context

Question 1

The first edition was published ….

Answer 1

anonymously

Question 2

What did Shelleys father write a book about?

Answer 2

a book condemning all human institutions as corrupt

Question 3

What element of Frankenstein was pioneering at the time for Gothic literature?

Answer 3

double trope

Question 4

what was gothic literatures focous?

Answer 4

concern with transgression and excess

Question 5

what is the rime of the ancient mariner about?

Answer 5

mariner shot albatros - this led to a curse on him and the ship

Question 6

Why was there a lot of exploration of the west at the time of writing?

Answer 6

the west was exploring trade routes with the orient (the first draft didn’t include the narrative framework of walton so this may have been inspired by her later reading)

Question 7

what was the 1817 pentrich uprising?

Answer 7

an uprising by farmers during a period of economic hardship in an attempt to overthrow the government - swiftly and brutally suppressed

Question 8

What is Galvanism?

Answer 8

giving movement to dead things through electricity (area of science developing while Shelley was writing)

Question 9

What is different about film versions of the monster compared to the book?

Answer 9

he is normally grunting rather than the eloquence seen in books
he is rational and has good language, he describes words as a ‘godlike science’ and compares himself to both adam and saturn from miltons paradise lost

Question 10

what book did Mary Shelleys mother write?

Answer 10

A vindication of the rights of women - Mary Wollsencraft

Question 11

Why was there an increase in grave robbing in the early 1800s?

Answer 11

to be used in medical practise

Question 12

how did the 2011 National theater production emphasis the idea of the double?

Answer 12

the two leads switched characters every night between the monster and victor

Question 13

what is the symbolic meanings of Felix, Agatha and Safie, elizabeth?

Answer 13

happiness, goodness, and wisodm, gift of god

Question 14

Vegetarianism rose to prominence in the Romantic period (related to the idea that Adam and Eve did not eat meat), what does the monster say that would align him with Adam and Eve and good?

Answer 14

‘my food is not that of man, i do not destroy the lamb and the kid to glut my appetite’

Question 15

Where did Shelley claim her inspiration for Frankenstein come from?

Answer 15

a waking dream - fits gothic ideas

Question 16

what is symbolic about the association of the moon when Victor is creating the creature?

Answer 16

in greek myology the goddess of the moon is also the goddess of childbirth

Question 17

what religion was shelly?

Answer 17

athesist

Question 18

when was it first published?

Answer 18

1818

Question 19

in the 19th century writers were fascinated by forbidden knowledge that could be gained from the study of _____

Answer 19

death
p.shelleys ‘Alastor’ poem
gothic motif of eternal wanderer seen in ‘ancient mariner’ Coleridge - death is only survivable by the affliction of a curse

Question 20

what was the difference between mary and percys opinions of promethus?

Answer 20

percy sees him as the ideal romantic man - strong etc

mary sees him as brutish and overbearing

Question 21

Shelleys warning about excess of technology can still be seen today in what modern day concerns?

Answer 21

GM crops
Robots + AI
responsibility to planet in times of climate change vs industrial revolution then

Question 22

the monster development optimises which ongoing moral and scientific debate?

Answer 22

nature vs nurture

Rousseau and Godwin (shellyes father) believed personalities were formed on the basis of education

Question 23

why may shelley have been against the french revolution?

Answer 23

she spent a lot of time traveling europe and witnessing the damage of the napoleonic wars

Question 24

what was the differnce between the 1818 version and the later 1831 version?

Answer 24

1831-
more driven by science - opening chapters extended
e+v no longer blood related
elements of divine and god much more prominent, 1818 was godless and atheist

Question 25

frankestein was published in the same year as the first article on which pioneering scientific technique?

Answer 25

blood transfusions
this sparked debates about human and animal rights especially with the discovery of cross species vaccination - also seen in french revoltuion
p.shelly was v interested in anatomy
victor uses the new scientific technique galvanism

Question 26

the evolution of the name given to victors creation evolved from what to what over time?

Answer 26

monster to creature

p.shelley referred to it as a ‘being’