Year 9 English Frankenstein Knowledge Book for Assessments Lent Term 2017-2018 - Cardinal Newman Catholic School

Page created by Larry Pope
 
CONTINUE READING
Year 9 English Frankenstein Knowledge Book for Assessments Lent Term 2017-2018 - Cardinal Newman Catholic School
Year 9
           English
         Frankenstein
Knowledge Book for Assessments
    Lent Term 2017-2018
Year 9 English Frankenstein Knowledge Book for Assessments Lent Term 2017-2018 - Cardinal Newman Catholic School
Instructions:

     Use the support information in this booklet and your exercise books to make revision materials. Below are some
            more detailed explanations of how to create effective revision cards and mind maps…

    Revision Cards: If you are making cards put a heading for the card on one side and the information that you want to
    remember on the other side.

    Once you have read through a card, turn it over and try to remember the information from memory.
Year 9 English Frankenstein Knowledge Book for Assessments Lent Term 2017-2018 - Cardinal Newman Catholic School
Eventually revise by just looking at the card titles and trying to recall the information without looking!

     Mind-map: Make a mind-map for the topic that breaks the topic down into “spurs” and “sub-spurs” working out
     from the middle. You could focus on a specific character or theme, or look at a specific Act or chapter.

1.   Once you have studied the mind map put it away and try to draw it again from memory.
2.   Once you have drawn all that you can take the original mind map out again and add any details that you missed out on the map
     that you drew from memory.
3.   Repeat this process until you can produce it perfectly from memory.

Key Skills

The assessments in English are broken into 3 and each one requires different reading and writing skills.

This unit will encompass Assessment ? - Formal Assessment – key piece of work for Lent Term

Extract from Frankenstein compared with non-fiction extract.
Comparison of attitudes in texts and writer’s methods used to convey said attitudes.
(Based on skills needed for Language: Paper 2, Question 4 – synoptic comparison)
Year 9 English Frankenstein Knowledge Book for Assessments Lent Term 2017-2018 - Cardinal Newman Catholic School
Spellings

       Every three weeks students at CNS are tested on set spellings in an attempt to improve overall
       literacy. This knowledge booklet contains the spellings for this term. Please take the time to practice
       these spellings at home. More marks are being awarded each year at GCSE level for literacy so this
       will have a real impact on achievement. The dates shown are the Monday dates of the weeks when
       the spellings will be tested. The specific day in that week will be decided by the class teacher.

                   Lent Term - You will be tested on these words on the dates below
Year 9
2017/18                29/1/18          26/2/18         19/3/18                          23/4/18

Date

                      hyperbole         bicycle          defend

Prefix / Suffix     hypersensitive       biped           deflesh

                     hyperactive        bicolour         debunk

                        weight       accommodation       actually     FINAL CHECK ON 10 WORDS FROM THESE
Common                                                                               LISTS.
misspelling           persuade         conclusion      conscience

                      separate        explanation       February

                       pollution        average          illusion

Subject words          tourism        percentage       foreground

                       erosion          volume          abstract

Wow word!                              calamitous        caustic
                       boorish
Year 9 English Frankenstein Knowledge Book for Assessments Lent Term 2017-2018 - Cardinal Newman Catholic School
Glossary of Literary Terms

You should be familiar with most of these terms and be able to use them in your
discussions about English language or literature.
Make sure you note down any new terms that you come across during your study. It would be useful to
create your own glossary. One way of doing this is by buying an address book with A-Z sections, then you
can record the terms alphabetically to make referencing them easy!

