1) Please read "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley, Letter IV and Chapters I-II, pages 8-23.
2) Please respond to FIVE of the questions below in this blog space using direct evidence from the text. Read each other's responses and try to create a cross-section of questions from each of the sections. Please list which numbers you are doing, so other can choose different one.
We will go through these one by one tomorrow in class...and we will begin the film Surrogates.
We will go through these one by one tomorrow in class...and we will begin the film Surrogates.
1. Show how the Letters frame the upcoming story of
Frankenstein.
2. Analyze how Robert Walton’s life and travels
adhere to the ideals of Romanticism.
3. Explain how Walton educates himself for his
sailing adventure.
4. Predict how successful Walton’s voyage will be
to find an Arctic passage, and the problems he could encounter on his
adventure.
5. What does Walton desire when he writes the
second letter?
6. Explain why Walton feels particularly fortunate
to have secured the master of his ship.
7. Show how the shipmaster’s failed love story
adheres to the ideals of Romanticism.
8. Infer how Walton’s “belief in the marvelous”
makes him an ideal listener of Frankenstein’s story.
9. Formulate how the setting of the fourth letter
is typically Romantic.
10. Tell what the sailors first see in the
distance.
11. Describe the man who boards the ship.
12. Explain why the man is in the Arctic .
13. Analyze how the man fulfills Captain Walton’s
desires.
14. Generalize why the man agrees to tell Walton
his story.
15. Evaluate why the man cautions Walton against
his “search for knowledge and wisdom.”
16. What is Walton’s duty as the man tells his
story?
Chapter One
17. Tell how Victor Frankenstein’s parents met.
18. Summarize how Mary Shelley interjects her social
interest of caring for the poor into Frankenstein.
19. Show how Shelley portrays the women, Caroline
and Elizabeth, in Chapter One.
20. Describe Victor’s childhood.
21. Explain how Elizabeth
22. Assess how Victor feels about Elizabeth
Chapter Two
23. Tell about Victor’s social tendencies and how he
interacts with friends.
24. Contrast Victor’s academic interests with those
of his friend, Henry Clerval.
25. Infer Victor’s meaning when he says of his
desire to learn about science: “I find it arise, like a mountain river, from
ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, swelling as it proceeded, it became
the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys.”
26. Which authors and topics does Victor become
obsessed with reading?
27. Generalize how Victor learns about alchemy and
natural science. How does this fit with the characteristics of Romanticism?
28. Describe Victor’s experience with lightning. How
was it a turning point in his life?
29. Explain Victor’s destiny. Locate a quote from
the novel to support your answer.
1) The Letters frame the upcoming story of Frankenstein by giving a place and time for the story (the setting), and thoughtfully building suspense about the mysterious man so the reader is not immediately thrown into the thick of things without any context. A quote on page 13 adequately expresses the reader’s opinion through the voice of Robert, in which he writes “I felt the greatest eagerness to hear the promised narrative, partly from curiosity.”
ReplyDelete8) Walton’s “belief in the marvelous” makes him an ideal listener, for he would be more apt to believe the tale versus being a skeptical listener who doubts any truth in the tale, being so long in the Arctic and seeing strange sights. Frankenstein himself said this on page 13, in which he says, “Were we among the tamer scenes of nature, I might fear to encounter your unbelief, perhaps your ridicule; but many things will provoke the laughter of those unacquainted with the ever-varied powers of nature.”
16) Walton’s duty is to record the tale so that the man’s life is not lost and is remembered. It is also so that Walton cannot make a similar mistake. He says this on page 14: “my duties, to record, as nearly as possible in his own words, what he has related during the day.”
18) Mary Shelley interjects her social interest in caring for the poor by making Frankenstein’s mother very passionate about this subject, noting that his parents would make these visits everywhere they went. Page 16 highlights this interest, bringing it into the best light: “[Frankenstein’s parents’] benevolent disposition often made them enter the cottages of the poor.”
22) Victor feels almost that Elizabeth is his wife, even from childhood. He expresses this on page 18 with “No word, no expression could body forth the kind of relation in which she stood to me – my more than sister, since till death she was to be mine only.” In this manner, he believes he will be her one and only, though they are only children.
1. Tell how Victor Frankenstein’s parents met.
ReplyDelete4. Predict how successful Walton’s voyage will be to find an Arctic passage, and the problems he could encounter on his adventure.
