Some Notes and Some Preliminary Questions for Shelley's Frankenstein

The Title Page

1. The book is subtitled “The Modern Prometheus.” Look up Prometheus. Who was he? What did he do? What is important distinctions can you find between the Greek myth of Prometheus and the Roman myth of Prometheus?
2. Look at the quotation from Milton’s Paradise Lost on the title page. It is taken from Adam’s speech in Book X wherein he laments his eating of the forbidden fruit. Which character in this book do we associate with Adam? List any evidence you can to support your claim or claims.
3. Think about what Adam seems to be saying in this quote. Do you think he is right? If so, why? If not, why not? Does your answer to this question change depending on which character in this book you associate with Adam? If so, why?
4. Can you think of any significant parallels or contrasts between Prometheus and Adam? How might these relate to the book?

The Structure

1. Critics often refer to the structure of the novel as like nesting boxes. What does that mean? Can you identify the various “nesting boxes” in the book? What might be the purpose or purposes of these nesting boxes?
2. Much of the book consists of letters, journals, and other kinds of documents. What might be the purpose or purposes behind this emphasis on documents, writing, and evidence?
3. What is the setting of the novel (i.e. when and where does it take)? List some of the locations used in the novel. Do you see any patterns? Why do you think Shelley has chosen these places?
4. Who “speaks” in the novel (i.e. who gets to tell his or her story in his or her own voice)?
5. What kind of person is Walton? What values and goals does he seem to have (i.e. what seems to be important to him)? If we think of this book as being his book (i.e. about him and his journey), what do you think his story is supposed to suggest to us?
6. What kind of person is Victor? What values and goals does he seem to have (i.e. what seems to be important to him)? If we think of this book as being his book (i.e. about him and his journey), what do you think his story is supposed to suggest to us?
7. What kind of person is the Creature? What values and goals does he seem to have (i.e. what seems to be important to him)? If we think of this book as being his book (i.e. about him and his journey), what do you think his story is supposed to suggest to us?

Victor’s Story

1. What role does personal ambition play in Victor’s story?
2. Why does he create the Creature?
3. How does he deal with the consequences of his act of creation?
4. Victor says of his experiment that “a new species would bless me as its creator and source.” What does this statement suggest about Victor? If this statement is pointing to a parallel between God and Victor, what do those parallels suggest about the novel’s attitudes towards God?
5. The above question raises a much larger question: Where is God in this book?
6. What exactly does Victor want?

The Creature’s Story

1. Look back at the beginning of the Creature’s story (Volume 2, Chapter 3). What story is the Creature telling? What does he focus on?
2. Notice that the Creature finds fire? Why is this episode in the book? What does it suggest?
3. Why can’t the Creature learn speech and therefore language on his own? What does he think speech is? What are his models?
4. What does the Creature learn from observing the DeLacey family? Observing them also drives him to ask himself some “big” philosophical questions. What are they? Can we answer them for the Creature? Can we answer them for ourselves?
5. What exactly does the Creature want?

Keywords

Look through the following words and think about how each of them might be traced through the novel. For each word, list at least two incidents in the book that might be used to argue for the importance of this word to the novel as a whole.

• Ambition
• Selfishness (or Egoism)
• Community
• God
• Identity
• Justice
• Parents
• Prejudice
• Science