Alliteration            The repetition of the same consonant sound, especially at the
                        beginning of words
Allusion                A reference to another event, person, place or work of literature. The allusion
                        is usually implied rather than explicit
                        and provides another layer of meaning to what is being said
Ambiguity               Use of language where the meaning is unclear or has two or more possible
                        meanings or interpretations. It could be created by a weakness in the writer’s
                        expression, but it is more likely it is a deliberate device used by the writer to
                        create layers of meaning
Anthropomorphism        The endowment of human characteristics to something that is
                        not human
Assonance               The repetition of similar vowel sounds
Atmosphere              The prevailing mood created by a piece of writing
Colloquial              Ordinary, everyday speech and language
Connotation             An implication or association attached to a word or phrase. It
                        is suggested or felt rather than being explicit
Diction                 The choice of words a writer uses. Another word for “vocabulary”
Empathy                 A feeling on the part of the reader of sharing the particular
                        experience being described by the character or writer
End stopping            A verse line with a pause or stop at the end of it
Enjambment              A line of verse that flows on into the next line without a pause
Figurative language     Language that is symbolic or metaphorical and not meant to be
                        taken literally
Genre                   A particular type of writing – eg prose, poetry, drama
Imagery                 The use of words to create a picture or “image” in the mind of the reader.
                        Images can relate to any of the senses, not just
                        sight
Internal rhyme          Rhyming words within a line rather than at the end of lines
Irony                   At its simplest level, it means saying one thing while meaning another. It occurs
                        where a word or phrase has one surface meaning but another contradictory,
                        possibly opposite meaning is implied. Irony is often confused with sarcasm.
                        Sarcasm is spoken, relying on the tone of voice and is much more blunt
                        than irony

Metaphor                A comparison of one thing to another to make the description more vivid.
                        The metaphor actually states that one thing is another.
Year 9 English Frankenstein Knowledge Book for Assessments Lent Term 2017-2018 - Cardinal Newman Catholic School
Metre             The regular use of unstressed and stressed syllables in poetry
Narrative         A piece of writing that tells a story
Onomatopoeia      The use of words whose sounds copies the thing or process
                  they describe
Pathos            The effect in literature which makes the reader feel sadness or pity
Personification   The attribution of human feelings, emotions, or sensations to an inanimate
                  object. Personification is a type of metaphor where human qualities are given
                  to things or abstract ideas
Plot              The sequence of events in a poem, play, novel or short story
                  that make up the main storyline
Point of View     A story can be told by one of the characters or from another point of view. The
                  point of view can change from one part of the story to another when events are
                  viewed through the minds of two or more characters.
Protagonist       The main character or speaker in a poem, monologue, play or
                  story
Pun               A play on words that have similar sounds but quite different
                  meanings
Rhyme             Corresponding sounds in words, usually at the end of each line,
                  but not always
Rhyme scheme      The pattern of rhymes in a poem
Rhythm            The ‘movement’ of the poem as created through the meter and the way
                  that language is stressed within the poem
Satire            The highlighting or exposing of human failings or foolishness through
                  ridiculing them. Satire can range from being gentle
                  and light to extremely biting and bitter in tone
Simile            The comparison of one thing to another in order to make the
                  description more vivid
Sonnet            A fourteen-line poem, usually with 10 syllables in each line.
                  There are several ways in which the lines can be organised, but they often
                  consist of an octave and a sestet
Stanza            The blocks of lines into which a poem is divided. [Sometimes these are, less
                  precisely, referred to as verses, which can lead
                  to confusion as poetry is sometimes called ‘verse’]
Structure         The way a poem or play or other piece of writing has been put together
Style             The individual way in which the writer has used language to
                  express his or her ideas
Symbol            Like the use of images, symbols present things which represent something else.
                  In very simple terms, a red rose can be used to symbolise love; distant thunder
                  can symbolise approaching trouble. Symbols can be very subtle and multi-layered
                  in their significance
Syntax            The way in which sentences are structured. Sentences can be
                  structured in different ways to achieve different effects
Theme             The central idea or ideas that a writer explores through a text
Independent Study Guidance

 Week 1                      Spellings              Refer to grid – learn spellings AND their
                                                    definitions for test in class

 Week 2                      Research Homework      Expectation is one - two pages of
                                                    Research –

                                                    Write a biography on the life of Mary
                             REMEMBER the           Shelley.
                             useful websites
                             listed on the last
                                                    This could include information on:-
                             page of this booklet
                             if you need                •   Her childhood
                             additional support         •   Her parents
                                                        •   How Frankenstein came to be
                                                            written.
                                                        •   Contextual information about
                                                            the times in which she lived.

                                                    Remember you can use the school
                                                    library and useful websites listed will
                                                    provide you with plenty of information
                                                    to read and collate.

 Week 3                      Written Homework       To write a comparative essay that
                                                    compares and contrasts any two
                                                    characters from Frankenstein.

