Prose Flashcards

Question

think of yourselves as ….

Answer 1

a woman being slowly cut into pieces, her fingers and breasts snipped off with garden shears, her stomach slit open and her intestines pulled out

Answer 2

what you don’t know won’t tempt you

Answer 3

Like other things now, thought must be rationed. There’s a lot that doesn’t bear thinking about. Thinking can hurt your chances and i intent to last”

Answer 4

we learned to lip read

Answer 5

there’s scriptural precedent

Answer 6

- is to be- her voice trembled- penetrated. What you must be, girls, is impenetrable

Answer 7

sucking penises or guns

Answer 8

collars around their necks

Answer 9

her fault, her fault. Crybaby. Crybaby. Crybaby

Answer 10

it’s only the inside of our bodies that are important

Answer 11

and books. Its an oasis of the forbidden

Answer 12

washed, brushed, fed, like a prize pig

Answer 13

im telling. It’s also a story I’m telling, in my head, as I go along

Answer 14

the gasps between the stories

Answer 15

I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it.

Answer 16

Up to Professor Wade and myself to arrange the blocks of speeck in the order they appear to go

Answer 17

mouldy old Rachel and Leah stuff we had drummed into us at the centre

Answer 18

to whisper almost without sound

Answer 19

“nothing takes place in the bed but sleep

Answer 20

“I was a poor helpless miserable wretch”

Answer 21

“with high hopers and lofty ambition; but how I am sunk”

Answer 22

was constantly employed out of doors, and the girl in various laborious occupations within

Answer 23

my agitation for some time in timid and fearful silence

Answer 24

the graves of William and Justine, that first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts

Answer 25

become greater than nature will allow

Answer 26

I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path

Answer 27

“they have aquired new and almost inlimited powers; theu can command the thuners of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows”

Answer 28

I should almost regard him as invincible

Answer 29

“my rage and vengence returned, and, like a migthy tide, overwhelmed every other feeling”

Answer 30

who aspired to omnipotence, I am chained in an eternal hell.

Answer 31

‘you must create a female monster, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being’ ‘ my companion must be of the same species and hace the same defects. This being you must create’

Answer 32

put an end to my slavery forever, Frankenstein!

Answer 33

‘you are my creator, I am your master- obey!’

Answer 34

‘remember that I am they creature, I ought to be thy Adam, but am rather the fallen angel

Answer 35

the whole village was roused, some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised, I escaped to the country

Answer 36

thirst for knowledge

Answer 37

of heaven and earth that I desired to learn

Answer 38

only increased with knowledge

Answer 39

raised me to ecstacy, but more frequently sunk me into the lowest dejection

Answer 40

least by my example, how dangerous is the aquirement os knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow

Answer 41

Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind, when it has once seized on it

Answer 42

the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet

Answer 43

saintly sufferer

Answer 44

of his sentence was very flagrant

Answer 45

prejudiced

Answer 46

I was doomed to live

Answer 47

to justify my poor, guiltless Justine

Answer 48

accused did not equal mine; she was sustained by innocence, but the fangs of remorse tore my bosom, and would not forego their hold

Answer 49

‘promised gift’ ‘mine’ ‘I looked upon Elizabeth as mine- mine to protect, loce ad cherish…a possession of my own’

Answer 50

‘ a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her looks’ ‘ I remebered that I was forever deprived of the delights that such beautiful creatures could bestow’

Answer 51

I beheld a contrnance of angelic beuty and expression. Her eyes were dark but gentle, although animated

Answer 52

Elizabeth alone had the power to draw me from these fits

Answer 53

these reflections have dispelled the agitation with which I began my letter, and i feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven

Answer 54

“it was on a dreary night of November, that i beheld the accomplishment of my toils

Answer 55

“you have read this strange and terrific story, Margaret; and do you not feel your blood congeal with horror, like that which even now curdles mine

Answer 56

“ I trod heaven in my thoughts, now exulting in my powers, now burning with the idea of their effects”

Answer 57

Blasted as thou wert, my agony was still superior to thine; for bitter sting of remorse will not cease to rankle in my wounds until death shall close them for ever

Answer 58

“A godlike science, and I ardently desired to become aquainted with it”

Answer 59

“I will pioneer a new wau, explore unknown powers and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation”

Answer 60

The labours of men of genius, however erroneously scarcely ever fail in ultimately to the solid advantage of mankind