20. Describe Victor’s childhood.
21. Explain how Elizabeth comes into the Frankenstein home.
28. Describe Victor’s experience with lightning. How was it a turning point in his life?
How Frankenstein’s parents met was that his father, Alphonse, and his mother, Caroline. Alphonse became Caroline’s protector when her father, Alphonse’s longtime friend Beaufort, died in poverty. They married two years later, and Victor was born soon after. Frankenstein then describes how his childhood companion, Elizabeth Lavenza, entered his family. Elizabeth is Victor’s cousin, the daughter of Alphonse’s sister; when Victor is four years old, Elizabeth’s mother dies and Elizabeth is adopted into the Frankenstein family. He studies the outdated findings of the alchemists Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus with enthusiasm. He witnesses the destructive power of nature when, during a raging storm, lightning destroys a tree near his house. A modern natural philosopher accompanying the Frankenstein family explains to Victor the workings of electricity, making the ideas of the alchemists seem outdated and worthless.
9.The glorification of nature- “The starry sea, the sky, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions seems to have the power of elevating his soul from earth.”(12) is one of the features of Romanticism evident in all descriptions of the far north.
ReplyDelete12. He is pursuing the mystical large figure seen earlier, who presumably fled to places of nature to hide.
13.This man basically answers all of Walton’s hopes for a friend who is an intellectual equal, He has had the same thirst to conquer the unknown, the same great appreciation of nature, the same self-taught education, but he has been broken by some side effect of his own works.
14. He hopes to save Walton his fate- “I do not know that the reflection of my disasters will be useful to you, yet when I reflect that you are pursuing the same course, exposing yourself to the same dangers that have rendered me what I am, I imagine that you may deduce an apt moral from my tale.”(13) Clearly some part of his scientific undertakings has gone horribly wrong, and wants to help Wolton avoid the same fate.
15.The man cautions Walton in his search because the man’s own endeavors have gone horribly wrong, quite likely resulting in the creature he chases across the ice.
3. Walton educates himself for his sailing adventure by reading books on trips to the Antarctic, working on his resistance to cold and going out with sailors.
ReplyDelete5. In the second letter Walton shows a desire for someone as educated as him
10. The sailors first see in the distance a sled pulled by dogs with a giant silhouette on it.
11. Man who boards the ship is in bad condition, two days latter he is able to speak and mysteriously mentions hes looking for something.
26. Victor become obsessed with reading about early alchemists
10. What the sailors initially see in the distance is difficult for them to make out due to fog. However to them it appears to be a overly large figure riding a dog sled.
ReplyDelete24. While Victor himself and mainly interested in the natural world and how it all works, his friend Henry Clerval studies a different topic. Henry is more interested in literature. Victor's interests drive him to peruse alchemy and ponder the idea of electricity while Clerical enjoys putting on plays.
3. In order to prepare himself for his sailing adventure, Walton educates himself in the years before it. Knowing he will be in a rough climate, he has exposed himself to similar temperatures and has practiced going for long times without food. He has also worked on a ship to get experience and during his nights has studied mathematics and medicine.
5. When he writes his second letter, Walton is in want of a friend. Although he is surrounded by seamen and merchants through his travels none of them share the same want of adventure and knowledge that he possesses. Additionally, because he was brought up very civilly by women, it is hard for him to connect to the foreign men.
11. The man who boards the ship seems to be reluctant to do so seeing as it takes convincing to get him aboard. He is European and nearly dead from exposure. It takes days for him to be able to speak again and regain his strength.
-Ellie Y
5. Walton is lonely, and he wants a friend that he can actually talk to. He cannot find anyone who is well educated to talk poetry with, only 'ignorant' men.
ReplyDelete15. The man presumably cautions Walton because he himself has seen how the search for knowledge has led to mistakes and/ or danger. He may believe that Walton will end up doing something he will later regret in the Arctic, just as the stranger has done in his past.
17. Victor's father was friends with a man named Beaufort, a merchant who became poor and very recluse. Beaufort became ill, and his daughter, who had been trying to make money, had to stop working to take care of him. Right as the man died, Victor's father found the two, and became a protector for the daughter, Caroline. They then married.
19. Both women are very caring and bring happiness to others. Caroline donates and takes care of the poor, adopting a girl to raise as her own, and Elizabeth became fast and harmonious friends with Victor.
26. Victor reads works by Agrippa, Paraclesus, and Albertus Magnus. They all write of the natural world and how one may understand it using magic, alchemy, philosophy, and science.
