Study notes: Frankenstein
A young scientist builds a living creature and then runs from what he has made. The creature learns to speak and read, begs for kindness, and turns bitter when no one gives it. Shelley tells the story through letters from an Arctic explorer, Victor Frankenstein's own account, and the creature's voice, so you hear each side.
Themes
Responsibility for what you create. Loneliness. Knowledge pushed too far.
People to follow
Victor Frankenstein, the creature, Robert Walton, Elizabeth, and Henry Clerval.
Talk about
- Who is the real monster in this book?
- Why does the creature want a companion?
- Why does Shelley frame it with Walton's letters?
Public-domain text. First published in 1818; Mary Shelley died in 1851, so this text is in the public domain in the US, Canada, the EU and India. Summary and notes written by ViralScopeHub.