Frankenstein Themes

Question 1

What are the main themes explored in Frankenstein?

Answer 1

• gender
• monstrosity and alienation
• family
• science
• ambition
• the power of nature

Question 2

what events in Frankenstein connect to the theme of gender?

Answer 2

• elizabeth’s treatment by the frankensteins
• the treatment of caroline by alphonse
• the treatment of justine by victor and society
• the treatment of the female monster
• toxic masculinity of victor and walton
• the corruption of nature and motherhood by victor

Question 3

what events in Frankenstein connect to the theme of monstrosity and alienation?

Answer 3

• the othering of women (Elizabeth, Caroline, Justine)
• the rejection of the monster upon his creation
• Victor’s treatment of the monster at Montanvert
• the monster’s hovel
• the monster’s treatment by the villagers, father, and the de laceys
• paradise lost
• burning the de lacey’s cottage
• the othering of the inhabitants of the orkneys
• the monster’s solitary demise (victor dies amongst friends)

Question 4

what events in Frankenstein link to the theme of science?

Answer 4

• the author’s introduction
• victor’s obsession with science
• victor’s immorality in creating the monster
• the impact of science on society e.g. justine’s trial
• walton and victor’s lesson
• the death of the monster

Question 5

what events in frankenstein link to the theme of family?

Answer 5

• victor’s childhood
• the de lacye’s and their rejection of the monster
• the destruction of the female

Question 6

what events in frankenstein link to the theme of ambition?

Answer 6

• walton and his journey
• victor’s warning to walton
• walton and victor’s lesson
• victor’s immorality in creating the monster
• victor’s hubris and rejection of the monster
• the death of elizabeth and henry

Question 7

what events in frankenstein link to the theme of the power of nature?

Answer 7

• walton and his journey
• walton’s lesson
• victor’s creation of the monster and pathetic fallacy
• Geneva vs Ingolstadt
• Montanvert and the mountains (as a refuge for the monster)
• the orkneys

Question 8

what context connects to the theme of gender in frankenstein?

Answer 8

• Shelley’s mother was the philosopher and proto-feminist Mary Wollstonecraft; her father was the political philosopher William Godwin
• Shelley’s parents had hoped for a boy. ​
• Godwin provided Mary with a rich but informal education, encouraging her to adhere to his own liberal, political ideals
• the romantics supported to a degree, radical politics like feminism
• poor treatment of women at the time

Question 9

what conetxt connects to the theme of monstrosity and alienation in frankenstein?

Answer 9

• Created because of a challenge to ‘write a ghost story’ set down by Lord Byron in 1816, whilst he and three friends were staying at the Vila Diodate by Lake Geneva
• Shelley’s parents had hoped for a boy. ​
• Her mother died less than a month after she was born
• When Mary was 4, Godwin married Mary’s stepmother, whom Mary had a troubled relationship with
• Shelley’s father rejected her because of her relationship to the already married Percy Shelley. He did not see her until she later married in 1816.
• In Paradise Lost, Satan is portrayed as having originally been an archangel of high rank before his rebellion; however, his pride and ambition lead him to challenge God’s authority, culminating in his banishment
• the status of working-class people in the late 1700s and early 1800s was incredibly poor and in 1789: French revolution began as a result of food shortages, exploitation and suffering. The Romantics originally supported the French Revolution

Question 10

what context connects to the theme of family in frankenstein?

Answer 10

• Tabula rasa - - the theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content, and, therefore, all knowledge comes from experience or perception; a challenge to the innatism argument
• the industrial revolutoon led to a change in family dynamics
• Her mother died less than a month after she was born
• Shelley’s father rejected her because of her relationship to the already married Percy Shelley. He did not see her until she later married in 1816. ​
• Her first child Clara, born in 1815, died only a few weeks old. ​
• Four days after Clara died, Mary dreamt she had revived her.​

Question 11

what context connects to the theme os science in frankenstein?

Answer 11

• Mary Shelley grew up listening to discussions of scientific experiments between Lord Byron and Percy Shelley: e.g. galvanism by Luigi Galvani
• the industrial revolution
• grave robbing
• galvani and aldini
• The Enlightenment, Explorer Spirit, and the Northeast Passage
• physiognomy
• tabula rasa

Question 12

what context connects to the theme of ambition in frankensetin?

Answer 12

• The Enlightenment, Explorer Spirit, and the Northeast Passage
• the industrial revolution
• the romantics
• prometheus
• the rime of the ancient mariner

Question 13

what context connects to the theme of the power of nature in frankenstein?

Answer 13

• the romantics
• the sublime
• the industrial revolution
• The Enlightenment, Explorer Spirit, and the Northeast Passage