hideous crimes committed by not only the monster but his creator. “Like Adam,” he says, “I was created apparently united by no link to any other being in existence,” but “many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me.” Scolded like Adam and cursed like Satan, the monster is painfully aware of his creator’s utter disdain for him. The monster accuses VIcter of abandoneing something that was unable to control it prejudice hate due to the appearance that Victor gave him.
11. What do pages (367-402) [860-79] (Chapters II, iii - II, vii; 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?
The monster learn certain mannerism and habits of the humans that’s he watches. After fleeing from Victors apartment he learns about fire (parallels to Prometheus) and it ability to provide warmth and cook food but at the same time it is a dangerous and can inflict pain when touched. He learns langue simply by observing the peasants in the cottage. He also begins to understand loneness and emotions. While living in the small hut the monster discover books and journal entries and teaches himself to read.
12. Volume II, Chapter viii (Chapter 16): What does the Creature finally decide he must do, and why?
The monster’s heart has been broken by his inability to form a relationship with anyone and there treatment to the monster due to his hideous appearance. It is beyond his control and the person that the monster feels responsible is his creator Victor Frankenstein. In the wake of this rejection, the monster swears to revenge himself against all human beings, his creator in particular. Journeying for months out of sight of others, he makes his way toward Geneva.
13. Volume II, Chapter ix: (Chapter 17): (pp. 412-15) [pp. 883-85]: What argument does the Creature offer in support of his demand? Why? Is it a reasonable argument?
The monster argues that a spouse should be created to fill the void in the monster’s heart and existence. Not even Victor will provide the monster companionship that he seeks so dearly. The monster tries to make Victor realize what he has created and the problems that have arisen due to his abandonment. “Unfeeling, heartless creator! You had endowed me with perceptions and passions, and then cast me abroad an object for the scorn and horror of mankind”. Also the monster argues that with a companion his urge to destroy life will vanish as he acts out due to his desperate loneliness.
14. Volume III, Chapter iii (Chapter 20) (pp. 435 ff.) [pp. 895 ff.]: Why does Victor Frankenstein decide to discontinue his efforts to create a "bride" for the Creature?
Victor is unable to continue with the animation of Frankenstein “bride” because he can not bear the responsibility of the actions it might take. While the project consumes him he ponders on the consequence of creating another monster. He imagines that his new creature might not want to seclude herself, as the monster had promised, or that the two creatures might have children, creating “a race of devils . . . on the earth.”
16. Book III, Chapter vii (Chapter 24): Note the surrealistic environment of the "chase" scenes. Are we getting into a different sort of novel than we were originally led to expect? If so, what is the nature of the difference?
It seems obscure to have Frankenstein create such a hideous beast and run away from it abandoning it and letting lose on civilization and then go chasing it miles and miles from home. Victors obsession with the beast leads to his downside and an ultimately kills him.
17. (Pp. 484-85, 490-91) [pp. 920, 923-24]: Victor Frankenstein's final words--any significance? What about the Creature's final words (pp. 492-97) [pp. 925-27]?
That he should live to be an instrument of mischief disturbs me; in other respects, this hour, when I momentarily expect my release, is the only happy one which I have enjoyed for several years. The forms of the beloved dead flit before me and I hasten to their arms. Farewell, Walton! Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries. Yet why do I say this? I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed. "Victor Frankenstein bid farewell to life in a sad and solemn moment. He still feels the quilt of his creation and that crimes that have happened as a result of his action and decision to create such a monster.
"I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly, and exult in the agony of the torturing flames. The light of that conflagration will fade away; my ashes will be swept into the sea by the winds. My spirit will sleep in peace; or if it thinks, it will not surely think thus. Farewell." . The monster begins to tell him of all his sufferings. He says that he deeply regrets having become an instrument of evil and that, with his creator dead, he is ready to die. He leaves the ship and departs into the darkness.
The beast informs the captain of all his suffering and hardships sense being created. He feels much regret and sorrow and blames himself for his creators death as he became an instrument of evil and had committed hideous crimes and became the monster civilization had feared. He realizes that it is his time to die and he jumps out of the boat and disappears off the ice.

 
At 11:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

C. Leon

Frankenstein
Discussion Questions


1. Who was Prometheus? Why is the novel subtitled "the Modern Prometheus"
Prometheus was in Greek Mythology, a Titan. He stole fire from the gods and gave it to the humans. Zeus punished him by tying him to a rock where an eagle would tear at his liver until he was rescued by Hercules. He was said to have shaped humans out of clay and create life. Frankenstein could be subtitle “the Modern Prometheus” because Victor too created life out of something dead.

2. Why is the novel initially set aboard a ship? Can you think of any other famous works which are set aboard ships? Why did Mary Shelley choose to use that particular setting here? Does it mean anything beyond the immediately apparent physical setting?
The novel could be set aboard ship to make the reader ask that very same question. While beginning to read a thriller or a horror story, the reader might be intrigued to know how a story about a monter started off/ ended up on a ship. Moby Dick is a classic novel set aboard a ship and the symbolism in that story could be carried over into this classic.

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?
He is largely included as the “storyteller”. However in the end, he is the only one to not on impulse attempt to kill the creature so we get more of an attachment to his character.

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? Note that in the 1818 edition the letters (pp. 269-87) [pp. 815-23] appear before the headline announcing "Chapter 1" (p. 289) [p. 823]. What is the effect of thus "bracketing" the letters?
Walton’s letters had to be bracketed to show that they were separate from the letters of Victor and Elizabeth.

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"?
Frankenstein was driven by his own motivation to be a god himself. He wanted to create life out of something dead. He valued his work. He would stop at nothing until it was complete and he had finished.

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? See (pp.295) [pp. 824ff.], for instance. Why do we need this stuff, anyway?
We need to know “this stuff” so we can get more of a background on such a confused and complex man. We need to know what might have driven him to want to create a new life form.

8. Volume I, Chapter iv (Chapter 5): the Creature is created. Where is the focus in this section? On the process of creation? On the Creature? Somewhere else?
The main focus in this section of the novel is on Frankenstein’s reaction to the creature. He is horrified at his own creation once it has life and falls ill.

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?
Victor becomes obsessed in the previous chapters and loses almost all social contact. He became lonely and sick and once the creature had life he almost regretted it. Shelley made the point that even when one wants something bad and is so driven toward a goal, the outcome may be not what was expected.

10. Chapters II, ii through II, ix (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 {see (pp. 363-66) [pp. 857-60], for instance}. Of what does the Creature accuse Victor?
Frankenstein decides to go to the summit of a mountain where he hopes to find clarity and peace in nature’s beauty. Instead he ironically finds his creation that had been there in solitude. The creature accuses Victor of creating a hideous beast who will always be rejected by humans.

11. What do pages (367-402) [860-79] (Chapters II, iii - II, vii; 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?
These chapters reveal the creature’s sensitivity and will to learn. He values the lessons he learns while eve’s dropping and desires a companion. He can now read, write, and speak English fluently and even learned some historical background.

12. Volume II, Chapter viii (Chapter 16): What does the Creature finally decide he must do, and why?
The creature had decided that he should make social contact with the humans. He decided to speak with the blind man first, knowing he could not judge him on looks, and hoping he would be able to convince the others of the creature’s situation and gentle nature.

13. Volume II, Chapter ix: (Chapter 17): (pp. 412-15) [pp. 883-85]: What argument does the Creature offer in support of his demand? Why? Is it a reasonable argument?
The Creature tells Victor that it is natural for every man to have a female companion and that Victor should make him one, seeing as he is rejected by all humans. He promises to go to South America and remain in hiding.

14. Volume III, Chapter iii (Chapter 20) (pp. 435 ff.) [pp. 895 ff.]: Why does Victor Frankenstein decide to discontinue his efforts to create a "bride" for the Creature?
He realizes how disastrous the outcome might be. The “bride” might not want to live a life of solitude as the creature had promised. If they had children it would create a life of “devils” on earth.

15. On (p. 439) [p. 897] we begin to see most clearly in Frankenstein's isolation from his fellow creatures a parallel to the Creature's own situation {see also (pp. 448, 456) [pp. 901-02, 905]}. 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? If so, where? Does the device have a formal name?
They both unwillingly become isolated and lonely.

16. Book III, Chapter vii (Chapter 24): Note the surrealistic environment of the "chase" scenes. Are we getting into a different sort of novel than we were originally led to expect? If so, what is the nature of the difference?


17. (Pp. 484-85, 490-91) [pp. 920, 923-24]: Victor Frankenstein's final words--any significance? What about the Creature's final words (pp. 492-97) [pp. 925-27]?
Victor’s last words were to the crew men, inspiring them to keep trying, and that what they were working toward was for a good cause. The Creature’s final words are that he did not mean to become something evil and that with his creator dead, he too was ready to die.

18. Who is the novel's protagonist? Antagonist? "Hero"?
Either of the two could be the protagonist or the antagonist. The reader feels sympathy for the creation because he didn’t ask to be created and did nothing wrong to begin with to be so rejected. However, situations could have been handled differently and he didn’t have to kill Victor’s wife and best friend. The readers also have sympathy for Victor because he had lost what really mattered the most in his life to his creation. Everything he had worked his whole life on and spent so much time obsessing over, turned out to be a disaster.

19. 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?
See above answer.

20. Most modern editions change Mary Shelley's spelling of an important word. Near the top of page 493 of the Penguin (Three Gothic Novels) edition and p. 925 of the Longman anthology edition are these words: "'And do you dream?' said the daemon." In many other editions (especially editions aimed at the "mass market" audience), the end of the line reads: "said the demon." What is the difference between daemon and demon, and can you see any reason why Mary Shelley used the former word in her own text, rather than the latter?
The term daemon defined is “a god or a subordinate deity, as the genius of a place or a person's attendant spirit.” And demon is “a person considered extremely wicked, evil, or cruel”. I think Shelley used the former word to make the point that while both definitions deal with spirits of higher power, she didn’t intend for the reader to think of an evil fiend when reading, but to think of someone intriguing/mistifying instead.

21. What is a "monster"?
A “monster”, defined by dictionary.com is “Any creature so ugly or monstrous as to frighten people. Any animal or human grotesquely deviating from the normal shape, behavior, or character. A person who excited horror by wickedness, cruelty, etc. Any animal or thing huge in size.” What Frankenstein created is concidered a “monster” by these definitions.

 
At 11:34 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

By: Jacqueline Johnston
1.Prometheus is the Titan who was known for stealing fire and giving it to the mortals so that they could use it. He was interested in and had sympathy for humanity. Frankstein could be labeled the “Modern Prometheus” because Victor Frankenstein gave life to a monster and was intellegent, like Prometheus gave human fire and was very smart. They both were interested in humanity, sciences and life/death.

