Frankenstein - Guide

Frankenstein

Reading Guide

My name is ___________________.   Do not take my reading guide or I will use your body parts on my next creation.

Letters 1-4
    • Who is writing the letters?
    • To whom is he writing? What is their relationship?
    • Where is Robert Walton when he writes Letter 1?
    • Where does Walton want to travel to and why?
    • In letter 2, what does Walton reveal about himself?
    • How much time has elapsed between Letter 3 and letter 4?
    • Why does the man picked up by the ship say he is there? What shape is he in?
    • What sort of person does he  seem to be? How does Walton respond to this man?
    • How much time has elapsed when Walton begins writing again?
    • How does the man respond to Walton's project?
    • How does the man respond to Walton's project?
    • Why does the man agree to tell his story?
Chapter 1
    • What is the man's background? (Do we know his name yet?) Where is he from?
    • What is the story of the man's mother, Caroline Beaufort?
    • How does the man feel toward his parents and what responsibilities does he feel they had toward him?
    • Who is Elizabeth Lavenza and what is her story?   
    • What gift does the man's mother give him?
    • Do we know  the man's name yet? Do we know his family name?
Chapter 2
    • Who is Henry Clerval and what is his relation to Victor?
    • Who is Cornelius Agrippa and how does Victor find out about him?
    • How does Victor's father respond, and  how does Victor comment on that response?
    • What sort of science ("Natural Philosophy") is Victor learning from Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus  Magnus?  How would a modern scientist respond to this sort of thinking?
    • What happens when Victor sees an oak tree destroyed by lightning and hears an explanation? What does Victor then begin to study?
    • Who or what does he credit for this change in direction ?  Who or what does he blame for his "utter and  terrible...