                             REMEMBER the           This should be one page of writing.
                             useful websites
                                                    Possible comparisons could be:
                             listed on the last
                                                       • Victor Frankenstein and the
                             page of this booklet           creature.
                             if you need               • Victor Frankenstein and Robert
                             additional support             Walton
                                                       • Victor Frankenstein and Henry
                                                            Clerval
                                                       • Caroline Frankenstein (Victor’s
                                                            mother) and Elizabeth Lavenza
                                                       • Justine Moritz and Elizabeth
                                                            Lavenza

 Week 4                      Spellings              Refer to grid – learn spellings AND their
                                                    definitions for test in class

 Week 5                      Research Homework      What is meant by the Romantic
                                                    Movement in literature? (This is not
                             REMEMBER the           romantic love stories)
                             useful websites
                                                    Examples of Romantic texts (at least
                             listed on the last
                                                    two) and why they are representative of
                             page of this booklet   this movement.
if you need             This should be one page of research
            additional support      using your own words

 Week 6     Written Homework        Imagine you run a travel company that
                                    organises tours to places featured in
                                    Frankenstein.

            REMEMBER the            Creatively describe each place, its
            useful websites         relevance to the text and persuade
            listed on the last      potential tourists to visit.
            page of this booklet
                                    This should be one page of writing and
            if you need
                                    should include three destinations
            additional support
                                    Places referred to in the text include:

                                          •   Geneva, Switzerland
                                          •   Ingolstadt, Germany
                                          •   Orkney Islands, Scotland
                                          •   Chamonix, France
                                          •   Archangel
                                          •   St Petersburg, Russia

Half Term

 Week 1     Spellings                           Refer to grid – learn spellings
                                                AND their definitions for test
                                                in class

 Week 2     Research Homework                   Create a detailed mind-map on
                                                one of the following: and how
            REMEMBER the useful                 it is explored in Frankenstein
            websites listed on the last
                                                    •   Characters
            page of this booklet if you
                                                    •   Revenge
            need additional support
                                                    •   Secrecy
                                                    •   Responsibility

                                                This will help you revise for the
                                                assessment.
Week 3

 Week 4                      Spellings                    Refer to grid – learn spellings
                                                          AND their definitions for test
                                                          in class

 Week 5

 Week 6

Support Material

Plot Summary

In a series of letters, Robert Walton, the captain of a ship bound for the North Pole,
recounts to his sister back in England the progress of his dangerous mission.
Successful early on, the mission is soon interrupted by seas full of impassable ice.
Trapped, Walton encounters Victor Frankenstein, who has been travelling by dog-
drawn sledge across the ice and is weakened by the cold. Walton takes him aboard
ship, helps nurse him back to health, and hears the fantastic tale of the monster that
Frankenstein created.

Victor first describes his early life in Geneva. At the end of a blissful childhood
spent in the company of Elizabeth Lavenza (his adopted sister) and friend Henry
Clerval, Victor enters the university of Ingolstadt to study natural philosophy and
chemistry. There, he is consumed by the desire to discover the secret of life and,
after several years of research, becomes convinced that he has found it.

Armed with the knowledge he has long been seeking, Victor spends months
feverishly fashioning a creature out of old body parts. One climactic night, in the
secrecy of his apartment, he brings his creation to life. When he looks at the
monstrosity that he has created, however, the sight horrifies him. After a fitful
night of sleep, interrupted by the spectre of the monster looming over him, he runs
into the streets, eventually wandering in remorse. Victor runs into Henry, who has
come to study at the university, and he takes his friend back to his apartment.
Though the monster is gone, Victor falls into a feverish illness.

Sickened by his horrific deed, Victor prepares to return to Geneva, to his family,
and to health. Just before departing Ingolstadt, however, he receives a letter from
his father informing him that his youngest brother, William, has been murdered.
Grief-stricken, Victor hurries home. While passing through the woods where
William was strangled, he catches sight of the monster and becomes convinced that
the monster is his brother’s murderer. Arriving in Geneva, Victor finds that Justine
Moritz, a kind, gentle girl who had been adopted by the Frankenstein household,
has been accused. She is tried, condemned, and executed, despite her assertions of
innocence. Victor grows despondent, guilty with the knowledge that the monster
he has created bears responsibility for the death of two innocent loved ones.

Left alone the monster must teach himself in the ways of the world and does so by
observing the DeLacey family. His appearance, which shocks others, does not
matter to the blind old man DeLacey and the monster becomes aware of the
importance of appearance and of companionship.