2. The book is intially set aboard a ship because out on the sea theres no distractions there is nothing to do but tell stories and to remenese and to think about the past so it’s easy to share and tell life stories. It also is a clean setting nothing can really distract them or get in the way of the storytelling, this ithe main reason why Mary Shelley open the book on the sea. It also could be symbolic because Victor feels lost and doesn’t feel at home anywhere like sailors feel out to sea.

3. By having many frames it allows the reader to see or experience multiple view points and different perspectives on the situation. Like Walton first viewed Frankstein has one with nature, a person who respected the world and the things in it. While later on in a different frame and froma different perspective we see what Frankenstein thinks and feels. It also keeps the reader more interested because they don’t get bored from just one objectiv side.

4. Walton is a man who has a thirst for knowledg and adventure. He is a respectable man who cares about people and is interested in humanity, like how he was interested in Victor Frankenstein’s story and his charactaristics. He is in a way like Victor because they are both caring individuals who are interested in discoveries and they both have a thirst for knowledge. He is in a way like a parallel charactar to Frankenstein although they are different people.

5. Walton’s letters describe life on the sea as rough and scary with the ice. Then once they find Victor Frankenstein they describe him as a person who loves nature and people but is kind of distant and only attached to Walton. They make us feel a little sympathy for Frankenstein who claims he lost everything and his life became ruins. So throughout the novel we feel sympathy for Frankenstein even when he makes mistakes. Bracketing the letters make the letters seem more real and not just like another chapter or part of the book.


6. Victor Frankenstein started out being a respectable guy who loved his family very much and also had a thirst for learning especially in the field of sciences and humanity sciences. In college he really finds what he is most interested in and that is humanity and life and death. He then feels guilty for creating a monster however never confesses even when the monster he created kills innocent people even his own family. He goes from a overall good nature person to a person filled with guilt and has a life not worth living. He values his family and friends and life. What motivates him is the possibility of catching the monster and protecting more people. His moral standard is to help his family and friends and try to make himself feel less guilty.

7. Because Victor Frankenstein goes through major changes, it is very important for the reader to see Frankenstein as he was before he became the guilty self-hating man he became. It is also important that we understand Frankenstein’s education and why he became so interested in humanity, nature and philosophy. Frankenstein wasn’t the most well educated man and the majority of the time he self-taught himself until he went off to college. This stuff is all important because Vicotor Frankentein had method behind his madness, he grew up reading the out-dated books which caused him to be more naturalistic and more “one-with-the-earht”.


8. The focus seems to be more on Frankesntein’s emotions and how he didn’t know if what he created was right and that it may be a killer and he was installed with fear. There was a little focus on the process before chapter iv, and then there was even less focus on the actual monster, the main focused appeared to be on Victor Frankenstein and how he even feared this monster.

9. Frankenstein wanted to complete the project he started, it was his experiment, in the back of the mind he may have thought it would never work. Victor was a man always thirsting for knowledge and he was very creative, when the idea came into his mind to create a person it became his mission to see if it would actually work, which is why he spent two years trying to create it, he didn’t really think about the after effects. But once the monster was created he was scared of the affects and afraid that people would get him in trouble because he was messing with humans and the creation which interferes with religion, which is why he became so abhorrent when he succeeds. Like some authors who write under different names because they don’t want people to know it was actually them who created it, or because it is very controversial.
10. Victor Frankenstein and the monster met on the mountains, the ones that seperated Geneva and the place that he lived at. It is appropriate because it’s a placed filled with solitude and nature which is in a way how both the living-beings feel. A major theme that arrises is the theme of nature, this applies by how the monster starts from scratch as a new being and has to grow and how Victor a very humanistic man is messing with nature. The monster feels and felt abanadoned by Victor and felt loss, he was very upset because he was left to fend for himself.


11. We can tell that the monster is intially kind and a very kind spirited person, but once he was abandoned and shunned by his ugly appearance he felt horrible and had this urge to seek revenge on his creater which is why he kills Victor’s younger brother. What gives him pleasures seems to be company and he values companionship. He spies through the cottage at the humans and learns some mannerism but he does not have an education for he is not accepted by society.
12. After being shunned from the world and from society he decides to seek revenge he is filled with rage, he decides to use all of his time to make human life “hell” and pay them back. He especially wants revenge on Victor who ignored him and forced him to fend for himself.
13. The monster claims that no human would willingly be his companion or friend, his support for this demand is because Victor created him and brought him into this world so he should create a partner for him. He sort of played a guilt trip on Victor and also bribed him by saying he would leave and go live in South America with the lady and stop hurting and killint people. I feel it was reasobable, the monster was mentally destroyed and he was so low that he deserved something good in his life.
14. Victor second guessed himself beause he thought what if the creatures don’t get a long and what would happen if she is more evil than Frankenstein or if the two don’t get along, or if she doesn’t want to seclude herself with him. He fears that he will just make a bigger mess and that he doesn’t want another creature like the other creature around.
15. Victor and the Creature are strikingly similar because they both feel very isolated and have mixed emotions inside their head. Victor feels guilty for creating such a monster, and cannot stand facing society. Whereas the monster is forced to not face society because of his looks and barbarian ways. They are also similar because they are both stubborn and both strong-willed. This parallel device is also found in other books like There Eyes are Watching God.

16. The environment is different, it’s wet and cold and icy, its no longer sunny and life seems almost still. Like it’s just the two of them and the chase. We are getting into a different sort of novel its more adventerous and no longer so emotional it’s mainly a chase scene. The nature of the difference is its filled with deteremination like it’s Victor’s last shot at keeping a little dignity.
17. His final words are that he gives up and that he has been trampled on and treated awful, he is filled with guilt and feels that he has lost everything, and his life is worthless. The monster however feels that he was in the right all along and after his death he will be treated right and be respected for his noble life.
18. I don’t feel there are any of these. There is just a bunch of mistakes and confusion, it’s pretty much a cause and effect type of book. Because Frankenstein wanted to “be” God and create human life he created a monster which had a mind of it’s own and was emotional which lead to more tragic events. Threfore there is not protagonist, antagonist, villian or hero.
19. I feel that both can be right but when I read the book I felt more sympathy for the monster because he was brought to life, abondoned by his creater and shunned from everybody around him, nothing seemed to be his fault until he turned towards anger and rage. Victor chose to ignore this create and not be responsible, although, Victor wasn’t a bad person he was just a normal human who made a huge mistake.
20. Because it makes her writing seem more formal and more ellegant. Her writing was not straight forward however it wasn’t difficult to read. Her writing made her sound well educated and like a very literate person. It was her writing of her era and it worked very well.
21. A monster is a creature who is not human, they do not fit in with society and in this book is man made. A monster is not given a name in this book and this creature scares people and nobody wants to be friends with it.

 
At 12:32 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hkeenawinna
Period 3

1. Prometheus was a titan that stole fire from the gods and gave it to the people. This novel might be thought of as a “Modern Prometheus” because Frankenstein did do something that only a god can do, he made life(out of human corpses). With this kind of power, he could bring any of the dead to life, a loved one or a great leader.
2.The novel might have been set on the ship because it might have been hinting at the fact that he was going on an adventure in a vast open space. Anything can happen. Moby dick was a book set aboard a ship. Mary might have been insistent on showing the works of god; the ocean is a mighty thing and can bring about the destruction of the ship.
3. It isn’t only about the monster, but about the people who surround the monster. Mary might want the audience to view everyone’s character. Why they act the way they do. Perhaps even get closer to the character, feel for the character.
4. Walton seems to be an easygoing man who saves Victor. He’s the audience to whom Victor is speaking to; he is how the audience gets the story. He tells all of these stories to his sister. Without him, I don’t think that Victor Frankenstein would have had his catharsis.
5. Walton tells his sister that he has no friends and that he cannot help but feel as if he will have all of his energy trying to make himself feel better as well as the rest. When he sees Victor, he sets the audience up for a story, a mystery because there was another man whom they had seen before and he must have something to do with Victor’s story. The effect gives the audience something to look forward to, wanting to know why and how victor came to be stranded.

6. Victor Frankenstein was a eager young man who was interested in things of a different nature or science. He wants to create something that will change science or give something good to science. He seems almost god-like when he does create the monster, he creates life. He doesn’t seem human or have any human emotions but he does have a goal and that is to improve science.
7. The audience needs to know how he came about the interest of science and his ideas. This man wasn’t just given a goal, he had to have had motivation to achieve the goal. He had to have a motivation to be what he wanted to be. That is why we need those chapters, we also have to be introduced to the characters in the novel. We want to see how much these characters means to Victor Frankenstein.

