I shall relate events that impressed me with feelings which, from what I was, have made me what I am.
--Monster
Chapter 1
1. As I have tried to establish before in volume I chapter 1, Victor’s way down the garden path, or as he puts it, “receiving the fatal impulse”, originated from an almost willful misunderstanding between Victor and his father over the merits of studying Cornelius Agrippa; at the beginning of this volume Alphonse endeavors to reason with Victor concerning “the folly of giving way to immoderate grief”; thus, to a certain extent, Victor’s father finds him inconsolable, as Victor admits, “this advice, although good, was totally inapplicable to my case”: is a similar misunderstanding at play here as a the beginning of the first volume? Is Victor right in finding his father’s advice “inapplicable to [his] case”? Why or why not? Is Victor really destined for this immortal suffering or does he simply have a martyr complex?
2. In what ways does the description of the natural scenery reflect the inner turmoil of Victor as he seeks solace in solitude on the Lake? In what ways does the way in which Victor and Elizabeth each deal with grief a reflection of “the harmony in that very dissimilitude” between Victor and Elizabeth alluded to in Volume I?
3. At this point in the book, is Victor’s “hatred” for the monster really justified? Why or why not?
4. Elizabeth says at the height of her lament, “now misery has come home and men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other’s blood” (61, emphasis added).
a. Looking back, why was the private interview with Justine so important to Elizabeth? What was “the trust” (58) Elizabeth reposed in Justine?
Elizabeth continues: “I could not consent to the death of any human being; but certainly I should have thought such a creature unfit to remain in society of men” (61).
b. Is this a reasonable or possible resolve? Why or why not? Looking forwards, how might this foreshadow the events to come and the themes to emerge? Speculate.
5. Elizabeth confesses before Victor: “William and Justine were assassinated, and the murderer escapes; he walks about the world free, and perhaps respected. But even if I were condemned to suffer on the scaffold for the same crimes, I would not change places with such a wretch” (61).
a. How do you think Victor feels upon hearing this?
Victor continues: "She shed tears as she said this, distrusting the very solace that she gave; but at the same time she smiled, that she might chase away the fiend that lurked in my heart"(Ibid.).
b. Who is “the fiend” that lurked in Victor’s heart? To what extent is this novel about self-discovery and coming to terms with one’s own deeds? Should Victor feel guilty for not having spoken up at the trial? Speculate and Elaborate.
Chapter 2
- According to Mary Shelley, how might the natural sublime, or the sublimity of a natural scene, be therapeutic?
- As Victor approaches Mont Blanc, affected by the sublimity of the landscape, he begins to speculate about human nature. Just what are these “sensibilities superior to those apparent in the brute” which man may boast of and what does this have to do with Percy’s poem “On Mutability” quoted?
- Compare Mary Shelley’s description of Victor’s approach toward Mont Blanc and that of Percy Shelley’s published in his History of a Sex Weeks’ Tour. (See page 179-180 in Norton edition.) Speculate as to the reasons for the difference.
- Does Victor’s creature evoke a sense of sublimity? Why or why not?
- Victor’s created being says to him:
All men hate the wretched; how then must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us. You purpose to kill me. How dare you sport thus with life? Do your duty toward me, and I will do mine toward you and the rest of mankind. (65)
What “duty” does Victor have towards the monster if any? Further, in what way is it a bond “dissoluble [except] by the annihilation of one [of them]”?
6. In what ways might Victor’s created being be a romantic hero? In what way is Victor’s creature his double? What common elements do they share?
7. Victor’s creation charges Victor with the power to “deliver [mankind] from an evil which it only remains for [Victor] to make so great, that not only [Victor and his family], but thousands of others, shall be swallowed up in the whirlwinds of its rage.” Is the creature right to charge Victor with this responsibility?
Chapter 3
- What are some elements that make the being's first days in this world such a pathetic account? In other words, what about Mary Shelley’s account of the creature’s first days makes us feel sympathetic towards the creature? (e.g. the creature does not like wine.) Is the creature intelligent? How do we know?
- How did the creature respond to his first interactions with mankind? How do we know? (Use the text.)