Hoping to ease his grief, Victor takes a holiday to the mountains. While he is alone
one day, crossing an enormous glacier, the monster approaches him. The monster
admits to the murder of William but begs for understanding. Lonely, shunned, and
forlorn, he says that he struck out at William in a desperate attempt to injure
Victor, his cruel creator. The monster begs Victor to create a mate for him, a
monster equally grotesque to serve as his sole companion.

Victor refuses at first, horrified by the prospect of creating a second monster. The
monster is eloquent and persuasive, however, and he eventually convinces Victor.
After returning to Geneva, Victor heads for England, accompanied by Henry, to
gather information for the creation of a female monster. Leaving Henry in
Scotland, he secludes himself on a desolate island in the Orkneys and works
reluctantly at repeating his first success. One night, struck by doubts about the
morality of his actions, Victor glances out the window to see the monster glaring in
at him with a frightening grin. Horrified by the possible consequences of his work,
Victor destroys his new creation. The monster, enraged, vows revenge, swearing
that he will be with Victor on Victor’s wedding night.

Later that night, Victor takes a boat out onto a lake and dumps the remains of the
second creature in the water. The wind picks up and prevents him from returning to
the island. In the morning, he finds himself ashore near an unknown town. Upon
landing, he is arrested and informed that he will be tried for a murder discovered
the previous night. Victor denies any knowledge of the murder, but when shown
the body, he is shocked to behold his friend Henry Clerval, with the mark of the
monster’s fingers on his neck. Victor falls ill, raving and feverish, and is kept in
prison until his recovery, after which he is acquitted of the crime.

Shortly after returning to Geneva with his father, Victor marries Elizabeth. He
fears the monster’s warning and suspects that he will be murdered on his wedding
night. To be cautious, he sends Elizabeth away to wait for him. While he awaits the
monster, he hears Elizabeth scream and realizes that the monster had been hinting
at killing his new bride, not himself. Victor returns home to his father, who dies of
grief a short time later. Victor vows to devote the rest of his life to finding the
monster and exacting his revenge, and he soon departs to begin his quest.

Victor tracks the monster ever northward into the ice. In a dogsled chase, Victor
almost catches up with the monster, but the sea beneath them swells and the ice
breaks, leaving an unbridgeable gap between them. At this point, Walton
encounters Victor, and the narrative catches up to the time of Walton’s fourth letter
to his sister.

Walton tells the remainder of the story in another series of letters to his sister.
Victor, already ill when the two men meet, worsens and dies shortly thereafter.
When Walton returns, several days later, to the room in which the body lies, he is
startled to see the monster weeping over Victor. The monster tells Walton of his
immense solitude, suffering, hatred, and remorse. He asserts that now that his
creator has died, he too can end his suffering. The monster then departs for the
northernmost ice the reader presumes, to die.
Frankenstein Characters:

    CHARACTER                 WHO ARE THEY?              ADDITIONAL
                                                        INFORMATION
                           Victor
                           Frankenstein - The
                           doomed protagonist and
                           narrator of the main
                           portion of the story.
                           Studying in Ingolstadt,
                           Victor discovers the
                           secret of life and creates
                           an intelligent but
                           grotesque monster, from
                           whom he recoils in
                           horror. Victor keeps his
                           creation of the monster a
                           secret, feeling
                           increasingly guilty and
                           ashamed as he realizes
                           how helpless he is to
                           prevent the monster from
                           ruining his life and the
                           lives of others.
                           The creature (or
                           monster) - The eight-
                           foot-tall, hideously ugly
                           creation of Victor
                           Frankenstein. Intelligent
                           and sensitive, the
                           monster attempts to
                           integrate himself into
                           human social patterns,
                           but all who see him shun
                           him. His feeling of
                           abandonment compels
                           him to seek revenge
                           against his creator.
Robert Walton - The
Arctic seafarer whose
letters open and close
Frankenstein. Walton
picks the bedraggled
Victor Frankenstein up off
the ice, helps nurse him
back to health, and hears
Victor’s story. He records
the incredible tale in a
series of letters addressed
to his sister, Margaret
Saville, in England.

