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For Wednesday: Shelley, Frankenstein, Chapters 7 through 12 (or Chapter 5, in Volume 2), pp.70-127


NOTE: I want to spend more time on Chapter 7, since we didn't talk about it in class, so if you already read it, you have one less chapter to read! If you were behind, make sure to read it for Wednesday. And remember, even if you can't read all the chapters, at least read some of them closely. It's better to read some of the assigned reading with focus than to simply skim all of it (or worse, just get the summaries from Spark Notes--which robs you of the pleasure and the intellectual rigor of reading). 

 Answer two of the following as usual: 

 Q1: In 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 saw in Blake and Wollstonecraft). 

Q4: Many find the story of the De Lacys somewhat puzzling and far too "sentimental" to make sense in the novel. So why does Shelley include it? Though it seems hopelessly unrealistic, how might it, too, become a crucial part of the Creature’s education? Besides books and language, what does he learn from the strange family and their exotic visitor? 

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