8. The focus of this chapter is to get the reader to see the horror of the doctor. We see him realize the consequneces of creating the monster. It’s a scary to behold that kind of power, and when he finally sees the monster, he sees the truth and the knowledge. What kind of knowledge is right to have, and what knowledge can produce danger and tragic consequences.
9. It’s the idea of doing something no one has done, something that he has the chance of acomplishing. That was the motivation with which he was working so hard, and after all that work, he had made the monster but it was a horrifying creature. It didn’t mirror the same type of image that he had in his head. It was supposed to be perfect. Once in my life, I possibly might have thought it would end somewhat different than how I’d planned it.
10. The setting is a cold place but he makes it seem as if the cold place is actually hiding the warmth within. It seems intimate in the sense that the monster lets Victor see that he has learned how to be human without him and he has human emotion. The creature accuses Victor of abandonment and of dong things which were never meant to be done. He also believes that he made him a monster even before he knew he was one.
11. The creature is obviously am intelligent creature, it absorbs things very easily. He wants to learn new things. He finds that once he understands things, he can seem more human. He starts learning of human emotion, he values loyalty and family. He comes to think of the DeLaceys as family almost, knowing things about them, he evens tries to get closer to them but that fails because of his physical features.
12. He wants to find Victor and get his revenge, and along the way he sees ways to get back at the human race for what they refuse to see, because they refuse to see him, besides that he looks like a monster. He then realizes and wants a female to join him so that he is not alone.
13. The monster says that all he has done, all the hatred that he feels is a result of him being isolated, of him being the only one of his kind. He is not human to the humans, he is a monster and if he has another like himself, he might feel something that can sustain him. Someone that can control him. Loneliness is what makes him feel like a monster. It is a reasonable argument, to be the only one whom everyone dislikes. If he has someone like him, then they can share each other’s failures and successes, they wouldn’t be lonely.
14. Victor is afraid that by creating another creature like the monster, he would be creating another thing that he cannot control. He would be producing another monster that may not want to stay away from people, in fact may even become more violent and hurt children. He also believes that they could make children who might even cause greater damage to others. He would be responsible for all of that.
15. Frankenstein starts to feel the guilt descend on him, he knows that he cannot share this secret with anyone; he might even be going crazy. He isolates himself but by doing that, his family and friends get concerned, and might think that he has gone off the deep end. He seems similar to the monster because they are both hiding themselves, because they both bear a secret. Victor created a monster and the monster would prove to everyone that he has been killing people. It might be in Moby Dick, where Ahab believes himself to be god and thinks that he is equal to that of the white whale.
16. It almost seems as if there wasn’t a chase scene at all, Frankenstein gave up a lone time ago, he wanted revenge but the monster was provoking him and knew that he would follow the monster till the death. We might be disappointed because we want some kind of revenge or absolution from Victor but we are faced with the realization that we might not be looking for the true person beneath.
17. Victor might have had a few words to say of life and of what is important but the monster, even though Victor said that the monster was evil, the monster said that revenge did not get him his satisfaction, he was still unhappy. He was human but no one believed him to be that. He cries for Victor because he realizes that no matter what he got from him, Victor would never have been happy. He caused Victor’s unhappiness. He wanted to be accepted.
18.The protagonist is Frankenstein, it is a tale of his success and how it became his downfall. The antagonist was himself, he argued with himself. He didn’t know weather to love his work or despise it for how awful and horrendous it was. I don’t believe there is a hero.
19. I believe that Allan Rodway is right because I think that Victor was the one who suffered a mental and physical problems. He lost everything over his passions and goals. He wanted to be God, and he failed because he realized that he never can be that person. He had to suffer the consequences and the guilt of all that the monster did. He also had to go through the fact that he made the monster’s life miserable, his “child” was never accepted and he was the cause of that.
20. Daemon is “a subordinate deity, as the genius of a place or a person's attendant spirit.” and a demon is “a person considered extremely wicked, evil, or cruel” according to the dictionary. These two things are considered to be the same but a daemon seems to have the presence of something good, it was there for a reason, maybe to balance out something while a demon is something to be feared, something evil. Mary Shelley might have used Daemon to show that he wasn’t evil, he was meant for something, he was to show something to people, a deity. You could almost look up to him.
21. A monster is something that causes fear in others, something that is foreign that no one understands. A monster could be what people don’t understand, and because they don’t understand it, they fear it. A monster instills fear because it is unknown. IT could also be someone who excites horror by wickedness or cruelty.

 
At 1:30 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ParsonsS

1. The novel is subtitled as the “Modern Prometheus” because the characters parallel. Both Prometheus and the Monster in Frankenstein feel trapped. They are both tortured and ostracized because their actions do not seem beneficial to the people around them.

2. The novel is initially set aboard a ship because it sets the mood of novel to be one of adventure. It also introduces the reader to the feeling of uncertainty, because throughout the novel, Frankenstein and his monster both are very unsure of what will happen to them. Having the novel set on a ship emphasizes this feeling because the ocean is very vast and inconsistent. Another famous novel that was set on a ship is Moby Dick by Herman Melville.

3. The various narrative frames that Mary Shelley employs in the novel are the various stories within the story. These include Walton’s letters to his sister, and the story of Victor Frankenstein’s life being told to Walton. These various frames are to offer different perspectives on the events in the story. By having different people describe events to specific characters, the reader picks up on the parts that the different characters emphasize according to their biases.

4. Walton is a very lonely man. He mentions several times that his main goal in life is to find a true friend that he can put his trust in. It seems that he has gone through various hardships throughout his life that have caused him to lose his trust in people. I think that Walton mostly serves as a mechanical narrative device to help the reader better understand Frankenstein and his story.

5. Walton’s letters give us a feeling of isolation and loneliness, which is a great preface to the mood of Frankenstein’s story. Also, by putting brackets around the letters, it helped to tell the reader that the letters are an opening to the actual story of Frankenstein. This is to try to eliminate confusion of the reader when they read letters about a man on a ship that at first, appears to have no relation to Frankenstein whatsoever.

6. Victor Frankenstein is a very complex individual. He highly values his family, and has a great respect and admiration for nature and science. His fascination with the study of life and death bring out the more impulsive and obsessive sides of him. Another very important component of Victor’s character are his moral standards. He seems to be lacking moral standards in his initial creation of his monster. This is because he doesn’t really think about the consequences of bringing a dead corpse back to life, and doesn’t consider whether or not he should have the power to commit such an act. However, as soon as the deed is done, Victor displays feelings of immense guilt and continues to be in turmoil for the rest of his life.

7. Having a solid background on Victor Frankenstein helps the reader understand why he is what he is. His strong family ties cause him to value his relationship with the greatly. Also, knowing about his education helps the reader to know why Frankenstein becomes interested in life and death, and how he learns the skills that are necessary to perform surgeries on human beings. With all of this knowledge, Frankenstein is able to create life from a dead corpse.

8. The focus in the section that the Creature is created is on Frankenstein’s emotional reaction and his realization of what he has done. He first is extremely happy that all of his hard work has come through and ended successfully. Immediately after this initial feeling of joy, Frankenstein feels guilt and morally conflicted for creating such a hideous creature. He also feels like he should not have created life from something that was meant to be dead. The awakening of the monster brings Frankenstein’s fears and issues to the surface.

9. Victor works so hard to bring the creature to life because it consumes him. The desire to master life and death becomes his whole reason for existence. This kind of blind passion causes him to work continually without thinking of the potential consequences of his actions. When he finally succeeds, he becomes overwhelmed and he is forced to be snapped back into reality where he has to face the fact that his creature may not be a positive addition to society.

10. Victor meets his creature in the middle of an icy cave. This cold and unforgiving environment helps to emulate how the creature felt when his own creator abandoned him. The major theme that is explored in this part of the story is that of parental responsibility. Victor created this horrible creature, but instead of caring for it, and teaching it how to live, as a parent should, he just abandoned it. The creature accuses Victor of creating him and then leaving him to fend for himself in a world where he is not understood and is hated for the way that he looks.

11. The creature has similar instincts to any average human. He longs for company, and to be understood. He wants to be accepted, and to be evaluated upon the person that he is underneath, not just his physical appearance. When he sees the DeLaceys and the way that they interact, he longs to be a part of a family like that. His education consists of his watching the DeLaceys communicate with each other as well as their foreign guest.

12. The monster finally decides that he must revenge himself against all human beings, especially his creator. He feels this way because of the rejection that he receives from the DeLaceys, and from the abandonment of Victor.

13. The Creature wants Victor to create him a mate. He tries to persuade Victor by using guilt, by saying that he is alone in the world because his appearance has forced him to avoid all human contact. He also insists that if he had a mate, he would be able to take her and go off into South America where no humans could bother them. This way, the creature could live a life of isolation from humans, without being so alone. A mate would provide him with someone to understand and accept him.

14. Victor decides to discontinue his efforts to create a “bride” for the creature for many reasons. First of all, he realizes that the female creature may not want to stay isolated. This would mean that Frankenstein unleashed two horrible creature upon mankind. He also began to worry that the two creatures would create an entire army of “demons”. This thought pushes Frankenstein over the edge, and he destroys his work in progress immediately.

15. Victor and the creature are similar because they both feel like they don’t have a place in society. Both of them feel rejected and unwanted, when all they really desire is a true friend. Both the creature and Victor are also very unbalanced. They overreact very easily, and act without thinking of the repercussions of their actions.

16. The chase scenes are written in that surrealistic manner in order to help the reader get a sense of what Frankenstein has become. His entire family has been brutally taken from him, and his work has become the one thing in his life that he despises the most. He only driving force keeping Frankenstein going is the idea of catching the monster and getting revenge for his family.

17. Victor Frankenstein’s last words are his declaration that he can’t die until he finds and destroys the creature that he created. Unfortunately, Frankenstein dies very soon after uttering this promise. The monster’s last words are what he says over the dead body of his creator: “But soon…Farewell,” (p. 213). Here the monster expresses sadness over his creators death, and he reflects further on his horrible actions, and why he has committed them.

18. The novel’s protagonist is Victor Frankenstein, and the antagonist is the creature. It can be argued that they both have elements of the other key character, but for the most part, they fit. In this story, I don’t think there is a hero. I think that both main characters in this story have many flaws, and both of them are far from being heroes.

19. I think that both characters can draw sympathy. It all depends on the perspective that you look at both characters from. Both of them are pathetic beings, each in their own ways.

20. I’m not really sure about the difference between the two words. The daemon version of the word may be an older spelling to try to emphasize the idea of classic demons, and very terrifying monsters. The modern editions most likely change it to demon to keep readers from getting too confused when reading the story.

21. A monster is a being that wreaks havoc upon all that it comes into contact with. Monsters strike absolute terror in the hearts of the people that it touches, or talks to, or involves in his actions. Monsters can mean various things to different people based on their personal fears and behaviors.

 
At 1:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

-E.Vivar
Period 3

1. Prometheus was mainly credited with creating in god like image, a man. He crafted a creature after the shape of the gods. Also, Prometheus came forward and declared that he knew how to heal Zeus after he suffered a headache. After hitting Zeus in the head with a rock, Athena came out and the headache disappeared. Overall, from Olympus to Earth, they ventured the Greek province and made clay figures that were made into life. The main reason for the title having the phrase, “ modern” , is due to the similar approach that Frankenstein deals with, which is creating human life such as Prometheus. They both thought they could create life, and they do, but Frankenstein goes the wrong way by creating uncivilized life.

2. The novel initially is set aboard the ship mainly as a time shift and what the future held. Whatever time it took to get there was all worth it. The sailing to uncharted territory would hold knowledge and discovery. That is what led Victor Frankenstein to believe the wait was worth it. The future, in this case, led to nothing but knowledge benefit to the human race. Moby Dick is also a famous work that is set aboard ships. The ship adds a sense of reality and excitement, not knowing what to expect, for what the voyage ahead will lead to.

3. Certainly various narrative frames are employed by Mary Shelly, which are evident in her novel. The frames give us different perspectives of the story, therefore giving us a better understanding. The letters that Walton writes to his sister is one frame. The other is Frankenstein’s story within a story. The last is the actual account of the story. By the frames, we get different views; therefore we begin developing certain feelings for certain characters.

4. Walton is a typical man in which we can closely relate to and get the story. The whole point of him telling the story is because Victor Frankenstein was that much of an amazing character. With Walton’s narrative prospective, which is a first hand account, the story becomes more real. With his point of view, we are able to connect to him and his descriptive detail, therefore he’s not simply a mechanical narrative device, and instead he adds more reality to the story.