Answer 61

“a human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind, and never to allow passion or transitory desire to disturb his tranquility. I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this rule”

Answer 62

[science is] sufficient to conquer all fear of danger or death

Answer 63

“I percieved that the words they spoke somwtimes produced pleasure or pain, smiles or sadness, in the minds and countenances of the hearers. This was indeed a godlike science, and I ardently desired to become aquainted with it”

Answer 64

‘She was tranquil, yet her tranquility was evidently constrained’

Answer 65

“revenge kept me alove; I dared not die, and leave my adversary in being”

Answer 66

swear that he shall not triumph over my accumulated woes and survive to add to the list of his dark crimes

Answer 67

‘I had better seek death than desire to remain in a world which to me was replete with wretchedness’

Answer 68

my mother’s tender caresses and my father’s smile of benevolent pleasure while regarding me are my first recollections. I was their plaything and their idol and something better— their child, the innocent and helpless monster bestowed on them by heaven

Answer 69

many times i considered Satn as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me

Answer 70

“as I looked on him, his countenance expressed the utmost of malice and trechery”

Answer 71

“I, the misrable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on”

Answer 72

how the, must must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things

Answer 73

I wait, washed, brushed, fed lie a prized pig

Answer 74

TS: Whilst Shelley criticises the excessive ambition of individuals, Atwood criticises the amplification of an oppressive government, exploiting religion to validate their restrictive values, presenting ambition as collective and therefore on a larger degree. AO3: FS- Galvani used electrical currents to ‘give life’ to amphibians, specifically reigniting muscle movement ina deceased frog in 1780. HMT- Collective ambition of a political party inspired by the repealing of female rights in Iran after the 1975 Revolution. Or religious conservatism of Regan, promoting a traditional nucelar family etc. AO2: FS- Shelley’s frame narrative introduced three ambitious male perspectives, both Walton and Victor believe they are characters initially chosen for a divine purpose. Walton’s first letters to his sister are riddled with hyperbolic language and imperative demands: “success shall crown endeavors, the very stars themself being witnesses and testemonies of my triumph”. The divine symbolism of the crown and the stars indicates his self-deification. Victor is convinced that he is served by ‘the guardian angel of my life’, further describing his fate as ‘hanging in the stars’. - “Pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation” - lexis of abitious verbs. - “secrets of heaven that I desired to learn” - “a godlike science” , “sufficient to conquer all fear of danger and death” AO2: HMT- ‘return to traditional values’, something strongly advocated for by the conservative religious faction of the US at the time the novel was written. - Gilead’s validation of oppression through the sex ceremonies, justified by the religious reading/ prayer by the patriarch of the house “mouldy old Rachel and Leah stuff they drummed into us at the centre” - Costume/ uniform of women: “everything exept the wings around my face is red, the colour of blood which defines us” AO3: this echoes the yellow bands of Nazi Germany, the star of David defining the Jews by religion, and singling them out. other AO2: “when power is scarce, a little of it is tempting” -“they can hit us, there’s scriptual precedent” “ rather than in a maze quote”

Answer 75

TS: Both Atwood and Shelley criticise the reduced female power in society, and the regression of gender roles confining women to domestic spheres. Whilst Shelley presents the stripping of the maternal role of creation, Atwood presents the control of women’s reproduction and creation, both societies presenting women as outsiders to creation. AO3: Shelley was influenced by first wave feminism, including the Suffragettes and Suffragists, campaigning for women to hold a political voice in society. The famous demonstration in which suffragette Emily Davison ran infront of King George V’s horse and was killed shows the determination of women to achieve a voice in society. Atwood was influenced by the second wave of feminism, promoting women’s rights in the workplace, marriage and generally in society. AO2: Victor, playing God, resembles Satan from Milton’s Paradise Lost, in which Satan is an archangel punished for his vanity, arrogance and thirst for knowledge. His creation of the monster strips the role of creation from not only women, but also also God, the creator of the universe. Furthermore, Victor dimishes Elizabeth to a commodity: “a possession of mine own” - “a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her looks” - “ the young man was constantly employed outdoors, and the young girl in various laborious occupations within”- compare ‘man’ to ‘girl’ (AO3: FS Shelley’s fascination in science led her to attend lectures in bath, despite being denied a formal education at a young age. At these lectures, she met famous scientists including Erasis Darwin and Humphrey Davy. Her mother, Mary Wollenstone’s book ‘A Vindication of the rights of women’ being the leading feminist literature would have inspired her determination for education and to be libreated from the domestic sphere) AO3: Atwood exploration of the control of creationl influenced by the reign of Pol Pot in Cambodia in the 1970s. The Khmer Rouge regime aomed to increase the population from 8 to 20 millionand used forced marriage and preganancies to achieve this, using the threat of execution. AO2: HMT: “ambulatory chalices”, “two-legged womb” “we are like containers, its only the inside of our body that’s important”, “I feel like one of those dolls that would talk if you pulled a string at the back” “washed, brushed, fed, like a prize pig”, “the sitting room was supposed to be Serena Joy’s territory”

