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For Monday: Finish Frankenstein and read Appendix A (The Education of Mary Shelley) and Appendix D (Reviews of Frankenstein)

Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft, writer of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (and Mary's mother) 


NOTE: Finish the book for Monday if you can, but if not, you can easily finish it this week since we'll have very little reading. In fact, I would encourage you to go ahead and read Appendix A and D even if you can't finish the book, since that's something I want to discuss in class. Remember that William Godwin in Mary's father, and Mary Wollstonecraft was her mother (though she died in childbirth, sadly). So the Appendix A writings are pieces from her parents that she is responding to, in some form, in the novel.

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Victor claims that his narrative is a warning for Walton, so that “the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been” (17). However, the end of the novel seems to contradict his aim in telling his story—and Victor’s actions seem less than repentant than would first appear. What is his hope in telling Walton his story, and does his story leave him a "sadder and a wiser man"? (to quote The Rime). 

Q2: In one of Godwin's writings from Political Justice, he claims that "Justice would have taught me to save the life of Fenelon [a famous poet] at the expense of the other [his own father or brother]. What magic is there in the pronoun "my" that should justify us in overturning the decisions of impartial truth?" (230). How might this doctrine of "justice" over sympathy have influenced some of the ideas in Frankenstein? Do you think Mary Shelley agrees or disagrees with her father's ideas? 

Q3: Mary Wollstonecraft was very concerned about the education of young children, and at one time even worked at a sort of elementary school and developed educational books. According to these excerpts from her famous work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, what is the worst thing that could happen to the developing mind? How might this parallel the education of the Creature in the novel?

Q4: Sir Walter Scott was the most famous novelist of his age (he wrote books that are rarely read today, including Ivanhoe and Rob Roy), and his review in 1818 would be like Steven King taking time to review a book today. Though he is very impressed with the book, what does he find are the novel's biggest failings? Do we still agree with him? Why or why not?

Q5: John Wilson Croaker, writing in the Quarterly Review, takes the novel to task for its absurdities, among which are its complete lack of "conduct, manners, or morality" (281). Why do you think he fails to see anything thoughtful or intellectual in the novel, when that's the only reason we still read it today? What does he see instead? 

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