5. The letters, overall, set a foundation for the story. We are able to see visually a precise description of Frankenstein and what he’s like. Walton’s similar ambition for discovery brings both together. Therefore, the letters bring a different perspective of the story, and Frankenstein’s side is also explored.

6. Victor Frankenstein initially values the ideals of exploration, gaining knowledge, discovery, invention, and family. What psychologically makes him up is the enlightment of the world itself. The opportunity for discovery also made him up. What motivated him at first was the anxiety of gaining new information, being up to date with everything. He was fascinated with learning more about creation and science. With this, it appeared that his moral standards at first were solid, but later noticing the wrong after his creation.



7. The childhood of Victor Frankenstein is key to the story. Mainly, by looking at his youth, we get a better understanding and a justification for his creation. Mary Shelly devotes so much space to his childhood to set a foundation for the outcome of the story. Therefore, when something happens later in the story, we have an understanding of why that happened tying it back to his adolesence. Also, by knowing so much of his upbringing, we can see how much a creation like that can affect someone despite their perfect childhood.

8. The focus in this chapter is a little bit of the creature but more on Victor’s mental condition. He comes across Henry and we see that Victor won’t reveal anything about the monster. He’s frightened by his creation and regrets creating havoc. The secrecy of the monster with Henry shows how he does not want to face knowing he succeeded but failed at the same time.

9. Victor doesn’t realize how horrible it was to create the monster until after he finished. The great obsession of creation completely prevented him from realizing the negatives of the experiment. Finally, after the monster was born he finally realized how completely oblivious to the world he was. There’s no prototype pattern, it’s just a logical outcome. Hamlet doesn’t realize what he did until his wife died from the poisoned cup he gave her. That was a sort of similar behavior to Victor’s.

10. The frozen wasteland setting has a great significance to it. Certainly a frozen wasteland is isolated and barren. That is where they met and it shows how the monster was isolated from the world and victor from the people, due to his guilt. We then see that Victor abandoning the creature was the reason for his rebellious actions and attitude towards the world. Obviously with no parental guidance one would be expected to become an outcast to society.

11. In these chapters, we discover his natural instincts and what he values. He has a growing understanding of family which is connected with solitude. The cottagers cause the monster to realize a lot of things. He observes how great they are to each other and causes him to realize how lonely he is and how he very far from being accepted into society. He wants to fit in, but his lack of social identity prevents him from doing so.


12. In chapter 16, he comes to the final realization of rejection and loses it by swearing revenge upon all human beings. After creating so much havoc, drowning the little girl and strangling William, he came to the conclusion to ask Victor for a creation of another monster to accompany him. Of course, he comes to realize he must change his psychological condition, and become a better citizen to the society in which he is rejected from.

13. The creature gives a justifiable argument for his demand. He mainly implies the parental responsibility as the creator to make him a companion. His desperate loneliness is what the creature says causes all the evil out of him. In addition, he promises to take his mate in the jungle, isolating them from human contact. This was a reasonable argument because although as much chaos that the creature caused, you cannot blame him for it. It is the creator’s responsibility to take control and form its identity in society. I personally felt sympathy for the creature when reading his argument, which I think was just.

14. Victor decides to discontinue his efforts to create a bride because he begins formulating in his mind all the possible negating outcomes from the creation. He thinks they might have children and completely destroy the world. I agree with Victor’s rational reasons for discontinuing the creation of a bride.

15. The creature and victor draw a parallel to each other. Victor feels responsible for the deaths, lacking parental responsibility. In addition, he realizes his ambition for creation and science was the cause for the deaths of his loved ones. The creature then realizes what he’s done, and wants to change. Both are affected by such isolation.

16. In this chapter, the mental conditions are being explored. He is lost in obsession as the hunt for the creature goes on. At this point of the novel there is no horror. Instead, we begin to see how both of them have a mutual relationship. They both need each other; Frankenstein’s losing his mind over the creature and his obsession, and the creature needs victor for the creation of a companion and a social identity.

17. The final words of Victor are very significant. He advices Walton to avoid the thirst and ambition towards something because it completley takes over your mental condition. He later goes on about places that science shouldn’t go. They are significant in preventing future generations from creating destruction as he did. The same goes with the creatures last words that imply preventing future chaos.

18. In this novel, there really isn’t a hero, a protagonist, or an antagonist. The reason being that they could all fit into the three categories. The novel intended to be like that s that we can classify them all as central characters, all sharing the same attention.

19. Harold Bloom’s belief that the reader’s sympathy lies with the creature is paralleled with Allan Rodway’s thought of sympathy being with Victor Frankenstein. None of them are right. There is no right or wrong answer. It is a matter of personal opinion and both would get the same amount of sympathy.

20. A “demon” implies that the creature is a natural being. In contrast, a “ daemon” is defined as being a creation between gods. Therefore, the deamon usage links it to a mythology state. Shelly used the former word to prevent the audience from being confused and keeping it classic.

21. A monster is phenomena created by someone that lacks natural human traits, and in most times rejected from society. Like a human being, under parental guidance, it can adapt, learn, and gain knowledge.

-E.Vivar

 
At 7:16 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ae 3

1. Who was Prometheus? Why the novel is subtitled "the Modern Prometheus"
2. It’s on a ship because Victor is found by Walton in the snow. Moby Dick is another story set aboard ship. It’s a good setting where Victor dies. It’s cold and lonely and is a good setting for death.
3. These frames have different views of the characters. With the different frames we understand different feelings and moods Shelley does with her characters.
4. Walton is mainly the storyteller. He retells Victor’s story but in a way they are similar in character.
5. His letters tell how he feels but not as in detail for how Victor or the monster feels. I don’t think that the lettering and the bracketing make a difference.
6. Victor is fascinated by science and making something come to life. I believe he values love and friendships. I think the victor is motivated by his learnings from school, science, love, and family. His moral standards appear to be the value of life and how others should be treated and how someone should be accepted.
7. All this stuff is put in so that we can see who victor really is and what he is about. We learn much more about his character and what he has to offer. We learn why the reason he makes a monster and about his education. People who are fans wouldn’t care about this part because they don’t care about the creator but about the monster itself.
8. I believe its the process of the creature. This is a long and stressful process for Victor. It takes a lot of time and effort from him.
9. He tries so hard because its his passion. With the discovery of the principle of life, this creation is what motivates him. After her creates it he realizes what he created a monster that isn’t going to be accepted.
10. The setting lies like the middle of nowhere and they are comftorble. They have no distractions but each other. The creature accuses Victor of making him so ugly and unwanted. It hurts the creature a lot to not be accepted.
11. Learning like reading and writing gives him pleasure. Understanding is something he should have to value. At first the creature when born knew nothing, but after being with the delaceys he learns the basics.
12. He should find someone for himself, someone like him and that would accept him.
13. He is lonely and someone just like him would accept him. Love can get you from doing bad stuff that can harm you. Love keeps you sane and that is what this creature needed. I believe its a reasonable argument, because the creature is showing his feelings and what he needs.
14. He doesn’t want to create something again that is useless, and that might end up suffering like his first creation.
15. Both are isolated and lonely. They have no one to talk to or some one that can help them without judging them. All they need is someone to listen to them.
16. I believe its different because all were used to is the monster and terrorizing people. It’s different because we are not used to it.
17. (Pp. 484-85, 490-91) [pp. 920, 923-24]: Victor Frankenstein's final words--any significance? What about the Creature's final words (pp. 492-97) [pp. 925-27]?
17. The creatures’ words were touching. He didn’t want to live anymore because his creator died.
18. The protagonist is Victor Frankenstein, the antagonist is the monster and the hero I believe is Walton.
19. I think that it lies with the creature. It is not his fault he was created the way he was. Everyone miss treated him and didn’t give him a chance. He didn’t know where to go or who to turn to. I feel sympathy for him because he was useless and miss treated. He didn’t know where he belonged or what to do with him.
20. I believe she did because it’s a different type of monster.

21. There are many different types of monsters. It could be scary and a murder or someone who doesn’t belong. If you don’t belong where you are you are seen as a threat.

 
At 7:23 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

1. Prometheus was the successor of Zeus, acclaimed for his remarkable intelligence and dominance over humanity. The novel is substituted as this because Frankenstein demonstrated his superiority to humanity by bringing life into the monster, and then became repentant for having created such a creature, much the way Prometheus became repentant for having had such hate as he had against zues.

2. The novel is set upon a ship because it is meant to illustrate the vast undertaking which Frakenstein is prepared to undergo. This is also seen in Moby Dick, and is done because it is an appropriate build up for Frankenstein’s task.

3. The mutinous frames serve the unique purpose of adding suspense to the novel for via the shifting of focus onto another frame, the audience becomes increasingly interested as the novel unfolds.

4. Walton dr. Frankenstein’s assistant and serves as a plot storyteller. Though he does serve as a storyteller, he does add in his own thoughts and ideas in certain parts of the narration, expressing interest in the monster and its creation.

5. The letters foreshadow the tale that is to be told. They do make us curious as to Walton’s role, and what is to become of Frankenstein. Bracketing the letters allows the reader to set them as a mental note throughout the entire story, so as to refer to them later on.

6.

7. Frankenstein’s childhood and upbringing is delved into because the circumstances with which he is brought up helps create an understanding as to his personal drive in creating the creature and the treatment he gives to the creature through out the story. Such background story is almost always vital to the full development of central characters and the interest behind them.

8. The focus upon first inspection the focus seems to be on the creation of the creature, but on further analysis, one may note that the scene focuses mainly on the doctor’s reaction toward the birth of the creature.

9. Victor does so because he is fascinated by the science of spawning life, and he feels guilty for having spawned life. A similar situation occurs in Crime and Punishment, where Roskolnikov commits murder simply to test his self-acclaimed superiority.

10. The creature accuses Victor of, in essence, wrongly creating life and further than that, being ill suited to care for this life. Frankenstein was forcefully placed into the world without consent, and now he was subject to endless criticisms and was the cause of great calamity all against his will.

11. The creature’s education consists of simple inspections and examinations. He learns by absorbing his surroundings, much the way we do when placed in foreign environments. He seems to be human, for he values humane things.

12. The creature decides that his life must be ended or that he must be married, for his lonesome existence will only bring tragedy and a continuance to his own suffering.

13. He argues that it is the given right of any such being with intelligence. The argument can be said to be invalid, for he is a monster.

14. Frankenstein discontinues his efforts simply because reality dawns upon him that no bride will take the monster as her husband and that any attempt of match making will inevitably fail.

15. Victor and the creature are similar in that they’e both socially outcast and are not accepted by society. Both Victor and the creature are not accustomed to “normal” lifestyles. Their congruence hints at both the humanity of the creature and the inhumanity of Frankenstein.

