Frankenstein Review Questions

Letters

1. Who is the narrator for the Letters section?

2. To whom is he writing (name, please)?

3. What is their relationship?

  1. From where will the narrator begin his journey?
  1. What does he miss the most about the trip? I.e., what is his one want?
  1. To where is he going?
  1. What did he and his shipmates notice on July 31st?
  1. Why could they not get to shore for a closer look?

Chapter 1

  1. Who is Beaufort?
  1. What is the name of the narrator’s mother?
  1. Where is the narrator born?
  1. What becomes the mother’s passion?
  1. Who is Elizabeth Lavenza?
  1. How does she come to live with the narrator’s family?
  1. Why does the narrator consider Elizabeth his to keep?

Chapter 2

  1. Who is Henry Clerval and what is his relation to Victor?
  1. How does Victor characterize the interests and characters of Clerval, Elizabeth, and himself ?
  1. To whom does Victor become a “disciple,” and how does he find out about him? How does Victor's father respond to his wanting to read his books, and how does Victor comment on that response?
  1. What happens when Victor sees an oak tree destroyed by lightning and hears an explanation? What does Victor then begin to study?

Chapter 3

  1. What family member does Victor lose? How?
  1. Why does Victor's father send him to the university of Ingolstadt (southern Germany)? How old is Victor then?
  1. How does Victor respond to M. Krempe, and on what grounds? Is this agood basis for making such a decision?
  1. How does Victor respond to M. Waldman? What does Victor say he will now do?
  1. Which branch of science does Victor become particularly interested in?

Chapter 4

10.How well does Victor progress during the next two years? What does he then become interested in, andwhat ultimately does he discover ?

  1. Will he share that knowledge with Walton? Why?
  1. How tall does he make the being?
  1. How would you describe what was happening to Victor during his creating process?

Chapter 5

  1. How does Victor respond to the actual creation of life? What surprises him about the way the creature he has brought to life looks? What does that do to his response?
  1. What does Victor dream?
  1. What does the creature do? How does Victor respond?
  1. Whom does Victor meet arriving in a coach the next morning?
  1. What does Victor believe he sees when they go to Victor's apartment? What happens to him, andfor how long ? Is there any more news of the creature?

Chapter 6

  1. What is waiting for Victor when he finally recovers?
  1. Who is Ernest? How old is he? What is he eager to do with his life?
  1. Who is Justine Moritz and what is her story? What comments does Elizabeth make about her position in Swiss society? What religion is Justine?
  2. Who is William and about how old is he?
  1. What does Victor do after his recovery? What is Clerval’s “plan for life”?
  1. When does Victor finally plan to return home? What do he and Clerval do while waiting for his father’s directions?

Chapter 7

  1. What is waiting for Victor when he returns to his apartment? What’s his father’s name and what news does his he have for Victor?
  1. How long has Victor been away from home? What does he take particular note of during his travels homeward?
  1. What’s the weather like? What does this normally foreshadow?
  1. Whom does Victor see that night? How long ago was it that they last saw each other?
  1. What does Victor now believe happened to William? What does Victor assume about the nature of the creature?
  1. Who has been identified as the murderer, and on what evidence? How does Victor respond to this news?

Chapter 8

  1. What is the outcome of Justine’s trial?
  1. The next day, why does Justine say she has confessed to the murder of William? How does Victor respond to Justine’s situation and to Elizabeth’s anguish?

Chapter 9

  1. How does Victor respond in the days after Justine's death? How have Elizabeth's

views changed ?

  1. What journey does Victor undertake and when ? What places does he travel through? Where does he stay?

Chapter 10

  1. (Notice in this chapter that Frankenstein, in the late 1700s, is able to quote a poem written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1816.) How does Victor feel during this part of his journey?
  1. Whom does Victor see? How does Victor respond?
  1. In this chapter, we finally hear the creature speak for the first time. What does he

say? Is this what we expect from the creature?

  1. What does the creature ask of Victor?
  1. How would Jean Jacques Rousseau explain the experiences and the crime done by the creature?
  1. How does Victor begin to feel? Where do they go?

Chapter 11

  1. Who now is the narrator?
  1. What does the creature remember of his earliest days ? How does he seem to be learning things?
  1. How does the creature respond to his discovery of the fire? Why does he move?
  1. What happens during his first encounters with people ?
  1. Where does he finally find a place to stay? What does he learn about the people who live in the cottage? How does he feel toward them?