- Why is the scene where the being is moved by the old man’s scene such an important episode in this chapter? What does it establish about the creature / monster? What about the circumstances made this scene particularly touching?
- Just as the creature acquires the concept of space in the first pages of the chapter, then to be able to distinguish between the different senses, then the idea of pleasure and pain; what concept does the creature acquire at the end of this chapter in observing these cottagers?
- What is the relationship between the creature and the cottagers?
Chapter 4
- What is particularly ironic about the creature’s thoughts as to the cause of unhappiness?
- What concept(s) does the creature learn upon observing how the younger cottagers went hungry? Further, why do you think the scene where the young cottagers discover the mysterious appearance of wood so important to the creature?
- What made language particularly difficult for the creature to learn? (Is there any particular significance to the first words being learns?)
- What does the creature learn from each of the cottagers?
- What motivated the creature to learn the cottager’s language?
- How did the creature perceive life on earth? How does he perceive his place in this world and in relation to mankind?
Chapter 5
- Does the creature enjoy learning? What are some questions his intellectual curiosity led him to contemplate? What does the creature ultimately learn from the study of literature?
- According to the created being, how is the self or individual defined? How does he come to see his place in the world? What were his immediate reactions? What new concept does he gain at the end of the chapter?
- What makes us “human”?
Chapter 6
- How was Felix involved in the ruin of his family? What does Safie have to do with all of this? Is this another scene of social injustice? Relate this passage to prior passages on the same theme(s).
- Compare the story of young Felix to that the Russian ship-master.
- Compare Safie to other likely heroines in the novel.
- Compare Felix to the other likely heroes of the novel. Do you discover any patterns? Is there a type emerging? How is Felix’s circumstance different from those other heroes?
- What is Safie’s father’s relationship to Felix and his family? How might this reflect one predominant “romantic” theme?
Chapter 7: Literary Criticism & the Interview
- Why do you think Mary Shelley chose these particular books as the cap stone to her creature’s education? Where they good choices? Is there method behind the choices?
ii)What did the being learn from Plutarch’s Lives? What according to Mary
Shelley are the pedagogical values of these tales for the creature?
iii) What kind of reader was Frankenstein’s Monster? What did he get out of
reading Milton’s Paradise Lost?
2. What was the final article Victor's creature found in the leathern portmanteau that was to complete the creature’s “education”? Is it important that he should know about his origins? Why or why not? Did this somehow make his interview with the cottagers even more important? What new seems to be involved for the creature? What now seems to be his driving motive?
3. What was the “utmost limit of [the being's] ambition”? In comparing himself to the poor as a supplicant, what do we discover about the being's self-image? Does this make his eventual demise even more tragic? What do you think prevented the creature from tearing Felix “limb from limb, as a lion rends the antelope”?
4. To what extent is Frankenstein’s monster comparable with Rousseau’s noble savage?
5. To what extent is Frankenstein’s monster morally superior to Victor? (Remember to return to this question as you read the rest of the book, in particular, at the very end of Volume III.)
Chapter 8
- Recount the various stages of emotions the creature had in response to his interview with the cottagers. Is it believable? Why or why not?
- Why was the departure of the cottagers so crucial to the creature? What did he “learn” about himself through this episode?
- Why does the creature decide to begin his search for Victor? What, in particular, was he hoping to gain through this search in his own words? What after all was the creature suffering from aside from feelings of isolation and abandonment?
- Is it important the Mary Shelley included the incident with the little girl falling into the stream? Why or why not? (Use the Text)
- What was the creature’s original intent upon approaching William? What eventually happened? What do we learn about the creature through the locket incident? What more does the creature learn? Is he in some ways even more “human”?
Chapter 9
- What according to the creature is the nature of the injustice performed on Victor’s part? What necessity did he fail to provide for his creation? Is it a necessity?
- What was Victor’s initial reason for turning down the creature’s proposal? Is he justified in this assumption?
- The creature relates, “I am malicious because I am miserable.” Do you find this convincing? Why or why not? Is it a good excuse or can we find him morally culpable or even morally reprehensible?
- How reasonable are the creature’s arguments? Assess a few.
- Was Victor right to agree to the creature’s proposal? Why or why not?