Key themes

Question 1

How is isolation shown through Victor?

Answer 1

• Sacrifices his morality in exchange for the pursuit of knowledge by actively avoiding society
• By isolating himself he gains an inflated sense of ego which leads to him appropriating God
• The monster becomes a physical embodiment of his immorality due to his isolation from society

Question 2

What quotes show isolation from Victor?

Answer 2

• ‘Solitude was my only consolation’
• ‘The fall of a leaf startled me and I shunned my fellow creatures’
• ‘Window reflection’

Question 3

How is isolation shown through The Monster?

Answer 3

• Isolation is imposed by him by society
• Due to Victors shunning he becomes the devil
• He is the result of societies rejection

Question 4

What quotes show isolation from The Monster?

Answer 4

• “I ought to have been thy Adam but am instead the fallen angel?”
• “Some attacked me,Some fled”
• “You my creator,abhor me”
• “Irrevocably excluded”

Question 5

How is Ambition presented throughout the novel?

Answer 5

• Cautionary tale from the framed narrative (Victor and Walton are foils of one another)
• Dante’s inferno -Victor dies in the ice due to the accumulated sin of previous actions
• Change from creating to destroying- overall moral decline due to appropriating God.

Question 6

Quotes showing ambition as dangerous?

Answer 6

“Learn my miseries and do not seek to increase your own”

• “For nothing but ice lay before me”
• “Spark of being into this lifeless thing”
• “His soul is as hellish as his form”

Question 7

How is science/knowledge presented throughout the novel?

Answer 7

• Knowledge is shown as something which needs to be pursued in moderation lest you lose morality
• Emotions are better guidance than science (Clerval is a much more balanced character)
• It can’t solve everything

Question 8

Quotes showing opinions on science/knowledge?

Answer 8

• “Wealth was an inferior object”
• “Could aught ill entrench on the noble spirit of Clerval”
• “Nature was broken”

Question 9

How is loss presented in the novel?

Answer 9

• Walton hints at his loneliness when he says about longing for a companion
• Victor experiences loneliness in a second-hand way as he shuns his family and friends to satisfy his thirst for knowledge
• The Monster feels shunned from society and ends up having a deep loneliness that he cant fill

Question 10

What quotes show loss/loneliness?

Answer 10

• “I now feel as a most severe evil. I have no friend Margret”
• “Caused me to forget those friends who were so many miles absent”
• “I am malicious because I am miserable”

Question 11

How are women presented in the novel?

Answer 11

• As voiceless in the activities of men- No female narrators
• As nurturers and moral guidance to men
• As the victims of men’s actions- No agency yet still suffer

Question 12

What quotes show the treatment and presentation of women?

Answer 12

• “I looked upon Elizabeth as mine”
• “You alone can console Elizabeth”
• “she (Elizabeth) was no longer a happy creature”

Question 13

How is prejudice presented in the novel?

Answer 13

• The monster is shunned despite his eloquence by the Delaceys
• Victor immediately rejects the monster due to aesthetic prejudice and links with physiognomy
• Safie is used as a metonym of the other to portray how due to societies toxic cycle on isolating others

Question 14

What quotes show prejudice?

Answer 14

• “He dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick”
• “His soul is as hellish as his form” “Watery blue eyes”
• “Was I then a monster? A blot upon this Earth?”