Chapter 12

  1. What is the condition of the family? How does the creature manage to help them?
  1. How does the creature learn language? Why might he have trouble learning words such as good, dearest, and unhappy?
  1. Who are Agatha and Felix?
  1. How does the monster respond to his appearance when he sees it?
  1. How is the monster feeling at the end of this chapter? What does he hope to do?

Chapter 13

  1. Who arrives at the cottage in the spring? What is her background?
  1. What book does Felix use to teach Safie? What does the creature learn from this book? How much of a monster can someone be who can say "but when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased, and I turned away with disgust and loathing" ?
  2. What happens when the creature begins to think about himself? How does he compare with the humans described in the book? What questions does he ask himself? How does his knowledge make him feel?
  1. What does he learn about human relationships, and how does this make him feel?

Chapter 14

  1. How did the De Lacey family come to be living in the cottage?
  1. How did Safie come to find and join them?

Chapter 15

  1. What does he find in the woods?

58. What questions arise from his reading of Sorrows of Werter?

59. What does he learn from Plutarch’s Lives?

60. How does he read Paradise Lost? How does he relate it to himself?

61. What else does he read and what does he learn from it? How long has he been alive at this point?

62. What actually happens when the creature talks to De Lacey?

Chapter 16

63. What happens to the De Lacey family after the events of chapter 15? How does the creature respond, and what does he do to the cottage?

64. To where does the creature begin traveling?

  1. What good deed does he do along the way? Unfortunately, what happens to him because of it, which then confirms his hatred of humans?
  1. What event happens when the creature is near Geneva ? Who is the boy? Who is the woman?
  1. When Victor visits the site of William's death in chapter 7, he says "I had turned loose into the world a depraved wretch, whose delight was in carnage and misery" . After reading the creature's version of events (and what he says about Justine), do you agree? Why or why not?
  1. What does the creature demand from Victor?

Chapter 17

  1. Who is now the narrator?
  1. How does Victor at first respond to the creature's demand? What approach does the creature say he will take?
  2. What does the creature say will happen/what he will do if Victor creates a female for him?
  1. What does the creature say he will do while Victor is at work?

Chapter 18

  1. What union (that some of you suspected already) does Victor discuss with his father? Why does Victor feel he must delay this union?
  1. Why does Victor want to visit England? What is the one thing that haunts him about his being away?
  1. How would you describe the difference between Victor and Henry, particularly regarding their observance of and feelings toward nature?
  1. As Victor comes back to the present and address Walton directly, what thoughts do you have about Henry’s current status?

Chapter 19

  1. What country did Clerval wish to visit?
  1. On their journey to Perth, as they are leaving Cumberland, what fears overcome Victor?
  1. In what country does Victor commence his creating of the female?

Chapter 20

  1. How long has it now been since his first creation?
  1. Victor begins second-guessing his second creation. For what reasons?
  1. Who watches as he destroys the female?
  1. What’s the creature’s promise when Victor refuses to continue in his creation of a mate? What does Victor believe that to mean?
  1. What does Victor do with the female’s remains? What happens while doing so? Where does he end up? What happens to him when he lands? Who is Mr. Kirwin?

Chapter 21

  1. Who does Victor now find out has been murdered? How?
  1. Where is he when he awakes? About how long has it been since he came on the boat?
  1. What family member comes to visit him?
  1. What happens at Victor’s trial?

Chapter 22

  1. How does Victor feel toward the humans he sees in Paris?
  1. What does Victor tell his father about the crimes? What’s his father’s reaction?
  1. What does Elizabeth say in her letter? Of what does this remind Victor?
  1. In a response letter, what does Victor say will occur the day after they marry?
  1. How long after his return do they marry?
  1. Where do they go on their wedding night? How do they get there?

Chapter 23

  1. What’s the weather like that night?
  1. Has Victor understood the creature’s promise correctly? Explain.
  1. What happens to Victor’s father when he goes home to Geneva? What happens to Victor?
  1. What do the authorities say when Victor approaches them for help to find the creature? Therefore, what does Victor vow to do?

Chapter 24

  1. What sustains Victor during his pursuits?
  1. What does Victor ask of Walton? What does he warn Walton about the creature?

Walton’s letter continued

101. How does Walton delay the threat of a mutiny? Why would his men go against him?

  1. Do you find any irony in what Victor says to the men when he speaks on Walton’s behalf? Explain.
  1. What is Victor’s response to Walton’s decision to return to England?
  1. Whom does Walton see after Victor dies? Where? Why has he come?
  1. How does the creature explain what he has done?
  1. How does the creature compare himself to Satan, the “fallen angel”?
  1. What does the creature say he will do next? Do we see this happen?