6. Walter feels fortunate that he was able to secure a master, who was not only a top choice, but someone who is able to master the ship without any issues.
ReplyDelete2. Romanticism dealt with the themes of adventure and travel (Walton's exploring the Arctic) to educate one's self (Walton's attempt at self-educate)
16. Walton's duty is to take notes while Victor tells his story.
22. He adores her and feels that she is "mine to protect, love, and cherish" and she is "my more than sister, since till death she was to be mine only."
28. When Victor was at the age of fifteen, him and his family witnessed a terrible lightning storm. He wanted to study things like natural history, but after the storm he became interested in other studies. He wanted to study things like mathematics and branches of science. It was a turning point in his life because, I think that's what led to Victor wanting to create things.
8. Walton's "belief in the marvelous" makes him an ideal audience for Frankenstein's story as it has a very fictitious quality to it. Though, in the novel, it's meant to be a retelling of someone's life, there are still a number of factors that make it seem unreal. However, Walton will listen to it undoubtedly as he is easily convinced by stories.
ReplyDelete5. When Walton writes the second letter, it is clear that he wants comfort and someone who will listen to him. He also wants a reminder of home as he continues to write to Elizabeth. She seems to be the only one who is not "ignorant" to poetry and etc., as he finds it difficult to discuss with the other men.
17. Victor's parents met an extremely unique way. In a sense, Victor's father saved his mother's life. By marrying Caroline Beufort, he rescued her from a life of being an impoverished beggar.
18. Mary reflects on her social interest on caring for the poor in her novel primarily by the character Caroline. Before Caroline was married to Victor's father, she lived a poverty-stricken life. After she gained wealth, this drove her to care for the poor. An example of this is on page 16, where Victor describes Caroline and her desire to be a "guardian angel to the afflicted." Here, she visits the cots of poor families and tries to provide for them.
24. While Victor seems to be much more interested in scientific knowledge, Henry is focused on romantic knowledge, such as with poetry and plays. He appears to be more sensitive and emotional than Victor, who is rather logical and calculating.
-Jill Schuck
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete11. Describe the man who boards the ship.
ReplyDelete15. Evaluate why the man cautions Walton against his “search for knowledge and wisdom.”
22. Assess how Victor feels about Elizabeth.
28. Describe Victor’s experience with lightning. How was it a turning point in his life?
29. Explain Victor’s destiny. Locate a quote from the novel to support your answer.
Frankenstein, the trope and cliche as well as the original text, is ingrained into culture as the monster created by man. However, few have actually ever read the original text and thus they lose the context and ideological importance of the piece in the scheme of Victorian ideals. As the story begins the reader begins by meeting our sometimes narrator and transcriber, Robert Walton, who has decided in his innocence and optimism to take a trip to the arctic. It is here he meets the bedraggled, repressed and half dead man who they find in a sled upon the arctic ice. It is this stranger who we can assume to be Victor Frankenstein, himself, who then tells his story to Walton who transcribes the tale and sends it to his sister. If one knows even very little about the novel you might know that the book is a commentary on science and its relationship with religion, and it is this that the stranger, Frankenstein, warns Walton against the search for knowledge. Obviously Victor later goes on to create a monster out of his desire for knowledge and wisdom of life. Victor goes on to tell the story of his childhood and particularly the acquiring of a more-than-sister when he was very young. He describes her as angelic and ethereal, embodying the image of innocence and purity. It is clear that Elizabeth is going to be a large part of Victors fight with religion because of his love for her, and her clear symbolism for religion. As Victors tale of his childhood continues the reader learns about his infatuation with natural science and the secret of life. He goes on to discuss an event that causes him to lose interest entirely, when a tree was obliterated by a strike of lightning. This seems both symbolism and foreshadowing, knowing the story before hand, for the destruction of life through nature and the way in which Frankenstein later decides to try to recreate life. Lightning is also a symbol of God and anger. It was because of the lightning he decided to forgo natural science entirely. However, as Victor tell the reader, destiny had other plans. After all “Destiny [is] too potent,” he says and, once again foreshadowing, “her immutable laws had decreed [his] utter and terrible destruction.”
- Eileen O
1. The letters are a good way to frame the rest of the novel because they set the tone of loneliness, scientific exploration, and tragedy. It is like a 19th century version of today’s found footage films, which lends itself well to horror.
ReplyDelete5. Walton desires company. He cannot converse with the sailors, due to cultural and language barriers. He wants a friend to share this journey with; the lack of one is causing intense feelings of loneliness.
