Frankenstein name:
date:
period:

before we read . . .

  1. I saw – with shut eyes, but acute mental vision – I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be, for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world.

This is a description of what Mary Shelley saw in her vision/dream before writing Frankenstein…if you had to guess two major “Themes” that are present in this excerpt, what would they be?

1.)
2.)

  1. There is a subtitle for the novel Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus

Read the myth, “The Creation of Man by Prometheus” and write a brief summary below.
Also, write down how Shelley’s choice of subtitle The Modern Prometheus could help the reader make predictions about the contents of her story?

  1. Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay

To mold me Man, did I solicit thee

From darkness to promote me?

On the title page of Frankenstein, and within its contents, the above writing is a quote from John Milton’s Paradise Lost: The central story line of Paradise Lost is built around the story of Adam and Eve found in the Bible’s book of Genesis. The general consensus holds that Paradise Lost remains the greatest epic poem in the English language. What is an epic poem? Paradise Lost has many of the elements that define epic form. It is a long, narrative; it follows the exploits of a hero (or anti-hero); it involves warfare and the supernatural; it begins in the midst of the action, with earlier crises in the story brought in later by flashback; and it expresses the ideals and traditions of a culture. It has these elements in common with the Iliad, and the Odyssey. The “hero” in this epic poem is Satan.
After reading the summary of the story of Adam and Eve, who do you think said the above quote in Paradise Lost? Also, what is your prediction as to why Mary Shelley included it in her work?

  1. "Nature" means the influence of an individual's genetic make-up on their development and learning. "Nurture" means the impact of the individual's family, education and upbringing.In writing Frankenstein, Mary Shelley drew on the philosophies of John Locke and Jean- Jacques Rousseau. Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) argued that a child is a “blank slate” that is formed only through experience. Rousseau’s’ Emile, or On Education (1762) promotes the idea that a child’s upbringing is responsible for his education.What are your thoughts on the “nature vs. nurture” debate? Which do you believe has the greater influence on how we turn out?
  1. Lastly, tell me if we should be pursuing such advances as genetically modified organisms, stem cell research, artificial intelligence and cloning? Yes or No? Explain your reasoning.