Answer TWO of the following for Wednesday's class:
Q1: In Book 1, Chapter 7, Victor and Elizabeth interview Justine in prison, and learn of her false confession. How might this chapter be a discussion of justice and cruelty comparable to what we find in Maria? Why doesn't Victor, who knows the truth, tell the court what he knows? Does he admit his cowardice to Walton?
Q2: How does Elizabeth change in these chapters from what he was? Victor notes that "She was no longer that happy creature," and that she had "become grave." Is it just the death of her loved ones that causes this change? As one of the few women in the novel, what does Shelley want us to see through her character and its degradation?
Q3: One of the great debates of the 18th century was about the inner nature of men and women: were they a 'blank slate,' which was simply imprinted with their immediate surroundings? Or did they come into this world fully formed, with morals, values, and inclinations toward good or evil? How is the Creature a way of testing this theory in a dramatic way? As a truly blank slate (random body parts given life), what does Shelley feel is the intrinsic nature of men and women? (consider, too, the themes of innocence vs. experience we've previously encountered).
Q2: How does Elizabeth change in these chapters from what he was? Victor notes that "She was no longer that happy creature," and that she had "become grave." Is it just the death of her loved ones that causes this change? As one of the few women in the novel, what does Shelley want us to see through her character and its degradation?
Q3: One of the great debates of the 18th century was about the inner nature of men and women: were they a 'blank slate,' which was simply imprinted with their immediate surroundings? Or did they come into this world fully formed, with morals, values, and inclinations toward good or evil? How is the Creature a way of testing this theory in a dramatic way? As a truly blank slate (random body parts given life), what does Shelley feel is the intrinsic nature of men and women? (consider, too, the themes of innocence vs. experience we've previously encountered).
Q4: At the end of Volume 1, Victor claims that “I bore a hell within me, which nothing could extinguish." Based on this passage (and our previous discussion), is it possible to read the Creature as Victor’s doppleganger—a 'double' that torments him and follows him because he is him? What clues or inconsistencies seem to support this reading? Do you think Shelley wanted to leave this possibility open in the novel?
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