10. They see a large figure riding a dog sled in the distance. Later this figure is described as the “daemen”, so it is probably Frankenstein's creation. It appears to be far greater in size than a normal man, and it is able to bare the cold well.
11. The figure who boards the ship is described as someone who was one cultured and refined, but through unfortunate circumstances became a wretched shell of a person. This person seems to be Frankenstein, because his stories make up the rest of the book. Even in his present state his merits of refinement and intelligence shine through, and he provides company to Walton.
17. Frankenstein's Father was a wealthy man who, for a variety of reasons, did not marry for many years. One of his friends, a formerly wealthy merchant, fell into poverty, and the friend hid to hide his shame. The Father found them months later, but by then it was too late; his friend had already died from disease. He took the daughter under his wing, putting her in the care of a relation, and two years later they were married.
Ethan Coyle
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete14. He prevents his men from burdening the stranger with questions. Walton and the stranger become friends, and the stranger eventually consents to tell Walton his story.
ReplyDelete5. He writes his second letter, in want of a friend. He is surrounded by all sea men and none of them have the same passion and knowledge as him.
21. Elizabeth is discovered by Caroline, on a trip to Italy, when Victor is about five years old. While visiting a poor Italian family, Caroline notices a beautiful blonde girl among the dark-haired Italian children, Caroline adopts Elizabeth and brings her back to Geneva.
26. Victor enjoys the mysteries of the natural world. He stumbles upon a book by Cornelius Agrippa, a sixteenth-century scholar of the occult sciences, and becomes interested in natural philosophy.
28. He witnesses the destructive power of nature when, during a raging storm, lightning destroys a tree near his house.
#10. The sailors see a giant, human like creature in the distance on a dog sled.
ReplyDelete#11. The man who boards the ship is found to be almost frozen to death and alone.
#12. Victor is in the Arctic to catch/kill his creation.
#20. Victor seemed to be pretty well off in his childhood; He lived in a villa and was close to both his parents. However, they moved a lot.
#22. Victor feels that he should protect Elizabeth, “I, with childish seriousness, interpreted her words literally and looked upon Elizabeth as mine - mine to protect, love, and cherish.” PG. 14
-Matthew Hebert
10. Through the fog, the sailors were only able to see a large figure riding a dogsled.
ReplyDelete17. Victor’s dad is a Genevese businessman who was very respected. One of his closest friends was a merchant named Beaufort. After Beaufort passed away, his daughter Caroline was left alone as an orphan. Victor’s dad then took care of her until they got married two years later.
24. Henry Clerval was interested in literature and read books on chivalry, and romance. He would write stories of adventures and make the other kids act in plays. Victor enjoyed studying natural philosophy. This study appealed to him more because it was practical and chimerical.
26. Victor enjoyed studying natural philosophy and the teachings of the outdated chemists and alchemists Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus.
28. During a thunderstorm Victor saw lightning strike an old and beautiful oak just outside of his house. When he checked on it the morning after, it was reduced to nothing but thin ribbons of wood and a blasted stump. Never in his life had he seen something so utterly destroyed before. This is when he learned about the studies of electricity.
-Alex Wessel
1. The letters frame the upcoming story of Frankenstein by providing an introdcution to the setting of the story and introducing the creator, Victor Frankenstein, letting him narrate his persepctive of the story
ReplyDelete3. Walton educated himself for his sailing adventure by using inheritance money to study and accompany sailors over the course of 6 years.
6. Walter appreciates the master of his ship because he is a very nice and considerate person compared to most people and especially compared to other sailors.
11. The man who boards the ship is a emaciated, freezing scientist named Victor Frankenstein.
20. Victor's childhood was pretty great even though his parents had a signifigant age gap between them, he also had an adopted sister named Elizabeth who he called his cousin. He was very possesive of her.
22. Victor is possesive of Elizabeth because he was "given her as a gift" from his parents.
10. The sailors first see a a sledge being pulled by multiple dogs and observe it until it gets away. Later on the sailors see the same sledge but this time there was only one dog and they could see a European man sitting in it. His body appeared nearly frozen and showed fatigue and suffering, he immediately fainted upon entering the ship.
ReplyDelete17. Caroline Beaufort, his mother, was grieving the death of her father when Victor’s father came in and provided support and comfort for her. They then got married two years later.
