Winter Reading: Frankenstein

Reinterpreting Frankenstein through New Historicism / Cultural Studies

1. How is science portrayed in Frankenstein? Consider that this book was written in the midst of vast scientific advances and the advent of the Industrial Revolution.
2. You might have noticed some Christian influences in this text. To start off, there's the creator/creation paradigm. In addition, The creature is compared to Adam, but he is also compared to the fallen angel—Satan—and Victor takes on comparisons to God. You could even go so far as to call Victor's death a sacrifice that makes him a Christ figure. What might Shelley be saying about religion, and Christianity in particular?
3. In what ways does the novel present knowledge as dangerous and destructive? What does this tells us about society at that time?
4. Think about the motives that drive the protagonist to plumb into the depths of science in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. What does it indicate about the concerns of the author with the plight of man and society?

Reinterpreting Frankenstein through Narratology

5. The connection between science fiction and the Gothic is a longstanding  one, capable of being traced to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Frankenstein conventionally demarcates the close of the first phase of the Gothic. Science fiction combines the imaginative innovation of fantasy with a semblance of a realist commitment to a world that is broadly recognizable in terms of, variously, its geography, species, politics, ethics, or technology. Find in the text examples of both genres.
6. Narrative in Frankenstein shifts from Robert Walton to Victor Frankenstein to the monster and finally back to Walton. What is the effect of presenting different characters’ viewpoints, especially those of Victor and the monster?
7. What is the role of the letters and written communication throughout the novel?

Reinterpreting Frankenstein through Gender Studies

8. Discuss the presentation of women in the novel. Do Victor and the monster differ in their view of women, and if so, how?
9. Do Victor and the monster differ in their view of women, and if so, how?
10. What Makes a Monster and What Makes a Man? Explore the Relationship between the Creator and the Creation in the Gothic Novel.


Reinterpreting Frankenstein through Psychoanalytic Criticism

11. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, could one interpret Frankenstein and his creature as two aspects of the same person? In other words, does the monster represent the evil side of the good doctor?
12. How did Mary Shelley explore the idea of a hidden or double self (doppelganger)? In what ways did these representations express changing ideas about sexuality, gender, and class?
13. In Frankenstein, Victor's rejection of the Monster metaphorically represents the ego's rejection of the unconscious. How is it represented in the novel?
14. The theory of Freud about the makeup of the human psyche could be applied to the interpretation of the text. To what extent does Frankenstein reflect Freud’s views of the id, the ego, and the superego? Is man hopelessly divided against himself? Does the author see any hope for one who seeks to keep the savage within under control?
15. What Makes a Monster and What Makes a Man? Explore the Relationship between the Creator and the Creation in the Gothic Novel.
16. Trace the similarities between Victor and the monster. Consider their respective relationships with nature, desires for family, and any other important parallels you find. Do Victor and the monster become more similar as the novel goes on? How does their relationship with each other develop?

Reinterpreting Frankenstein through Post-colonialism

17. Some critics have seen in the novel a parable of British colonialism, with civilized man seeking to control the savagery of uncultured man, but instead being fascinated by and eventually drawn into the savagery that he outwardly deplores. Which aspects of the story fit this reading and which do not? Support your answer with quotes from the story.