Alphonse Frankenstein
Victor’s father, very
sympathetic toward his
son. Alphonse consoles
Victor in moments of pain
and encourages him to
remember the
importance of family.

Elizabeth Lavenza - An
orphan, four to five years
younger than Victor,
whom the Frankensteins
adopt. In the 1831
edition, Victor’s mother
rescues Elizabeth from a
destitute peasant cottage
in Italy. Elizabeth
embodies the novel’s
motif of passive women,
as she waits patiently for
Victor’s attention.
Henry Clerval - Victor’s
boyhood friend, who
nurses Victor back to
health in Ingolstadt. After
working unhappily for his
father, Henry begins to
follow in Victor’s
footsteps as a scientist.
His cheerfulness counters
Victor’s moroseness.

William Frankenstein –

Victor’s youngest brother
and the darling of the
Frankenstein family. The
monster strangles William
in the woods outside
Geneva in order to hurt
Victor for abandoning
him. William’s death
deeply saddens Victor
and burdens him with
tremendous guilt about
having created the
monster.

Justine Moritz - A young
girl adopted into the
Frankenstein household
while Victor is growing
up. Justine is blamed and
executed for William’s
murder, which is actually
committed by the
monster.
Caroline Beaufort - The
daughter of Beaufort.
After her father’s death,
Caroline is taken in by,
and later marries,
Alphonse Frankenstein.
She dies of scarlet fever,
which she contracts from
Elizabeth, just before
Victor leaves for
Ingolstadt at age
seventeen.

DeLacey Family - A family
of peasants, including a
blind old man, De Lacey;
his son and daughter,
Felix and Agatha; and a
foreign woman named
Safie. The monster learns
how to speak and interact
by observing them. When
he reveals himself to
them, hoping for
friendship, they beat him
and chase him away.
Themes:

      DANGEROUS KNOWLEDGE

      The pursuit of knowledge is at the heart of Frankenstein, as Victor attempts to
      surge beyond accepted human limits and access the secret of life. Likewise, Robert
      Walton attempts to surpass previous human explorations by endeavoring to reach
      the North Pole. This ruthless pursuit of knowledge, of the light (see “Light and
      Fire”), proves dangerous, as Victor’s act of creation eventually results in the
      destruction of everyone dear to him, and Walton finds himself perilously trapped
      between sheets of ice. Whereas Victor’s obsessive hatred of the monster drives him
      to his death, Walton ultimately pulls back from his treacherous mission, having
      learned from Victor’s example how destructive the thirst for knowledge can be.

      SUBLIME NATURE

      The sublime natural world, embraced by Romanticism (late eighteenth century to
      mid-nineteenth century) as a source of unrestrained emotional experience for the
      individual, initially offers characters the possibility of spiritual renewal. Mired in
      depression and remorse after the deaths of William and Justine, for which he feels
      responsible, Victor heads to the mountains to lift his spirits. Likewise, after a
      hellish winter of cold and abandonment, the monster feels his heart lighten as
      spring arrives. The influence of nature on mood is evident throughout the novel,
      but for Victor, the natural world’s power to console him wanes when he realizes
      that the monster will haunt him no matter where he goes. By the end, as Victor
      chases the monster obsessively, nature, in the form of the Arctic desert, functions
      simply as the symbolic backdrop for his primal struggle against the monster.

      MONSTROSITY

      Obviously, this theme pervades the entire novel, as the monster lies at the center of
      the action. Eight feet tall and hideously ugly, the monster is rejected by society.
      However, his monstrosity results not only from his grotesque appearance but also
      from the unnatural manner of his creation, which involves the secretive animation
      of a mix of stolen body parts and strange chemicals. He is a product not of
      collaborative scientific effort but of dark, supernatural workings.
The monster is only the most literal of a number of monstrous entities in the novel,
including the knowledge that Victor used to create the monster (see “Dangerous
Knowledge”). One can argue that Victor himself is a kind of monster, as his
ambition, secrecy, and selfishness alienate him from human society. Ordinary on
the outside, he may be the true “monster” inside, as he is eventually consumed by
an obsessive hatred of his creation. Finally, many critics have described the novel
itself as monstrous, a stitched-together combination of different voices, texts, and
tenses

SECRECY

Victor conceives of science as a mystery to be probed; its secrets, once discovered,
must be jealously guarded. He considers M. Krempe, the natural philosopher he
meets at Ingolstadt, a model scientist: “an uncouth man, but deeply imbued in the
secrets of his science.” Victor’s entire obsession with creating life is shrouded in
secrecy, and his obsession with destroying the monster remains equally secret until
Walton hears his tale.

