Iso's magic touch

Question 1

theory of female incapabilities

Answer 1

“A woman who ‘attempted the pen’ was perceived as intrusive, presumptuous and unredeemable because she had crossed boundaries directed by nature” - Gubar and Gilbert, 2000:8

• Perhaps Shelley is being satirical here through the parallelism of Victor who “pursued nature to her hiding places” and who “aspires to become greater than his nature will allow” through creating life. Through writing this novel Shelley is supposedly crossing boundaries whilst being critical of society (“my hideous progeny”)

Question 2

Ideas raised about science:

Answer 2

“The treatment of science in F. is at great length formed as a warning against the rapidly changing science which tries to control nature and turn man into God.”

“The reader is told not to wish for too much knowledge because that will drive them to ambitions that will ultimately result in certain destruction.”

“By assigning VF with the ability to ‘give birth’ Mary Shelley embodied existing speculations in the field of science and she then showed her own opinion and anxiety of what that might result in”

Mary Shelley’s treatment of science as an “implicit warning against the possible dangers inherent in the technological developments of modern science”

Question 3

Victor is incapable of looking after his ‘child’. Why might Shelley have chosen to do this?

Answer 3

AGAIN, Shelley is being satirical of society or making a critique of the role of men and women. Women were expected to stay at home and look after their children; Victor neglects his child because it isn’t his duty to do so? Public vs Private/ Men vs Women

Question 4

Scientific inspirations:

Answer 4

• Erasmus Darwin, amongst others, suggested that reproduction in plants depended more on the male than on the female which only had to supply nourishment and oxygenation.

Question 5

Critical quotes suggesting that Frankenstein raises issues over society at the time

Answer 5

“F. is not a simple battle between good and evil; it is not a ghost story, nor really a gothic novel. It defies a single interpretation, engaging instead with some of the crucial social and public questions of the period” - Jansson 1999

Question 6

role of Walton as a narrator

Answer 6

“he mediates the stories of Victor and the creature, and, at the beginning of the novel, Shelley also uses him to introduce some of the key themes” - Jansson 1999

Question 7

critical quotes narrative form

Answer 7

“The narrative form of the novel renders realism to the novel because it consists of letters, journals and notes which function as the different characters’ testimonies” - unknown