Mary Shelley and Frankenstein:

Week 1

And they probably do New

Job’s, as well as Repair’s! 2

Lesson 2 Vocabulary Update:

1. Virtuoso2. Aboveboard3. Luminous4. Unctuous5. Alcove6. Misapprehend 7. Toilsome 8. Aroma 9. Indigent

Lesson 2 Vocabulary 16-19

16. Contrite (adj) sorry for past actions; desiring forgiveness

17. Recur (v) to happen for a second time, or to happen repeatedly at intervals

18. Finite (adj) having an end or limit; not infinite

19. Outcry (n) a loud noise or exclamation, particularly of disapproval

Meet Mary Shelley

• Born in 1797• Daughter of William Godwin & Mary

Wollstonecraft • No formal education• Eloped with Percy Shelley @ 16• Married in 1816• Traveled in Switzerland, Germany, and

Italy• Published Frankenstein without her

name in 1818

Percy Bysshe Shelley

• Esteemed poet• Attended and

expelled from Oxford University

• Eloped at 19 to Harriet Westbrook

• Sought the friendship and guidance of William Godwin

A Secret Romance

• First meeting in 1812– Mary (15) and Percy (21)

• Second meeting in May of 1814

• Secret meetings at Mary Wollstonecraft’s gravesite throughout the summer

Children and Marriage

• Mary and Percy Shelley’s Children– Unnamed daughter died prematurely

in 1815– William(1816-1819)– Clara (1817-1818)– Percy Florence (1819-1889)

• Suicide of Harriet Shelley in 1816– Enabled Mary and Percy to marry.– Ended the feud between Mary and her

father William Godwin.

Life after Frankenstein

• Percy Shelley (30) died sailing off the coast of Italy in the summer of 1822.

• Mary struggled to provide for herself financially, as she worked as a writer and editor.

• Mary lived with her son Percy and his wife Jane until her death (at 53)

in 1851.

The Birth of Frankenstein

• Lord Byron suggested that they each write their own supernatural story.

• The inspiration for Frankenstein came from a dream.

• Frankenstein grew from a short story to a novel and was published in 1818

The Baby and The Dream

Mary’s daughter had died.

Mary dreamed that her daughter was brought back to life through vigorous rubbing and being held near a warm fire.

This inspired her to write Frankenstein.

Frankie WebQuest

• Gothic Literature

• The science of the Frankenstein monster.

• The Prometheus Myth

• Themes of Frankenstein

• What is science fiction and was Mary Shelley the first science fiction writer?

DUE NEXT CLASS PERIOD

Found in the locker room right here at HHS…

14

Lesson 2 Vocabulary 10-12

10. Boisterous (adj) active and happy; full of energy

11. Stupendous (adj) immense in size or magnitude

12. Oblivion (n) – lack of consciousness, knowledge, or memory; being completely forgotten

Vocab Quiz is next

Lesson 2 Vocab Quiz

16. Use the word contrite in a sentence

17. Provide a synonym for the word recur.

18. Provide an antonym for the word finite.

19. Use the word outcry in a sentence.

Lesson 2 Vocabulary 20-25

20. Prudence (n) wise caution; the quality of being careful

21. Decipher (v) to understand a coded or hidden meaning

22. Plenteous (adj) found in ample supply

23. Diaphanous (adj) sheer and filmy; transparent

24. Peerless (adj) better than or above all others

25. Embroil (v) to entangle in disagreement, agrument or

conflict

Frankie Presentations

Understanding

Mary Shelley’

s Frankenstein

Structure and Point of View

Story within a story

Frame Story

Themes

• Consequences of irresponsibility in the pursuit of knowledge

• Consequences of pride• Consequences of society’s rejection of

someone who is unattractive• Destructive power of revenge• Parent-child conflicts• Sympathy

Characters

• Victor Frankenstein  -  The doomed protagonist and narrator of the main portion of the story. Studying in Ingolstadt, Victor discovers the secret of life and creates an intelligent but grotesque monster, from whom he recoils in horror. Victor keeps his creation of the monster a secret, feeling increasingly guilty and ashamed as he realizes how helpless he is to prevent the monster from ruining his life and the lives of others.

• The monster -  The eight-foot-tall, hideously ugly creation of Victor Frankenstein. Intelligent and sensitive, the monster attempts to integrate himself into human social patterns, but all who see him shun him. His feeling of abandonment compels him to seek revenge against his creator.

More Characters

• Robert Walton  - The Arctic seafarer whose letters open and close Frankenstein. Walton picks the bedraggled Victor Frankenstein up off the ice, helps nurse him back to health, and hears Victor’s story. He records the incredible tale in a series of letters addressed to his sister, Margaret Saville, in England.

• Alphonse Frankenstein -  Victor’s father, very sympathetic toward his son. Alphonse consoles Victor in moments of pain and encourages him to remember the importance of family.

• Elizabeth Lavenza -  An orphan, four to five years younger than Victor. In the 1818 edition of the novel, Elizabeth is Victor’s cousin, the child of Alphonse Frankenstein’s sister. In the 1831 edition, Victor’s mother rescues Elizabeth from a destitute peasant cottage in Italy. Elizabeth embodies the novel’s motif of passive women, as she waits patiently for Victor’s attention.

More Characters

• Henry Clerval  - Victor’s boyhood friend, who nurses Victor back to health in Ingolstadt. After working unhappily for his father, Henry begins to follow in Victor’s footsteps as a scientist. His cheerfulness counters Victor’s moroseness.

• William Frankenstein -  Victor’s youngest brother and the darling of the Frankenstein family. The monster strangles William in the woods outside Geneva in order to hurt Victor for abandoning him. William’s death deeply saddens Victor and burdens him with tremendous guilt about having created the monster.

• Justine Moritz -  A young girl adopted into the Frankenstein household while Victor is growing up. Justine is blamed and executed for William’s murder, which is actually committed by the monster.

Other Literary Elements

• Irony – 2 major ironies

• Creature is more sympathetic, more imaginative and more responsible to fellow creatures

• Creature has many pleasing qualities but is an outcast because he’s not physically attractive