Whereas Victor continues in his secrecy out of shame and guilt, the monster is
forced into seclusion by his grotesque appearance. Walton serves as the final
confessor for both, and their tragic relationship becomes immortalized in Walton’s
letters. In confessing all just before he dies, Victor escapes the stifling secrecy that
has ruined his life; likewise, the monster takes advantage of Walton’s presence to
forge a human connection, hoping desperately that at last someone will understand,
and empathize with, his miserable existence.

LIGHT AND FIRE

“What could not be expected in the country of eternal light?” asks Walton,
displaying a faith in, and optimism about, science. In Frankenstein, light
symbolizes knowledge, discovery, and enlightenment. The natural world is a place
of dark secrets, hidden passages, and unknown mechanisms; the goal of the
scientist is then to reach light. The dangerous and more powerful cousin of light is
fire. The monster’s first experience with a still-smoldering flame reveals the dual
nature of fire: he discovers excitedly that it creates light in the darkness of the
night, but also that it harms him when he touches it.

The presence of fire in the text also brings to mind the full title of Shelley’s novel,
Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. The Greek god Prometheus gave the
knowledge of fire to humanity and was then severely punished for it. Victor,
attempting to become a modern Prometheus, is certainly punished, but unlike fire,
his “gift” to humanity—knowledge of the secret of life—remains a secret.

 KEY            Light             Knowledge      Appearance      Secrecy        Nature
 QUOTATIONS
 Victor                           ‘I will        ‘Elizabeth      ‘The world
 Frankenstein                     pioneer a      Lavenza         was to me a
                                  new way,       became the      secret which
                                  explore        inmate of my    I desired to
                                  unknown        parents'        divine.
                                  powers, and    house--my       Curiosity,
                                  unfold to      more than       earnest
                                  the world      sister--the     research’
                                  the deepest    beautiful and
                                  mysteries of   adored
                                  creation.’     companion of
                                                 all my
                                                 occupations’
 Robert         ‘What may         ‘I feel my
 Walton         not be            heart glow
                expected in a     with an
                country of        enthusiasm
                eternal light?’   which
                                  elevates me
                                  to heaven,
                                  for nothing
                                  contributes
                                  so much to
                                  tranquillize
                                  the mind as
                                  a steady
                                  purpose — a
point on
                                           which the
                                           soul may fix
                                           its
                                           intellectual
                                           eye.’
           The Creature                                    I, the            ‘I ought to     ‘The cold stars
                                                           miserable and     be thy          shone in
                                                           the               Adam; but I     mockery, and the
                                                           abandoned, …      am rather       bare trees waved
                                                           to be spurned     the fallen      their branches
                                                           at, and kicked,   angel.’         above me; now
                                                           and trampled                      and then the
                                                           on.’                              sweet voice of a
                                                                                             bird burst forth
                                                                                             amidst the
                                                                                             universal
                                                                                             stillness. All, save
                                                                                             I, were at rest or
                                                                                             in enjoyment; I,
                                                                                             like the arch-
                                                                                             fiend, bore a hell
                                                                                             within me, and
                                                                                             finding myself
                                                                                             unsympathized
                                                                                             with, wished to
                                                                                             tear up the trees,
                                                                                             spread havoc and
                                                                                             destruction
                                                                                             around me,’

Context:

