READING QUESTIONS, DISCUSSION TOPICS, AND THOUGHT PROMPTS ON MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN
KAY FOWLER
1. Frankenstein tells Walton: "Remember, I am not recording the vision of a madman." Is this true? Be specific and show us in the text how you have come up with your answer.
2. What are the similarities and differences between Walton (the narrator), Frankenstein, and the Monster? How do they elucidate each other for us as readers? Be specific and show us in the text how you have come up with your answer.
3. What is the significance of the quote from Paradise Lost on the title page: "Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay/To mould Me man? Did I solicit thee/From darkness to promote me?"
4. Do a thoughtful character sketch of one of the two principals -- Victor Frankenstein or the Monster.
5. Provide a thorough character sketch of one of the following:
Elizabeth Lavenza Henry Clerval Robert Walton
6. Frankenstein will not reveal to Walton the secret of "generation and life" "of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter." Rather he warns him: "Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how,dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow." Is this novel anti-intellectual? anti-science? Refute or defend with specific examples. Why do you think Shelley takes the stance that she does here? Be specific and show us in the text how you have come up with your answer.
7. Frankenstein sees his creation for the first time after two years and realizes that the monster has destroyed his brother. He thinks: "I considered the being whom I had cast among mankind, and endowed with the will and power to effect purposes of horror, such as the deed which he had now done, nearly in the light of my own vampire, my own spirit let loose from the grave, and forced to destroy all that was dear to me." Is there any justification for this feeling? Can we read this novel as a study of abnormal psychology? Is Frankenstein responsible for the murder(s) in any sense? Be specific and show us in the text how you have come up with your answer.
8. What function does setting, nature, etc. play in this story? Be specific and show us in the text how you have come up with your answer.
9. How would you class this work -- as gothic romance/horror novel? science fiction? tendenzroman (novel with a thesis or point to make)? Something else? Some compound of the above? Why?
10. If you have seen any of the films that deal with the Frankenstein legend Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, etc. the parody Young Frankenstein how do you think these versions relate to the original?
11. Anne Mellor points out that Margaret Walton Saville has the same initials as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. What role do you believe she plays in the novel? Why the elaborate frame device of having Walton tell her the story of Frankenstein and his creation?