Questionnaire of Frankenstein:

1.            In Frankenstein you can find many different elements of a horror story. What strategies and devices does Mary Shelley use to make the story scary? Use examples from the story.

            She uses words that show us horror, sadness, and agony. For example:

-“The anguish that was visible”

-“I am truly miserable”

-“Solitude was my only consolation”

-“Weighed down by horror and despair”

- “I was destined to become the most wretched of human beings”

            Also, in a horror story, there are black sceneries that make us feel a dark feeling. Mary Shelley use descriptions that help us to get this images and this dark feeling. Examples:

-“It was already dusk”

-“Could hardly see the dark mountains”

-“The storm appeared to approach rapidly”

-“The darkness and storm increased every minute”

            Also, in every horror story, there is a supernatural creature: a daemon, a ghost or a monster. Mary Shelley uses a monster created by a scientist call Victor Frankenstein.

2.    How does Mary Shelley go beyond the usual horror stories? Think of other horror stories and their plot.

            She goes beyond the usual horror stories, because in the normal horror stories, there's a monster or antagonist that already existed before, which makes attempts to cause suffering or harm the protagonist and causes scare in readers; instead of this, Mary Shelley, linking science to the story, creates a protagonist who invents his own monster, which eventually cause a lot of problems.

3.    Who is the actual monster in Frankenstein? Why?

            For me, the real monster is Victor Frankenstein, because he leaves alone his creature, without giving to it love and affection. The creature only needed a family.

4.    What were the motivations for Victor to create the creature? Use examples from the story.

            The motivation for Victor was the power of electricity. He saw the destructive power of nature when, during a storm, lightning destroys a big tree near his house.  From that day, he started to study and work with electricity, and to study anatomy (how is built the human body), because he was fascinated with the idea of creating life.

5.    What responsibilities did Victor, as the creator, have towards his creature?

            Victor’s responsibilities, as a creator, were giving care for his creature and giving love, but he didn’t do.

6.    Why did Victor abandon the creature?

            Victor is horrified by what he has created; he expected better results. He creates an ugly thing that spies him while he was sleeping, and immediately he abandons his monster, he is terrified.

7.    Why do you think Shelley had Robert Walton tell Victor’s story. Was this technique employed by Shelley as an effective way to tell the story?

            I think that Mary Shelley uses Robert Walton to tell Victor’s story because, she can add comments and personal opinions to the story, being Walton.

8.    To what extent is Victor’s story believable to Robert Walton?

            It is difficult to believe that incredible story, but he is forced to believe it by the evidence that Victor presents.

9.    Compare and contrast Robert’s and Victor’s goals and interests.

10. In the novel, Victor warns Robert that acquiring knowledge can lead to misery and destruction. What serious consequences might the acquisition of knowledge have?

            I think that the acquisition of knowledge can have serious consequences. You will think that you know everything and you will start to do experiments to treat to change life, and in your attempts, a little mistake can kill a human being or yourself.

11.  One of the novel’s conflicts is that the characters were unable to recognize the humanity of the creature. What qualities make us human?

            That we think, that we have brain and heart, that we can walk on two legs, and the most important, that we have feelings.

12. What qualities make the creature human?

            That the creature also has feelings. For example, he says that he hates all human beings, and he was sad because he didn’t know why he was created; sadness and hatred are feelings, so he really has feelings.

13.  Some critics use the story of Frankenstein as an argument against scientific technology that creates life forms; others argue that it is not technology itself but the use to which it is put that presents and ethical issue. What is your position?

14. Is the novel popular nowadays? Why?

            I think that the novel still is popular nowadays because is it has a lot of interesting aspects, like the horror and the science. Frankenstein is one of the earliest examples of science fiction and one of the most popular horror stories. Also, the novel is still popular today because the topics that appear in the novel are still discussed today, like the idea of creating life and compete in power with God (The Modern Prometheus).

15. How might you apply the story to today’s society?

            Victor is like all the scientists of the present that are investigating new things. The monster is like the son of this scientist, but the scientist doesn’t love him, and he started to be a rebellious boy.