20. Victor had a quiet and chill childhood. When Victor was a bit older and his parents got a second child, the family moved into a country place in Geneva off of a lake. Victor’s childhood was very satisfactory and he had a good upbringing with caring parents.
28. Victor was fascinated by lighting after he saw a lightning strike completely demolish a tree and he found out what electricity was and the laws of electricity.
15. Victor may have a past with being curious about things and finding out things that he regrets knowing afterwards so he is cautioning Walton. This is probably since he created the monster through his search for knowledge. (Isaac Mezher)
1. They tell the backstory and gives background information and also explains the scientific exploration that he’s going thru
ReplyDelete26. Victor seems to be overly obsessed with reading about alchemy, philosophy , science and alchemist which is reads about in the book by Cornelius Agrippa which was written in the 16th century
11.The man that boards the ship was described as a refined and cultured person but also a wretched person he is also a scientist named Victor Frankenstein
10. They sailors notice some kind of large giant human like creature in the distance while they’re on their dog sled
5. In the second later you can tell that Walton is starting to feel lonely out in the see and that he’s looking for someone to comfort and listen to them, Elizabeth is his only connection to home and she’s also the only one that seems to know about walton the most.
5. When Walton writes the second letter, he is desiring a friend, a companion with similar interests. He knows he will not find these qualities in any of the men on the ship, as he sees himself as especially smart and important.
ReplyDelete8. Walton’s “belief in the marvelous” categorizes him as an ideal candidate to listen to Frankenstein’s story because it does not matter if what he says is credible. He will want to believe the most ridiculous stories, because of his belief of the preternatural and he is most likely bored in the arctic with people with no one to talk to.
15. Frankenstein cautions Walton in his search because he has seen what the obsession with and search for knowledge of science can do to someone. He knows what these endeavors can lead to, like chasing a creature across the ice of the arctic.
20. Victor’s childhood was that of expectations. His parents, Alphonse and Caroline, adopted his cousin Elizabeth after her mother passed, in hopes of the two marrying, although he had been very young. He had accepted his fate, and had treated her as though they would be together, as she was his future wife. Unlike Walton, he had few friends, Elizabeth and a man named Henry Clerval. He developed an interest in science as a teenager, specifically alchemy and a man named Albert Magnus. He realizes science’s power, and destructiveness, when he witnesses lightning striking a tree.
22. Frankenstein is not in love with Elizabeth, as he is with the idea of her. Although they are good friends, he accepts her as his future wife because he accepts his fate. He even sees her as his wife from a young age, and believes they will be each other's one and only.
3. Explain how Walton educates himself for his sailing adventure.
ReplyDeleteWalton educated himself about his sailing adventure by reading numerous novels and books about the arctic and how to sail. He got recruited to work on a oat before his journey get his sea legs ready to go.
17. Tell how Victor Frankenstein’s parents met. Victor Frankenstein's parents met when victor's father alphonse met his mother when he lost all of his money and went to work for a friend of his. His friend's daughter caroline worked with him as well. His friend later in life got very sick and sadly passed away left as an orphan Alphonse decided to care for caroline and despite their age difference they fell in love and had victor in naples italy.
20. Describe Victor’s childhood. Victor's childhood was a very happy and lavish one he had a lot of attention from his parents. He even received a gift of another orphan elizabeth who he cared for and then later married.
22. Assess how Victor feels about Elizabeth. I believe that Victor really cared for elizabeth he showed her compassion and love he made sure that she always had everything she needed. But abandoned the idea
26. Which authors and topics does Victor become obsessed with reading? Victor becomes obsessed with
26. Victor appears to be overly fixated on the subject of alchemy, as he reads about the subject in a 16th century book by Cornelius Agrippa
ReplyDelete17: Victors Mother lost her father some time ago, in her grief, victors Father came to her in support, and they married soon after.
10: the sailors spot a massive humanoid creature riding a dogsled on the horizon.
10: Victor has come to the Arctic Circle to Finally Subdue and Destroy the Creature.
3: Walton Prepared himself for his journey by apprenticing with other sailors for 6 years
17. Frankensteins met because his father, Alphonse, became his mother, Caroline’s, defender/ protector when her father died. Alphonse ended up marrying Caroline and Victor was born soon after.
ReplyDelete5. Walton desires relationships with other people because he is lonely, he is unable to communicate with the sailors because they don’t speak the same language.
10. The Sailors were able to see a large figure riding a dogsled through the fog.
12. Victor is in the Arctic to kill his creation