       Writing Frankenstein
       May Shelley wrote Frankenstein in 1816 when she was 18 years old. Yep, that's right, Mary Shelley was
       only 18 when she wrote one of the world's most terrifying and enduring stories. Frankenstein; or, The
       Modern Prometheus was published anonymously two years later. Finally, in 1823, an edition with Mary
       Shelley's name on it was published. We'll call Mary by her first name in this lesson to differentiate her
       from her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, another well-known literary figure from the same period. (but in
       your English lessons you must always refer to her by her surname)
       As you can probably guess, Mary had already led an unusual, even extraordinary, life by the time she was
       18. She was born in 1797 to the political philosopher William Godwin, and the philosopher and feminist
       Mary Wollstonecraft, whose 1792 work A Vindication of the Rights of Women is an enormously important
       text in the history of feminism and political thought. Sadly, Wollstonecraft died only days after giving
       birth to Mary, who grew up in a liberal, academic household where she was encouraged to read widely and
       think critically.
       In her late teens, Mary fell in love with the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who was already married.
       Undeterred by William Godwin's fury, Mary and her husband-to-be skipped town to travel through Europe
together. They hung out with some big names in the Romantic literary scene, including Lord Byron and
John Polidori, who is often credited with creating the vampire fiction genre.
While staying near Lake Geneva in Switzerland, Mary, Percy, Byron, and Polidori found themselves
cooped up inside, thanks to bad weather. Byron suggested that they have a friendly competition to see who
could write the best horror story. Remember, Mary is 18, and she's just been challenged to a writing
competition by well-respected, already-established writers. No pressure, right? But, after wracking her
brains for a few nights, Mary came up with the idea for Frankenstein.
Pretty sure she won that competition. Although Polidori's effort would be published as the first modern
vampire story, so you have him to thank (or blame) for Twilight.

Romanticism vs. the Enlightenment
In addition to its value as a creepy, compelling tale, Frankenstein is important for the insight it provides
into how people like Mary viewed the world in the early nineteenth century.
We've already mentioned the Romantic movement, in which Mary's husband, Percy Shelley, and travelling
companion, Lord Byron, were key figures. Romanticism was an intellectual, artistic, and literary
movement that peaked in Europe from roughly 1800 to 1850. Partly a response to the Industrial
Revolution, and partly to the Age of Enlightenment (more on this in a second), Romanticism favoured the
imagination and intense emotions as the best and most authentic sources of aesthetic experience.
Romantics raised the individual to the status of hero. Certain Romantic ideas, like the notion that misused
power can harm society, are evident in Frankenstein.
Frankenstein was also heavily influenced by the philosophies of the Enlightenment, a cultural movement
that preceded Romanticism in Europe and lasted from about 1650 to 1800. Enlightenment thinkers, such
Francis Bacon, John Locke, and Sir Isaac Newton, emphasized reason, analysis, and individualism.
Rather than following religious teachings, Enlightenment thinkers turned to scientific study and practiced
skepticism.
We know that Mary, Percy, Byron, and Polidori were having discussions that included both Enlightenment
and Romantic philosophies around the time that Mary wrote Frankenstein, and you can see the tension
between these two philosophies in the novel. Is scientific exploration an exciting or a terrifying thing?
Should we rely on science or emotion as a guide to ultimate truth? Does science do good or harm to
society?
Another place where Romanticism and Enlightenment thinking were at odds was the question of nature
versus reason. Romantics thought that humans were, and ought to be, governed by nature: our desires, our
emotions, and our physical surroundings. Devotees of the Enlightenment, on the other hand, believed in
reason: intellect, logic, and observation. In a nutshell, Romantics believed that we should follow our
hearts, while Enlightenment thinkers believed that we should follow our heads. In her story of scientific
experimentation gone awry, Mary dug into the pitfalls of both Romanticism and reason.

Science Meets Fiction
Frankenstein is often called the first science-fiction novel. Like its literary successors, Frankenstein dealt
with contemporary scientific interests, including alchemy and galvanism.
Dating back to antiquity, alchemy is a tradition in which practitioners attempt to, among other things,
create silver and gold from lesser materials and develop an elixir of life, which is supposed to grant youth
and immortality to the drinker. By Mary Shelley's time, people had pretty much stopped thinking of
alchemy as a science. A growing acceptance of chemistry as a field had led to the increasing distrust of
alchemists as frauds. But thanks to a burgeoning interest in the occult, some people started to think of
alchemy as a spiritual or mystical process.
Useful Websites for research and revision:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/prosefrankenstein/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/prosefrankenstein/0prose_franke
nstein_contrev1.shtml

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/f/frankenstein/character-list

https://revisionworld.com/gcse-revision/english-literature/frankenstein-mary-shelley/context-
background

http://stageagent.com/shows/play/1988/frankenstein

http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/frank.comment1.html

And don’t forget you have GOOGLE at your fingertips and the school or public library is also a great
resource to help you find out more about your topic or consolidate your learning!
You can also read