16. I believe the chase scenes expectance may differ upon the readers expectances. It is a picturesque monster chase scene, as intended. Should you have been seeking another type of novel, this may not have been expected.

17. Victor’s final words are significant in that he denies his ability to play God, and feels sorrow for having created the creature.. The creature’s final words suggests that he can finally end his suffering.

18. The novel’s protagonist can be said to be Frankenstien. The antagonists would be all those who oppose Frankenstein’s creation , which would be the creature himself.

19. Both can be correct. The readers sympathy can lie with either or both. It can be with Frankenstein for his lack of parental know how, and with the monster for his unfortunate circumstances of coming into creation.

20. A daemon refers to a deity while a demon refers to a servant of Satan. Shelley uses the former rather than the latter because it hints at a less evil and more hallowed individual and suggests less at the evils of the monstrous creation.

21. A monster is any entity that inflicts fear upon a population. It is something that may have no true definition and can vary from perspective to perspective. What may be considered monstrous to one, may be considered normal to another.

 
At 8:13 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

SStratton
P3
Frankenstein:::

1. Prometheus was a psychic who stole fire from the Gods. He saw Zeus being overthrown in the near future by one of his trusted sons, but refused to reveal who and after he stole the fire, he was punished by Zeus and chained at the top of a mountain, where vultures picked out his innards while he was still awake. The book is titled the modern Prometheus, because in the book, Dr. Frankenstein had a vision of how to create life, and he did it (as Zeus did), and then he fled and left his creation to struggle out in the world (as Zeus left Prometheus to struggle at the top of the mountain).

2. The novel is set aboard a ship because it creates a setting where the narrator/reader can not really escape from. They have to stay with the other characters at all times and everything that happens, just happens. Another famous novel set aboard a ship is Moby Dick by Herman Melville. It also does not allow escape (escape from the whale hunt, escape from Captain Ahab, etc.)

3. Mary Shelley wants to accomplish a better understanding with these frames. She wants to really give her reader a visual. First she has the ship frame. Then it switches to Dr. Frankenstein’s childhood frame, then his creation of life frame, and then it jumps into the monster. It is easier as a reader to understand the different parts of the novel if they are grouped together in related frames.

4. I believe that he is simply the storyteller. If he had not been there to pick up Dr. Frankenstein, than I do not think the story would have been told. He is the missing piece that Dr. Frankenstein needed to complete his story. He saw something in Walton. He saw himself in Walton and felt compelled to tell him. Walton represents Frankenstein.

5. Walton’s letters help prepare us for the story by building us up for something exciting. We know that he would not write to his sister about watching the waves rolling for days at a time. Something will happen. The letters can also make us think about whether the entire story is real or not. Did Walton really find Frankenstein or did he just make it up to keep himself from going crazy out on the seas?

6. Frankenstein values knowledge and the knowledge of life. His motivation is the want to discover the meaning of life and to bring life to him. He wants to create life in some object that has not experienced life before.

7. We need to see his childhood because we need to understand why he came to the conclusion that he wants to create life. We need to see how he grew up to the person he became later in the novel when he created the monster.

8. When the Creature is created, the focus is more on Victor Frankenstein. His attitude, his reaction, and his pride for himself. He finally created life in an inanimate object, and he is very proud. The story focuses on his pride for a moment. He can finally sleep and enjoy his days, rather then lock himself downstairs in the basement trying to create life.

9. Victor really wants to come through with what he has started. He wants to create life. However, when he does, it seems to be repulsing to him. I don’t think he ever actually wanted to create life, he wanted to remain stuck in his own private world, with the attempts of creating life, but he never actually wanted to create it. Then when he did, he was in shock of what he could actually accomplish, and he didn t know what to do with himself anymore because for the past 2 years, all his focus was on creating life.

10. The setting is important because it is private, and dark. Somewhere where others can not see them. It is appropriate because it parallels the place where the creature was created. Victors basement was private and dark, and the creature was born there; grew up there. It is where he feels calm and in control. The Creature accuses Victor of leaving him to fend on his own.

11. The Creature has pleasure in watching others. He learns from others as well. He knows nothing of life, but he continues to live it. He just wants to see how to live it. He has pleasure in watching what to do, but realizes he himself, can not do it.

12. The Creature decides he must find Victor and ask him to create a mate for the creature, so that they can live in sorrow together.

13. The Creature places Victor on a guilt trip. He tells him that he left him by himself, to find his place in the world, and to find his meaning on his own. He was forced to try to live in secret because he was so hideous that others would not accept him. He tells Victor that the only solution is to create another Creature who can also live in solitude with the Creature. Someone who will understand his pain and suffering. He wanted a mate.

14. Victor knows it is wrong. He already sees his first Creature as a problem, who is to say the next one wont be a problem? Victor asks himself, whats keeping the second creature from also acting just as if not more evil? They might band together and try to take over together. Force others to see their sorrow. Victor determines he can not create another Creature.

15. The Creature and Victor are very similar because they both are trying to find their place in the world. Both are searching for the meaning of life. This can also be seen in Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde. While one is a monster, and the other a harmless scientist, both are very similar. One brings out the monster in the other.

16. Yes. We were led to expect that the Creature would be created and Frankenstein would show him how to live life. Frankenstein would help him to become a part of society. However, now the book shows that Frankenstein lives in fear of his creature and would like to get rid of it. But the Creature doesn’t go away, he follows Victor wherever he goes.

17. “Seek happiness in tranquility, and avoid ambition,…I myself have been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed.” Frankenstein’s last words. They are significant to tell Walton to remain who he is and strive to be happy, however to not go out of his way to create it. The Creatures final words are to tell the reader that life is never over, no matter how hard you try.

18. The protagonist in the novel is Walton. He serves as a neutral character, but one who also saves Victor from his Creature, and allows Victor to tell him story one time before he dies. The Antagonist would be Frankenstein. He created a monster, and then refused to stay with it when the going got tough.

19. Both are right. The reader can feel sympathy for Victor at the beginning and the end, when the monster is truly depicted as a monster, a horrible creature that roams the streets and murders others. But then, once the monsters story is told, the reader does start to feel sympathy for the monster. Why was he left all alone to figure out the world? The reader begins to question the morality of the Creator, Victor.

20. The daemon is more evil looking and is also the way the word was spelled in England in the olden days. Therefore, when she was writing the story, she spelled the word correctly. Its not her fault the Americans changed the spelling of certain words. Its similar to color and colour.

21. Miriam Webster defines a monster as, “an animal or plant of abnormal form or structure” and “an animal or plant of abnormal form or structure”. Someone out of the ordinary, one never seen before, can be defined as a monster.

 
At 10:14 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

1.

Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave light to the world. The novel is subtitled "the modern Prometheus," because Victor Frankenstein is like prometheus in his own right. Victor "stole" life from the gods in the sense of prometheus stealing fire. Both characters took from a higher power, and they took things that were not meant for mortal men.

2.

The novel is initially set aboard a ship because it serves as a parallel to the rest of the novel. A ship is most often thought of as a symbol of adventure, and by starting the novel this way Mary Shelley is able to set the reader up for the rest of the ghost story adventure of Victor Frankenstein. Moby Dick is also set aboard a ship. Isolation is a major theme in Frankenstein as it is in Moby Dick. On a ship you are isolated from everything, surrounded by water.

3.

The Various narrative "frames" Mary Shelley empoys in her novel are there for the purpose of the reader to grasp all aspects of the narrative. With these various frames Mary Shelley is able to show the reader how one character acts within the novel, and at the same time show that characters actions through another characters eyes. Victor is the creator of the terrible wretch and the novel is focused on him, but not from just one frame. With the different "frames" we are able to see the multifacted Victor Frankenstein in a complete 360 degree view.

5.

The letters that Walton writes prepare us for the tale in that they let us know that the tale is not a current one that is building on itself in the present. As far as the letters are concerned in the way we react to the rest of the novel, they could be excluded and the story would still be as captivating. By bracketing the letters this only harms their vaule as part of the novel. As stated above, they could be excluded and the sotry would be the same, bracketing them makes them easier to skip.


6.

Victor Frankenstein is one of the most complex and interesting characters in literature, comparative to Dorian Gray. Victor vaules his family and friends, but only to a certain degree, for he most often becomes single-minded and obsessed with one facet of his life. This is also a good representation of his psychological makeup. To say he is mad is an overstatement, but to say he has fits of temporary insanity would be a good evaluation of him. Victor is motivated by sience in the begining , and then by his paranoia. His moral standards seem to change form before and after the creation of the monster. Victor had no problem creating life where it was not his place to create, but after he saw the monster he had created he realised his mistake and kept his moral standards closer to the mortal realm.


7.

WE need this stuff because it introduces characters such as elizabeth and Clerval. It also gives us a view of Victor before his creation of the monster and the degredation of his physical and moral character. As a child victor is so full of life and eagerness of explore the sciences. All in all we need this "stuff" to understand Victor, the focus of the novel.

8.

The focus in this section is not really on the process of the creation, or on the creature, for the night of the creatures "birth" is summed up in one page of the novel. Moreso is the focus on Victor Frankenstein and his disgust and fear of the monster that he created, and his disowning and running away from the creature.


9.

When Victor is working on the creature, paying attention to such minute deatails he is eneloped in the science of his work. When he succeeds in bringing the creature to life, he has surpased the science that he so dearly loves and has passed into a realm of "creator" a place where men have no place being. This sort of behavior has occured in "the picture of dorian gray" The portrait of Dorian takes on all the physical characteristics that Dorian would normally take on. The picture sacres dorian and haunts him night and day, just as victor's monster. The portrait is hidden away and beomces the doom of dorian.

10.

The creature accuses Victor of brining him to life without his consent, playing god and then not haveing the balls to keep up with the game and look after his creation. Basically the creature is pissed that Victor made him and then disowned him.


11.

The creature, as it turns out, has all of the same natural instincs as a human. This is not so suprising consideirng he was made in the image of a perfect human, but as we only saw him as a monster we had forgotten that he would take the same pleasure and have the same values as a noraml human being. The creatures only education is that of what he observes.

12.

The creature finally decides that he needs a companion, a partner like himself. Someone to love and hold, and care for, just like he has seen in the other humans he has observed. Finding a wife is what the creature thinks should be his natural course of events.

13.

The arguement is that the creature is lonley, and he needs a friend. The creature sees all of the other people that are happy, and he thinks he deserves happiness aswell. The creatures prsuit of happiness makes this arguement reasonable.

14.

Victor discontinues his efforts to create a bride for the creature because he fears the same mistake he thinks he made when he brought the creature to life in the first place. To have a duo of monster creations muarading around thinking they are human is not something victor wants to add to his mental dilemma.

16.

