Frankenstein CORE QUOTES

Question 1

“I was benevolent and good, misery made me a fiend”

Answer 1

• Nature vs nurture - are people inherently good / bad or is it their upbringing that changes them
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau said that humans are inherently good and they are corrupted by society - noble savage, a character that is uncorropted by society
• Hobbes said that humans were born blank slates - tabula rasas, without any rules
• “Benevolent” - the creature is articulate and clever
• Parallels the life of Mary Shelley: sorrowful because she was rejected and abandoned by her father
• Parallels Victor who is miserable due to his loneliness and abandonment: monster as doppleganger
• Even though this is a framed narrative where Victor controls how the monster comes across, we can see that the monster is still presented as clever: shows how articulated the monster actually was

Question 2

“A passion which afterwards ruled my destiny”

Answer 2

• Frankenstein is also known as the “modern Prometheus”
• In Greek mythology, Prometheus stole fire from the God’s and so was condemmed to eternal torture. Like Prometheus, Victor stole from the God’s (the ability to give life) and so was condemmed to eternal torture
• In another version of the myth, Prometheus animates a clay sculpture to life, effectively stealing life
• Victor had a “passion which afterwards ruled my destiny” - Romantic genius, a person whose talents were driven by forces beyond their control
• Victor / Shelley is warning about the power of ambition. Walton’s ambition gets them stuck in ice - Dante’s Inferno, people in the ninth circle of hell are shown to be trapped in ice because they have betrayed god

Question 3

“I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all of mankind”

Answer 3

• Mimics Satan in Paradise Lost
• Satan is misjudged in Paradise Lost and vows hatred and revenge
• The verb “vowed” has lexical connotations of religion, as Christians vow to serve God
• Ironic use of “vowed” to relay her anger towards Christianity
• Society would frown on the book as it was morally wrong
• Readers would believe the monster to be a product of Satan as he is not created by God - paralleled the monster with Satan

Question 4

“I could not consent to go and hear that conceited fellow”

Answer 4

• Shows how judgemental and egotistical Victor is
• Doesn’t listen to the lecturer based only on his appearance - prolepsis to him abandoning the monster
• “Consent” and “conceited” shows Victor’s arrogance and egotistical nature as he believs that he is better than him
• Highlights Victor’s arrogance
• Doesn’t listen to him because he is different to him?: Proplepsis to his abandonment

Question 5

“I shall kill no albatross”

Answer 5

• Said by Walton in his letters
• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• Warning about the tale
• Victor is tortured because he hated and didn’t respect nature
• Mimics how the sailor was tortured for killing the albatross
• Victor is tortured by watching his family die while the sailor was tortured by watching his crew die
• Allegorical warning

Question 6

“I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave”

Answer 6

• “Dabbled” suggests he is unaware of what he is doing
• Drive to create life pushes him past the limits of what a human should do
• Defying nature completely
• Doesn’t respect nature
• Would anger the contemporary audience as romantacism was a big theme in which the power of God was refleced in nature. If Victor doesn’t respect nature then he doesn’t respect God, further amplified when he tries to take God’s power and ability to give life
• Emotive adjective “unhallowed” represents his unholiness and sinning

Question 7

“Elizabeth’s simple and powerful appeal”

Answer 7

• Elizabeth is more corageous and emotionally strong compared to Victor, as she volunteers herself to give a testement at Justine’s trail
• Elizabeth gave a “powerful” testement, showing that although being a women, she is more strong and capable then the men in the novel
• Ruling is still against her: no matter what women say, the men always win
• Parallels Mary Shelley’s mothers works: “a Vindication for the Rights of Women”
• Reversal of gender norms in the novel: Victor is unable to talk to Justine in prison and doesn’t confess to his crimes yet Elizabeth is able to go agains gender norms and give a compelling speech

Question 8

“I ought to be thy Adam, but rather I am the fallen angel”

Answer 8

• Fallen angel refers to Satan
• Comparing himself to Satan from Paradise Lost: he is misjudged and therefore vengeful
• Second person singular “thy” hints at a paternal relationship between the monster and Victor
• The monster thinks that he has failed Victor: parallels how Shelley thinks that she has failed her father
• By comparing Victor to God, he is putting responsibility of his evil actions upon him
• Monster parallels Adam’s loneliness as Adam was the first human so no other humans to give him company

Question 9

“I looked upon them as superior beings” : “fatal prejudice clouds their eyes”

Answer 9

• Monster thinks the DeLaceys will help him fit into society
• Sees them as better than him - God like
• Monster experiences prejudice again himself due to his looks
• Even his previously God-like neighbours who are isolated in the forest express prejudice against him
• All man-kind is bad?