Frankenstein – Study Guide
Important Terms
Frame Narration Gothic Literature Foreshadowing Science Fiction
Allusion Static Characters Climax Albatross
Mood Dynamic Characters Doppleganger Prometheus
Motif Epistolary Novel Romantic Literature
FRANKENSTEIN UNIT:
LETTERS I-IV
1. Who is writing these four letters? To whom? Why?
2. In what setting does the story begin?
3. What is Walton’s goal in making the trip? Why does he want to do this/When did the dream
begin?
4. How has Walton prepared for this trip? What plans for the trip has he made?
5. Why does Walton want a friend?
6. What does Walton think of his crew?
7. What time span do the letters cover?
8. What is the “strange accident” that Walton writes to his sister about? How does he help?
9. How does Walton feel towards the stranger?
10. Why does the stranger decide to tell Walton of his own misfortune?
FRANKENSTEIN UNIT:
CHAPTERS 1-4
1. What was Victor’s childhood like? Similarities to Walton?
2. Describe Henry Clerval. Why do you suppose he and Victor became friends?
3. What does Victor mean when he says that his father might have prevented “the fatal impulse
that led to my ruin”?
4. How did Victor’s mother die?
5. Why did Victor go to Ingolstadt? How does he feel about leaving home?
6. How did Victor feel about his teacher, M. Krempe?
7. Why did Victor like science so much? What area specifically? Where did he do most of his work?
8. What discovery did Victor make? What advantages did Victor forsee via his discovery?
9. Why was Victor’s father displeased?
10. What do you make of this statement: “…no man [should allow] any pursuit whatsoever to
interfere with the tranquility of his domestic affections…”
FRANKENSTEIN UNIT:
CHAPTERS 5-7
1. How long did Victor work on his creation? How did he feel when the creature’s eyes opened?
2. Why did Clerval come to Ingolstadt? How does Victor feel about seeing him?
3. Why was Frankenstein confined for several months?
4. How did Justine enter Frankenstein’s family?
5. How did Victor’s interests change after his illness?
6. How did Clerval help his friend find happiness again?
7. How did Victor’s new-found happiness come crashing down?
8. What did Victor do about the monster and William?
9. Why was Justine accused of the murder?
FRANKENSTEIN UNIT:
CHAPTERS 8-11
1. What is the incriminating evidence against Justine?
2. Why were many who knew Justine hesitant to come forward on her behalf?
3. Why did Justine confess to her guilt?
4. Why does Victor feel he is the true murderer?
5. How does Victor’s father try to cheer him up after Justine’s death?
6. Why didn’t Victor kill himself after the death?
7. Why did Victor go to Chamounix?
8. How did Victor and his creature meet up with each other? Why didn’t Victor kill him?
9. How did the creature reproach his creator?
10. What does the creature remember about the first few weeks of his life? Why does he tell Victor? Who do we sympathize with more?
FRANKENSTEIN UNIT:
CHAPTERS 12-15
1. What did the family in the cottage have to be happy about? Unhappy?
2. How did the creature help the family? Why?
3. What did the creature learn by watching the family?
4. How does the creature survive? Is it/he happy?
5. Who was Safie? How does her arrival affect the family?
6. How did Safie’s father ruin the family?
7. What books did the creature read? How did they affect him?
8. What effect did Victor’s journal have upon the creature?
9. Describe the creature’s experience with Felix.
FRANKENSTEIN UNIT:
CHAPTERS 16-19
1. The creature asks, “Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed?” Does this remind you of something someone else had said? Why didn’t the creature kill himself?
2. Why did the family in the cottage leave? How does the creature react?
3. What plan did he make after the family left?
4. What did the creature do when the girl fell in the water?
5. What do we learn from the creature’s tale about how William died?
6. Why did the creature put the locket in Justine’s dress?
7. What demand did the creature make to Victor?
FRANKENSTEIN UNIT:
CHAPTERS 20-22
1. Why did Victor destroy the female creature?
2. What threat did the creature, in response, make to Victor?
3. Why didn’t Victor kill the creature?
4. What did Victor do with the female’s remains? Why?
5. What is Victor accused of, and how does he react?
6. Why wasn’t Frankenstein executed?
7. What did Alphonse think of his son?
8. Why did Elizabeth write to Victor?
9. Why did Victor decide to marry Elizabeth?
10. How did Victor feel as the wedding approached? Elizabeth?
FRANKENSTEIN UNIT:
CHAPTERS 23-24
1. Victor expected the creature to attack. Why, then, did he send his wife off alone to bed?
2. How did Elizabeth die?
3. Why did Victor decide to go right back to Geneva?
4. How did Alphonse die?
5. What plan did Victor make regarding the creature?
6. Why did Victor go to the graveyard?
7. How was Victor able to follow the creature? Why did the creature leave these clues?
8. Before he died, what did he make Walton promise? Why?
9. How did the creature respond to Victor’s death?
10. What advice did Victor give Walton about continuing his journey northward? Why did Walton
decide to not continue on?
11. How is Walton a foil to Victor?
12. Who is the monster? What evidence exists?
13. What is the definition of a Frankenstein?
Character List Locations
· Prometheus North Pole
· Robert Walton Geneva, Switzerland
· Margaret Saville Ingolstadt
· Victor Frankenstein Chaminoux/Mont Blanc/The Alps
· Alphonse Frankenstein Scotland
· Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein England
· Elizabeth Lavenza/Frankenstein Ireland
· Ernest Frankenstein
· William Frankenstein Other Works
· Henry Clerval
· Justine Moritz “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
· The creature The Story of Prometheus
· Professor Krempe
· Professor Waldman
· Cornelius Agrippa (or Paracelsus or others)
· The DeLaceys/cottagers: old man, Felix, Agatha, children, Safie (the Arabian)
· Mr. Kirwin/Daniel Nugent & son