Yes we are getting into a different sort of novel than we were originally led to expect. In the "chase" scenes we begin to see the monster side of Victor Frankenstein and the human side of the creature.

17.

Victor Frankenstein's last words showed his outward regret of creating the life in the monster, and his regret of playing god, when it was not his place. The creatures final words let us know that his suffering finally comes to an end.

18.

Victor Frankenstein and the creature tend to share the roles of protagonist and antagonist. Sometimes when Victor is in his more sane moments, he is the Hero and the creature is the evil that needs to be defeated. But at other points in the story, Victor is the monster who created this thing that he just disowned and feared. At these points, the monster is the hero.

19.

Both are right. Our symapthy does not rest with only one character. Granted, we can be partial to one character or the otehr, but at least at one point of another in the novel we have to feel sympathy for both characters in their own rights.

20.

Daemon is usually defined as an evil god, and a demon is an evil underling of a daemon, in a fantastical sense. Mary Shelley used the word "daemon" in her text, because Victor was playing god, and the monster is refered to as his opposite, as a daemon.

21.

It is my opinion that a monster is not defined by his outward apperance or physical atributes, but the psyhological makeup and moral standards of the being. A dark heart full of evil and descrution, or what we consider "bad" is what fits as a monster. the ugliest being on earth should just be considered ugly, not monsterous, as long as he is "good."

 
At 10:15 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

kyle jones
1.

Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave light to the world. The novel is subtitled "the modern Prometheus," because Victor Frankenstein is like prometheus in his own right. Victor "stole" life from the gods in the sense of prometheus stealing fire. Both characters took from a higher power, and they took things that were not meant for mortal men.

2.

The novel is initially set aboard a ship because it serves as a parallel to the rest of the novel. A ship is most often thought of as a symbol of adventure, and by starting the novel this way Mary Shelley is able to set the reader up for the rest of the ghost story adventure of Victor Frankenstein. Moby Dick is also set aboard a ship. Isolation is a major theme in Frankenstein as it is in Moby Dick. On a ship you are isolated from everything, surrounded by water.

3.

The Various narrative "frames" Mary Shelley empoys in her novel are there for the purpose of the reader to grasp all aspects of the narrative. With these various frames Mary Shelley is able to show the reader how one character acts within the novel, and at the same time show that characters actions through another characters eyes. Victor is the creator of the terrible wretch and the novel is focused on him, but not from just one frame. With the different "frames" we are able to see the multifacted Victor Frankenstein in a complete 360 degree view.

5.

The letters that Walton writes prepare us for the tale in that they let us know that the tale is not a current one that is building on itself in the present. As far as the letters are concerned in the way we react to the rest of the novel, they could be excluded and the story would still be as captivating. By bracketing the letters this only harms their vaule as part of the novel. As stated above, they could be excluded and the sotry would be the same, bracketing them makes them easier to skip.


6.

Victor Frankenstein is one of the most complex and interesting characters in literature, comparative to Dorian Gray. Victor vaules his family and friends, but only to a certain degree, for he most often becomes single-minded and obsessed with one facet of his life. This is also a good representation of his psychological makeup. To say he is mad is an overstatement, but to say he has fits of temporary insanity would be a good evaluation of him. Victor is motivated by sience in the begining , and then by his paranoia. His moral standards seem to change form before and after the creation of the monster. Victor had no problem creating life where it was not his place to create, but after he saw the monster he had created he realised his mistake and kept his moral standards closer to the mortal realm.


7.

WE need this stuff because it introduces characters such as elizabeth and Clerval. It also gives us a view of Victor before his creation of the monster and the degredation of his physical and moral character. As a child victor is so full of life and eagerness of explore the sciences. All in all we need this "stuff" to understand Victor, the focus of the novel.

8.

The focus in this section is not really on the process of the creation, or on the creature, for the night of the creatures "birth" is summed up in one page of the novel. Moreso is the focus on Victor Frankenstein and his disgust and fear of the monster that he created, and his disowning and running away from the creature.


9.

When Victor is working on the creature, paying attention to such minute deatails he is eneloped in the science of his work. When he succeeds in bringing the creature to life, he has surpased the science that he so dearly loves and has passed into a realm of "creator" a place where men have no place being. This sort of behavior has occured in "the picture of dorian gray" The portrait of Dorian takes on all the physical characteristics that Dorian would normally take on. The picture sacres dorian and haunts him night and day, just as victor's monster. The portrait is hidden away and beomces the doom of dorian.

10.

The creature accuses Victor of brining him to life without his consent, playing god and then not haveing the balls to keep up with the game and look after his creation. Basically the creature is pissed that Victor made him and then disowned him.


11.

The creature, as it turns out, has all of the same natural instincs as a human. This is not so suprising consideirng he was made in the image of a perfect human, but as we only saw him as a monster we had forgotten that he would take the same pleasure and have the same values as a noraml human being. The creatures only education is that of what he observes.

12.

The creature finally decides that he needs a companion, a partner like himself. Someone to love and hold, and care for, just like he has seen in the other humans he has observed. Finding a wife is what the creature thinks should be his natural course of events.

13.

The arguement is that the creature is lonley, and he needs a friend. The creature sees all of the other people that are happy, and he thinks he deserves happiness aswell. The creatures prsuit of happiness makes this arguement reasonable.

14.

Victor discontinues his efforts to create a bride for the creature because he fears the same mistake he thinks he made when he brought the creature to life in the first place. To have a duo of monster creations muarading around thinking they are human is not something victor wants to add to his mental dilemma.

16.

Yes we are getting into a different sort of novel than we were originally led to expect. In the "chase" scenes we begin to see the monster side of Victor Frankenstein and the human side of the creature.

17.

Victor Frankenstein's last words showed his outward regret of creating the life in the monster, and his regret of playing god, when it was not his place. The creatures final words let us know that his suffering finally comes to an end.

18.

Victor Frankenstein and the creature tend to share the roles of protagonist and antagonist. Sometimes when Victor is in his more sane moments, he is the Hero and the creature is the evil that needs to be defeated. But at other points in the story, Victor is the monster who created this thing that he just disowned and feared. At these points, the monster is the hero.

19.

Both are right. Our symapthy does not rest with only one character. Granted, we can be partial to one character or the otehr, but at least at one point of another in the novel we have to feel sympathy for both characters in their own rights.

20.

Daemon is usually defined as an evil god, and a demon is an evil underling of a daemon, in a fantastical sense. Mary Shelley used the word "daemon" in her text, because Victor was playing god, and the monster is refered to as his opposite, as a daemon.

21.

It is my opinion that a monster is not defined by his outward apperance or physical atributes, but the psyhological makeup and moral standards of the being. A dark heart full of evil and descrution, or what we consider "bad" is what fits as a monster. the ugliest being on earth should just be considered ugly, not monsterous, as long as he is "good."

 
At 2:10 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A. Rivas

1. Prometheus was the Titan known for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mortals to use. The novel is subtitled “the Modern Prometheus” because in some versions of Greek mythology Prometheus was the Titan who created mankind, and Victor's work by creating a man by unnatural process is obviously similar to that creative work. Prometheus makes man from clay and water, again a very related theme to Frankenstein as Victor rebels against the laws of nature and as a result is punished by his creation.
2. Initially, the novel is set aboard a ship because it was right before when Victor and Walton were going to meet, in the ice. Also, it demonstrates how dangerous it was for both of them because if the ship would to hit an iceberg, Walton would end up dying. Another famous work that set aboard ships is Moby Dick. I think that Mary Shelly chose this setting because she wanted us to see how the novel would start.
3. By making the novel have multiple narrators it gives the storyline more credibility because your getting more than one side to the story. It reinforces what the author is trying to get across and makes it more believable for the reader. She’s trying to support the ideas through multiple narrators. Also, it makes it seem as if it’s Walton’s duty to tell the story of this monster and warn people of the power of creation.
4. Walton is a lonely man. He mentions that his main goal in life is to find a true friend that he can trust in. It seems that he has gone through various hardships throughout his life that have caused him to lose his trust in people. I think that Walton mostly serves as a mechanical narrative device to help the reader better understand Frankenstein and his story.
5. Walton’s letters help us prepare for the story by building a story that will be exciting. We know that he would not write to his sister about watching the waves rolling for days at a time because something will eventually happen. The letters can also make us think about whether the entire story is real or not.
6. Frankenstein was driven by his own motivation to be a god himself. He wanted to create life out of something dead. He would stop at nothing until it was complete and he had finished.
7. One sees him on the ship ill and dying, and when he recounts the story of his happy childhood, you know that something bad has to happen for him to be in the shape he is now. By discussing Victor’s interest with science the reader is given a reason why he would be interested in creating a monster he would later abandon. The beginning sets the whole novel and therefore the reader understands the actions that take place later on.
8. The focus in the section that the Creature is created is on Frankenstein’s emotional reaction and his realization of what he has done. He first is extremely happy that all of his hard work has come through and ended successfully. He also feels like he should not have created life from something that was meant to be dead. The awakening of the monster brings Frankenstein’s fears and issues to the surface.
9. Victor doesn’t realize how horrible it was to create the monster until after he finished. After the monster was born he finally realized how completely oblivious to the world he was. Hamlet doesn’t realize what he did until his wife died from the poisoned cup he gave her. That was a sort of similar behavior to Victor’s.
10. The setting lies like the middle of nowhere and they are comfortable. They have no distractions but each other. The creature accuses Victor of making him so ugly and unwanted and this hurts the creature for not being accepted.
11. The monster’s natural instincts are of kindness and love. He values acceptance and responsibility. He is educated by the experiences as he is in look for acceptances and someone he could call friends.
12. He decides that he must revenge himself against all human beings, especially Victor. Mainly because they have brought him grief and refuse to befriend him so he decides that they all should be killed.
13. To support his demand, he argues that he is responsible to take care of another creature. Another argument is that he felt as though he was killing people because he was lonesome. Since there was no one that could talk to him, he did not know what to do with his emotions. If there was someone with him, the other creature can support him through the rough times. It is a reasonable argument because no one can live alone. In addition, it is good to talk to someone and hear their opinions as well. This way, the person can get some ideas of what to do when they are troubled.
14. He decides to stop making the bride for the Creature because he begins to think that the new creature might not want to seclude herself like the current creature promised. Or that they might make a family and eventually it will create a new race of monsters.
15. Victor and the Creature are very similar because they are both committed onto obtaining their needs. Victor wants to destroy the Creature and the Creature in the other hand wants either to destroy Victor or a bride. They are also both feeling very lonely and just want things to go back to how they were. In addition, they both are alone in a world where all they have is hatred for one another.
16. The environment in the final chapter is more surrealistic than in the others. This mainly happens to show the effects that the events have had on Victor. He is warn down and ready to just give up at this point so it’s only fitting that the ending of his tale be different than how it started out. This is trying to demonstrate how it has changed throughout the experience.
17. Victor’s final words are to Walton’s crew when he tells them to not turn their backs on their enemies. He says this because it’s his enemy’s fault that he is so miserable and about to die. The Creature’s final words are that he’ll travel to the northernmost part of the globe and commit suicide because he is sad because the only person he has ever known is dead.
18. Victor is the protagonist because it’s his fault for the Creature’s suffering; the Creature is the antagonist because you feel sorry for the way he has carried the life he brought to and in the end it was Victor’s fault for suffering.
19. In my opinion they are both right. Throughout the novel you feel sympathy for both characters because theirs series of unfortunate events that plague them both. You feel sorry for the Creature for being brought into such a cruel world. While you feel sorry for Victor when he loses his family and is driven to isolation because of his creation.
20. The word daemon was used to refer to what people called a dragon and the word demon is used to refer to a devil like a monster or a creature. Shelley used daemon because the Creature was devil like, also because it was frightening and somewhat looked like a dragon. People were afraid of the Creature just like people where afraid of dragons.
21. A "monster" is typically a legendary creature or a creature who looks ugly and deformed.