Answer 76

TS: Both Atwood and Shelley present the narrative form of the novels as creating outsiders within the novel. Whilst Shelley’s cyclical epistolary form includes the slave narrative of the monster, constricting his voice from society, Atwood presents Offred as an outsider to her own trasncript through the Historical Notes and her unreliable narration. AO3: Having your narrative power challenged is a concept Mary Shelley would’ve known well due to her originally publishing the novel under a psuedenym as she felt her own identity lacked credibility in a male-dominated acaademic society. (Shelley’s fascination in science led her to attend lectures in bath, despite being denied a formal education at a young age. At these lectures, she met famous scientists including Erasis Darwin and Humphrey Davy. Her mother, Mary Wollenstone’s book ‘A Vindication of the rights of women’ being the leading feminist literature would have inspired her determination for education and to be libreated from the domestic sphere) Atwood- Iranian Revolution- 1975- reppealing of women’s rights- lack of voice in society- women forced to wear Hijabs. AO2:FS- the monster’s perspective being placed at the centre of the novel makes is harder to access, and arguably less memorable. Furthermore, his narrative is surrounded by the ambitious male voices, Walton and Victor, further highlighting the differences in class and education of the academics contrasted to the monster, rendering him an outsider. The presentation of the monster as an outsider is emphasised by the cyclical epistolary structure, revealing that the monster’s narrative was being retold by Victor, and again through the medium of Victor’s letters. This structure further distances the monster from the story, establishing his position as an outsider in society. Shelley uses this form to criticise the the exclusion of people from society, advocating for the voice of the minority, mirroring her subtle advocation of a women’s voice in society. AO2: HMT: unreliable narrator: triadic structure: “I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. i need to believe it. I must believe it” “this isn’t a stroy I’m telling, its also a story I’m telling in my head as I go along” historical notes undermine her narrative: irony- “if its a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending” - Piexoto and Wade rearranging her casset tapes ‘in homage to Geoffrey Chaucer’. This emphasises Offred as an outsider to her own narrative

Answer 77

TS: Both Shelley and Atwood present the consequences of excessive ambition throughout the conclusions of the novel. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the reader learns through the 2195 Historical Notes that Gilead’s theocracy was eventually overthrown, where as in Frankenstein, Shelley’s three rebllious characters: Victor, Walton and the monster are met with pain, loss and failure. AO2: Offred’s final words see her ambiguously “step up into the darkness within, or else the light”, but subsequently she is able to transcibe her story onto a casette tape, with the recording of her story acting as the ultimate triumph against Gilead. However, Atwood’s decision to frame Offred compelling story of endurance and eventual escape in the hands of Professor’s in the Historical Notes questions the success of Offred’s triumph. The reader learns that Offred’s transcripts have been names and recontructed by male scholars ‘in homage to Geoffrey Chaucer’, a medieval male poet who upheld the patriarchy, piexoto’s talk riddled with sexist comments and attempts to reduce the still unnamed handmaid and unimportant. Atwood criticises the intial rise of Gilead, leading to the systemic oppression that ultimately cannot be deconstructed, explored through the enforced frame narrative at the end. AO2:FS- Walton encounters Victor, a broken man full with ‘dark gloom’, ‘groaning’ and desperately warning Victor against further exploration “Unhappy man! Do you share my madness? Have you drunk also from the intoxicating draught? Hear me; let me reveal my tale, and you will dash the cup from your lips!’ Victor’s exclaimations reveal his pain , and his questions reveal his desperation . The employment of the Holy Grail imagery and the danger of drinking from it in the hope of gaining immortality is a dire warning against human overreaching, furthered by the longer title of Frankenstein: ‘a modern Prometheus’. The allusion to Milton’s Paradise Lost and Colerige’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner all contain figures who push beyond the boundaries of the material world and who are subsequently punished.

