Frankenstein Critical Reading Portfolio
Section I: Significance of Title
The title is significant because Frankenstein is the man who had created something beautiful that no one else has ever done before. One may think that the title Frankenstein sounds like something destructive. In this, Frankenstein symbolizes God and a parent to the monster because he saw himself as creating life from scratch and creating something that has never been done by anyone else. He sees himself as a parent because to him, the monster is his son. Even though the monster isn’t genetically Frankenstein’s son, he still sees him as that because he created him and invested so much time into creating him.
Section II: Author
The author of this book is Mary Shelley. In this story, Mary Shelley clearly expresses that the monster had trouble getting to know people because of his looks. One may say that her major theme was appearances because of how she puts the monster into talking about the way he looks and the way he sees other people. This is expressed a lot throughout the story. Another thing that one may have noticed is that there weren’t really any mother figures in this book and she kind of made it a male based story. The reason why one may point this out is because of how Victor creates a “son” without a wife in the picture and how the story goes on with this.
Section III: Plot
The plot exposition is within the letters written between Walton and his sister. They are telling the story of Victor and the monster that he had created. The initial incident is when Walton explains to Victor how he wants knowledge that is worth any amount lives. Victor finally realizes Walton might end up like him and go in the same path as he did and so Victor decides to tell Walton his life story. The Climax of the story was the murder of Elizabeth Lavenza on the night of her wedding to Victor Frankenstein. One may say this because
Section IV: Characterization
The first character that is very important is Victor Frankenstein. He is the man that created the monster and started all of the things happening around the town. Victor sees himself as a God and a dad because of the monster. Victor is very significant because he is the reason why the monster lives and the story probably wouldn’t be as interesting as it already is. The next character is the monster. It is very significant because he is the very reason why so much is going on in that town and he is also the reason why people have lost their lives. One may say that the monster is very important because of the works he has done. Another important character that one may think is the De Lacey family. They have an important role because of how the monster saw them as its friend even though they were rude and ran from him. The monster is doing all these things for them to help them live so he sees them as very important people to him.
Section V: Point of View
In this book, there was different point of views going on. The primary narrator is Robert Walton. Then later on in the story Victor is the narrator and then was the monster at a good length of the story. Elizabeth Lavenza and Alphonse Frankenstein also narrate the story in letters that they had sent to Victor. The point of views that have taken place within the story was very interesting and it helped let one know what was going on with who and what was happening. The impacts the story because Walton is explaining the story as if he is actually experiencing what is really going on and allows the reader to know, in detail, what exactly is happening within the story without getting confused.
Section VI: Setting
The setting that was presented in this was kind of back in the day and in Geneva. This time seems like it had taken place in the 1800s because of the way everyone had talked and the way things were done. This is significant because of the ways of living in the story were, as if they were in fact a lot more proper and elegant. In the 1800s, elegance was very big so it does relate a lot to the story. The most significant about the setting is the time period that the story had taken place at. One may say this because of the ways people lived back then. Their living style isn’t as advanced as it is today.
Section VII: Symbols & Literary Devices
In the letters, the literary device, allusion was used as a reference to The Ancient Mariner. Letter two says something about not killing an albatross which is from The Rime of Ancient Mariner and it is used to symbolize nature. In The Ancient Mariner, the Mariner killed the albatross and it brought bad things their way and they went through a rough time. In Frankenstein, it is saying how Walton will not kill the albatross (nature) so there is no need to worry about him. This connects to the story because Frankenstein sees himself as God because he created a beautiful creature which is kind of like nature, nature is a beautiful creation and there is a way of corrupting nature like Frankenstein “corrupted” the monster in a way.
Section VIII: Theme
Section IX: Quotes
Section X: Response
This book was a very interesting book. At the beginning of the book, I thought that Frankenstein was going to be very boring. Once I got to chapter four, things started to get a little bit more interesting. The reason why four caught my attention and got me interested is because I like reading about mysteries and dark and creepy things like creating the monster and using different body parts. This book is a very detailed in all ways from telling about how the monster is created to where is dies. I would recommend this book to people that are interested in mysteries and science fiction. Today, I don’t believe that this work has any connections to the real world because you don’t normally hear about things being brought to life when it is just put together by different parts and is rather large.