 
At 10:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

LYou
Per. 3


1. Prometheus was a god in a Greek legend. He stole fire from the gods and gave it to the humans to assist them. Frankenstein is associated with Prometheus because both stories tell of how the characters steal the life creating power that is supposed to be God’s power and his power alone.
2. The story being on the ship symbolizes nature and the power that it holds. It also connects to human’s exploration of new places. Victor Frankenstein is introduced into the story when the ship is trapped by a glacier which symbolizes nature.
3. Different frames are used so that different angles and views can be seen throughout the book. It opens up different points of views, which then creates a variety of angles.
4. Walton is held as the “storyteller” of the book but he is a compassionate person who attempts to help Frankenstein. His letters told the story of Frankenstein and how he and Frankenstein were similar in certain ways.
5. His letters gives the readers a background of the book and a better sense of what is actually in the book. The letters could have been bracketed to show some clarity and to keep separate from the actual story.
6. Frankenstein’s main value, if any, seems to be his family. He went to his family for advice and his family was supportive of his intelligence and his passion for a better education. His motivation was the want to create and to learn more of the interworkings of life. Moral standards is lacking in Frankenstein considering the fact that he thinks human life is below him.
7. The point of reading about Frankenstein’s childhood is important because is shows why Frankenstein is the man he is. It shows that he was led away from moral standards and his childhood can be used as a moral for the novel.
8. It deals with the creation rather than the creature. But although the focus is primarily on the creation process of the creature, Shelley gives some details to the creature.
9. Frankenstein works hard to create his creation because like all scientists, he is driven by curiosity. He does not think of the consequences, but he only thinks of if he can create life. But afterwards, when the damage is done, he realizes that what he had just done is too much responsibility and power for mortals.
10. The setting is appropriate because it ties into nature. Frankenstein tried to create life but failed and in a way is reminded of his failure with the setting. The creature blames Frankenstein for its inability to blend in with humans and into society.
11. The creature’s “natural instinct” seems to be anger and to be able to see the wonderful things in the simplest forms.
12. He decides that he needs to have some sort of connection to humans so he learns certain mannerisms and habits of humans that he watched. He begins to understand the meaning of loneliness and what emotions are. He taught himself how to read from a book he found in the cottage. He also wishes to marry which causes some implications.
13. The creature demands that despite being created rather than born, he is still the same as others around him and should be treated with the same respect. He did not choose his method of creation so therefore he should not be punished.
14. Frankenstein stops in his efforts to make a bride for the creature because he realizes that he is meddling with something that he should not be involved with; creation of life. He learned his lesson with the first creature and feels no desire to proceed with creating a wife for the creature.
15. Frankenstein and his creature are similar in the fact that they are both loners and isolated from society. Seeing the creature’s isolation from society made him realize that he is similar to the monster.
16. The chase does not deter from the main plot of the novel but it adds a slight hint of adventure to the novel.
17. Their final words are significant to the story because it shows that too much ambition can lead to your life’s downfall. Frankenstein’s obsession led him to create a failure and he even failed to destroy his creature. The creature’s final words are important because it shows that the creature may have been suffering from its own existence.
18. Frankenstein is the protagonist of the story and the creature is the antagonist but not by choice. The creature is the antagonist only because he is seen as a monster rather than another individual. The hero would be Walton since he is the only one that showed heroic characteristics.
19. It would seem that both can be considered right considering that the creature had come into life with no choice so it was a victim from the moment it was created.
20. A daemon is considered to be someone who is skillful or zealous whereas a demon is an evil creature.
21. A monster is someone of unnatural of extreme ugliness, deformity, wickedness or cruelty.

 
At 11:16 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

morleytp3

1. Prometheus was a legendary titan that stole the power to make fire from the god. Frankenstein steals the subtitle of the modern Prometheus because he takes the power to create life from God.

2. The novel is set aboard a ship because it shows the unknown of what Frankenstein is doing. It also shows the openness and emptiness of life on a boat, similar to life as a created monster. This is done to show several characteristics, such as By the Great Horn Spoon to show the exploration and the unknown that lies ahead.

3. The frames allow us to see the creation of the monster from all viewpoints. By seeing the numerous viewpoints, it allows us to create our own opinions based on the ideas of others.

4. Walton is used primarily as a storyteller. He also represents the outsider looking in on the entire plot, which gives us a reality check and a reference to what most people would think of what is going on

5. Again, Walton is bringing reality into the story, and the reality creates a deeper story than one solely intended for horror. Moral issues are confronted and the horror sees a balance with what should be done and what is done.

6. He appears to always be challenging the boundaries of science and creation. He is a nonconformist and a radical in many ways. He lacks the traditional morals that we as a society hold, such as the inorganic creation of life. He does value the emotional well-being of his creation, as he wants to socialize his creation

7. The purpose is to create reason behind his actions. In a movie, we see 2 hours of entertainment and that’s it. A book, because we are engaged much longer, gives us much more time to question aspects of the story. His childhood shows an objective view of people, which might explain his lack of morals and desire to create his monster

8. The focus seems to be on the creation. The great extent of detail is only to show how the grotesque and dark aspects of such a creation. We must focus our attention to the monster to get the broader picture and second-tier view of creation

9. Curiosity and tenacity drive the creation of the monster. He cant wait to be in complete control. He becomes abhorrent because he loses control over the creation. I think Shelley is also saying that sometimes something sounds better than it really is going to be, and that we need to do our research

10. Just like any other book, the setting affects the mood of the reader and shapes to tone of the characters. When the talk is small and focused, the room and surrounding seems to be smaller and more enclosed. On the contrary, when the setting is open and large, there are larger, more general themes being dealt with.

11. The creature’s natural emotion is hatred. He has been made ugly and is hostile toward his creator. He wants to receive simple emotions of love and affection, and cannot find them because of his appearance. There are many events and other minor details that highlight this struggle

12. The creature decides that he must continue human contact by getting married. Marriage is a traditional institution that will provide the love and affection that he desires so greatly

13. He feels that he is just as worthy and just as much a victim of society as any other human being, because he, like others, did not choose to be put on this earth in the way that he was, but was the creation of someone else

14. Frankenstien stops trying to make his creature a wife after he sees that he is creating more of a monster and that he doesn’t really want to get any further into the hardships of socializing monsters.

15. Victor and his creation are similar because that they are both societal outcasts that do not hold any societal moral codes. Victor doesn’t realize this until he sees the monster struggle to assimilate into society

16. I think that the environment shows that people have gone too far from their organic nature and that they need to return to the animals we are. The novel shows that we are too far along for our own good sometimes and that it is ok to regress sometimes.

17. They really leave the reader to establish what they want from them. They are not concise and allow for “food for thought.” I think that is significant in that it doesn’t tell you what to think, but gives you all the elements to establish your own opinions.

18. I think that Victor is all three. He is the protagonist because he sets out to do something and must deal with the antagonist on the way. He is the antagonist because he breaks all moral obligations and creates false life for his own benefit. He is a hero because he succeeds on all levels.

19. I think it is safe to say that both are correct. I felt sympathy for both throughout the novel. The creature on a more obvious level than Victor

20. Daemon refers to a correspondent between heaven and earth. This is used because it shows that what he did was not necessarily bad like a demon, but that it is merely a pathway between the supernatural and the natural

21. Whatever it is that makes us fear its presence and creation and potential

 
At 11:25 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

1. Prometheus brought fire to humans on earth from the gods. The novel is subtitled “the Modern Prometheus” because as Prometheus brought fire to humans, Victor Frankenstein brought life to a corpse that should be devoid of it.
2. The novel is initially set aboard the ship to reflect Victor Frankenstein’s isolation from humanity. The novel Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, is also set aboard a ship.
3. The purpose of the various frames is to have several shorter stories encompassed by the larger story. This also adds suspense to the novel in that by switching frames every so often, the reader’s interest grows as the novel progresses.
4. Walton serves really no thematic function in the novel. In contrast, he is merely included simply as a mechanical narrative device.
5. Walter’s letters lead up and prepare us for the tale he tells. He tells of the North Pole, which was unexplored at the time, which parallels the giving of life to inanimate things, which was scientifically unexplored at that time, even though Frankenstein creates life in his monster.
6. Victor Frankenstein values his family over all else. He also valued the woman’s ability to create life; so much to the point that he was envious of them and tried to create life himself. Before the monster he created killed his family, Frankenstein was a good-natured man. However, after his family was killed, he was filled with remorse for his loss and guilt for what he had caused. His motivation is the prospect of saving everyone else he cares for by taking responsibility for his actions and stopping the monster he created.
7. If Mary Shelley just started the novel off with the creation of Frankestein, with no background information on the creator, the reader would feel confused and would want to know more about Victor. We need the background information to find out more about Victor Frankenstein.
8. The focus on this section is on Victor Frankenstein’s reaction to his own creation.
9. Victor is envious of the women’s ability to create life so he was very eager to bring his creation to life. He is horrified at his creation when it does come to life because it is absolutely hideous.
10. The setting for when Victor meets his creation is appropriate because it is dark and unfamiliar and it brings tension to the meeting. The creature accuses Victor of creating him.
11. The creature likes to help people and finds value in helping others. He got his education for those who tried to teach him at the cottage.
12. He decides he must kill Victor because he is responsible for his own actions. Due to the way humans treat him, the creature is filled with hatred for the human race.
13. At first, Victor declines but then realizes everything is his fault for creating the creature so he gives in. The creature told Victor the human race would never see him again. It is a reasonable request because the creature needs someone who will accept him for what he is.
14. He reflects on the damage that the first creation did and had second thoughts about creating another who might do the same. Also, he is afraid they might try to create offspring.
15. Both Frankenstein and the creation feel that they are going against the world. They only want to be happy.
16. This chase scene is just supposed to be a thrilling chase scene for the readers, nothing more.
17. The final words give a universal message and also begin to conclude the novel. He just says how no human should ever try something like creating a creature ever again.
18. The protagonist is Victor’s creation and victor and the antagonist is humanity as a whole. There is no here in this story.
19. I would disagree and say that the reader’s sympathies lie with Victor Frankenstein’s creation because he did nothing to deserve any of the hatred humanity felt for him. He was hideous and humans did not accept that.
20. Demons reside in hell and are like the Devil’s “angels.” A Daemon is a human possessed by a demon. The author uses the word Daemon to show that every human has an evil side, even though it might not always show.
21. A monster is a creature that is different from the human to the point where the sight of it frightens humans. Also, monsters are inherently evil and feel no compassion for living things.