Answer 78

TS: Both Shelley and Atwood present violence and horror as a way to achieve power, In Frankenstein, this is presented through the brutal violence of the monster, whereas in The Handmaid’s Tale, this is explored as Gilead employs violence to instil fear, ultimately achieving control. AO3: monster’s rebellion reflecting the French Revolution of 1789. The third estate excluded from positions of honour and political power, experienced a heavy tax burden, whilst the 1st and 2nd classes could be exempt from taxes. Eventually, the third estate rebelled against the upper classes, the creature representing the lower class rising against the oppressive upper class. Atwood’s- Romanian and Cambodian attempts to control contraception and abortion to increase the population. Romanian attempts to control preganancy led to 10,000 death of women from home abortions by 1989. AO2: FS- “I revenge my inquiries, If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear” “remember that I have power… You are my creator, but I am your master- obey!” “I will be with you on your wedding night” “criminality of the saintly sufferer” “the saintly soul of Elizabeth shone like a shrine deviated lamp” AO2: HMT- “They can hit us, there’s scriptual precedent” “once we had to watch a women being slowly cut into pieces , her stomach slit open and her intestines pulled out” “only two hang on [the wall] today”- echoing the berlin wall, a historical attempt to create segregation with a physical barrier. This inspired Atwood, writing part of the HMT in West Berlin in the 80s.

Answer 79

TS: As a result of the inflexible social status presented throughout both novels, Atwood and Shelley present the rebellion of social status and the subsequent consequences of this defiance. Whilst Shelley illustrates this trhough the monster’s violent acts, Moira, rebels against her social status through her sexual freedoms. AO3: Whilst Shelley wrote her novel in 1816, in the aaftermath of societal and political rebellion, with the French Revolution in 1799 having led to the overthrowing of the monarchy and establishment of Napolean as leader of the French Consulate, inspiring the monster’s revolution against his creator, Atwood’s Western world was characterised by conservatism. Regan, as US president, sought to reppeal advancements in women’s rights, promoting religious conservatism and alligning with political parties such as the Moral Majority, who advocated for the condemnations of contraceptives and abortions, justified by Christian beliefs, inspiring the theocratical and religiously corrupt Gilead. AO2: FS- “Revenge kept me alive. I dared not die and keep my adversary in being” - “benevolent and good; misery made [him] a fiend” AO2: slave narrative as an attempt to confine his voice, provoking his desire for revenge and rebellion. AO2:FS- “I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and axult my agony of the torturing flames” - the last few words are taken up with the monster’s own words as he attempts to gain self-definition before leaving to the ice, furthered by the disruption of the salve narrative, illustrating his rebellion against his social confinements. Paradoxical imagery ‘asend’ vs ‘ torturing flames’, ambiguousisly portraying the consequences of his rebellion, resurfacing the themes in Paradise Lost, exploring the trangression of heaven and hell. AO3: Prostitution was seen as a ‘necessary evil’ that aided in marital fidelity in America in the early 19th Century. It was seen as a system that would allow men to obtain sex when their wives did not desire it. Women were even sold into sexual slavery, emphasising the patrairchal view of women as property. Atwood draws paralleles to the attitude towards prostitution throguh Jezebels, defined as a place of immoral women who decieve people;le to achieve what they desire. AO2: “Moira had power now, she’d been set loose, she’d set herself loose. She was now a loose women” - syntax, moira is the subject of “I’d like to tell a story about how Moira escaped.. But as far as I know that didn’t happen. I don’t know how she ended, or even if she did, because I never saw her again”. Historical notes….

Answer 80

the saintly soul of Elizabeth shone like a shrine deviated lamp

Answer 81

I and my family are being condemned although innocent

Answer 82

“ It didn’t happen either way. I’m not sure how it happneed; not exactly”

Answer 83

“so I will go on. I am coming to a part you will not like at all, because in it I do not behave well, bit I will try nonetheless to leave nothing out”

Answer 84

“so I will go on. I am coming to a part you will not like at all, because in it I do not behave well, bit I will try nonetheless to leave nothing out”

Answer 85

“trembling with passion, torn to pieces, the thing on which I was engaged”

Answer 86

‘I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in agony of the torturing flames”