 
At 10:55 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

1. Prometheus was a god who was known for his power and ability to rule over all
of humanity. Frankenstein is like a modern Prometheus because he displayed the
power of a god: creating new life.

2. The novel is initially set upon a ship to give the reader a sense that there
is a great task at hand which will be explored later. Another novel that does
this is Moby Dick. Shelly choose this setting as it works well to help build up
some anticipation in the reader.

3. The various frames in the novel allow suspense to be increased as the story
moves along. As another frame suddenly comes forth we become interested in
wanting to learn more about the last one and so we are driven to read further.

4. Walton is Frakensteins assistant, but he doesn’t really play much of a role
in the story, instead he relates the story to the reader as the narrator. He is
simply a mechanical narrative device.

5. The letters help foreshadow what will occur later and give us an interesting
backdrop which builds anticipation. We are lead to look forward to Walton’s
later role and wonder just what exactly Frankenstein will do. Also, the brackets
around the letters basically serves as a sort of notation that makes the reader
remember them throughout the novel as the mysteries are revealed.

6. Victor Frankenstein is extremely complex in regards to his psychological
state. He leads on, many times, with subtlety in his language and he persists in
logical loopholes which seem to make him look very much crazy at time, if not
simply strange. He does not hold to any moral standards as he deigns that such
things are unnecessary when attempting to become alike to a god.

7. Frankenstein’s childhood and upbringing is explored to give the reader some
justification into why his strange psychological state is as it is. His
childhood gives the perfect backdrop as many would understand how a mental state
may be affected greatly by childhood experiences. Also, this exploration allows
Frankenstein a greater level of depth which benefits the novel greatly.

8. The focus would seem to be on the creation of the creature itself. However, it might be that the focus is truely on Frakenstein's reaction to creating life.

9. Victor acts in such a way because he doesn't care for the actual life, but rather the ability to create it. This also occurs in "Dune" where a group of people called the "Honored Matres" establish a harsh rule over planets because of a belief in their superiority.

10. The creature Victor has created accuses him of wrongly creating life, creating him. He argues that he was forcefully brought into the world, without consent, and that his problems are in large part the doctor's fualt.

11. The creature's education is basically formed on what he can gain from simple inspection and interaction. He appears to be very human, as he values human things about all. He is opposite to the doctor in this regard.

12. The creature ends up deciding that he must be married or must die as his lonely life is a terrible existance.

13. He argues that it is a right given to any that have a mental capacity. However, this concept is invalid as he is in fact a monster.

14. Frankenstein stops trying to find a bride as he realizes the reality that no women would want to marry a monster.

15. Victor and the creature are similar in that they are both socially inept; people don't accept them. Neither lead "normal lives". Their similarities help to show the humanity of the monster vs the inhumanity of Frankenstein.

16. The chase scene is simply put in to accomplish what is expected of a novel with a monster. It is, in all regards, a simple monster-chase scene.

17. Victor's final words are important as he finally stops his belief that he is godlike and says that none, including he, have the power to play God. The creatures final words show that he is happy to end his horrid life.

18. The novels protagonist would be the creature as he is the one who must struggle to find his place in the world. The doctor is the antagonist as he has caused all the problems in the story. The hero is Walton as he is the one who ultimately accepts the creature.

19. Both are correct. The creature is an opposite reflection to Frankenstein. You feel sorry for the creature for his humanity and sorry for the doctor for his lack of it.

20. A daemon is a powerful, mystical creature while a demon is a servent of Satan. Shelley uses the word "daemon" as it lacks a sense of evil and denotes power.

21. A monster is essentially a creature of thing that inflicts fear into the hearts of a majority of people. Thus it cannot be thought of a as a consistant term

 
At 8:51 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

1. Prometheus was a character in Greek mythology. In some versions he was the Titan who created mankind. Prometheus brought fire from heaven to Earth and was punished by Zeus. In Shelley’s opinion, Prometheus was not right in bringing fire to earth because it led to killing and burning. This relates to Shelley’s novel because Victor brought the unnatural to life and was punished for his actions. The Prometheus who created mankind also clearly relates to Frankenstein’s creation of man.

2. The novel is set aboard the ship, I think to emphasize the loneliness and longing Walton has for company, On a ship you are limited in you companions and often go a little crazy, An example of this could be seen in Moby Dick. I think Shelley has the ship in the far north because it is also a lonely, desolate area that is representative of Walton’s feelings.

3. Shelley uses frames between Walton’s letters, Frankenstein’s narrative, and direct communication between Walton and Frankenstein. Walton’s letters at the beginning of the novel set up a frame for Frankenstein’s story. As Walton hears the story, so does the reader, and Walton’s sister. The frames help to reinforce the importance of the story above all else. Also, Shelley wrote the novel to be a ghost story and the different frames help to keep the oral tradition of telling ghost stories.

4. Walton is an explorer who seeks untouched territory and unpossessed knowledge; similar to the things Frankenstein was after when he created the monster. Walton and his letters serve to enhance the storytelling, but Walton himself also has a more important role. Walton is a foil for Frankenstein. Where Frankenstein passionately and courageously pursued his dream of untouched knowledge, Walton realizes the dangers overpower the rewards and he turns back.

5. Walton's letters prepare us for the tale by foreshadowing Frankenstein's story. The two people's stories are similar. Walton's letters also bring a sense of reality into the story because it is a more practical story than Frankenstein's creation. By bracketing the letters, they act as a preface to the novel.

6. Victor Frankenstein is obsessed with science and wants to test new boundaries. He is determined to discover the secret of life and creates the monster. He is arrogant about the misdeeds of his creation and struggles over whether to destroy it or not. He values scientific discovery and power and is motivated by the chance to hold this power and later by his need for revenge on the monster.

7. The chapters spent on Victor's background are Important In the novel because they add depth to the character and may help you understand his actions further along in the novel. Victor alludes to the bad things that will come several times in these first three chapters and they serve to foreshadow future events in the novel.

8. The focus in this section is not on the process of creation or the creature, but on Victor. Once the monster has been created, Victor fears what he has done and struggles with what to do with his creation.

9. Victor works so hard to create the monster because he is obsessed with new scientific knowledge. Once the creature has been created, Victor sees him in all his ugliness and realizes his mistake. Victor wants to have power over his creation and almost immediately becomes afraid of it and loses control. Shelley is saying that you have to be careful what you wish for.

10. Victor meets his creature on top of a glacier. It is an appropriate setting for the meeting because Victor is seeking pure, natural beauty to escape the monster who is almost completely unnatural. The Creature accuses Victor of neglect. He thinks that if Victor had been a better "parent" he would not have killed those people. In these chapters the gap between Victor and the monster and the monster and humans is narrowed as we see they all share similar qualities.

11. These pages reveal that the Creature is sophisticated, educated, and controlled. The Creature gains these skills from his time spent with the DeLaceys. He wants to continue to learn more and more so that he will be accepted by humans and not be as lonely. He yearns for people to look past his appearance. The monster has a sense of hatred and hostility toward his creator for not taking care of him.

12. The Creature finally decides he must seek revenge against Victor for being so cruel and such an inadequate creator. The Creature also wants to use his power against Victor so he will create a bride for the monster. The Creature is lonely and upset with humans and desperately wants a companion.

13. The Creature argues that he did not choose to be brought into the world this way or to be so hideous. He blames Victor for creating him and for causing him the loneliness he has felt. All the monster wants is a companion to ease his loneliness, which is a valid demand. The Creature argument is reasonable because Victor made him with little care.

14. Frankenstein decides to discontinue his efforts to create a bride for the Creature because he is worried that the monster and his bride will create a "a race of devils." Also, he couldn't stand to make such a hideous creation again. Victor worries that the female creature will not stay secluded and he does not want to get any deeper into the mess he has already made.

15. Both the Creature and Frankenstein are lonely and struggle with their personal conflicts. Frankenstein wants to destroy the Creature and the Creature seeks revenge on Frankenstein. Neither holds a strong sense of morals or acceptance from society.

16. The novel at this point becomes more surrealistic to strengthen the message. The new environment highlights the fact that Victor has changed over the course of the story and is completely worn down and regretful of his creation. Also, it shows that people may have pushed the limits too far for their own good.

17. Frankenstein's final words were to the men on the ship. He tells them to not turn their backs on the enemy. Victor feels that it is the enemy who got him to this position. The Creature' s final words were, “I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the agony of the torturing flames.” He said these over Victor’s dead body. The Creature plans to die because his reason for living, Victor, is now gone.

18. The protagonist is Victor Frankenstein because through his Creation the whole story evolves. Frankenstein also undergoes immense change throughout the novel. The antagonist is the Creature because he and Frankenstein struggle against each other. I think the hero is Walton because he helps Victor and listens to his story. Walton is also affected by the story and learns from it.

19. I think the sympathy lies with the Creature because he did not ask for his circumstances. Frankenstein created his problems for himself. The Creature was lonely and had the capability to be controlled. He was interested in learning and being sophisticated. Frankenstein did not handle the situation well.

20. The word daemon is a mythological term for a supernatural being that is between a god and a mortal. Shelley would have used this term because of the novel's connection to the myth of Prometheus and the Creature's strange make up. The word demon is much more modern and mainstream and is defined as an angel that doesn't follow God and is associated with evilness.

21. The definition of monster from dictionary.com is "any animal or human grotesquely deviating from the normal shape, behavior, or character.” I associate the word monster with someone frightening or someone evil. A monster is a person or thing that is malicious, but not necessarily deformed, in my opinion. With my definition of monster, the Creature would not actually qualify as a monster.

 

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